An hour passed. Another building was on fire.
Callum drank a soda and cooled down. There was a confidence in him now. The enemies had no chance at all.
In the computer room, Alpha Chester asked Lucy whether the vampires had shown any reaction.
Lucy put the lollipop back in her mouth. "No. The kid is doing a clean job."
Then the phone on the table vibrated. A wolf saw the message. It was confirming two nests already destroyed.
The old man with the braids stared at it in disbelief. "How is this possible?"
Callum moved toward the third target.
This one had twelve vampires and a wizard whose shields were very strong. But there was something else as well. Callum felt two separate presences, and he had a strong feeling that they were not supernatural.
Two human prisoners.
Callum stopped. I'm in a dilemma over whether to save them. My identity will be revealed. The mission will be compromised. But it is not possible for me to leave them there.
He started pacing back and forth. If you want a plan that saves them, you'll have to leave them somewhere the shapeshifters can reach quickly.
He used the spatial sense. He found a fast food restaurant a few blocks away. The perfect plan was set. Now execution.
First he located the weak points of the nest. Where the vampires were most concentrated. Where the most flammable material was.
Six cans filled with thermite. Just a little portal magic. The cans held tight as his power wrapped around them.
And in the next second they fell at the designated locations. A deadly series of explosions.
Inside the cell, the prisoner said to her friend, "I heard something." She was trying to understand the sound.
There was a fire alarm. Smoke started coming down the stairs. "Get us out of here."
The boy tried to break the bars. "It's not opening."
Then a portal opened in the wall. A face covered with a black mask stepped through. "Are you both okay?"
Both of them started asking who they should call. He simply said, "Look ahead. Keep your eyes closed."
The chains disappeared. Both of them were surprised, but they trusted him. "Did the portal open underground?"
Before the question was completed, another portal opened in the ceiling, and both of them fell onto the floor of an empty room.
Callum apologised quickly for the landing. "Sorry. The bathroom is there. Wait here. Somebody will come. And if they ask my name — I'm nobody. Forget my voice."
The girl pressed him. "At least, how long do we wait?"
Callum could not tell them anything. He created a portal. "Good luck." And he disappeared.
Anonymity was the real player in the game.
On reaching the new location, Callum felt slightly guilty about the two of them. About not answering their questions. He remembered when he first got his own powers. That had been the same. But that was all he could do for now. Alpha Chester would take care of both of them.
Then a message from the wolf. Cancel the fourth attack. The vampires had surrendered.
Callum took a long breath of relief.
Running the simulations had been exhausting to spend. Accuracy would definitely have been reduced at another nest. But it had been worth it. For the deal, and also for the fact that two innocent people were alive today.
A few minutes earlier, Alpha Chester, Lucy and a grey-haired man had been sitting in a room.
The grey-haired man theorised. Callum's power was either close to a teleportation system, or it was related to phase. Phase magic is a different thing. Very little is understood about it.
Chester turned and looked at Lucy.
Lucy told him what she had. He is very careful. He minimises phone use. She had tried to track down something useful and found nothing.
Chester wondered whether he could move at the same speed.
The grey-haired man doubted it. "He will never reveal his methods."
Chester considered that perhaps some more valuable offer could do more than Jasper's lessons could.
Lucy pointed out that no tech ally was visible anywhere. Maybe a tech girl. Offer accepted.
Chester asked, "What, you're doing the honours?"
"Count on me," Lucy said.
The phone vibrated on the table. Chester answered it. A vampire dressed like Dracula was on the other side.
In a warning tone. "Stop the attacks. This is a treaty violation. The Guild would not like it."
Chester greeted him calmly. "My friend Antoine." The wolf simply said that his shapeshifters had not even gone near the vampire nest.
Antoine announced that Chester should leave the territory. The attacks should be shut down. But he gave a warning too. It's not over.
When he found out who it was, he should hope the Guild caught him first.
Callum was out on the road on his motorcycle.
In another place, agents Felicia and Ray were analysing a fire scene.
Felicia asked whether it was the same man.
Ray confirmed that it was. The methods were different, but the precision was frightening.
A man in protective gear found something. Ray, the blond agent, picked the object up. The culprit's circle. The signature.
Suddenly Felicia touched Ray's suit. Everyone was shocked. Ray had the rest of the area evacuated. He could not talk to his partner freely otherwise.
When they were alone, Felicia gave her theory. The first one was a nest of passion crimes. The vampires had picked up someone he cared about. He used a quick weapon.
The second had attack planning and preparation behind it. Ray said he had seen a package of soda cans. This job was very prepared.
Ray agreed with her. "You should meet Alpha Chester." Then there were Antoine Levin and Raveb. They might have information about this assassin's unique style.
Later, Alpha Chester welcomed the agents.
Ray thanked him. "You know why we've come."
Chester confirmed the Levin vampire incident. He assured them that he had no involvement in any of it. "It will all be resolved as per Guild rules."
Ray felt slightly suspicious.
Then Chester's phone vibrated. He answered briefly. "I'll call after. Visitors." He hung up.
Ray found that interruption slightly suspicious too.