"Ouch! Ouch! Easy, Brianne, you’re hurting !" Chris complains.
It’s P.E. class. They stand back to back, arms hooked, lifting each other to stretch.
"Good grief, Chris, you’ve been complaining all class that everything hurts. You’re the first person in history to go on a week-long vacation and co back in pieces!"
"The resort mattress was just really uncomfortable, that’s all..."
In reality, Chris is still feeling the aftereffects of Isabelle’s beatings during training, even though his body has fully regenerated.
"Sounds more like you slept on concrete."
Then Brianne suddenly turns serious, giving him a suspicious look.
"So tell , what did you do for five days on a deserted island with three charming won...?"
"Uh... jogging on the beach."
"Yeah, I can imagine..."
Brianne cracks his back again, this ti with more force. Chris screams so loudly the whole school hears him.
"Damn it, you did that on purpose!"
"? No, no — you’re mistaken."
But the sharp look Brianne gives him says the exact opposite.
Until now they’d been back to back, but Brianne suddenly turns, grabs him from behind, and locks his arms in a wrestling hold.
"W-What the hell are you doing, Brianne? Are you trying to finish off?"
"Shut your mouth and let do this!"
Brianne tightens her grip and pulls him back until his feet lift off the ground.
Chris is stunned. She’s much smaller than him, yet she lifts and yanks him like he weighs nothing.
Chris feels his shoulders crumple like a crushed aluminum can.
A sharp pain shoots through his back — so intense not even the feel of her small but firm chest pressed against him can ease it.
Any other girl in her place would’ve given him an instant erection, but Brianne is one of the few girls he’s never fantasized about.
Not that he finds her unattractive — quite the opposite. Chris loves her delicate face and her sea-colored eyes, but he’s not into lolis. He prefers fully developed won with big breasts.
One last yank, and Brianne releases him.
Chris is about to hurl insults at her, when...
"The pain... it’s gone!" he exclaims in disbelief.
"I told you to shut up and let do it!"
"And how was I supposed to know you were a physiotherapist too? You never told !"
Brianne’s expression turns serious.
"There are a lot of things I haven’t told you about myself... and I’m guessing you’ve got a few skeletons in the closet too. Right, Chris?"
"Oh, co on, what terrible secrets could a high school student possibly have?" he jokes, forcing a smile.
"Who knows? That’s for you to tell . Do you have any skeletons in the closet, Chris?"
"I..."
Chris hesitates as a thousand thoughts race through his mind.
"...I don’t have any skeletons in the closet."
She smiles at him again as if nothing happened.
"I see... co on, let’s keep stretching."
◇◇◇
"Here. I cleaned the whole place, Frank... or should I call you Oktavian?"
Isabelle drops the villa keys into his hand.
They’re in the huge living room of his estate, about twenty kiloters outside New York.
"Oktavian... I can’t stand that na, so don’t use it. How did you find out?"
"I had a chat with the head of the Azuralis family — Julius."
Frank lights a cigar and pours himself a drink, a hint of tension in his movents.
"So... what did you talk about?"
"Nothing special. Just small talk. Besides you, they were also after my little Mia, so I kindly asked them to leave this world... and they didn’t argue. Quite cooperative, I’d say."
Frank relaxes when he hears that. For a mont, he’d feared Isabelle had made so kind of deal with the Azuralis.
"Yeah, I can imagine how kindly you asked them. I was worried they might cause trouble — especially their firstborn, Rudeor. He’s been a combat genius since he was a kid... and who knows how strong he’s gotten by now. Luckily, I have a very efficient cleaning lady who takes care of that kind of trash."
"Just a coincidence. If the Azuralis hadn’t gone after Mia too, I wouldn’t have lifted a finger to cover your ass. Rudeor... hmm... oh yes, he was quite the opponent. Taking him down wasn’t easy."
Frank almost chokes on his drink when Isabelle says that.
"You really defeated Rudeor...?! Then again, why am I even surprised? It’s the Platinum Death we’re talking about. Anyway, my contacts in HESPARC U.S. reported the spread of a primordial vampire plague across New York. Do you know anything about it?"
Isabelle sinks into the soft sofa and pours herself a drink without asking.
"Yeah, unfortunately... and I think I know who’s behind it. We’ve got trouble coming, Frank."
"If you say that, then I really should worry. I’ve got a lot of businesses in the city, and if sothing serious happens, I could lose hundreds of millions. And I wouldn’t like that one bit. So... what is it? If there’s sothing I can do to stop all that money from going up in smoke, I’d like to know."
Isabelle suddenly turns serious.
"I’m pretty sure the one behind all this is a vampire nad Levreeshka Dulcar — one of the four generals of the Scarlet Army."
"One of the four generals? Looks like old Markus Dulcar decided to send in a big shot. And judging by your face... she must be strong too."
"It’s not her strength that worries — it’s her cunning. Before I left my position as general and she took my place, she was the strategist of my battalion. That woman could co up with plans so brilliant and unpredictable... it’s no exaggeration to say most of our victories were thanks to her, not the soldiers who fought."
Isabelle downs the shot in one go, then drinks straight from the bottle.
"As if that wasn’t enough, Levreeshka has an Innatus that lets her turn her own blood into primordial vampires under her control. That ability, combined with her mind, makes her the worst opponent we could be facing right now. She’s turned New York into her chessboard... and the primordial vampires into the pieces she’s placing, waiting for the right mont to move."
Knock! Knock!
Soone knocks on the living room door. At Frank’s signal, a woman in her late twenties enters.
She wears an elegant black suit and holds a tablet.
Her straw-blonde hair, with faint bluish highlights, is tied in a bun. With her glasses, she looks like a perfect secretary.
Clarissa Felmon — codena Blue.
"Boss, I just got a ssage from Mr. Wallace — the investor who had the eting scheduled at the island villa."
"And...?"
"It seems he decided to cancel, boss."
"I see. And did he at least tell you why?"
Despite his calm expression, inside Frank is boiling with frustration.
"He said he looked into you and didn’t like what he found — he accused you of unethical activities and thods, boss."
"Thank you. You can go, Blue."
"Yes, boss."
She leaves with a slight bow.
Frank stands up abruptly and grabs the black fur coat from the rack.
"Looks like you went through all that trouble cleaning my villa in Hawaii for nothing. Anyway, sothing urgent just ca up. If you’ll excuse , Isabelle."
"You’re going to see Wallace, right? Don’t tell you’re planning to bully him. That’d be pretty petty, even for you."
"You’re not the only one who knows how to persuade people with kindness, my dear Platinum Death."
User Comments
0 comments from readers