Clove shook her head slowly, almost mechanically, as if her brain needed a few extra seconds to process the words."H…h…how?" Her voice cracked. "What exactly do you mean by there isn't one Night Demon, sir?"
Nathan didn't answer immediately. His elbows rested on his knees, fingers interlocked, chin pressed against his trembling knuckles. He looked like a man whose worldview had just collapsed under its own weight.
"For two decades…" he whispered, staring past the room, past the walls, like he was looking directly into the years of failed missions, dead agents, erased evidence. "…we thought he was a single entity. One ghost. One nightmare."
He exhaled shakily. "But this? This changes everything. Maybe…" His voice lowered. "…maybe there was never just one to begin with."
Clove felt a chill race down her spine.
"How sure are you?" she murmured, brows twitching with confusion she couldn't hide.
Director Nash didn't bother answering verbally. Instead, he tapped a file icon that had been sent along with the Level Zero transmission."Watch," he said.
A video opened. Two minutes long.
In it were two people, couples perhaps. They were hanging out in Sim's Park. She recognized the park immediately cause that was where she and Nathan had gone on their first date.
What's more? She had kissed him on the very spot that was shown in the clip. Her mind almost wandered off to the memories of the night until she clearly saw the person in the video.
It was him! Those were the unmistakable eyes of the night demon she had seen that night. Eyes that seemed alive in the dark. Eyes that could see through one's soul.
She had a peculiar ability to tell the difference between things. Detective instinct perhaps. No matter how many heterochromia patients she had seen with those eyes, the difference was always obvious
He turned around, his eyes flashing in HD. Only then did she see his face clearly.
"Him?" Her face fell flat in shock. "No way!"
She believed in her ability.
The day she interrogated Zaviel both in the school and hospital, his eyes had not been like that. Though same color, they hadn't been as alive as it was currently shown in the video.
"How's this possible?" her eyes widened in shock, her voice was a whisper
Director Nash chuckled dryly.
"Nothing's impossible anymore! The next happenings will tell you that.
The clip played on. That's when Clove finally noticed that Lyra was beside Zaviel. The video was at 12k so she could still see her red cheeks burning. They'd clearly been playing lovebirds a while ago.
Clove then noticed the thugs standing opposite them with weapons in hand. She clenched her fists slowly in anticipation. Nash who had watched the clip over and over again still leaned closer to take a look
That's when suddenly, things went messy.
There was a flash, a blur. It wasn't Zaviel who stepped up for the fight as a real man would do but ...Lyra!
The seemingly shy, soft-spoken girlfriend stepped forward like a switch had been flipped inside her.She moved with blinding speed. No warning, no hesitation.Her fist snapped out once
CRACK.The first thug dropped like a folding chair.
She pivoted- clean and sharply driving her knee into the next man's chest. Another blur. Another collapse.Three seconds.Three bodies.
That's when Clove noticed it! She took slow steps backwards, her eyes widening in shock "Her...her movements" She stuttered. She could recall the night with the night Demon.
The way he moved! His techniques! Lyra was performing something of that caliber, only with little tweaks but her eyes didn't miss it! If she and the night demon used karate, then they were taught by same master!
"She's.... a night.... demon?" She turned to Nash, her words were a stutter.
Nash folded his arms tightly, eyes locked on the screen."Or something worse."
Before either could speak again, the monitor flickered.Static.Digital snow.
A new window forced itself openAn encrypted message overriding every other process.
Blood-red letters appeared, dripping as if written with a trembling hand:
'ONE OF SIX.'
'THE REST ARE WATCHING.'
Clove's breath hitched.
Nash stood up so fast his chair toppled behind him.
Nash's heartbeat pounded in his ears.
Then one final line appeared at the bottom of the screen:
'AND ONE OF THEM…IS ALREADY INSIDE YOUR AGENCY.'
The lights flickered.