Twilight Requiem

In Sofia

Sofia, Bulgaria

Ivan and his team of the Elites just arrived from their long flight from Stone Castle. They went straight to the apartment unit they rented for the length of their stay in Sofia. It was a regular apartment, in the heart of Oborishte, the central, affluent residential and administrative district in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Ivan and the Elite’s mission is to apprehend, dead or alive, a vampire using his compulsion to take advantage of his victims, young humans, both boys and girls. His name is Anton Belinsky, a middle school teacher in one of the elite schools around Oborishte, and a child molester.

He r***s his victim, leaves without a trace of evidence, and the victims are left in a state of catatonia. Because of that, the victims still couldn’t get the justice they were owed. When the matter got on the council’s radar, they did an intensive investigation, and soon it was linked to the suspect. The council has been searching for the perpetrator for years, and they finally got a lead, which is why they are in Sofia, Bulgaria.

*********************************.

The next day, they discuss their plan of putting the target under their surveillance for a whole twenty-four hours before proceeding with their plan. Ivan and Leo were the first ones to do the surveillance, wearing very casual clothes, making them blend with the tourists.

They sat outside the café, casually glancing at the school building where their suspect is, while sipping coffee.

“We won’t see anything outside, release the Fly,” Zack told Leo.

Leo nodded and grabbed his backpack, and took something inside, a small round box. Leo opened the box, and it showed a silver-coated thing that looked like a fly. The Fly is the smallest surveillance drone that the Elites used in situations like the one they are in now.

Because the drone is very small and looks like a fly, it was able to get inside buildings to conduct surveillance. It is also undetected by any CCTV because of its reflective mechanism, making it seem invisible. It also cannot be detected by other gadgets that easily detect hidden cameras or other devices, so the Fly is the best thing to use during delicate surveillance.

Leo then turned on the Fly and connected it to his tablet. As the Fly flew towards the school building, the two of them focused on the live footage shown on the tablet.

They gathered the data they needed regarding their target. They followed and kept their eyes on their target for the whole day, until the sun went down and Celeste replaced Leo.

The next day, Zack and Daisy took over the surveillance on their target as Ivan went to sleep. While he was in his deep sleep, he entered the dream state.

Ivan sees a woman approaching him. She has long black hair and a slender body, but he couldn’t see her face. At that moment, he didn’t feel alarmed or wary; instead, he felt calm and happy. The faceless woman wrapped her arms around her, clinging to him, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her.

She nuzzles her face against his neck, and he runs his hands across her back, making her giggle. When he heard her giggle, Ivan thought they were like tiny bells that were pleasant to his ears.

Ivan smiled and hoisted up the woman, carrying her into a bed. The woman lay in the middle of the bed like a sacrificial maiden for him to take. She was giggling and motioning for him to come closer.

Ivan gave in and crawled on top of her. Once their faces are inches from each other, the woman once again wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him down. Ivan sighed and angled his face as he aimed to kiss the woman beneath him.

But before his lips could touch hers, he was awakened by the loud and rapid knocking on the door. Ivan groaned, silently cursing whoever was behind the door for disturbing his dream.

“What?!” he growled.

“It's time, boss,”

Ivan heard Zack’s voice from the other side of the door. Ivan groaned and rubbed his palms against his face.

“Give me a minute!” he responded.

When he heard retreating footsteps from his door, Ivan huffed and looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was six in the evening. He heaved a deep breath and looked at the ceiling, thinking about the dream he had.

‘What could that be?’ he asked himself.

‘I don’t know, but it is the most pleasant dream we have had so far.’

His Lycan Casper responded.

Ivan thought about the dream for a few more seconds before rolling out of bed and making his way to the bathroom. He got ready for their mission and followed the others to where they were stationed, waiting for their target.

Ivan met the others on top of a building that was in an alley where their target went to these past days.

“Target’s on the move,” Daisy said, as she monitors the footage taken by the Fly.

The others gathered around her, watching on the tablet how the suspect led another student out of the school. While the others are all focused on the suspect and victim, Ivan was spacing out, thinking about the woman in his dream.

Ivan felt like it wasn’t just a dream, as he had never felt that pleasant before. He has never dreamed of a girl or felt attracted to anyone, just the girl in his dream.

‘Could it be that she is our mate?’

Ivan heard his Lycan chimed in. Because of that, Ivan felt a moment of surprise, which was followed by excitement.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked his Lycan.

‘Well, I am not, but it just felt right. They said that meeting your mate always feels right,’ Casper replied.

Ivan thought about what his Lycan said.

Their mate, the thought of that never crossed his mind as he was so focused on his work, missions, and family. Meeting his mate was a moment he was looking forward to, but he was never prepared for that exact moment.

