Zinnia wondered who the woman was and why she didn’t recognize her voice. Someone who already knew who she was. Sure, she used her real name but didn’t use her last name. She hid her demon eyes well and was able to conceal her identity from most. Not even the two talented vampires had caught it. She finally fell asleep, curious about what types of people would be brought for the offering.
Zed noticed everyone was finally sleeping or out, so he decided to lean over toward Dak and whisper to him.
"We should sleep, then I know the perfect thing to do. I’ll find the dark purple mask person and charm him. We make him look like a traitor to the Illusionists and hand him to Zinnia. What do you think, bro?"
"I like it. How do we know we’ll see him and where to find him, though?" Dak whispered.
"It looked like he was staying in this area. If he runs these slums, this is close to the outskirts and not as bad as further in. He might have a spell for a room like this nearby."
"Okay. Let’s rest."
The two slept and woke up early in the morning. They noticed that they had only slept for around six hours, but that was fine. They wanted to get out and about early.
The two saw that most of the people were sleeping and that the people who had gone out last night had returned empty-handed and were resting. Rather than grabbing breakfast, Zed reached deep into his pocket and pulled out a small vial of blood. He drank it. Dak did the same. They headed out to the slums and noticed people were awake and arguing already. It was loud and obnoxious.
They didn’t see anyone other than people in black and purple masks, so they continued moving deeper into the slums. Not wanting to give away his teleportation to everyone, Zed walked briskly alongside Dak. He didn’t want to be too reckless, but he did have an idea.
"Let’s go to Mojo’s?" Zed suggested. "I remember Zinnia’s knocking pattern."
Dak chuckled. "Always paying attention to the little things. I did too. Show-off."
"Guess I was right to pick you all those years ago and beg my parents to let you in as a noble," Zed snickered.
They both remembered the way and the exact board that marked the entrance. There were loads of people around, so Zed whispered to Dak for him to cause a scene and instigate a fight with someone.
"Hey, asshole!" Dak yelled to someone else in a black and purple mask.
"Fuck you. Get lost. This woman is mine," the man sneered.
"Thought we were supposed to be working for the cause, not forcing ourselves upon women."
’Acidic blood!’ Dak thought while shooting a blood shot right at the man, causing him to howl in pain.
Everyone turned, and several people started coming out from the boarded room. Zed slowly snuck in and noticed it was now completely empty.
’Maybe not everyone knows Zinnia got a promotion. I’ll risk it. I have to.’
He approached the door and hoped Mojo was behind it. He used Zinnia’s pattern.
Three taps, one pound, one tap, two pounds, one regular knock, two taps.
"Zinnia? What’s wrong? Come in, quickly!" Mojo yelled.
Zed stepped in and kicked the door closed while initiating his charm. He locked in right away.
"Mojo, where is the dark purple mask responsible for these slums?"
"Not sure. Saw him last night. That was the last time," Mojo said robotically.
"Call him and sound like your normal self. Tell him you have important information and need to see him," Zed said with his eyes lit up. They were no longer red and amber.
Mojo picked up his phone and called someone.
"Need you in my office pronto."
"Can’t this wait? You know I’m busy."
"It can’t. This is too important."
"Fine. I’ll be right there," the man said, clearly irritated that he was being summoned.
"You are going to forget I was here and forget you summoned the dark purple masked person. You will continue doing what you were doing but play some music in your office," Zed said while releasing him and quickly walking out.
He heard music start. He needed to drown out some of the sound from the noise he could cause.
’Two minutes before he comes back around. Now I just wait for the dark purple mask and ambush him.’
Zed waited patiently, hoping the commotion outside wouldn’t cause Mojo to come out of his office, even with the music playing in there. Eventually, he heard the streets calm down and knew Dak had ducked away and disappeared, which was good. They didn’t have to talk about it. Having worked together and been such close friends, Zed understood and believed Dak would know to instigate, start a scene, and get out of there as part of this plan.
They didn’t need to be together to get the reward, so it was important for Zed to pull this off without anyone catching him, teleport somewhere no one would see him, and get back to Dak with this dark-purple-masked guy or girl.
’There he is...’ Zed thought, waiting to pounce on his prey.
The person in the dark purple mask was large and was walking quickly. Zed quickly teleported on top of him, knocking him to the ground.
"The fuck? Get off me, punk!" the man barked, but it was too late. Zed’s charm landed, and his eyes burned into the masked man’s eyes as Zed’s changed to amber.
"You are a traitor to the Illusionists and will willingly come with me. You planned on killing Zinnia to help Tyler Rask," Zed said clearly and calmly.
"I understand. I was plotting to kill Zinnia to help Tyler with his cause."
"Who is your boss, and what’s the deal with these masks? Tell me more about them."
"I report to Agent F, and you won’t see anyone with a higher color than my mask in these slums. The higher agents have different masks."
Not wanting to risk overloading and scrambling his brain, Zed made one last suggestion before making sure to capture his target for Zinnia’s reward.
"You were going to kill Zinnia in her sleep after her promotion by breaking into her new hideout tonight so she couldn’t take someone to the Necrams and Tyler would be safe. Understood?"
"Yes, I do!" the man answered robotically and clearly.
Zed released the spell and bound him with magical blood ties. Mojo heard commotion, and when he opened his door, no one was there.
’Guess it’s just the normal rif-raf,’ Mojo thought and returned to his office.
Zed chose to teleport to the outskirts, into the same alley they had used to appear based on Damien and Rox’s advice. No one was there. He was thankful. Zed knew he took a risk, but he needed the payoff.
The man did not try fight his way out of the restraints while Zed walked him down the street. As they reached the slums, people started noticing what was happening and talking.
"What the fuck? Why does that level 1 have the boss tied up?" a person in a black and purple mask yelled.
The streets erupted into screams, roars of anger, and people challenging Zed.
"This man is a traitor! Where is Zinnia? I demand to see my boss at once!" Zed screamed.
He noticed a smaller person in a black and purple mask start running. He wasn’t going to stop the person.
"Leave him alone!" Dak yelled, finally finding Zed because of the loud noise and commotion.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Number 69, and that is number 67. We are under orders from Zinnia to bring her someone useful. Please clear a path."
"What the fuck are you doing, 67?! Why do you have him tied up like that?" Zinnia yelled.
’Where did she come from, and how did she get here so fast? It couldn’t have just been that smaller person finding her, unless that person knew exactly where she was and she could teleport,’ Zed thought, more confused about her than he had been earlier.