Kevin was dumbstruck, and his eyes went round as he turned to meet his gaze.
He is also a shifter? He could never have guessed.
Derik went on, “My mom and dad died a few years after I was born.” His body stiffened as he sucked back a deep, quick breath. “They were shifters too.”
Kevin felt a pang of sympathy for him and said, “My heart goes out to them.”
Derik said nothing. Tears threatened to form in his eyes.
“I didn’t even get to know my parents.” Kevin thought sharing his own story might let him see that his own case wasn’t unique. “T-Murek killed them before I came of age, and he is out to torture me the same way he’d tortured them. He is just waiting until my twenty-fifth birthday to do it. He wants to fulfil a promise he made to my mother several years ago.”
Suddenly, they heard a car horning ahead, and Derik looked up at the road, his eyes widening at the approaching truck. He quickly realized he was driving in the wrong lane and steered the wheel to avoid the truck, almost skidding off the road tracks into the surrounding bush.
When Derik was back on track, he let out a sigh of relief and returned his gaze to Kevin. “When is your twenty-fifth birthday?” he asked, his gaze returning to the road.
“April 26th—that’s precisely five days from today,” Kevin answered. “I have to find him first—before he finds me.”
In the momentary silence that followed, he asked, “Any idea where we might find him?”
“57 old Avenue hills.” The words were already out of his mouth before he had the chance to recollect his thoughts.
His brows knitted. “What’s that?”
There was no turning back now. He had no choice but to tell him everything he knew. “That’s possibly where we might find T-Murek. We should go over there right now. See what we can find.”
Derik’s eyes flashed. “Hold on, how do you know that?”
“It’s an address I got from detective Leonard—he wants me to check it out. Said he found out about a map Murphy was working on before they’d killed him, and 57 old Avenue hills was marked on it. Leonard believes that’s where T-Murek might be holding his victims.”
His eyes flickered. “If this information is correct and T-Murek really is holding his victims at that address, we wouldn’t want to make any rash decision. If we try to capture him ourselves with no backup, he might slip through our fingers—or worse, we could risk getting captured. I suggest we wait until sunrise, then I’ll call in the taskforce to inform Sir Lawrence about this new discovery.”
Maybe he will get off my back after I help bring down this group of shifters. Derik never said this aloud.
“Who is Lawrence?”
After a brief silence, Derik said, “Lawrence Linus is TCU’s new president who was appointed recently to replace Mr William. That guy is a real pain in the ass,” he stifled a groan. “He’s already figured out what I am.”
Hearing this, Kevin wasn’t sure whether to feel sad or happy.
Derik—sizzling with anger, clutched the wheel and said, “It’s only a matter of time before he comes for me. Tomorrow, he’s conducting a home-to-home investigation in every household here in the city. It’s something I like to call shifter hunting. I advise you to stay out of sight when he comes around. He’s great at sniffing out shifters,” he said, before his voice became low, as though he was speaking to no one in particular. “I just do not know how he does that.”
“But I haven’t met him before. How do I know it’s him when he comes around?”
“When you see him, you’ll know. Trust me. He walks around with a muscular giant of a bodyguard who never leaves his side. Lawrence doesn’t go anywhere without him.”
Do not involve the police; there are not many people we can trust right now.
Leonard’s warning slithered its way into Kevin’s mind again. And he didn’t know why. Then he gave it deep thought.
If Lawrence is president of TCU, then calling to tell him about the address Leonard had discovered to him might not be such a great idea. If he is informed of T-Murek’s hideout, he’ll send out word to every agent and officer on the taskforce to go in search of T-Murek. And if this information gets in the wrong ear, T-Murek could slip through their fingers before the search even begins.
Again, Leonard’s words rattled through his mind.
I tried to bring the activities of Beocraft to light, so I returned to the precinct, telling everyone everything I knew. That night, the state security chief led an attack to capture and arrest them, but they were all gone before we got there. It’s either they knew we were coming, or they’d changed the venue for their meeting. After that night, I started having this awkward feeling of being followed.
