Vices and Maces

Chapter 62: Oh That's Who Dahlia Is!

CW: blood, gore, broken bones

As always when it's late, the factory is quiet. The halls were dark, and Virgil didn't bother to turn on any lights since he was planning to go to bed anyway. He didn't need them to see anyway, he was perfectly fine walking through them since it wasn't the first time.

He was too focused on thinking about Roman to really suspect anything was off. How empty the factory felt. How it actually was emptier than normal. No, he didn't notice it at all.

Virgil carefully made his way to his office and bedroom. He should probably check to see if Janus has messaged him at all. Maybe Roman got home already and told Janus to keep an eye on their bracelet. But first he wanted to change, so he passed by his lab.

His room was just down the hallway, it wasn't that far of a walk. He let out his wings and stretched them as he continued to walk, glad he had cut slits in the back of his black hoodie for them.

Turning the door handle and opening the door, Virgil expected his room to be empty, but he jumped in surprise when he saw Melany sitting on the chair in front of his desk. For a second he calmed down, but then he noticed she was looking through his leather bound journal. Oh gods... he forgot it...

"Hello Virge," she greeted as she turned a page. "I just dropped by for a visit and noticed you weren't here. You have some amazing ideas in this journal! Why didn't you ever share them?"

"I-I didn't know how to go about creating them," Virgil lied, carefully walking in. Something felt wrong, he just couldn't place it.

"Hmm... it looked like you had some ideas..." Her antlers looked sharper and more... wild than usual. She turned the spinning chair slightly, rocking back and forth.

Then Virgil noticed the wolfsbane flowers placed on his desk behind her. He gasped and took a step back, but before he could run, the door slammed shut. He spun around and saw Black there, some water spinning around in a blob next to his head.

"You know... when you first joined us, I had hoped you wouldn't cause us any trouble," he told Virgil, walking forward. "That you would work with us willingly. How you disappointed us... Oh well. After two years, it was about time you betrayed us. But we're not done with you yet. You can still work with us, just in a closely monitored and restricted space."

"S-so a cell," Virgil said, trying to keep the tremble out of his voice as he took careful steps back, glancing between Melany and Black.

"You could say that," the deer traited chirped up as she stood, handing over the journal to Black. "It's all written in Anosmia, I couldn't understand a word."

"Thank you, Dahlia," Black talked smoothly. "Now if you can please take care of our little mole... he needs to be relocated. I'll call for his sister when we get back to the office."

Virgil's heart jumped. No... they can't hurt her. Not after everything he's done.

He pulled out his dart gun, aiming at Black, but Melany moved before he could do anything. A sharp pain blossomed on the back of his hand, and he dropped the gun. What he saw made his stomach turn when he looked back at who used to act so kind towards him...

Her arm had stretched far beyond what it normally was, the skin stretched and muscles pulled taut. A blade was in her hand, and she moved it under his throat.

"Oh, I guess I should explain," she said as she moved closer, her arm shrinking. "I'm not a deer traited. I'm a shapeshifter. Code name Dahlia Flower. One of the meanings for the flower is dishonesty... you'll get to know the real me quite soon."

The betrayal stung Virgil worse than the blade. He always knew he couldn't completely trust her, but this... This was far worse than anything he expected.