AUTHOR'S POV
The pack has been paying a lot more attention at almost everything, now that there was a sighting of vampires in the city. Despite no reports of certain attacks on humans, they still remained on high alert after learning that their Luna has been the vampires' specific target lately. More careful than ever, the wolves stand on their toes owing it to the rare appearance of a nagual. And again, hovering around Diana. It makes them question the secrets of their Luna's real identity, and what's so special about her.
The investigation on the murder in the island had loopholes but all led to a dead end. The sole witness was too afraid to speak a thing. And the recording from the security cameras doesn't give a clear view to serve justice to Emilia. The only lead that they follow is Emilia's tarot card found in Alva's belongings, making Diana's mother the sole suspect in the deadly mayhem. It didn't made sense for the pack at all. There is no connection between Alva and Emilia for them to be intertwined. Thus, Scott insisted to dig deeper just to clear Diana's mother out of their suspicions.
Personally sticking his nose in the high stakes, Lucas personally went to the AW Lab Corp in secret to find out certain things about Alva Woodsworth hidden in her company. He was told that Alva takes Diana's blood in there, and Stanley's blue pills are exclusively produced there too. "Whatever creepy shits they have inside that fuckin' lab, I'm going to see it myself", he uttered, arriving at the gated compound of the laboratory.
According to the company ads, they solely produce drugs and medications for healing. In his investigations, not all can get the blue pill. The AW Lab Corp offer them to selected patients only. Most satisfied users with long term usage of their blue pills achieved wellness, following a strict advise of no abrupt cessation of intake once the treatment has started. It is believed that they experience hallucinations, tremors and extreme sweating when they stop taking the pills.
Pretending to be a cleaner, Lucas smoothly slipped into the backdoor of the jet black cubed 6-floor windowless building of the AW Lab Corp without anyone being suspicious of him. Wearing a red jumpsuit, white cap, round thin rimmed eye glasses, and a mask covering his mouth, Lucas blended in with the other utility men inside the locker room. He was almost getting tired of making small talks with the six other cleaners, until one of them warned not to enter the rooms and just clean the common areas. "One new guy snooped in a room once, and he never made out. He disappeared like he never existed", the cleaner said.
Lucas waited with the rest, until they were given assignments of duty. "You! Second floor", he was told. They all took one cleaning cart each and set off their areas. Through the service elevator, Lucas went off to play his character as he set foot on the second floor. "I'm going in", he whispered, securing a tiny earplug in his right ear. He walked through a long corridor of concrete wall panels with a few black industrial double doors illuminated with bright down lights, leading to a wide open busy waiting area full of in-and-out people. Right by the elevator, Lucas noticed a map of the building with its designated floors on the wall, stopping by to check it out.
6th floor Office of the President
5th floor Production, Testing, Packing Room
4th floor Lab Rm 7-15, Security Rm
3rd floor Label Rm, Extraction Rm, Accounts
2nd floor Lab Rm 1-6, Admin, Releasing, Cashier
GF Reception, Cafe
Looking closely, Lucas was interrupted when a man in a black suit and fedora hat bumped into him. "Excuse me", he lowered his eyes, fixing his cap. The man gave him a look, when Lucas lifted his chin. It was an unsettling stare that gave Lucas the shivers. Without really sensing anything vampiric in the man, Lucas stepped aside for the man to go in the elevator.
Moving around with his cart, Lucas noticed a couple more men in suits were staring at him intently. Despite some of them looking pale and grim, he didn't sense any scent of vampire in them too. A few more women coming in and out of the lab rooms gave him an eye too, each time they pass. When it started to bother him, he paced towards the the other side of the floor area, acting like how he was supposed to. In the quieter side of the the second floor, he started mopping and wiping the area, targeting the Admin room.
He tried opening the door. It's locked like the others. He hoisted back when he heard voices drawing near. A couple of women in white coat and clacking shoes walked in, with a tray of test tubes with blood samples in it. "Good morning. Ma'am..", he greeted, watching them open one of the lab rooms with a steel door, and a biohazard sign using a keycard. That's when he realized that he would not get a chance to get in with a proper access.
In a while, in the midst of cleaning the floors and snooping around, Lucas whiffed a vampire's scent close by. The reeking scent of a bloodsucker led him to a short man in a black suit, on his way to the same room with a steel door at the end of the hallway. And just what Scott saw before, a vampire is out unbothered by daylight.