Ivan was then pulled out of his thoughts when he heard commotion around him. When he looked around, he saw his teammates jumping off the roof. He looked over the ledge and saw them fighting the target.

Ivan heaved a deep breath and hopped over the ledge, landing on his feet, a few feet from where the victim was lying unconscious. While the Elites were busy subduing the suspect, Ivan walked over to the victim. He crouched next to her, checking her.

The victim has no visible injuries. He tried waking her up, and when she opened her eyes, there was a blank look on her face, as if the life had been sucked out of her. Ivan frowned as he realized that the girl was now like the previous victims.

Ivan clenched his teeth and turned towards his team, who were still fighting.

“Was he able to touch her?” he asked.

Daisy turned to him and answered.

“No. We jumped in as soon as he had taken her into this alley.”

Then the suspect looked in Ivan’s direction. Seeing that he is holding his target, his eyes grew dark red, and he hissed. He then pushed the Elites out of his way and jumped in Ivan’s direction.

Ivan looked at the vampire, and he was suspended midair. Ivan’s eyes turned red as he looked directly at the suspect, trying to get out of the unseen force holding him midair.

“What did you do to her?” Ivan asked as the Elites gathered around him.

When the suspect did not answer him and just sneered, Ivan handed the girl to Celeste and stood up. Ivan then approached the vampire suspect.

“I asked you a question, you bastard,” Ivan hissed.

The vampire suspect hissed, and Ivan’s hand flew to his face, slapping him.

“Answer my question or else, you won't see the sunrise.”

Ivan said, his voice grew colder.

The suspect vampire looked at Ivan with a smug expression, annoying Ivan with his smirk.

“She is now my toy. I own her body and soul, and there is nothing you can do to free her,” the vampire sneered.

Ivan just looked at him intently, studying him. They know that the suspect compels his victims, assaults them, but he leaves no visible injury on them. He did not bite them, and even if he did and he healed his bite, there should be a little sign that they were bitten, but there wasn’t.

Ivan thought that he didn’t bite them, but how did he manage to clear any evidence and put the victims in that state? He narrowed his eyes on the suspect as he thought about what he just said; he said that he owned their body and soul.

‘It's in his compulsion!’

Casper blurted.

‘What?’ Ivan asked.

‘That bastard is using a different kind of compulsion. He is not just assaulting his victims, but he also collected their souls!’

Casper spat, and Ivan’s eyes widened upon realization. He glared at the suspect and grabbed his collar.

“You bastard. You took their soul!” Ivan snarled, surprising not just the suspect but his teammates as well.

“What do you mean?” Zack asked.

Ivan turned to him.

“His compulsion, he didn’t just compel them, but he also took their soul, that’s why they all looked empty!” Ivan replied, and then the vampire suspect started laughing.

“You can never get them back.” He said, and the Elites all glared at him.

Then the vampire smirked and spoke.

“I figured you were from the council. You came here to make an arrest. Whatever you do, I will not let you take me. I have escaped your radar for so long, I will not let some noobs get –“

The vampire cut himself off, and then his eyes widened.

“What arrest are you talking about?”

Ivan spoke, and then he looked at the suspect. He has that cold killer look on him that made the suspect nervous.

“Their souls will never return as long as you are alive,” Ivan said, and the suspect was stunned.

He thought that they would just arrest him and wouldn’t kill him, and then he would get to keep the souls of his victims.

‘He dies, the souls will return to their rightful bodies,’

Casper said, and Ivan smirked, making the suspect fear for his life.

“It's time for you to meet your end.”

Ivan mumbled, and then the suspect started screaming in pain as his body began to contort into different angles. The sound of his broken bones echoed along the dark and empty alley.

The suspect’s body soon looked like crumpled paper, blood dripping on the ground. Then the wind picks up, and in the blink of Ivan’s eyes, sharp winds go through the crumpled body of the vampire, cutting him to pieces, leaving him looking like ground meat.

Ivan then huffed and turned towards the Elites.

“You can now clean it up,” he told them.

Leo and Daisy nodded and started cleaning up the mess that was once the suspect they were after. Then they heard groaning, and they looked at the victim. She was starting to wake up. When she opened her eyes, she started looking around, and when she looked at them, she looked confused.

“Who are you? What am I doing here?”

The girl asked.

Ivan crouched down in front of her.

“We found you unconscious on the ground. Looks like you slipped and fell,” Ivan told her, compelling him about what happened.

The girl scrambled up to her feet, and Ivan helped her.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?” Daisy Celeste asked.

The girl shook her head.

“I should go home,” she mumbled and ran out of there.

Ivan runs his fingers through his hair.

“Looks like we are done here.”