MYTHOS UNIVERSITY: BOOK 2
This is a work of fiction. No character in this book represents any real person, living or deceased. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Mythos University: Book 2
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Afterword
About the author
Where to find more books?
CHAPTER 1
A persistent touch on Leo’s shoulder woke him up after what could only have been a few hours of sleep. Blinking away the sleep from his heavy eyelids, the young dragon stretched with a groan and then looked at the person daring to disturb his well-deserved rest. However, when his tired eyes settled on Thalia’s form, his brain started functioning properly, and he remembered all the events from the previous night.
Quickly sitting up in bed, he glanced around to realize that only the two of them were present in the room at the moment. When he had gone to sleep a few hours earlier, he had his succubus lying on him, and the two human mages sleeping in the other corner of the bed. But now, it seemed like all three had let him sleep while they went about their day.
“Damn,” Leo muttered, rubbing his eyes with his hands before focusing his attention on the older goddess, who stared at him with crossed arms and an expression that gave away none of her thoughts. “I guess you’re not here for a casual visit?”
“Unfortunately not,” Thalia huffed, maintaining her serious demeanor for just a few more seconds before her face broke into a wide, teasing smile. “Congratulations on finally losing your virginity, by the way. Friendly tip, though: next time, open a window before sleeping. The scent in here is overwhelming.”
“I’ll take that into consideration next time,” Leo said, getting up from bed, unfazed by his friend seeing him naked. Nudity wasn’t the same taboo among dragons as it was among humans, so it wasn’t the first time the older dragon had seen him in his human form without clothes. “But tell me, why are you here? Have you found out anything about the kidnappers?”
“That can wait a bit,” Thalia asserted with a tone that made it clear she wouldn’t discuss the matter further for the moment. “Now,
I need you to clean up and then dress in something formal. The university uniform is fine, but I’m sure you brought a suit with you. Pick the most expensive one and get dressed. I’ll be back in 20 minutes.”
Before Leo could say anything, Thalia simply disappeared as if she had never been there. Resisting the temptation to look around to find her, as he knew she wasn’t simply hiding, Leo grabbed his hygiene products and left his room while using a spell to become invisible since he didn’t want to put on clothes just to soil them. Even if nudity wasn’t a taboo for dragons, he didn’t want to be seen by all the residents on his floor in the Bahamut Hall.
Fifteen minutes after leaving his room, Leo was passing through the door again. Taking a morning shower without Alice’s presence felt a bit odd, emphasizing how accustomed he had become to the girl’s company. Ignoring the pang of loneliness in his heart, he cleaned himself thoroughly, not even allowing his keen sense of smell to discern what he had been doing for endless hours.
Back in his room, Leo Yawned, still feeling quite sleepy despite getting a few hours of rest before being awakened by Thalia le Fay, his Spatial Magic teacher and one of his dearest friends. Well, he didn’t exactly have many friends, but that didn’t change the fact that he liked her a lot. With another yawn, he retrieved from his closet a custom-made suit that he had never really worn but was forced to bring along ‘just in case’. Apparently, his father proved to be correct about that, unfortunately. Not that Leo didn’t understand the importance and meaning that one’s clothing could have, but he simply found it futile to impress someone with a suit worth tens of thousands of Euros when he could easily raise that amount by selling the scales he shed here and there. Well, he knew that for some people, the appearance of power and wealth was more important than actually possessing those traits, which is why he never liked getting involved in politics.
If he had doubts that he was being watched, they were all dispelled when Thalia appeared out of nowhere the moment he finished tying his tie. Instead of turning to her, he continued adjusting and checking his appearance in the mirror on Alice’s table.
Thanks to the mirror, he saw Thalia approaching with a small box in her hands. Turning his attention to her, Leo watched as the goddess took out a small silver brooch in the shape of a dragon. Curious about what she would do with it, he stood still as she pinned the brooch to his right lapel.
“What’s this for?” he asked after she was satisfied that the brooch was securely fastened.
“Just an ornament to show your political alignment,” Thalia shrugged. “It’s not really anything important, so don’t dwell on it for now.”
