Raven

Chapter 24

Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. The more dangerous are the common men: the ones who listens, thinks, and observes.

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"My dear big brother, I already deposited the 5,000,000 that I promised you. You go lie low for the mean time. Go to another country or what. Be careful and stay out of sight." A woman said while dipping her body on the bathtub. She drank the wine she was holding and let out a smile.

The man on the other line of the phone chuckled softly. "Thank you, little sister. You take care of yourself too."

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Raven's POV

We already entered the premise of V City.

Vermillion City owned the top spot of being the most prosperous and industrialized city in the country. Modern buildings with complex architectural designs could be found everywhere.

My most favorite was the Vermillion City Art Gallery. The design was immaculate, worthy of being called "The Castle of Artiste."

We were just reading the documents when the RV slowed down. I looked out of the window only to see a familiar place. A sense of crisis suddenly enveloped me as I wait for the RV to halt completely.

"We have arrived, Miss Hirahara, Miss Black." Mr. Wayne announced.

I slowly got off the RV, trying to walk steadily due to the shaking of my knees. "W-What are we doing here?" I softly asked Lemon. My hands were a bit sweaty, and my knees were really disappointing me.

"This is where Liam Montenegro and Hel Bridgerton lived. And also Calliope. It's in the file. Why, what's the matter?" Lemon asked, reaching for my cold hand.

I slowly raised my head to look up at the top of the building. My breath hastened as the memory of that piercing scream entered my head again.

"The Prism Tower." I whispered.

After that dream, I researched about it on the internet. It said that 4 years ago, Mr. Rellion, the owner of Prism Tower, was found dead on his penthouse. He was tortured to death, and various threats and provocative words were written on the walls of his bathroom, using his blood.

The police suspected it as one of the many crimes that was cause by the gang wars that occured at Vermillion City on that year. Mr. Rellion was a gang leader, and using the Prism Tower as the epicenter, his territory reaches up to 2 kilometer radius from the building.

"Yeah, pretty slick right?" Lemon also looked up and sighed. "Why do some rich people get away with crime? I mean I am really certain that Calliope's innocent. Why was she the scapegoat?"

I looked at Lemon in wonder. "She's innocent?"

"Huh?" Lemon asked. She must have realized that she said her thoughts aloud. "Oh, don't mind me. Let's go?"

"You guys, wait up!"

I turned back and saw Night with Sucrose. They just got off the taxi and she was waving a bunch paper bags at us.

"Ya-ho." Sucrose greeted at us, waving his hand.

"What you got there?" Lemon asked, getting the bags and checking the contents.

"Set of clothes. Blyneia wanted us to disguise as residents of Prism Tower." She took out a card from her pocket and showed it to us. "A friend of her owned the penthouse and let us borrowed it for the meantime. You know, to aid us on our investigation."

Now that she said it, I just noticed that she and Sucrose were already in civilian clothes. Lemon gave me the paper bag on her left hand, however she paused and handed me the paper bag on her right hand instead. She grinned at me before going back inside the RV. When she was done, she was already out of her uniform and was wearing jeans and blouse.

It's my turn to change clothes. When I saw the clothes Lemon gave me, I was baffled. 'Seriously?' I thought. I heard Lemon's laugh outside and could only sigh in defeat. "How childish."

The moment I got off the RV, Lemon let out a whistle and gave a thumbs up. "Sexy."

Night jabbed her side and hissed. "I specifically choose that dress for you."

The dress was pretty cute, on the front. But what made Lemon say it was sexy was because of the back part. It was laced and backless.

Sucrose cleared his throat and took out his coat from the paper bag he was holding. "Here." He said while putting it on my shoulder.

I blushed slightly at his gentlemanly acts, after all, it's my first time being this close to a boy. "T-Thank you." I said, almost choking up the words.

"Sorry." Lemon apologized but she was still smiling. "Don't worry, it looks good on you."

I knew her apology was sincere so I didn't mind it that much.

The four of us entered the building as if we really lived their. The receptionist was a man and he was just smiling at us. When we were almost at the elevator, the security standing near it stopped us. Before he could inspect us, Night showed him the key card. I got nervous when he radioed his superior. When he finally let us through, I was still nervous. The receptionist was looking at us, at me specifically.

As the elevator door slowly closes, the eye contact I shared with the smiling receptionist didn't broke, making me freak out more. I kept on pushing the close button of the elevator, to make it close faster.

"Are you alright?" Lemon and Night chorused. They looked at each other, one was grinning while the other was grimacing.

"Are you okay, Raven?" Sucrose asked. I nodded at him and let out a hum. The two stopped their silent bickering and smiled at me.

When we arrived at the penthouse, the elevator door didn't open until Night placed the card at the scanner. "This is a master key card. With this, we can access the other floors without attracting attentions." Night explained. The scanner blinked green and the elevator door was finally open.

A marbled hallway greeted us. We were still wearing our school shoes, so the clacking of the heels echoed on this hallway when we walked across it.

The walls were decorated with paintings of the gods and goddesses of G Country. There were also bust sculptures of those gods and goddesses, with their names written on a golden plaque.

Lemon was the one who pushed opened the entrance door and was the first one to see the marvelous interior design that I once saw in my dream.

"Whoa." Lemon gasped. She ran towards the wall-to-ceiling glass window and was amazed by the city view.

"Our task for today is kinda hard so we'll gonna stay here for the night." Night said as she took her phone out.

My eyes widened when I heard that. I wasn't informed about staying overnight. I walked to the bathroom and quickly took my phone out from the paper bag to call Lilibeth.

It rang three times before it was answered. "Raven?"

"Hey, Lily. I called you to say that I wouldn't be home today. Probably on Sunday? Got caught up with some school works." I said while opening the bathroom door.

"It's okay. Only the butlers and maids were at home. Miss Sinclaír was out on a camping trip with the triplets and Hyperion. Miss Gryca stayed at CRA, and I'm out doing an errand for Miss Sinclaír." She explained.

I listened carefully at her end and didn't find anything anomalous. "Okay. See you on Sunday then."

"Good night." She said before ending the call. I put the phone back inside the paper bag and placed it on the sink.

I studied the interior of the bathroom before closing my eyes. There was a gust of wind and then complete silence. Then suddenly I heard the sound of the flowing water, the smell of blood, and the humming of that girl.

When I opened my eyes, I could see the scene I had in my dream again. The girl sitting on the sink. Then she stood up impatiently. I avoided my gaze when it was the time when the girl stabbed the guy's thighs with nails. I heard the guy's piercing scream again.

I looked again and I was still horrified of the bloody scene. I decided to roam around the bathroom while listening to their conversation.

"Hi. How's life, eh, Rellion?"

"W-Who are you‽"

"Who ordered you to assassinate the Empress??? Answer me!"

"Release me this instance, bit°ch! You better watch out! You—Ahhhhh!!!!!"

"Let me repeat my question. Who ordered you to assassinate the Empress‽ And you even had the audacity to open the portal‽ Without my permission‽ How brazen!"

I stopped on my tracks. What portal was she talking about? I looked at the two and was startled when the guy stared at me with his bloodshot eyes.

"Her!"

"Aahh!!" I let out a scream when someone held my shoulder.