He turned to look at Derik. “We can’t trust Lawrence or anyone at TCU for now. The members of Beocraft are everywhere, and we could be giving information directly to the enemies if you tell the taskforce about this address. We’ll lose the element of surprise and risk T-Murek slipping through our fingers. You cannot tell anyone about this.”
A blot of silence.
“Tomorrow, we will check out this address—just the two of us and no one else.”
###
Derik rounded a corner and turned into the next street, putting his blinker on as he pulled up beside the sidewalk. Climbing out of the car, Kevin closed the door and leaned on the window. “Thanks again for saving me back there. I would be dead if you hadn’t showed up.”
Derik’s lips curled into a smile. “Before you try to do anything stupid like that again, try to call me first.”
He snorted at his response, and the corners of his mouth quirked up. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Then Derik drove off, leaving him to stand alone in the dark street, barefooted. And turning to look at the apartment, Kevin had mixed feelings. He didn’t know what horror lied in wait for him within those walls. A cold shiver ran down the length of his spine as he walked towards the door. He felt so scared to face Cedric.
He opened the door and walked into the dark main-hallway. As he inched into the darkness, he felt fear enveloping him. He had grown scared of the dark since his terrible encounter with the masked man that’d kidnapped him from his room.
Engulfed by a shroud of thick darkness, Kevin ran his fingers along the wall, searching for the light switch. When he finally found it, he quickly turned on the light, and the room brightened. His eye fell on the calendar that hung on the wall beside the light switch. He observed that April 26th had been crossed off the calendar with red ink.
That is exactly five days from today, he thought with dread.
His birthday!
Why would Cedric strike out my birthday on his calendar?
He wondered as he walked to his room. Then he realized that Cedric might have marked his birthday so that he wouldn’t forget—perhaps he was cooking up a big surprise for him. Kevin wanted so badly to believe Cedric crossing his birthday off his calendar wasn’t for any creepy reason. But he was convinced otherwise. He knew better than to let his guards down. His relationship with Cedric will never be the same ever again, not after what he’d found about him tonight. Cedric can no longer be trusted.
As he walked past Cedric’s room, he noticed that the door was still open, just as he had left it—a clear indication that Cedric wasn’t back home yet. The thought of invading Cedric’s room came to his mind.
As soon as he came an inch closer to the door, he felt something watching him from the shadows. He rolled his eyes to the corner, a frigid chill racing down his spine when he saw a masked, hooded figure standing behind—watching him.
The figure remained still, glaring at him from behind a scary mask. Kevin startled with fear and shuffled backward until his back was pressed against the wall. The hooded figure raised its hands to take off the hood, then it slowly removed the mask.
It was Cedric.
“What are you doing in here?” his voice was calm and carried a note of barely subdued anger.
“I saw nothing in there. I swear it,” Kevin stuttered, moving away from the door, away from him, his body trembling as he leaned back against the wall.
Cedric walked towards him in a way that scared him—venomous gaze fixed on him, and when he got close, he spoke to his face. “Curiosity kills a cat. Be sure to keep that in mind,” his voice sounded almost like a whisper.
Cedric walked past him into his room, then slammed the door, shaking the foundation of the entire building. Kevin remained frozen, heart pounding against his chest. Even though he’d been with Cedric for an entire year, he felt like he didn’t know him anymore. Cedric acted like an entirely distinct person. He had become cold, and it scared him.
Kevin heard a voice behind him say, startling him, “I knew you were following me.”
He moved quickly away from the wall, looked up, and saw Cedric standing in the doorway. Cedric spoke with a coldness he’d never heard before. “I let you follow me so that you can put your suspicions to rest. Now you have allowed the group to discover you. You have made yourself a target.”
“Are you going to kill me?” he asked in a quivering voice.
