Page 33 of Of Blackened Blood (The Blackened Blade #3)
Micai meets her gaze, and a small awkward smile tilts Silas’s lips.
Micai’s eyes widen slightly with the softer look. The tension she had been holding in her shoulders slightly eases as they continue to carry each other’s stare.
Silas then steps forward just as Luche finishes his report and extends a hand toward Micai.
“I’m Silas. Second in command of the Red Team.” Silas smiles a little wider, a small glint of pride at her introduction.
Micai hesitates for a brief moment before accepting Silas’s hand. “Micai.”
Micai’s voice sounds a little unsure, her eyes still slightly wary of Silas.
And it’s only then that I realise my Mate has never had anyone to call a friend before Morgan came along. And us, of course.
She never had any female friends to rely on growing up, and her so-called “childhood friends” abandoned her for her sister and began treating her horribly. The whole school turned against her too.
How hard must life have been for her to have no one to lean on or trust? That such a simple gesture as a handshake has to be questioned?
That evil snake Seria must have twisted and poisoned all the minds of those around Micai before she could ever truly find someone to call her own. She must have destroyed whatever hope Micai had in anyone around her, making her form an impenetrable fortress to keep everyone at a distance.
My hatred grows to depths I never knew I had for the bitch.
“Micai ...” Silas replies with a light nod, her tone softer as she speaks to my Mate, probably feeling her apprehension. “It’s a nice name.”
Micai gives her a proper smile this time and I can see the hesitation in her eyes instantly disappear, probably sensing the small welcome from our subordinate as genuine.
Silas is a bit of a tomboy and has no problem running and keeping up with the guys. But she is also a little gruff and blunt when speaking and doesn’t make many female friends. Her tough attitude and rougher appearance also means not many could hold her gaze for long.
But I think she and Micai could get along well.
I think Silas could show our Mate that not all female supes are as vulgar and jealous as the ones that swarm the academy. Although Silas isn’t exactly normal , but she has a good personality and is trustworthy enough to help lead one of our top sections.
“The Red Team?” Micai questions, a cute brow quirked as she gazes back toward me. But before I can muster a response, Silas is already answering her.
“We’re divided into sections and teams using colours to keep track of who’s working on what and where.
There are multiple teams, and we all work on different areas like information, engineering, tactics and extraction .
.. and a couple others.” A smirk tilts her lips as she shrugs.
“We’re the Red Team in Crayne City.” She gestures toward Luche who returns it with a grin and wave.
“And we work directly under the founding four.” She nods toward us in recognition before continuing.
“We have a couple dozen more members in our group, but they’re divided and spread out into the other three safe houses around the city.”
Micai’s eyes widen before turning toward me and Creed. “You have three more safe houses?”
A smirk tilts Creed’s lips as amusement fills his gaze.
“We have much more than that.” He gestures for us to follow as he heads up the stairs before shouting back to Silas and Luche. “Watch the perimeter while we talk with Erving.”
“You got it, boss,” Luche calls, playfully saluting him before Silas elbows him, giving him a small glare before nodding to Creed.
I follow up behind Micai and everyone and we all head inside Erving’s room.
Hopefully he can give us some answers or at least point us in the right direction.
Micai’s POV
As we make our way into Erving’s room, my eyes take in the complete contrast of his space toward the rest of the building.
The ceiling and walls are painted completely black with the floor matching it in a black-gloss tile. Bright lights sit at the centre of each wall in a bright neon pink or blue. Posters fill the rest of the space around them and look like retro movie art.
There are eight large monitors in the centre of the room and an oversized black-and-red-striped bed to one corner with canvases of bright popping primary colours surrounding it.
The whole space has a more techno vibe than the modern, natural, chic atmosphere of downstairs.
As soon as we enter, Erving whips around in his large black computer chair, pulling his eyes from his monitors.
It looks like he was keeping an eye on everything, as they seem to cover every inch of the building and outside. Even more than what he had at his own place.
