The beast, sensing the threat, whimpered slightly before turning back, lunging out of a nearby window.
This seemed to shock the unknown Witch before him who observed the beast from within the building, but she did not seem to be in a hurry to pursue it.
Instead, she turned to him, "Allen, is it?" She asked before stating. "We meet again."
"It's Valen," Mr. Valen corrected her, straightening his stance as he observed, the pain from his fingers worsening.
The Purple Eyed Witch, before him, tilted her head, her eyes trailing to Mr. Valen's injury, a frown gracing her face, "I'm sorry about your fingers."
"It's fine," Mr. Valen responded, still clutching his left hand as he asked, "Why didn't you go after it?"
His question echoed in the room like an acoustic sound, but it was heard.
"You have some strong mental fortitude to be asking such a question at a time like this," the Witch intoned.
She seemed to be referring to the situation with Mr. Valen's fingers, so he decided to humor her, "It's not like I can do anything about it," he said dryly.
The Purple Eyed Witch let out a breath and responded to his words, "I guess you're right, as for the Skilion, don't worry, I tagged—" the purple eyed Witch suddenly paused her eyes narrowed as she muttered, "how is that possible."
"What is it?" Mr. Valen asked curiously, watching the changes in the Witches' expression.
Still frowning, the purple-eyed Witch sighed, "Don't worry about it, I have some questions for you." She changed the subject.
Seeing the serious look in her eyes Mr. Valen raised a brow. "Very well then, but in return I want to ask you a few questions as well, Are you a Witch affiliated with the Viper Family?"
The purple-eyed Witch seemed surprised at his question. "Why do you ask? Are you in some kind of trouble with them?"
At her question, Mr. Valen remained quiet, his expression unchanging yet even from his silence, she seemed to deduce something.
"Oh my god," Luna breathed, her grin widening. "You're running from the Vipers. How does a kid like you piss off an entire government branch?"
At her abrupt deduction Mr. Valen was surprised, 'she's smart,' he thought before pondering deeply, 'but how did she reach such an accurate deduction?'
"Aw, thank you, I love to think I am smart," Luna said, smirking. "But you know nothing about purple-eyed witches, do you, kid?'"
"I'm Luna, the head of the Luna family at District Forty Eight, currently here on a little vacation." She expanded.
Mr. Valen, at the sound of her words immediately understood what was going on. 'This woman... she can read my thoughts.'
"Yep, I can," Luna nodded calmly, her eyes locked on the man before her.
'Stop that.' Mr. Valen, who felt uncomfortable with the situation, thought to himself, knowing that she would hear it, and indeed she did.
Raising a brow, Luna took a step closer and asked, "What if I don't want to stop?"
«Then I would have to force you to stop.»
«Then I would have to force you to stop.»
«Then I would have to force you to stop.»
"What the fuck was that," Luna abruptly held her head, her brows furrowed into a deep frown as she took a step back.
"How did you do that," she asked with widened eyes, her breath heavy as she expanded, "there's like a million different voices in your head."
It took a minute for Luna to regain her composure, but when she did, her expression began to change into a look of perverted interest.
Luna seemed to notice this, so she cleared her throat and asked in a serious tone, "So in addition to the man who was eaten downstairs, your fingers are the only treats that the beast has eaten, am I correct?"
"Correct," Mr. Valen answered aloud before asking, his mind already reworking his plan, "will I be on the news?"
"Ohh god no," Luna immediately cut him short, that look of perverted excitement returning to her eyes as she said, "I haven't had this much fun in a while, I tell you what, I don't know what you have planned, but how about this, I'll cover for you, you were never here."
"And what do you get in exchange?" Mr. Valen asked, provoking a smile from Luna who had begun walking towards the window that the beast had jumped out from, a single word trailing behind her.
"Entertainment."
With that, she jumped out the window, disappearing into the night, but this did not shock Mr. Valen as he knew that there was a high chance that she could fly.
Rather, he took off his backpack and removed some sterilizers and bandages, his movements clumsy without the assistance of his left hand.
Meanwhile, somewhere above District Forty-Two, a woman could be seen standing atop a floating disc-like object.
This woman was Luna and at this moment, she was making a call.
"Catie, have you ever heard of a silver-clawed Skilion fresh out of a passageway evolving after consuming just one person?" She asked.
The person at the other end was silent for a moment but ultimately answered, "Ma'am that is unheard of, a silver clawed Skilion has to consume anywhere between twenty to a hundred people to evolve, changing the topic, would you mind me asking where you are, it-"
"Beep!"
A small beep sounded out as Luna cut the call, a frown on her face as she dialed another number.
Said number rang twice before it was ultimately picked up, a Russian accent answering the phone.
"If it isn't District Forty-Eight's little floaty girl," Vlad rumbled, his vowels thick as vodka. "Prancing through my territory, da? Why do you call me today?"
Upon hearing this voice, Luna's expression soured. "I'm not exactly pleased to hear your voice either, Vlad, but I should let you know that your little territory is under attack."