Lab Rm. 6
He waited until he came out. A few minutes later, the same vampire went out without any scent of vampire in him anymore. "What the..", he uttered as he furrowed his brows following the man with his eyes. He swallowed a lump in his throat. A very hard one. Walking back to the open area, Lucas looked around and gazed at the people walking by with an open mouth. "I'm fucked..", he whispered as he darkened his eyes. Anyone in this building can be a vampire without being sensed.
"Mission abort", he whispered, realizing that he has walked straight right into the den of vampires. When he was about to retreat, he then noticed a familiar blonde woman who went up from the escalator. Her ID hanging by her neck reads Kate Collins. "Wait a sec, are you seeing this?", fixing the tiny camera in his collar, he instantly recognized Kate from the nightclub. Lucas decided to follow her to the Releasing Window Booth. 'Diana's friend can't be a vampire too', he thought.
"Hi! I'm here to get a few medications and some documents for Dr. Diana Woodsworth?", Kate said, in a loud and tender voice.
"Do you have an appointment?", the clerk asked, as she glare at Kate.
"It's for Diana Woodsworth, daughter of the owner", emphasizing Diana's name, like a password for something.
The clerk pouted and rolled her eyes at her, giving her an access card. Kate took the card, and went around like she owned the place. Lucas followed her as she went in the Admin Rm. He waited until she went out with a bundle of papers in her arm. Watching closely, Lucas noticed the change in her pace. Glancing at the security cameras. Wary of the people passing by. Staying away from the building staff in uniforms. Then, Kate sneakily went to one Lab Rm, and groaned at how her access card didn't work.
"Negative", Lucas realized that his intuition is wrong.
"Oops sorry, I was lost…", Kate bumped into Lucas when she tried to back away from the restricted room.
"Are you Diana's friend? What are you here for? I'm Scott's friend, don't worry", Lucas said as he stare at Kate.
Kate dropped her jaw, stunned at his perfectly tanned skin and manly physique. "Uhh.. yea. I'm Kate", Kate looked at him from head to toe. "You work here?", she asked.
"No, I'm undercover.", he said as he started mopping the floor as someone passes the corridors.
"Are you here for Diana's blood too?", she whispered.
"And the blue pills", he said. "I saw samples of blood brought in that room. Can you get in?", he directed his stare to a steel door with restricted access and biohazard sign.
"No, the card have restrictions. Wait... Blue pills? You mean, the T-pills? They are released there.", nodding her head towards the medication release booth where she got the access card. "You need 'em?", she asked.
"Can you get me?", Lucas asked.
"Maybe", Kate sauntered back to the Releasing window booth, and handed one document from the bundle of papers in her arm. She took another paper and scribbled a word on the list below before handing it over. "Additional of these please". The man inside the booth stared at her for a while, before releasing two large paper bags of her request. Kate immediately took them and went off. Going to the escalator, she passed by Lucas, who's mopping the floor. "Got it", she whispered subtly and went down.
Decided to leave with Kate, Lucas pushed his cart against the wall and rushed down the moving escalator acting naturally as he follow Kate. Walking across the lobby, three men in black suits were advancing directly towards him in an unwavering path posturing tension. Alarmed, Lucas watched Kate exit the building first as he decide to turn away and reroute to another exit. As he headed towards the service elevator, a couple of more men appeared with piercing stares signaling aggression. Backing away slowly as he gets surrounded, Lucas held his position, sizing the his opponents and choosing which one look the weakest. Fists clenched, he prepared himself to shape shift in case they charge, . "I've been spotted".
Meanwhile, in the lab's video surveillance room, Alva watched Lucas' actions. She was alerted as soon as a lone wolf entered the building. She grinned at Lucas' fearful stance looking like a scared puppy cornered in her territory. Just then, she notified her men to let him go. "Let him walk away".
Alva's men stepped aside, giving Lucas a free way to the lobby. Unsure if it is trick, Lucas took the hook and warily steered to the lobby. With several prowling eyes pinned on him, he became watchful of not only his back but also his sides. Despite only with few more steps remaining towards the exit door, it felt like a mile distance as Lucas endure the palpable atmosphere. Lucas took a quick glance at the security camera before finally walking out the building with a sharp exhale.
SCOTT POV
I checked the time and it was almost seven in the evening. Diana would be out from work at any time. I'm so glad that she's safe after being attacked once again by a fellow doctor who turned to a vampire. I was deluged in a long meeting when the attack happened. And just as I expected, I didn't sensed any danger involving Diana. It goes to show that my Alpha senses on her are only ticked when we are at a very close distance. Good thing Cory, David and Austin were there to keep my Luna safe. It was a fair choice to have her surrounded by the pack.