Erving’s gaze flicks between Creed and Ezra, anxiety pulling at his features as he jumps up.
“Have you found them yet?” His voice is shakier than I remember, and his gaze is filled with worry. “Are they dead or what?”
Ezra takes a step forward, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Not yet, but we’ll find them, Erving. No one will touch you under our care.”
Erving takes a breath and nods, a fraction of the stiffness in his shoulders easing as he slowly sits back down.
“Then what are you all here for?” Erving flicks his gaze around the room before landing on me, his shoulders relaxing further as he gives me a small nod and smile. I’m glad he is okay.
“We think that whatever you were looking into before the attack was what made them come for you, and what probably led them to you as well.” Ezra takes a place beside Erving’s monitor, meeting his gaze. “Do you happen to remember what you were doing around that time?”
Creed joins Ezra, his brows furrowing toward Erving.
“Were you looking into what I asked you before? The disappearances, and any anomalies or shadows in the surrounding cities?”
Erving glances between the two of them and nods.
“Of course ... but I didn’t find anything solid.
And not any stuff that needed reporting.
” His pink brows scrunch together. “It was like diving down into a black endless rabbit hole; the information was scarce and hard to pull. Which is strange in itself because there’s always traces left somewhere .
So, I laid a few feelers out and searched specific words and places, but .
..” He shakes his head. “It only brought me to weird and incoherent texts, none of which made sense to me.”
“What texts?” Creed asks, his brows pulled downward.
“I told you, it’s nothing?—”
“Was there something else you were looking into around that time then?” asks Mallyn from beside me.
Erving’s brows cinch together in thought before shaking his head.
“No, there was just the usual routine checks I always do, and there were no problems there, only the usual stuff ...” His gaze meets Mallyn’s.
“That was the only other thing I was looking into.” His eyes narrow before a scoff leaves his lips.
“But it can’t be connected. It didn’t even make much sense.
It was completely different from the old texts, so it can’t be true.
” He meets Creed’s narrowed eyes before flinching.
“Leave that for me to decide.” Creed crosses his arms, his gaze darkening.
Erving sighs, wringing his hands out before flitting his gaze toward Ezra and then Annex before falling on Mallyn and me.
Anywhere but Creed’s direction.
“I started by looking at the dark magi-web, searching for rumours or whispers of shadowy movements in the background like you said. I looked for a player hiding in the crowd but making big moves in the community. I thought there had to be some trace of them somewhere, especially if they’re not new to the game. ”
Creed nods, pushing Erving to continue.
“You told me to be thorough, that this group could have been around a lot longer, and that’s why they go unnoticed, because they have the experience and power to hide.
So, I thought I’d look deeper into the past. Usually, organisations aren’t as well organised in the beginning.
I began following the whispers and different trails until it led me to some strange old texts that were posted in fragments here and there.
They were bits of small broken script that—when put back together—slowly began to form into a strange story.
Most of the pieces had been posted by a dark-web collector, looking for the final sections.
That’s how I found it. I posed as a seller, telling him I had a tiny fragment and wanted to sell for a high price, but that I wanted to confirm it was the same text.
The old guy sent me images of every piece, that’s how I got it all together.
I scanned each image and copied them into one file.
It all formed into an old parchment drawn in ancient script.
It was missing about a third of its text but still had a few sentences intact. ”
My brows scrunch together. What would an old text have to do with The Facility?
“The thing is, a lot of ancient languages died out with most supes not knowing of them, let alone being able to speak or read them.” Erving continues, oblivious to my thoughts.
“I managed to pull some of the words and translate them after days of roving through other texts. But I couldn’t translate the majority of it, the words too old and lost, or the script too faded in parts and not legible anymore. ”
“But you still know some, right?” Annex sighs, narrowing a glare in Erving’s direction as frustration bleeds through his features.
“Then tell us what you know, and stop being so damn long-winded, Erv. Just give us the short version.” He rolls his eyes, leaning against one of Erving’s brightly lit walls before glaring at him to hurry.