"Have you ever heard the word boss? When you have money and power, you don’t need to do a thing. You let the money and power work for you." Bernard replied smoothly. His voice carried a cold, unyielding weight as his chest rose and fell in a slow, calculated wave, his eyes never leaving Faye’s face.
"That means you are a lazy dude," Faye said to Bernard. She did not flinch, her jaw setting hard as her lungs pulled in a sharp, fearless breath through her nose, her eyes burning with pure disgust.
Malo tried to ease the tension inside the limo with laughter. He let out a nervous, awkward chuckle that sounded forced, his breath catching in his throat as his heart hammered a fast, terrified rhythm against his ribs.
"We don’t want it," Faye said.
"Yes, Mr. Bernard, we can take the card, but the ring, I think it’s too much of a prize label," Malo said, about to hand the rings back. He swallowed hard, his throat dry while his fingers trembled slightly, his chest rising in short, cautious waves as he held out the metal bands.
"Without the ring, you cannot use the card. Anyone can have that card, and they will assume it’s stolen. But once they see the ring, they won’t say a word." Bernard explained flatly. His posture remained like stone, his low tone dropping into a dangerous frequency that made the air inside the vehicle feel instantly heavy and thin.
They kept going back and forth, Bernard refusing to take it back until he threatened them with death, and the two kids had no choice. Faye’s breath locked straight up in her chest, her pulse exploding into a wild, frantic sprint while Malo froze completely, his heart thumping hard against his throat under the man’s deadly stare.
He might not be a Lycan, but he looked terrifying just by how calm he was. His eyes held zero warmth, his quiet, even breathing contrasting sharply with the thick aura of pure violence radiating off his sharp suit.
"This doesn’t even fit," Faye muttered, trying the ring on.
"It’s not fitting, sir," Malo added, demonstrating his fingers to Bernard. He held up his hand with a weak gasp, his heart rate still wildly unstable as he showed how the metal caught on his knuckle.
"Pinky," Bernard said. His single word cut through the air, his eyes shifting slightly as his chest rose in a quiet, unbothered rhythm.
The two put the rings on their pinkies. The dark metal slid into place with a quiet click, their breathing coming out fast and shallow as the cold weight settled against their skin, signaling an unspoken chain around their necks
"Do I also get a ring too?" Gary said, raising his hand. His voice broke the heavy silence, his chest rising in a short, hopeful huff as he looked between the older man and the teenagers.
The two friends finally remembered he was with them.
"So, how do we remove the Beast from him? We need to take him back," Malo said. He turned back to Bernard, taking a quick step forward while his heart beat a fast, anxious cadence against his ribs.
"You are leaving him here. You can leave now. Contact me when you have another, and I suppose when we meet again, it should be all 113 Beasts. That would be our last meeting." Bernard stated coldly. He gestured toward the door without looking at them, his posture stiff while his lungs pulled in a smooth, effortless draft of air.
"We can’t just leave him. You can do something, right? Remove the..." Faye said, trying to negotiate..
"He belongs to us now. Next time, I would like a Beast, not a Beast inside a person." Bernard interrupted sharply, his icy voice cutting her off instantly, his chest expanding with a hard, final breath that signaled the end of the conversation.
There was nothing they could do. They had no choice but to leave him there. Faye’s fists clenched tight at her sides, her jaw working continuously while her lungs heaved with bitter, furious gasps as Malo grabbed her sleeve to pull her toward the exit.
When they left the limo, only Bernard and Gary remained inside. Gary’s heart hammering like a trapped bird against his ribs as his breathing turned frantic and small.
"Before I swallowed the fish, I was told that the only way to get it out of my system was for me to stop breathing," Gary said, then looked Bernard in the face. He swallowed down the lump in his dry throat, his chest shuddering with a short, terrified breath as he faced the man.
"Are you going to kill me, sir?"
"I intend to, but I need a vessel to store them. Once they are complete, they will be removed from your system." Bernard revealed smoothly, his posture remaining perfectly still...
"What do you mean by that?" Gary asked weakly, his eyes wide with complete confusion, his pulse racing so fast his head began to throb.
"In this world, there are levels of power, and I happen to be at the bottom of it. For me to climb, I have to play the game." Bernard explained, his voice flat as he let out a long, quiet breath through his nose.
Gary did not understand what the man in the suit was talking about. Even though he already knew he was going to die, he didn’t get to do the reason he ate the fish in the first place. He didn’t even get to say goodbye to his parents. His chest heaved with heavy, silent sobs, his eyes filling with hot tears as his lungs pulled in thin, painful gasps of air, his whole body shaking on the leather seat.
He had just swallowed the fish when a night walker ambushed him and the supplier. The power did not activate in time for him to make a run for it.
Bernard began to open the lids of the containers. The glass jars clinked softly in the quiet car, the strange colors, glows reflecting off Bernard’s cold face as his hands moved with smooth, lethal precision, his breathing steady and slow.
"If you want to keep living, you have to do as I tell you. Open up." Bernard commanded firmly, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying tone that left Gary’s muscles completely frozen in fear.
Bernard fed Gary the remaining four Beasts and gave him his blood to suppress him from morphing into the Beasts.
Bernard might not be a Lycan, but he was a higher level of a walker.
The Lycan Prince had his motives for finding the Beasts, but Bernard had his own. He sat back in his seat, wiping his fingers with a clean handkerchief while his eyes watched the unconscious boy, his chest rising and falling in a deep, satisfied rhythm as the limo glided smoothly into the dark streets.
"To Blackjack City..."