Looking at the brooch in the mirror, he then turned his attention back to Thalia and scrutinized her more carefully, noticing that she was also wearing an identical brooch. In fact, she was even wearing the same color of suit as him, navy blue, although hers was certainly tailored for the female body, highlighting the perfect curves that the goddess had, even without showing any skin. Her curves weren't the only perfect thing about her, of course, as she had a face that would cause envy in any woman, complemented by beautiful red hair and piercing green eyes. Underneath the jackets, however, they were wearing different colors, with Thalia in a white dress shirt with a purple tie while Leo wore a navy blue vest over a gray dress shirt, with a tie of the same color to complete the look.
“How do I look?” Leo asked, opening his arms and even spinning so that the goddess could see all the details of the outfit.
“Like someone important wearing something that could feed multiple families,” Thalia said with a serious demeanor, even though her eyes sparkled with hidden humor.
“Good to know I can count on you to give me a reality check,” Leo scoffed, rolling his eyes but deciding not to touch on the fact that her suit was likely worth much more than what he was wearing. And not by a small margin, either. “Where are we going?”
“For a little meeting called to discuss the events of yesterday and how to proceed with the mission,” Thalia said shrugging. “Nothing of great importance.”
Leo nodded as he heard the older goddess speak about how this was of little importance. If something like this was considered
unimportant to Thalia, he certainly didn’t want to know what she considered worrying. Or maybe he did, if it was something interesting that would make her let loose a bit.
“Are you ready?” Thalia asked while pretending to check the watch on her wrist. “We don’t have much time.”
“I’m ready,” Leo affirmed with a nod of his head.
Hardly had these words left his mouth, and he felt Thalia’s magic touch him. With his magical senses, he could perceive how the goddess had taken control of the space around them. She hadn’t even tried to limit the space she affected to just the one they were occupying. Not that Leo could really blame her, as if he had her powers, he probably wouldn’t waste time trying to save a mana amount that was probably nothing to her. The young dragon knew he could resist her magic, but he trusted that she didn’t mean him any harm. Thus, he simply waited in place while she worked her magic, and in an instant, the two of them appeared in a room that was already filled with other people. Including someone he didn’t expect to find there.
“What happened?” Leo asked Alice as he walked over to her. The succubus, dressed in a black suit that had undoubtedly been tailored just for her, looked at him with a tired smile on her face, having slept as little as he had after going through the same ‘exercises’ as him. Looking her up and down, Leo allowed himself to admire his girlfriend. She was perfect in every way, with her exotic red skin and bright eyes of the same color. Not to mention the divine curves she possessed. “You weren’t in our room when I woke up.”
“I woke up when Maria and Kelly did too, but wait a moment,” Alice admitted, raising a finger to signal him to wait before saying anything else. A few seconds later, she spoke again. “Okay, now no one can hear us. This spell is really handy. But back to the point, I took a shower after helping them clean up and was heading back to the room when Thalia appeared out of nowhere and practically dragged me here after making me put on this outfit. I honestly don’t know how you didn’t wake up. I mean, I know exactly why you didn’t wake up, but you get what I mean.”
“And now the real reason?” Leo asked with a raised eyebrow after laughing at the expression on his beloved’s face at the end of her explanation.
“We also had a little chat,” Alice said, shrugging. “Nothing you need to worry about.”
Accepting her explanation, he averted his eyes from her captivating and bright red eyes, and then started to scrutinize the occupants of the room, some of whom were doing the same to him. Besides Thalia and Alice, the only other person he knew there was Professor Killmore, who was in a corner leaning against the wall and practically ignoring the man trying to strike up a conversation with him. When their eyes met, Leo moved away from Alice and walked over to his Combat Magic teacher.
As Leo approached Killmore, the man trying to talk to him nodded his head at the young dragon and then moved away, apparently not wanting to intrude between the two of them. Looking at the man’s back as he headed to a group of three others conversing in hushed tones, all dressed as if they wanted to impress someone and project their own importance, Leo noticed something he was certain about the kind of people he was dealing with.
“Politicians,” Leo scoffed, shaking his head.
“And bureaucrats,” Killmore added with a small nod of his head in greeting to the young dragon. “I suppose I have to thank you for being here now instead of teaching class.”
