BXBX NOVEL Chapter 58: Suburban Quest
She had been spending the night visiting every member of the elite strike team Olivia had created, trying to figure out if any of them had seen anything weird during the battle at the warehouse.
She\'d interrogated three of them with her Aura, leaving two more to question. So far, two hadn\'t seen anything unusual, but one had noticed something. She\'d had to.... eliminate the human.
Gen sighed again as she looked at the house. She knew she could be doing better things with her time. Things like fucking Ezra. She grinned to herself, but this was a necessary evil. She had to do this. If Sarah had been lucid during the battle, she might have seen too much.
And in their world, knowledge could be deadly. Especially when the punishment of breaking most laws was death.
The house didn\'t fit with where you\'d think a mercenary would live. It was a quaint, two-story building with white shutters and a neatly trimmed garden. The kind of place you\'d expect to find a happy family, not a battle-hardened strategist. But appearances could be deceiving.
Gen knew the house would be full of traps and alarms. One does not survive for long as a strategist for hire without becoming meticulous and paranoid. Gen took a deep breath, focusing her enhanced senses.
Her vampire hearing picked up the faint hum of electronic devices, and her eyes spotted the subtle signs of tripwires and pressure plates. If she hadn\'t had experience in matters of urban warfare, she wouldn\'t have noticed them.
She moved, skirting the white picket fence. Her fingers brushed lightly against the wood as she moved, feeling for hidden sensors. She leapt the fence, landing silently on the balls of her feet. As she approached the back door, she spotted the faint outline of a security camera.
She crouched, using the shadows to her advantage, and slipped a small device from her pocket. She pressed a button, and the camera\'s feed looped to a harmless image of an empty backyard. Moving quickly, she picked the lock with practiced ease, slipping inside without a sound.
The interior of the house was just as deceptively normal as the exterior. Cozy furniture, family photos, and a faint smell of lavender filled the air. Gen shook her head, pushing aside the thoughts of what might have been, focusing on her mission.
A narrow infrared beam swept across the hallway, but Gen slipped beneath it with ease, twisting into shapes mortals would have problems imitating.
She crept through the house, every sense on high alert. The living room was clear, as was the kitchen. But as she reached the staircase, she paused. Her enhanced hearing picked up a faint clicking noise, the telltale sound of a hidden pressure plate.
Gen carefully placed her foot on the edge of the step, bypassing the trap.
Upstairs, she moved towards the bedroom. She pushed open the bedroom door, her eyes adjusting instantly to the darkness. There, lying peacefully in her bed, was Sarah. Her chest rose and fell with each breath, completely unaware of the danger Gen paused. Just as it should be.
She stood over Sarah, her eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. Taking a deep breath, she blanketed the room with her Aura, infusing it with an aura of docility designed to make Sarah compliant and open to suggestion.
The invisible energy seeped into Sarah, rousing her into a half-awake slumber. Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused and hazy, as Gen\'s Aura took hold. Sarah\'s body relaxed, her breathing deep and slow, as the compliant emotion settled into her mind.
"Sarah," Gen whispered softly, her voice barely more than a breath. "I need to ask you a few questions."
Sarah\'s head turned slightly towards Gen, her eyes still unfocused. "Yes…" she mumbled, her voice drowsy.
"Were you aware of anything unusual during the battle at the warehouse?" Gen asked, her tone gentle. I\'m no cut out for this shit. Olivia should\'ve handled this instead. Well, I can\'t be the teacher too, so, it\'s better that I came here. If I stayed, we\'d have spent the night fucking.
Sarah\'s brow furrowed slightly as she tried to recall. "There was… a lot of confusion… but nothing specific. Just… flashes and sounds. I was unconscious through most of it."
Gen nodded, her Aura keeping Sarah calm and compliant. "Did you see or hear anything that didn\'t make any sense?"
Sarah\'s half lidded eyes closed for a moment as she thought. "No… nothing like that. Just chaos. I couldn\'t make sense of it."
Relief washed over Gen, but she pressed on, needing to be sure. "Did you notice anything strange about anyone else after we left the warehouse? Anything that seemed out of place?"
Sarah\'s eyes opened again, slightly more focused. "Ivan… I remember something about Ivan. He was acting strange. But I couldn\'t tell what it was."
Gen hummed thoughtfully, noting that everyone seemed to find something off about Ivan. "What was strange about him?"
Sarah shook her head slowly, her thoughts still muddled by sleep. "Just… his behavior. He seemed… different. Distracted. I don\'t know…"
Gen sighed, satisfied with the answers. She leaned closer to Sarah, her voice soothing. "You\'ve been very helpful, Sarah. Now, I want you to go back to sleep and forget this conversation. Rest peacefully."
Sarah\'s eyes closed fully, her body sinking deeper into the bed as Gen\'s Aura guided her back into a deep, dreamless sleep. The docility in her Aura faded, replaced by one of calm and tranquility. Sarah\'s breathing evened out, and soon she was completely asleep, with no memory of the interrogation.
Gen stood up, her eyes scanning the room one last time to ensure everything was as it should be. Satisfied, she moved silently towards the door, slipping out of the bedroom and retracing her steps through the house.
As she exited the house, she took a deep breath of the cool night air, her mind focused on her next task. Ivan was the last person she needed to interrogate. "Maybe this time, there\'ll be a battle." She grinned. One can only hope.