Anachronistic: Endless Masquerade

39 | Unconvincing Evidence

- 39 -

Once again, an insufferable man acted as a roadblock for Pandora. It seemed to be a recurring theme throughout her life. In fairness, Pandora reckoned she would find women equally unbearable if society ever decided to grant them any kind of power. There were so few people that she liked after first meeting them. Most just plucked her nerves and got in her way. It happened so often she should have grown accustomed to it, but she never has. Perhaps she was immune to immersion therapy.

        "And why can't I go past?" she asked.

        The man stood directly in front of the open doorway, arms crossed like some kind of bouncer. Was it an attempt at intimidation? It wouldn't work. He looked more like the spoiled heir to an oil baron than someone who's seen a fight in their life, let alone been in one. His clothes gave it away. Instead of a uniform, he wore a suit that would have cost more than a year's wage for a grunt security guard.

        "Passengers are meant to stay in their rooms at the moment. But even if you were free to roam the ship, the morgue has always been staff only."

        Pandora rolled her eyes and lifted her key chain, the badge Allister gave her hanging in front. She had been looking for him for a few hours without luck. She was sure she'd find him inside, once the guard checked her credentials and let her through. She would rather meet with him under better circumstances, but he was sure to be examining the body already and time was running short. The morgue would overflow at this rate; they needed to end the hunt soon.

        "What? You need me to tell you which room is yours."

        Pandora stared at the man, then down at the badge. "Are you fucking stupid or something?"

        "What?! How dare—"

        "Is there a problem?" Another man rushed out of the morgue to calm the situation. His uniform would have given him away as a security officer, but Pandora already recognized him anyway. He was the suck-up that Allister had been patrolling with a few nights prior, though she couldn't even guess at his name.

        "Yes," Pandora answered. "While your guard dog is barking at me, people are dying."

        The suck-up looked at the door guard and sighed. "Come with me. I'll show you to the body," he said, then turned his attention toward the man. "You see anyone else with that badge, let them do whatever they want. Understood?"

        "Yes, sir."

        The guard dropped his head as Pandora walked past. Just like a yapping dog to put his tail between his legs once the master yells. He needed it though. Discipline comes from training, and it was clear he had zero of either.

        "Pandora, right? I'm sorry about him. Allister informed us about you, but we've had to start pulling passengers to help with certain tasks."

        "That explains the location of his head relative to his ass. So, it's gotten that bad? How many men has your crew lost?"

        "Only the four from the smoking room incident, but this whole situation has grown out of hand. Now that there's a second youkai on the loose we're overwhelmed." The officer continued forward a few steps before he turned back and noticed Pandora had stopped dead.

        "Are you sure?" she muttered.

        "No direct sighting yet, but the attacker was identified as a succubus."