"You speak of the Skilion yes, haha, do not worry your little princess brain, we have it under control," Vlad declared proudly, his voice deep.
Yawning slightly, Luna retorted, "Well I don't know what happened but despite just arriving it was able to escape my senses, which would mean one of two things either I'm getting weaker or it somehow-"
"Became gold clawed Skilion," Vlad cut her short before asking, "Since you saw it, how many casualties before it escaped?"
"That's the strange part," Luna said before going on, "It killed only a single person, some lowlife criminal."
"But you can kill the beast before it grows more yes?" Vlad asked, his tone dire.
Luna mused for a moment a smile gracing her face as she responded, "I could, but I don't want to, it's fun watching you have to deal with trouble."
"Beep!'
Another beep sounded out as Luna cut the call on Vlad. Her eyes locked on something in the far distance. "What an extraordinary mind," she sighed before stating, "I wonder what he'll do."
-------
Mr. Valen stepped out of the abandoned factory, his steps hurried, but he wasn't planning to go home just yet.
If one observed his fingers, they would observe that they had been bandaged in such a way that it was difficult to tell that his fingers were severed.
Putting said hand in his pocket, Mr. Valen thought, 'I don't know whether to call this good luck or bad luck. I had originally planned to use my words, but this will make things much easier. Rigg's death does complicate things, though. Will Lucien still follow through?"
He was interrupted by the sound of sirens flaring loudly as a few police cars drove past him.
Not far behind the police cars were news trucks carrying news equipment and luxury cars most likely housing Witches and Wizards from the Viper Family.
'I should pull up my hoodie,' Mr. Valen thought with a sigh.
But in that moment just as he adjusted his hoodie to better hide his face, he felt the gaze of one of the cops from the police cars land on him.
------
Within the police car, a dark skinned man with a low fade squinted at Mr. Valen's disappearing form from the side mirror.
'Who comes to this part of town by this time,' he thought, his brows furrowed.
"What's the matter Chief?" A red-haired woman who was driving asked curiously, her tone tinged with respect.
Shaking his head, the dark skinned man muttered, his tone light, "I don't like working with these overpowered Witches and Wizards, in my opinion, they are worse than the Skilion's."
"Huh, why do you say that sir?" The redhead inquired, but left no room for a response as she added, "I personally admire them, in all honesty, the only reason I became a cop is because I did not reach the requirements to go through a permanent passageway."
"Officer Kate right?" The dark skinned man asked with a chuckle to which the red head nodded.
"This should be your second shift as a rookie, correct?" he inquired further.
"Yes sir," Kate responded immediately.
"Then the next time you have silly opinions, keep them to yourself," he scolded her before adding, "Such a weak mindset is precisely the reason why Witches and Wizards walk all over the local authorities."
His words soured the atmosphere which faded imperceptibly to a looming silence.
The duo stopped the car at the abandoned factory's compound which already had a few police vehicles doing their rounds.
Immediately the dark skinned man got out of the car, a brown haired woman in uniform approached him, her expression grave as she reached out for a handshake.
"Detective Harper," the dark skinned man acknowledged the woman before him with a smile but the detective was not smiling.
"Chief," the woman called out, her voice low as she went on, "it's not pleasant, we have a casualty today."
Upon hearing this, the dark skinned man raised a brow, "But this place is always deserted, take me there," he requested.
His words were met with a nod from Harper who turned and led him to the scenes.
They climbed the stairs, and upon reaching the stairwell to the fourth floor, they saw it: the mangled remains of what had once been a man.
"My god," the dark skinned man exclaimed, before asking, "There's barely anyone around here ever. What was this man even doing here?"
"It would seem that he was not here alone," Detective Harper said as she led him upstairs to an open trashed space.
The dark skinned man immediately noticed the specks of blood on the ground, his expression changing to a frown.
For some reason, his mind flashed to the man he had seen on the road on their way here but he shook his head. "Find out who owns this blood," he said before getting up, barking out orders to the surrounding officers, telling them to secure the crime scene.
"Ohh would you chill Richard," a calm voice suddenly sounded out, it came from a man wearing an obsidian coat that shimmered red beneath the light.
Glowing runes traced his cuffs and collar, pulsing faintly with each breath, the logo of the eagle alliance, imprinted on his garb.
There was also a badge on his coat, and on it was the number Forty-Two, indicating that he was a red-eyed Wizard affiliated with the Viper Family.
"This is our turf, you don't get to be here, your civilian died on the stairwell," the red-eyed man intoned, his tone laced with mockery.
Narrowing his eyes, Richard responded coldly, "As you know, the blood of a Skilion is black; this is human blood on the floor, meaning that this is my turf. Why don't you go hunt instead of bothering me and my men?"
"Ohh, how scary," the red-eyed man mocked before turning back, his voice trailing off, "you'll become a dog of the Viper Family soon enough."