“You’re teaching today?” Leo asked surprised.
“I was being sincere with my offer to help my students who wish to continue training even on days when we don’t officially have class,” Killmore said naturally. “Your friend Lucca is one of those taking advantage of the offer.”
Leo had actually completely forgotten about that, having dismissed the offer as something that wasn’t really meant for him. Maybe he should talk to Lucca to see how Killmore was conducting these ‘extra classes’. At the moment, however, Leo was sure he had something more important to worry about.
“So, is this meeting really about what happened yesterday?” Leo asked the professor while looking around the room.
“Yes,” Killmore said without hesitation. “You and your girlfriend disrupted an important mission that was of interest to many important people. I understand why you did it, really, but you both messed up by acting on your own.”
“I know,” Leo sighed, hanging his head, knowing that Killmore was right in his words.
“Next time, kid, just talk to someone,” Killmore said with an unusually gentle tone, going so far as to put a hand on the young dragon’s shoulder. “I know with your powers you feel like you can solve all the world’s problems if you just try hard enough, and maybe someday that will be true, but there’s no shame and dishonor in asking for help. If you had come to talk to me, I could have tracked Yukina’s aura anywhere in this world.”
“I promise I’ll try to remember that,” Leo affirmed, being the only thing he could really do in this situation. “Did you know about the mission all along?”
“No,” Killmore shook his head and crossed his arms, clearly displeased about it. “I was only informed of the situation when Yukina became a target. They knew that if she had missed any of my classes, I would have gone after her to see if everything was okay.”
Leo couldn’t help but be impressed by these words. Apparently, Killmore cared much more about his students than Leo had given him credit for. Leo tried to glean more information about the true nature of the mission, but the professor was quite evasive with his answers. Whether he was acting like this because he didn’t know much himself or because he thought he shouldn’t share more information, the dragon didn’t know.
Fortunately, Leo didn’t have to wait long until the people they seemed to be waiting for arrived. Without warning, the double doors of the room opened, and three human women entered the room. Women whom Leo recognized, even though he had only seen two of them personally. The first person to enter the room was the director of Mythos University, Alda Silver, who wore a gray women’s suit with the university emblem. The second woman, the one he hadn’t seen personally, was none other than Alexandra Harrington.
Although he had never been in the same place as her, Leo certainly knew who she was. The older woman who appeared to be between 55 and 60 years old, and who wore a simple but elegant light blue women’s suit, was not only a powerful sorceress but also the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Even before taking up this position, however, she was already a well-known public figure in the supernatural community, having been a member of the Council of Mages for over a decade.
The girl entering last, however, surprised Leo deeply. Laying his eyes on the 1.60-meter-tall girl with brown hair of the same color as her eyes, Leo couldn't think of a reason for Tris to be there. A sentiment that the human girl seemed to reflect, by the way she tried to maintain a neutral demeanor even though everyone there could tell she was extremely uncomfortable. She was also the only person there dressed in the university uniform, which, although a formal outfit, did not compare to the attire of the others.
“All right,” Director Silver began as the doors closed behind Tris, literally by magic. Looking around the room, she clearly made a mental attendance list and then pointed to the meeting table in the middle of the room. “Now that we’re all here, please, let’s sit down to discuss matters of importance.”
Still tired but eager to finally find out what this spontaneous meeting was about, Leo walked to the other side of the table to sit next to Alice. Sighing, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this would be a long day.
CHAPTER 2
The noise of chairs being dragged filled the room for the next few seconds as everyone took their seats at the table. There was almost a small competition to see who would sit next to Prime Minister Harrington, but that was quickly resolved when she placed Tris on her right, while Director Silver took the chair on the other side. Leo huffed slightly when he realized that even so, the seats closest to the important woman were still the most coveted. Tris’s eyes met Leo’s as she sat down, but when he raised an eyebrow as if to ask why she was there, the human girl averted her gaze and stared fixedly at the table as if she had found something interesting in the wood.
‘Youdidn’tknow?’Leo heard Thalia’s voice in his mind. ‘Trisis thedaughterofthePrimeMinister . ’
‘I’mprettysurehernameisn’tTrisHarrington,’Leo said in his own mind, knowing that Thalia would hear him.
