The Four Protectors

Forty Four

3rd Person POV

Cassius was infinitely bored. Claiming that they needed to do some research on The Virtuous, Annabelle, Azriel, Catherine, Talia and Maia had set off towards the nearest library to dig through newspaper archives. Desmond couldn't go so Cassius stayed behind along with Theo and Alex.

The four of them were playing rummy with a deck of cards they'd managed to dig up when the research party returned.

"What did you find," Desmond asked.

"You know we could have used four extra pairs of eyes," Talia commented.

"Now why would I subject myself to reading dusty old newspaper for six hours," Theo asked sarcastically.

"What he said," Alex added, jerking his head in Theo's direction.

Catherine took a seat beside Cassius, a cup of coffee in one hand and a pad of notes in the other. Despite the fact that Annabelle had been the one to suggest doing research, everyone almost subconsciously looked to Catherine to hear about what the research had uncovered. The woman didn't even notice as she sipped her coffee while flipping through her notes.

Annabelle cleared her throat and heads turned back to her.

"We've gathered names of people that have been reported missing over recent years. Using that, we were able to find a couple of addresses. We'll split into pairs and go to each of the houses to investigate and hopefully we'll find something by tonight," Annabelle explained.

No one raised any complaints against that so it was decided. Desmond would go with Catherine, Talia with Maia, Azriel with Annabelle and Cassius with Theo and Alex. They'd wait for sundown.

Everyone was waiting in the living room for Azriel before they went their separate ways. He walked in with a frown as he pocketed his phone. Cassius just waited for an explanation.

"That was my father. There's been unrest on the streets. The different supernatural factions are starting trouble with each other considering no one knows who founded the Operation. He thinks they haven't been able to get through to any of the prisoners. They're all blind followers to the cause and searching their memories probably hasn't proven fruitful either," Azriel said gravely.

"But surely one of those prisoners has seen the headquarters, talked with someone important," Maia mused aloud.

"It's a probably a huge organization with multiple chains of command. I doubt those who were actually part of the action ever interacted with anyone important," Azriel replied.

The mood was even more somber now. They'd have to been more careful because of unrest on the streets. Rafia's words came echoing back to Cassius from all those weeks ago.

They've created distrust and effectively set us back over a hundred years

It was up to them to try and reverse the damage that had already been done. The supernatural world would unite against a common enemy, a face behind the operation. Until then, they'd just tear each other apart.

"Shall we go or does anyone have anymore depressing facts to share," Theo commented dryly.

1st Person POV

The sky was still light despite the fact that the sun had set as we reached the address I'd hastily scrawled down on a chit of paper. The house was supposed to belong to a Mrs. Harrison, who lost her son five years ago.