For a moment, Cedric cast an icy gaze at him, and it scared the hell out of him. “No, I won’t kill you,” he snapped a reply at him. “… but they will.” He shut the door, leaving Kevin to stand outside in horror.
He was frightened and confused. “Who are ‘they’?” A lump went down his throat.
Wasting no second, Kevin dashed into his room and packed his things. In one night, he parked all his belongings, putting only what he needed in his bag. He’d never been so scared in his entire life. He felt like his life was on the line—like there was someone standing in every dark corner, watching and waiting to capture him, just as they did before. That night, he ran to stay with Landry, explaining all that’d happened to him.
###
Kevin never wanted to leave the house the next morning, but he was compelled to. He needed to meet up with Leonard as planned the previous night. He had Landry drive him to the park.
The sun was already up when they arrived. Kevin looked around the park for any sign of Leonard, but he did not see him anywhere. He got out of the car and walked into the park in search of Leonard.
The park was buzzing with activities. He turned to look around, hoping to find Leonard, but didn’t see him anywhere. Kevin wondered if he had arrived a bit too early, then stole a quick glance at his watch.
9:08 am.
He waited on an empty bench. After a couple of minutes, he looked at his watch again.
9:37 am.
He looked around the park, frustration making his veins swell. He kept getting this strange feeling that something was wrong. Then he noticed a small crowd that had gathered in the park very close to the spot where Mirabel’s body had been found a few days ago. Now he knew something was definitely wrong. He felt it in his gut.
He got up from where he sat and hurried towards the crowd, moving past the people that had gathered. When he got to the front, he let out a breathless gasp as he took in the sight of Leonard lying naked amid the people that had gathered. His corpse was bathed in blood.
Leonard’s body was covered in cuts and bruises, his mouth frozen in an open scream. Strands of veins were visible across his neck, and his bloodshot eyes were wide open, staring at the crowd in a way that made most of the people that gathered there uncomfortable. Just like Murphy, his chest was torn open, and his ribs were visible. His heart hung from his chest. The corpse appeared pale from losing too much blood. Struck with revulsion, Kevin quickly turned to look away, tears forming in his eyes. He never could have believed this would happen to Leonard barely two days after discovering Murphy’s corpse in that warehouse. Several seconds later, having made peace with the fact that Leonard was truly gone, he slowly turned to look at the body which lie in the same spot Mirabel’s body had once lay. His fingers folded into a tight fist as he forced himself to look away. But he couldn’t. His gaze remained fixed on the corpse, tears sliding down his cheek, lips trembling.
He stood from the bench and trudged towards the birds. And as he neared, he noticed they were the same crows from his dream. Only inches away, the crows stopped to stare at Kevin in a way that struck him as odd.He quivered at the sight of their scary red eyes looking up at him and stopped dead in his track. They let out loud caws, as though they perceived him as a threat. Then they spread their wings and found flight.Almost immediately, a flurry breeze blew in his direction, brisk, cool. Kevin heard a voice from the wind call out Natasha’s name in a faint whisper. The voice was clear as day. He’d heard the same voice last night—in his dream. There was no mistake.Kevin’s eyes widened when he suddenly realized he was reliving a moment—a moment that had already happened in his dream. Suddenly, he realised what was going to happen next. Heart pounding against his chest, he took out his phone to call Derik.“Derik&h
They rushed William to the hospital, and the doctors immediately started operating on him upon arrival. While Derik and Kevin sat outside the operating room, waiting nervously with their fingers crossed, some security men stood in the background, keeping an eye on them.Kevin sat on a bench, gently tapping his feet against the floor. He squinted uneasily at Natasha who paced the room nervously. Her lips were restless as she said silent prayers for her dad’s quick recovery. He felt an urge to put his arms around her.But if he did, what would it lead to?Derik turned to gaze at her as she paced, then clutched her arm. “Don’t fret over it. Worrying won’t make your dad get better any faster,” he said. “Try to relax. It will help calm your nerves.”Natasha took a seat beside him—directly opposite Kevin. But that didn’t stop her worries; she fidgeted in her seat still. And her gaze found Kevin. They e
