Reborn with my killer's looks-Chapter 44: The things we do....

The room was dark and seven torches unlit lined the stone wall

Milo DiMarco sat among the others, all of them wearing red cassocks. Nobody spoke nor did they look at each other. The only sound was the hum of the ventilation system somewhere above them.

The door opened and their leader walked in.

He moved to the head of the long table, reached forward, and sparked a single flame.

The fire traveled from one torch to the next to the next until all seven burned simultaneously. Their combined light illuminated a symbol on the wall behind the table.

The seventh seal.

Everyone took a seat.

The leader settled at the edge of the table, his face half-shadowed and the others filled the adjacent seats on both sides. Milo took the last available chair.

"Kaiser’s scientists have completed their work," the leader said with an unhurried voice. "The serum sequence is ready for mass application. What we need now are subjects."

"Not like us," he continued. "We are the forgotten and overlooked. The ones the world decided didn’t matter because we were born without marks on our skin."

Several people around the table fidgeted, their postures straightening.

"What we need are the so called ’graced ones’." He let the word sit. "Topplers."

Someone at the far end of the table exhaled sharply.

"We need them in number," the leader said.

"Which means Virelia is our most valuable resource. Every day hundreds of marked students walk those halls." He looked around the table. "We simply need to collect them."

"This is an opportunity to make the very Topplers who’ve wronged you pay."

Milo’s skin crawled.

She was a Toppler herself.

She looked around at the others and boy were they hungry.

The leader’s eyes found her across the table. "Miss DiMarco. You’ve been quiet."

"I’m listening," she said carefully.

"Good. Then you heard me say we could retrieve anyone we like." He tilted his head. "You wouldn’t have a problem with that."

It was more of a heads up than a question.

Milo’s mind flashed back to Alessia Cardoso. The way she looked at Huey suggested there was more between them.

And if He cared about anyone on that campus, it was her.

A slow smile spread across Milo’s face.

"No," she said. "Not at all."

Elsewhere, that same night

The backroom smelled a lot like butter and warm pastry.

Huey stood at the metal shelving unit, carefully balancing a tower of takeout boxes with the concentration of a man defusing explosives

Six boxes, seven, eight.

Almost there.

Nine.

The stack swayed.

Huey went completely still, his arms out like a tightrope walker.

It steadied and he exhaled.

But then the backroom door swung open, bringing with it a waft of air that sent the entire tower collapsing sideways in slow motion.

Huey watched it happened and could only sigh in response.

"Oh dear," said Vie.

He turned to find....

Vie standing in the doorway; small, elegant and grey haired. Whoever said aging takes away your beauty needs to get his facts checked cause vie was pretty personified despite being more than 60years of age.

She was laughing with one hand pressed to her mouth.

She was also not alone.

Calvin stood behind her, grinning like he’d just won something. Luna stood beside him, with her arms folded and looking unimpressed. Josephine stood at the back, looking everywhere except directly at Huey.

Huey stared at them. "How did you get back here?"

"I let them in," Vie said, already moving to help pick up the boxes. "These are your friends, aren’t they?"

"They’re...."

"It’s so lovely that they came to visit." Vie patted his arm. "Take a break, dear. Talk to them."

"I’m actually in the middle of...."

"Nonsense." She took the boxes from his hands. "Friends before orders. That’s my rule."

"You’ve never said that rule before."

"I’m saying it now." She smiled serenely and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Huey looked at the three of them.

Calvin was still grinning.

Josephine was studying the wall and Luna was staring at him like she had a lot to say.

He pulled up a stool and sat down. "What do you want?"

Calvin opened his mouth.

"I still don’t have an iota of trust for you." Luna cut across him before he could say a word. "I want that established upfront. Calvin may have been swayed by a birthday gift, but I haven’t."

"Oh so you want a birthday gift too??" Said Huey in a sarcastic tone.

Luna looked to Josephine for backup.

Josephine blushed faintly and looked at the floor.

Luna’s expression softened and she turned back to Huey. "No, that’s not what I.... Screw you."

Calvin straightened. "Right. So We dug through the Golden Chalice as deep as we could. Files, records, even tailed a few agents." He paused. "But the mole left nothing obvious."

Huey nodded slowly. "And?"

"And you’ve been pretty confident about this whole traitor theory." Calvin leaned forward. "So you obviously have someone specific in mind."

