Immortals

Interlude // Salem

What a fool she is.

Getting Ashe to trust me was like stealing candy from a baby. She was so gullible, falling for my disguise without a second glance. She truly thought I was Vin Summers, that I was an Unfavorable boy that just wanted to find some safety from the cruel, cold world.

I knew my disguise was good, but I didn't know anyone could possibly be so painfully stupid. The poor girl was basically falling in love with my alter ego. She was basically blind to any wrongdoing I could, trusting me with her whole heart and soul.

Luring her to me was child's play, building trust only took a pleasant demeanor and a sense of humor. And of course, a believable backstory and some understanding of typical Favorable life to make me seem like a likely runaway.

And now here I was, one step closer to victory over Mia and her runaways, face to face with a rather irate Ashe, who I had just locked in my study.

I could handle that. She was alone, no one was coming to save her, there was no escape route, and the second I called backup to my location she would be a goner.

Just like Shane was soon to be.

As of the last time I had left him, he was still alive. Slightly maimed, a victim of a failed torture that was meant to get them to talk, but alive. My colleagues were under special instructions to leave Shane alone unless I was there. He was my capture, my sweet victory, and my responsibility.

Finally my victory, after two years of trying to capture them. Two years of trying to capture all of them. Him, Mia, Ashe, Parker, and Emery.

Even if three of them were still out of my reach, I was about to capture Ashe. My second victory in two days, sweeter than the world's richest clover honey. And I had learned where the others were stationed, it was just a matter of flagging the location as soon as I learned where to plot it on a map.

I would've basked in this forever, if I wasn't pulled from it by the memory that the batteries in my signal had died earlier in the day, rendering it useless and rendering me without backup until I could rectify this.

And so I did choose to rectify this, going over to my desk, only to discover a mess I had not left. Where did half of my documents go, anyways? The pile I had kept was looking suspiciously smaller.

I also knew that I did not knock over my garbage can, close my closet door, and that I should've taken my colleagues' advice in installing a security system, even if this location was temporary.

Because while I was out luring Ashe to me, someone broke into "my" house and possibly stole government issued documents. Something I wanted to attribute to a possible colleague that needed something while I wasn't there, but just couldn't

Who the fuck was here?

And as I looked over at the closed closet door, another thought occurred to me.

Are they still here?