‘Andit’snot,’Thalia confirmed. ‘HernameisTrisCampbell.Must beherfather’slastname.’
Leo pondered on this while taking a seat at the table in a random chair. Alice and Killmore sat on either side of him, while Thalia sat on the other side of the table. When everyone was seated, Director Silver wasted no time in explaining why they were all there.
“Firstly, good morning, everyone, and thank you for coming here so suddenly,” the director began. “The reason we’re all here is something important and urgent, so we don’t have time to waste. As you all must know, Mythos got involved in an operation to dismantle a supernatural trafficking scheme, specifically targeting young women. Last night, the status of the operation underwent a change, but before we discuss that, I’ll let Agent Moretti here, representing Interpol in this case, give us some more context.”
The director pointed to a blonde woman in her forties sitting two chairs to her left. The woman nodded once to Silver before looking around the table to ensure everyone’s attention.
“Well,” she began, “I’m Francesca Moretti, and as Director Silver said, I’m here representing Interpol in this case. I know you’re all aware of the criminal group operating in the region, but what most of you may not know is that they are not the only ones involved in this scheme.”
Upon hearing this, Leo growled before regaining control, momentarily drawing everyone’s attention to him. He didn’t intend to attract attention to himself this way, but the idea that more victims were going through something like this made his anger threaten to surface. Worse, his actions could have undone all the effort being made to dismantle this criminal scheme. Feeling a hand wrap around his, however, helped him swallow this feeling. Taking a deep breath, he intertwined his fingers with Alice’s and focused back on the agent.
Agent Moretti had paused momentarily, hearing the unusual sound from the young man and seeing the barely contained fury on his face. However, she only needed to look at the brooch on his lapel to understand what was happening. The only dragon she had seen personally was Thalia, with whom she interacted during the case, but she knew such reactions were not out of place for the species. Even after all these years, she still couldn’t believe what the world had become. At what point in her life did she think she would be sitting at a table with mages, a demon, and two dragons? One of them even being a goddess! Realizing that the young dragon didn’t really want to interrupt her, she simply continued with her explanation of the facts.
“About four months ago, a German police operation dismantled a criminal group that was kidnapping and trafficking young women, mostly supernaturals,” the agent informed. “However, the criminals never went to trial, as they all disappeared from police custody without a trace.”
“All of them?” asked a woman in her fifties, looking incredulous. "What happened to them?”
“No one knows for sure, but the main theory is that they were teleported,” Agent Moretti said. When some people at the table started talking over each other, Moretti raised a hand, asking everyone to silence. “I know there are preventive measures against that, but there are always exceptions. This room itself is protected against spatial magic, and I bet Thalia didn’t enter through the door.”
“It’s not even that hard,” Thalia said, speaking up for the first time in the meeting. “There are various ways to bypass protections like these, but anyone powerful enough can simply ignore most of these safeguards.”
“So what’s stopping someone like you from teleporting into Buckingham Palace and killing the entire royal family?” the man who was talking to Killmore before asked with disdain. Leo was a bit surprised by the way the man spoke to Thalia, but looking at her, he noticed she didn’t care one bit about it.
“John!” Director Silver called the man’s attention, her tone showing how dissatisfied she was with him at the moment.
“Certainly not you,” Thalia replied simply, surprisingly making Killmore start laughing while John’s face turned red, though Leo wasn’t sure if it was due to embarrassment or anger.
Leo actually knew that most heads of state always had the best magical protections available, so maybe not even Thalia could teleport into the palace. He was also sure that most heads of state had gods and other powerful figures on their payroll to prevent situations like these, but that was another story.
“If we can get back to the point,” Agent Moretti said. She waited until everyone was paying attention to her again and then continued with the subject. “About a month ago, a police operation in Italy uncovered another apparently unrelated group involved in the same activities. That’s when I was appointed to this case. When the local police raided their hideout, they found two dozen victims matching the same characteristics as the targets of the first group. They were arrested, and their victims were freed. However, the same thing that happened with the first group also happened with them: all the
criminals disappeared without a trace. We even contacted spatial magic experts, but they couldn’t find anything.”