“T-Murek had also targeted Natasha’s dad,” Derik pointed out, looking over an unmarked photograph of William that hung on the wall. “But why?”“Warn him of the grave danger he’s in.”Derik took out his phone to capture the photograph of William on the wall, then made a video recording with his phone of every photograph in the room.Another photograph caught Kevin’s eyes. His stomach knotted with dread when he saw it was a picture of himself. It was placed alongside Natasha’s. Both were unmarked. He took down his photograph from its frame and stared with confused eyes. He tried to recall when he had taken this picture—eyes widened when it finally hit him.A week ago.Back there in principal Mac Georgery’s office, when he’d signed the enrolment form, his photograph had been taken and stored in the school register. He felt a shiver race down his spine when he
Kevin was in a cab, heading back home. His meeting with the principal didn’t turn out as he’d hoped. He’d ended up getting himself expelled instead. At the moment, he wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. How did a photograph that had been taken privately at the college he recently enrolled in end up in a random building—a killer’s den? There has to be some explanation.Just then, his phone rang. Alex.“Hello, Kevin.”“Alex?” his forehead creased. “It’s 9 pm. You never call this late. Is something wrong?”“There are some things I need to tell you. It’s about…”“And it can’t wait until tomorrow morning?” he interrupted.“No, it can’t,” he answered. “Where are you right now?”Kevin picked up a slight tone of distress in his voice. “I am headed home. Why?&rdquo
Kevin walked out of the autopsy room where Landry’s body was kept for medical examination. Alex followed him closely behind, sympathizing with him. He had just witnessed the brutal nature of Landry’s body, and it left him in considerable shock. His expression was numb as he walked to a bench in a corner. As he sat, he stared blankly at the wall.Alex took his seat beside him. “I just received a report that your friend’s house went up in flames at about 3:45am, early this morning. The fire was said to have started in the kitchen. I thought I should let you know.”Kevin turned to look at him, eyes swollen and reddened, his cheek wet with tears. He was terribly distraught that it became a nauseating pain. He smiled, then suddenly started laughing hysterically. Tears streamed from his cheek as he laughed.Alex, bothered by his psychotic behaviour, slouched. “Kevin? Are you alright?” he asked, waving his hands over his face.
Kevin trembled from his knee as he looked up at its mask. Its dark, hallow eyes sent a cold shiver racing down the length of his spine. Only an inch separated him from the masked figure, who stood still with its arms folded and eyes fixed on him.Kevin shuffled away from him. The figure, who seemed almost inanimate, remained unmoved, and he wondered why. With his hands still pressed on its chest, he doubted if really the masked man was there with him. A sudden curiosity grew within him that left him wondering whose face was behind that mask. Was this really the same figure that kidnaped him a year ago, or was someone pulling a prank on him?Kevin started towards him, raising a hand to his face—to take off his mask. Only an inch close, he spread out his finger to pull off the mask, but then, much to his horror, the figure clutched his arm, pulling it away.Gasping, Kevin fell back and scrambled away quickly, pulling back his wrist. And when he turned to loo
“We are under attack!”One of the soldiers who’d witnessed Scott’s mysterious death alerted the others and immediately opened fire in the direction which he saw the footsteps leaving. The footsteps changed course and trotted towards him. Fast.And suddenly a knife appeared from thin air and plunged into his chest. His eyes went wide and wild as the knife drove deeper, twisting about in his chest, crushing his rips, piercing his heart. Mouth agape with shock and acute pain, the soldier dropped. Blood was gushing from his chest.Almost immediately, panic-stricken, they all fired randomly in every direction. And one by one, the soldiers dropped like flies. It terrified Kevin as he watched the masked figure walk amongst them, stabbing each of them in the chest. They couldn’t see him. None of them could—but he could. It terrified him to know he was the only one who could see the hooded figure.“I was never crazy, after