~~
Reece
~~
“Who is our last friend over here?” I asked Chris as I waited for a file. “What do we know about him?”
“He said that his name is Angus Jaegan. He seems to be about twenty. He didn't say much. And he smells funny.” Chris was shaking his head like he was trying to figure out what was going on with the man.
“Where is his file?” Trinity asked him as she stepped closer to the door.
“There isn't one. No one could find a single record of the man. He doesn't seem to exist. Not even on immigration, visa, or passport records that have come into the country. Nothing at all in the last decade for this man.”
.....
“Does he speak with an accent?” Trinity asked him, jumping onto something else that might be of some importance.
“Yeah. He sounds like he is from somewhere in Europe, but I am bad with pinpointing them down.” I wanted to smack him and tell him to study more, but it wouldn't help. He just wasn't used to things like this.
“That's fine. Come on, Reece. Let's go in.” Trinity was at the door and pulling it open before I even took a step.
“Wait up.” I whispered so that the man on the other side of the door wouldn't hear me.
When we got into the room, I saw a man with light brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes. He looked like he was calm, clean cut, and well put together. He was dressed casually, but in obviously expensive clothes. He didn't look worried, stressed out, or anything else like that. He actually seemed to be enjoying himself.
“Guten Tag, ihr K?niglichen.” He spoke in German, but I understood him right away.
“Good afternoon to you as well. Now, why would you call us royal ones?” That made me raise a brow in suspicion. “You don't know who I am at all.”
“Oh ja, das tue ich.”
“You do, huh? And who do you think that I am?” I sat across from him like I did the others. Trinity was once again in the corner, staring at the man with rapt attention.
“Du bist King Reece und Queen Trinity. We all know who you are. You are the reasons for our mission.”
“Your mission?” I started to move on too quickly. I almost let him beat me into following his lead. “And how do you know that I am Reece and that she is Trinity?”
“You are all over the news. All the time, the faces of the eternal Grays. People joke that you have a painting like the fabled Dorian. You even share the same last name. But as the time goes on, and you do not age, it is easy to tell that you are not human. My family has long since known of your existence. And now we take our mission to the world. ”
“I assure you that we do not have any paintings like Dorian Gray. And we don't indulge in sins like he did. That is not a way to live life. Now, back to what you were saying, Angus, what mission is it that you take to the world? You've mentioned your mission twice now.” I made sure that I didn't let him get to me. If I was visibly affected by what he said, then he would take control of the conversation from me.
“We are saving the world.” He smirked at me as he spoke.
“Saving the world from what? I wasn't aware that we were in danger.” I acted curious, but I had a feeling I already knew what he was going to say.
“We are saving the world from you. From the monsters and the animals that threaten our people. You barbarians have taken hold and are trying to destroy humankind. But we won't let you do it. We won't let you murder the human race.” He was spouting off crazy like he was a sprinkler and the words were water. But this was what we wanted. This was what we needed. If I could keep him talking, then I would be able to learn what was really going on.
“I do not recall anyone killing humans.” I figured that was the only part that I should focus on at the moment.
“So, you do not deny that you are not human? That you are an animal of a man that turns into a monstrous beast. You are an abomination.”
“Those are your words, not my own. I am not a monster, not have I ever been.” I wasn't going to let this man get a rise out of me. That was what he wanted.
“I think that we have varying opinions on what makes a man a monster.” He glared at me and practically growled the words out.
As I looked at him right now, I thought back to what Chris had said. That this man didn't smell right. I was trying to focus on that so that I didn't get angrier with him than I should. I took a slow and deep breath so that it looked like I was just calming down, but I was really scenting and tasting the air in the room.
There was something off about it. Something that wasn't quite normal for a human. I couldn't put my finger on it though. I didn't know what was different. Most humans smelled like technology, metal, and oddly enough a farm. I think that was because they were all sheep that followed the lead of others. The nonsheep among them tended to smell of things that were stronger than that. They smelled mountains and other sturdy things.
This man though, didn't have that added scent. He wasn't a sheep, nor a man standing tall on a mountain. He still had that technology and metal scent, but it was mixed with something that was salty, bitter, and slightly disgusting. What was it that made him smell like that? What was going on with him?
“You call me a monster, and an abomination, but what are you? You don't smell human. You don't smell like any human I have ever come in contact with before. So, what are you? Who are you really, Angus Jaegan?”
“I am as human as they come. I have just used runes to make me stronger and faster. And I work hard and train to my limits to fight against creatures like you.” He was maintaining that he was human and nothing else. I didn't think that was true though. I felt like he was something else, something more.
“Why have you killed these people? What did they ever do to you? They were good people. They never hurt anyone.” I was starting to shake with anger now.
“They were not good people. They were monsters. And monsters need to be eliminated.” He was shouting now. We will rid this world of all the monsters. We will save the world and be revered as the new royals. We will end you people and all the evil that you do.”
“The only monsters that I see are you. You and those people that you work with. You people are insane. You are murdering people. You are sick.” I was losing my cool now. I couldn't help it. “You're the monsters. You're the animals. You're the beasts.” I was on my feet now, shouting at him.
“And yet, we're the humans, not you. I know what the truth is. My family knows the truth. And we will not stop. You might have stopped me, but they will carry on. They will not let this stop them. They will keep eliminating you and your kind. They will even get to you and your family, King Reece. None of you are safe.” With that threat to my family, I wanted to kill the man. I was about to grab him around the throat when he started to laugh and stuck his thumb inside of his mouth. “Have fun trying to find the truth, King Reece. I think it would be fun watching you fail, but I won't get to see it.”
After that, the man stuck his thumb to the back of his neck and he instantly started to convulse. I ran around the table, with Trinity hot on my heels. We pushed the man into the floor and rolled him over. The first thing that I saw was another rune on his neck.
“What does that mean?” I asked Trinity as she looked at the mark with me.
“It is two runes written together. The death rune and the sacrifice rune. He must have activated it with his saliva to kill himself.”
The man was already done moving. He wasn't breathing either. He was dead. Just like that the only lead that we had was gone.
“DAMMTI!” I snapped at no one in particular. “He was our only lead, and he gave us nothing.”
“Not quite.” Trinity tried to reason with me. “He told us what we suspected, and gave us a name to go off of. If we can track that down, we might be able to find something.”
“I just wish I would have been able to beat more out of him.” I grumbled as I looked at the corpse on the floor. “Should we have Talia try to recover his soul?”
“No. Let him rot in Hell where he belongs.” With that, Trinity was getting up off of the floor and walking toward the door. “We have more investigating to do, Reece. Let's not dwell on this too much.” With that, she left the room and was gone. I followed after her a little reluctantly. I think I was just really pissed at the moment. That was the only way to describe it.