“So, were they working together?” someone asked.
“No,” Moretti said. “Before they disappeared, we managed to extract information from their leader that they had been hired to carry out the kidnappings. However, every time we tried to get information about the mastermind behind the crimes, the group’s leader claimed not to remember anything about this person or group. He didn’t even find it strange. If we insisted for him to try to remember something, he would start experiencing severe headaches, even fainting if he tried too hard. We called in a mind mage to try to see what was wrong, but they disappeared before the mage could reach the police station.”
“It probably wouldn’t have mattered,” Thalia said, shrugging. This wasn’t the first time she had this conversation with the agent, but most of the other members of the meeting hadn’t received this information yet. “Doing something like that with a person’s mind is much harder than simply erasing information and periods of time, and then replacing them with false memories.”
“Why go through all that trouble then?” Alice asked curiously. “Wouldn’t it be much less suspicious if they hadn’t done that?”
“Because they didn’t want to deceive ordinary mind mages,” Thalia pondered. “They wanted to fool anyone who had the skills and power necessary to trace back or even recover erased memories. I consulted some friends with more experience than me in dealing with this aspect of mind magic, and they all told me that the man would die before any information could be acquired.”
“Is the same thing happening with the vampire who was leading the group operating here, David or something?” Alice asked the Interpol agent. “If so, I know someone who can help. She won’t do it for free, though.”
“Who?” Director Silver asked.
“Do you know the presenter Sara Kiss?” Alice asked with a mischievous smile.
The room fell silent for a few seconds as everyone tried to process what Alice had said. From the expressions around the table,
it was clear that no explanation would be needed regarding who Sara Kiss was.
“Are you sure she can help?” Agent Moretti asked, being the first to gather the courage to speak.
“Absolutely,” the succubus said.
“Do you have her number?” asked the Prime Minister, who until now seemed content to simply watch the meeting without intervening.
“Yes,” Alice confirmed.
“Call her and tell her that we need her presence immediately, please,” Tris's mother said. “Someone will fetch her if she cannot create a portal to come here. If her price is reasonable, I will pay for the assistance.”
“If I may ask, madam,” John began. “What’s your interest in this case?”
“You may not,” Prime Minister Harrington replied without even looking at the man, who clearly didn’t like the response he received. As he was probably many levels of importance below her, he simply swallowed whatever he wanted to say.
Doing as she was requested, Alice called the older succubus. The conversation was short, with the other succubus agreeing to be present at the meeting and just asking for a few minutes to get ready, which was quite fair. Alice messaged her the address of where they were, and then she just waited for her like everyone else, maintaining a conversation flowing with Leo and Thalia. They tried to include Professor Killmore, but the man seemed more interested in staring at the wall, lost in his own thoughts. A team of university staff even entered the room with refreshments and some snacks.
After a little less than 10 minutes of waiting, an employee opened the door to allow the entry of a succubus that everyone around the table recognized, even if they wouldn’t admit it. For all intents and purposes, she was quite similar to Alice, with a body that seemed to be the embodiment of the sin of lust. Unlike Alice, however, the figure entering the room had no wings or tail, only black horns. Looking at Alice, Leo couldn’t help but imagine what she would look like on the day she was able to alter her body
enough to do the same without using her divinity. He honestly preferred the appearance she had at the moment, but for him, Alice would always be Alice, no matter what appearance she chose to assume.
Leo was so distracted thinking about this that he almost missed the moment when the eyes of the older succubus met, unexpectedly, Killmore’s. The moment it happened, a provocative smile appeared on the woman’s face.
“Hello, Killmore,” she said with a voice dripping with sensuality. “This is the last place I expected to find you, love. Are you working at Mythos?”
“Unfortunately,” Killmore said with a voice that betrayed no emotion. “And you can stop pretending you didn’t know about it, Sara.”
“Do you two know each other?” Alice asked uncertainly, feeling a certain tension between the two.
“Yes,” Sara said with a smile directed at her princess. “One could say we have a history together.”
“A history that is better left in the past,” Killmore asserted as he crossed his arms. “And certainly not the reason why you were called here.”
