Lethal Beauty

XI - Closer

The palm tablet was coded with three kinds of security. Abel had to follow some instructions sent by Judy to encode three kinds of passwords and pass them through several gateways. The video feed was running through an overlay network so that no one could track whatever conversation they were having. Abel couldn't help feeling like he was James Bond on a secret mission.

"Hello, Judy?"

"Abel, I'm here."

Abel was sitting up in his bed with his back against the headboard, using a portable lazy table, he placed the palm tablet on the strap holder and used a wired headset to hear her clearly.

"How's the class?"

The blonde with soft brown eyes appeared to be in the office. She was still wearing a blazer and her ID was pinned on the left side of her chest. For someone being overworked by the department, Judiel sure looked nice, prim, and proper. Not bedraggled and depressed. From the first day they met, Abel felt some sort of connection with her. Probably because he could only recall his mother's smile amongst other things, and that smile resembled the female detective a lot.

"Surprisingly, Saint Constantine felt like a real school."

Judy chuckled and reminded him, "It is a school."

"So, what can I do for you, detective?"

"We need your help. It's very simple and not dangerous."

"I heard the same thing from you and suddenly I got sent to a vampire school. All right, what do you want me to do?"

"Are you familiar with the coat of arms?"

"You mean those symbols from the medieval Europe? Yes, I know about them. Do you want me to take pictures of the one in Saint Constantine?"

"I'm not referring to the coat of arms of the university. I'm referring to something else. I'm sure that your stay there meant you're already exposed to the hierarchy of vampires and their other kinds. Such as the Elders."

Abel halted and thought for a moment. "You want their coat of arms?"

They stared at each other for a long while. Both sizing each other up. She could sense that he was hiding something. And he could sense that she was disturbed. Abel hated lies and deception but recently, he couldn't help but feel like he had been dealing with both lately.

Good God, he comes across them so easily...

"Could you get it for me?" At long last, she spoke.

Abel let go of an exhausted sigh. "I can. I'm certain the coat of arms is hanging somewhere and it wouldn't be difficult to get it."

"Thank you, Abel."

"Is that all you need?"

"For now. We'll keep in touch. See you soon, Abel."

Well, that was fast, Abel thought. The earlier conversation reminded Abel of that day he met the detectives and they told him that he passed the SAT that measured the person's innate ability to lie, cheat, fight, and kill. He wasn't sure about the cheating, fighting, and killing part, but the lie...

Abel accepted that he was imperfect and was capable of a lot of things, including manipulation and being on alert. He was the one in control of his actions and even then he was careful not to hurt those people he cared about, especially his grandmother. It was frightening to think that he was unconsciously doing it.

But damn Iris, for placing him in this position where he had to admit to himself that he was capable of twisting even these people in the direction of where he wanted them to go.