[ Mark's penthouse - Corridors]
The sun was up.
The morning light filtered in through the tall windows, casting a pale gold over the long mahogany table in the dining hall.
Mark descended the stairs slowly, his expression unreadable, his bare feet making no sound against the polished stone steps.
The maids had already laid out the spread…warm croissants, poached eggs glistening under a silver dome, an artfully arranged platter of fresh fruit, cheeses from regions that no longer existed, and his favorite…French pressed black coffee in a crystal decanter. None of which he ever really touched, except the coffee on some days.
He took his seat, draping one arm lazily over the backrest of the leather lined chair, eyes scanning the table as though considering whether to entertain the notion of breakfast today.
The smell of coffee finally coaxed his hand forward. He poured himself a cup.
Phone in one hand, cup in the other, he scrolled idly.
"Useless…" he muttered under his breath, deleting a chain of forwarded memes from an overzealous client. "This city is full of jobless idiots!"
The icon for the surveillance app blinked once with its usual notification. But without even thinking Mark's finger clicked it open… he had no idea why!
He wasn't particularly expecting to see anything… but then his eyes fell on the guest wing…and it was spotless.Too clean.
No tousled sheets. No messy floor. No one in the bed…no sign of the girl at all.
His brow furrowed.
He tapped the button for the intercom.
"Ana," he called a little too urgent. "Come here."
Within seconds, one of the older maids appeared, wiping her flour dusted hands on her apron.
"She's gone? " Mark asked simply.
The woman blinked. "Who's gone?"
Mark tilted his head towards the screen. "The girl…the guest room's empty."
Ana gave a little smile and glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. "It's past ten, my Lord. She left for school hours ago."
"She left for school? " Mark repeated as he scrolled through the footage from the garage. "Which car did she take? I see all of them still lined up! "
" Umm, my Lord, she went alone! " The maid bit her lips.
"Alone?!"
"She insisted. Said she didn't need a car or an escort."
Mark looked unimpressed. "You let her just walk out into the city?She is father Gonzalez's granddaughter…not a nobody!"
"She was determined…didn't listen to me. She even had this little pink kick scooter.I didn't think I ought to have disturbed your sleep for such a trivial matter! You hardly sleep! And you were practically knocked out last night! A true miracle in itself…" Ana shrugged with a little twinkle in her eye. "Besides, I fed her before sending her off. She ate breakfast. Properly. Even asked for seconds of my cinnamon pancakes."
She beamed, emphasizing,as if that was the actual miracle of the morning.
Mark, however, had already gone back to his phone. One leg crossed over the other, cup hovering midair, his fingers scrolled with unamused detachment.
A few seconds of silence.
And then…BWWAAAANG!!!
The blare of the alarm exploded through the air.
His cup shattered on the marble floor.
Mark stood up , eyes darkening. And then the next moment…he vanished.
In a blink, he zipped across the hall, floating like a ripple of smoke as he surged through the penthouse. His senses honed in on a second sound…a sharp crash! Clearly the sound of something hitting glass!
He reappeared just as the window above the lounge burst inward. Shards of glass glittered midair.
From the corner of his eye, he caught the blur of movement…something black and fast.Damn it!
Mark snapped his head up and flew after it, faster than any human eye could follow.
Outside, the skyline was dazzlingly clear.The sun was high, almost scoring at this point.
And yet…There it was.
A demon vampire. Pale skinned, red eyed, grinning with jagged teeth as it soared across the rooftops with wings outstretched like a bat from hell. Sunlight should have burned it. But it didn't. In fact, it looked… invigorated.
Mark's eyes narrowed. "What the hell…"
This was beyond alarming,yet Mark's eyes zoomed on to it's hands…it clutched something in them. A bundle. A device? A bag?... Shit! It was definitely something it stole from the penthouse.
"Son of a…" Mark shot forward.
He pursued, ripping through the air…the world below was reduced into a blur. The air hit hot and dry against his skin.
The demon vampire dipped low, swerving between a row of rusted aerial pylons, trying to lose him in the glinting landscape of ruined and new high rises.
"You picked the wrong city, leech," Mark growled under his breath, closing the gap.
Well,almost…but just as he extended a hand…
RIIING!!!
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
He cursed under his breath and answered mid air, the device held with two fingers...
"Mark, respond. Immediate group alert."
He grit his teeth.
The call wasn't optional. And it was proof that it wasn't just him being hit.
He pulled back mid air, tapping the link thrice.
"Go ahead. I am in pursuit."
"Abort. Fall back. Multiple cities have been compromised, multiple sites…Clocktower Node, Bunker Four, Bastion Five… and…" a pause… or perhaps a disruption.
"And what?" Mark snapped, his eyes still strained on the target zapping up ahead.
"Your trace feed… "
A projection flickered into being…
"What's going on?" he barked.
" We can see movement…hold up, wait for our instructions…" one of the callers replied, voice tense.
"They breached your home?" Came another voice.
Mark's jaw tensed. "Yeah Jules, just now.What about you? "
"Same here. All of us. Simultaneous hits."
"They knew where to strike. Every location."
Mark's brows drew together. "But how? There were no alerts. No border breach in my city.And it's fucking broad daylight! How are they even flying around in the sun???"
Silence.
Then all of a sudden the first voice cut back in. "Mark…look at your map. There is still one active site in your city."
Mark brought up the city map mid flight. He had slowed down but not given up on his pursuit entirely…not yet…even though that was the clear command.
He quickly scanned the flagged zones. Most were already dimmed…breached…most probably looted,massacred and then abandoned.
Only one still blinked red.
Sector 11. Zone E.
He zoomed in.
A cold dread settled over him.
"It's a…school," he said aloud.
The others went quiet.
Mark didn't wait. He turned in the air like a blade, vanishing once more…this time, headed straight for the heart of the city.