Sadness appeared in the succubus’s eyes for a moment, but the smile on her face didn’t even waver. She was a presenter, after all, someone accustomed to controlling her emotions and expressions. Leo and Alice didn’t know what history their professor had with the woman, but from the way the conversation was going, it was clear that it wasn’t a good one.
“He’s right,” John said. “We don’t have all the time in the world here.”
Ignoring the man, and most of the rest of the room, Sara began to approach Alice, who had stood up to greet her. She didn’t pay attention even to the Mythos director and the Prime Minister, keeping her eyes fixed only on her princess.
“How may I serve you, my...” Sara began to say as she bowed formally, leaving everyone in the room who didn’t know about Alice’s
origin confused. Before she could call her princess, however, Alice interrupted her.
“We have a rather unusual case where you might be able to help,” Alice said. “Agent Moretti here will explain the details to you.”
What followed were a few minutes in which the Interpol agent briefed the succubus on what was happening with David. She explained all the symptoms they had been able to discover and the reactions the criminal had every time he tried to remember something related to the mastermind of the crime.
“I’ve seen similar techniques being used,” Sara said, her attention focused on Alice, a fact that displeased many of the table members. “I think I can help you with this.”
“And what do you want in payment for your services?” Silver asked.
“We’ll pay any reasonable price if you can really do this,” Prime Minister Harrington asserted.
A huge mischievous smile appeared on the succubus’s face upon hearing those words. She would have done this as a favor for Killmore, disguised as a favor for the princess. But if the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was offering to pay for it, she could certainly find something she wanted.
“Well,” Sara said maliciously. “Something just came to my mind right now,”
CHAPTER 3
“Do you think they’ll take much longer?” Leo asked Alice as he paced nervously back and forth. They were in an underground corridor at the university, facing a single door behind which Sara Kiss, Agent Moretti, Prime Minister Harrington, and Director Silver were with the vampire that Alice and Leo had encountered, David.
“I don’t know,” Alice replied, placing a hand on the young dragon’s arm to make him stop in one place. “But you better stop pacing. Killmore looks ready to cast a spell on you.”
The man in question huffed and rolled his eyes. Killmore did seem more somber and irritable than usual, so maybe Alice wasn’t wrong to believe that the professor would attack his student if he didn’t settle down.
‘Hewasactuallythinkingaboutit,’Leo heard Thalia say in his mind with humor. ‘Hewasgoingthroughalistofspellsinhismind thatwouldtrapyouinplace.Youalmosthadtheexperienceof havingcementhandsgrabbingyourfeet.’
Leo’s first instinct was to look at his Combat Magic professor as if expecting an imminent attack. The second, however, was to wonder if the older man would teach him such a spell. Judging by the raised eyebrow Killmore gave him when their eyes met, Leo was certain the other man had a good idea of what was going through his mind.
“They’ve been in there for half an hour already,” Tris murmured from where she leaned against the wall, keeping herself apart from the others. Leo glanced at her briefly, but the human girl once again averted her eyes from his when they met. Leo found it strange, as the girl wasn’t exactly shy, but he knew it wasn’t the time to dwell on it.
The five of them—Leo, Alice, Killmore, Thalia, and Tris—were the only members of the meeting still present at the moment. When the older succubus offered her assistance, the meeting had a brief
pause, leading these five to follow the director and the prime minister while the others went about their tasks. Killmore also tried to escape, but the director insisted he be present, for some reason. Whatever the story between him and the succubus, it was something he certainly didn’t seem eager to relive.
“Something happened,” Thalia suddenly said, drawing the attention of the others to her. Without further explanation, she moved throughthe door with supernatural speed and shattered it into a thousand pieces. Now without the door, everyone could see inside the room, which was just a square space with a metal table in the middle and a chair.
What caught Leo’s and everyone else’s attention, however, was that someone was missing from the room. Five people were supposed to be inside, but somehow, the vampire David seemed to have disappeared. Entering the room after Thalia and followed by Killmore and Alice, he looked around and saw that there was indeed no sign of the vampire whose face he wouldn’t forget anytime soon.
“What happened?” Killmore asked, adopting a serious and battleready demeanor as he scanned the room for threats. Or maybe something he could punch to improve his mood.