Surprisingly, her mentor is a wolf ally. According to Cory, he overheard that Diana's father is a wolf too. And that, some secrets about Diana's identity and her family are waiting to be unraveled from their old town. Surely, Diana would seek answers there. And I have all my excuses to join her uncover the truth.
On my way to the basement parking, I rushed in long deliberate strides with a plan to pick up my Luna on time. The elevator doors opened to a well-lit and almost empty underground parking as I light my cigarette. Puffing smoke, I walked towards my car not too far from the elevator. My footsteps echoed in the air, along with the humming sounds of the building ventilation and its infrastructure vibrations. Drawing near my car, I suddenly stopped. To my surprise, all four tires of my car were flat. I checked each tire and noticed the clean slashes across its rubbers as if it was cut open with a sharp object. Looking around, I checked for anyone who might've intentionally done it. Going for my other four cars parked on the other side of the basement parking, all the tires have deflated from the same exact damage on its rubber too.
Leaving my cigarette in my mouth, I put out my phone and messaged Jim to have someone replace my tires. As I puff another smoke, I suddenly noticed someone standing against the basement pillar in the middle of the parking area. It was then, I figured out who my tire slasher is.
"Viktor and Karin Lockwood must be very proud of their only son.", Alva, in a matching grey coat and long pleated skirt, spoke grinning at me. "Too bad they're dead." Alva draw closer, shamelessly showing me that smug in her small face.
"How did you know my parents?", I asked, while I send a text message to Cory that I won't be there to pick up Diana since something came up.
"Let's say, I am a very close friend of your father", she lifted her brows at me with a devilish smile. She tilted her head on the phone in my hand, as if she knew who I send a message to. "I never let my daughter wait too long for me".
"What do you want?", I kept a safe distance at her, despite she shows no belligerence. She just stood in front of me, like a fragile late middle aged woman with her hands hanging on her sides.
"Convince her to come back, and I'll tell everything you need to know", she said. Looks like Alva already knew about us. From a smart and ambitious woman, I'm not a bit surprised actually.
"Don't you think your daughter is at the right age to move out?", I thought Alva is just being a protective mother. Basically, it's just her and Diana now. However, I couldn't understand this troubling worry about their relationship. Whatever your reasons are, you just can't randomly give your daughter a drink laced with a strong sleeping essence without her knowing.
"She's my only family. Of course, I want her close. She's my greatest possession. And she's safer with me", squinting her eyes, standing her ground, trying to convince me more.
"Why did you kill Emilia?", I blurted out, catching her off guard. Amused with how she changed her visage from a condescending grin to a hardened expression, I realized I have rattled her cage. "I didn't think that a a simple fortune telling bother you enough to kill her".
"Ah! What an allegation? You will need a strong proof for that", she folded her arms as she suck teeth.
"I know it's you", I lit another cigarette, taking a drag towards her. I kept my lighter on my hand as I graze the engraved moon.
"Do you know how she muffled help for her husband while I break her arm? How she plead desperately as I beat her with a shovel?", she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, taking a very deep breath. "She cried over and over before I stabbed her on the neck.", she then shifted her gaze to me and continued. "But then again, how can you prove that?"
"There's a witness.. and a video. Just so you know, I'm coming for you", I held my shiny gunmetal lighter up, fiddling with in the air. I watch her stare at it uncomfortably, that the lines on her forehead started to appear.
With a tightened lip, and squinted eyes, she mocked me and said, "Scary". She then gave me a strained smile. I stared at her wondering what made Alva Woodsworth nervous. I tried to sense her as I stepped forward, catching the slightest scent of her real nature.
"Doesn't matter how hard you sniff on me, or sense me. You will never get a thing. Amazing isn't it?", Alva's eyes widened. "Do tell your friend to come back at the AW Lab Corp. I have something for him. Lucas isn't it?", she added, as I groan. "Just... give me back my Diana, and we'll all go back to how were used to be", she continued.
"My Luna isn't yours to keep. Good parents should know. Your children are bound to be free, or else, they will claw their way out of your prison", I clenched my fist as I start to lose my temper.
"So, it's true?! You imprinted on Diana? How exciting!", she laughed in sarcasm. "You know, she's very unique.. and now that you imprinted on her.. it makes her even more special for you. She's designed to be perfectly precious for the Lockwoods. Another reason for me to get her back", she said.
"Designed?", she described Diana like a lab experiment. So, our pasts are intertwined after all.
"Looks like more exciting things are ahead of you. I'll leave you at that. Enjoy the full moon, Scott Lockwood", she said, as she walk away.