“The vampire vanished like all the other suspects before him,” Agent Moretti informed with a sigh. “I still don’t have confirmation from his lackeys, but I suspect the same has happened. I thought this time we had made some progress! This group had been under custody longer than any others before they disappeared. Why the hell did this happen now?”
“Who knew about their capture before the meeting?” Killmore asked when an idea struck him.
“You, me, and Thalia,” Director Silver said without hesitation. She then turned to Leo and Alice, continuing her count. “Apart from us, Leokyris, Alice, and the doppelgängers knew because they were directly involved. But these two young ones here are of utmost trust, as you well know, and the doppelgängers are reliable professionals under a magical contract.”
“And now a room full of bureaucrats and politicians knows too,” Thalia completed Killmore’s idea. “Someone clearly spilled the beans,
and now we’re seeing the results.”
“Well, then it’s a good thing I got the information before the guy disappeared, isn’t it?” Sara interjected into the conversation with a huge provocative smile on her face.
There was a collective sigh of relief upon hearing that not all was lost. Leo didn’t know what the older succubus had asked for as payment for her services, but if the information she obtained was valuable, the price would surely be worth it.
“What did you find out?” Prime Minister Harrington asked after her daughter finally entered the room and stood by her side. She looked between her own daughter and the other two young ones she didn’t know personally but decided that if figures like Killmore and Thalia trusted them, she would too.
“Our vampire was working under the effects of a compulsion,” Sara informed. She must have seen the expression that appeared on Leo’s face, as she quickly backtracked. “I’m not saying the man was innocent, as from what I saw in his memories before the case, he wasn’t a good person at all. What I’m saying is that whoever hired his services not only erased his memories and set a trap in his mind but also placed him under a compulsion to carry out the job. He was practically being forced by his own brain, without even realizing it, to collect the victims. This partly explains why he got desperate enough to act near the Mythos. His time was running out, and he had to complete the job.”
“Did you find out how he communicated with the mastermind of the scheme?” Interpol Agent Moretti asked, her hopes rising. This was the first information of this kind they had managed to gather since the beginning of the case all those months ago. “It’s a pity that the ones behind this are now aware that this group has been discovered. We could have set up an operation to catch them!”
“That’s the best part,” the succubus smiled slyly. “I don’t think you’ve missed your chance!”
Sara then went on to explain everything she had gathered from David’s mind. She hadn’t obtained many useful details from his mind itself, but the compulsion itself was an invaluable source of information. Through it, the succubus discovered that after
kidnapping all the victims, David was supposed to traffic them onto a cruise ship of all things. There, he would meet with other groups working for the same employer and then collaborate with them to protect their ‘cargo.’ The compulsion didn’t provide any information about what would happen after that, but that was more than enough to act upon. The bad news, however? The boarding date for the cruise was the next day.
“We have to infiltrate someone onto that cruise ship,” Agent Moretti said hopefully. “I’ll talk to the NCA to see if they have a team ready to act. This is our best chance to bring down this entire scheme.”
“Be careful with this,” Sara warned, perhaps being serious for the first time since arriving at Mythos. “Whoever put this compulsion in your suspect’s mind is powerful. Very powerful. I don’t want to be racist here, but sending a group of human agents with no magic after them is not a good idea.”
“She’s right,” Killmore said, furrowing his brow as if agreeing with the succubus physically hurt him. Turning his attention to his boss, he began to speak with her. “I know they don’t just have regular humans working for them, but I still think we should handle this ourselves. They attacked our students! The agreements we made to open Mythos allow us to carry out this operation.”
“Agreements?” agent Moretti asked curiously, never having heard anything about this, not even in rumors. “What are you talking about?”
“Classified,” Prime Minister Harrington said, giving a look to the agent that made it clear she had to drop the subject. Turning to the professor with dreadlocks, she addressed him. “You have experience dealing with similar situations, Killmore. What do you suggest?”
“I propose that we make a change to the original plan.” Killmore said, crossing his arms, his expression taking on a thoughtful air. “I wasn’t involved from the beginning, but I have to admit that replacing the victims with doppelgängers to try to catch the mastermind of the kidnappings was a good idea. My proposal is to make a small change to this plan. Instead of replacing just the victims, let’s replace an entire group.”
“You plan to replace the group we apprehended here?” Interpol agent asked.
“No,” Killmore replied. “The mastermind already knows they’ve been discovered, so trying to replace them is not only futile but a stupid risk. What we’ll do is infiltrate the cruise and look for the other groups we know will be there. When we find one of them, we deal with them in secret, and then replace them, both the members and the victims.”
“We’ll need to hire more doppelgängers, then” Director Silver pondered, already calculating the budget in her mind. The original doppelgängers hadn’t been exactly cheap, considering the risks they were taking, but it was still the most affordable option.
“I will help cover the costs of hiring them,” Prime Minister Harrington said generously, making it even clearer that she had some personal interest in this case. “Ending this scheme is a priority.”
“I want to help!” Leo said suddenly. It was his fault that the mission had to be changed so abruptly, so he would do everything he could to help.
“We want to,” Alice added, putting a hand on Leo’s arm. “We can alter our appearances, so we can help replace the criminals.”
“In no way you will get even more involved in this bullshit,” scoffed Killmore, shaking his head. “You’re just students, in the first semester no less. You should worry about your classes, not situations like these.”
“I think they should participate,” Thalia said before Leo could defend his point of view. When everyone in the room looked at her, she explained her reasons for thinking so. “They can take care of themselves, and they are partly responsible for us having to change the plan in the first place. They know they made a mistake and are willing to try to fix it. Shouldn’t we give them that chance?”
Before Killmore and Thalia could begin to argue this point, however, Director Silver said they wouldn’t decide that at the moment. They could decide whether the two young gods would participate or not when all preparations were at least underway. They had less than 24 hours to resolve everything, or they risked
losing the window of opportunity. Of course, they could easily teleport to the ship after it left the port, but that way there was always a chance that whatever was going to happen would happen before they could board. Nothing in David’s compulsion said whether the other groups would board before or after his group. For all they knew, the vampire’s group could be the absolute last to board, but they hoped that wasn’t the case, as the chance of missing the opportunity increased.
So, Leo, Alice, and Tris were released to go about their day while the ‘adults’talked. Director Silver had even used that exact word, which not only bothered Leo but also made Thalia tease him in his mind. Instead of sending them back to the dorms, Thalia gestured with her hand, and the three students appeared in front of the administrative building where the director’s office was. With no other option, the three of them began to walk through the campus.
“By the way, what were you doing there, Tris?” Alice asked as they walked, ignoring how uncomfortable the human girl seemed to be with the situation. “I didn’t expect to find you there.”
“My mom appeared through a portal in my room and dragged me there,” the girl said, not looking at them and almost murmuring unhappily.
“She must have wanted to spend more time with you,” Alice said neutrally.
“No,” Tris scoffed, part of her personality coming to the surface again. “She wanted to show me off to important and powerful people, which apparently includes you two. Just another political move on her part. She spent almost the entire meeting asking me telepathically why I wasn’t interacting with the tow of you.”
“Why are you a beginner in magic?” Leo suddenly asked, bringing up a thought that had been in his mind since Thalia informed him that Tris’s mother was the Prime Minister.
“What?” Tris asked, looking at Leo willingly for the first time that day.
“You’re taking the Introduction to Magic class, aren’t you? As well as Spell Conjuration,” he said as if it were obvious where he wanted to go with this. “Why? Your mother is a powerful sorceress
who could have taught you all the basics years before you came to university. Why did you only start learning magic now?”
Meeting her eyes, Leo saw something he didn’t expect to see in the human girl after all their interactions: vulnerability. Something about this topic certainly seemed to hurt the girl. This vulnerability only lasted a moment, however, turning into hostility and anger quickly. Hostility and anger that she directed at the man.
“Why don’t you mind your own business, dragon?”Tris said, clenching her fists at her sides. “Don’t you have cities to burn or something?”
Having said that, Tris changed direction and began to march away from the two of them. Looking at her back as she walked away, Leo sighed and then took his beloved’s hand, trying to put this incident out of his mind. Hand in hand, the two young gods continued to walk to the Bahamut Hall.