"The Vice-Magister," Huey didn’t waste his time replying.

The silence that followed didn’t last very long....

Then Calvin said "Yeah, honestly."

"I’ve never liked him," added Josephine immediately, still looking at the wall.

"He’s a real shady man" Calvin agreed.

"And he doesn’t wash his hands after leaving the toilet." Said Luna

Huey stared at her. "What?"

"....."

"How is that—"

Huey rubbed the back of his neck. "I’m not certain it’s him. But I have a plan to find out."

"What kind of plan?" Josephine asked, finally looking at him.

"The kind where I need the three of you to do something a little dangerous."

"Were listening." Said Calvin, pressing his arms on the table.

Not long after, back at Virelia....

The visiting hours were quiet at this time of day.

Alessia knocked on Maya’s door before pushing it open. The room was small and clean, a single window letting in the last of the evening light.

Maya was sitting up in bed, a book face-down in her lap and looking a lot better than the last time..

"You came," Maya said.

"Told you I would." Alessia sat in the chair beside the bed. "How are you doing? I mean Actually doing, not the answer you give the doctors."

Maya smiled faintly. "Some days are okay. Other days I think about it and the craving just..." She gestured vaguely. "It comes out of nowhere."

"That’s normal apparently."

"Doesn’t feel normal."

"No, I imagine it doesn’t." Alessia folded her hands in her lap. "Could you leave if you wanted to? Like, are you medically cleared?"

Maya hesitated. "Yeah. Technically."

"But you’re staying."

"I don’t trust myself out there." She looked at the window. "What if I walk past somewhere and just... it calls to me. And I don’t have anyone stopping me."

"You have Dante."

Maya went quiet.

"He came out," Alessia said gently. "He’s doing well. Better than anyone expected."

"I know."

"He checks in on you every day. Even on the days you tell them not to let him in."

Maya’s jaw tightened. "I know that too."

"He found his courage," Alessia said. "And I think you know where he found it."

Maya said quietly "Me."

"Yeah."

Maya looked down at her hands. "I treated him badly. When he first had feelings for me." She exhaled slowly. "My relationship at the time. Being seen with someone like Dante would’ve been...."

"You don’t have to explain it."

"I want to." Maya picked at the edge of her sleeve. "He knew how I felt about him. He had to have known. And instead of being angry about it, he just... changed. Started working on himself. Not for me, he said. But everyone knew it was for me."

Alessia didn’t respond. She just let Maya talk.

"He’d drop everything for me," Maya said. "He always would. That’s who he is." She looked at Alessia directly for the first time. "You’re not that different, you know."

Alessia blinked. "What?"

"I’ve seen how you look at Huey Cross." Maya’s mouth curved slightly. "And I don’t think it’s just the investigative journalism thing."

Alessia’s face went pink immediately. "Huey’s just an interesting guy nothing more."

"He’s just an interesting guy." Maya repeated, her smile growing. "Is that what you tell yourself?"

"Well....."

"You’re blushing."

"I’m hot. The heating in here is excessive."

Maya laughed. It was a small laugh but it transformed her face entirely.

Alessia laughed too.

Eventually Alessia stood, gathering her bag. "I’ll come back Thursday."

"I’ll be here." Maya’s expression softened. "Thank you, Alessia."

"Don’t mention it."

The corridor outside was quieter than the ward.

Alessia walked toward the elevator, scrolling through her phone.

A man in gray maintenance overalls crouched in front of the elevator doors with tools spread around him on a cloth.

Alessia glanced at him. "Is it out of commission?"

"Just a minor fault in the sensor panel." He didn’t look up. "Nothing serious. You can go in, it’s operational."

She stepped into the elevator.

The man stood and moved to the panel beside the doors.

Alessia hit the button for the ground floor and looked back at her phone.

But what he’d said replayed in her head.

" Minor fault in the sensor panel."

But the sensor panel was inside the shaft and not accessible from the corridor at all.

She turned around and the maintenance man was looking directly at her now.

The elevator doors began to close.

Alessia lunged for the gap.

He stepped forward and drove his boot into her chest, sending her stumbling backward into the elevator car.

She hit the far wall and slid down it.

The doors sealed shut.

"Hey!" She scrambled up and hammered both fists against the door. "HEY! SOMEONE"

A hiss came from the ceiling and red gas from the ventilation slats filled the shaft.

Alessia covered her mouth, backed into the corner and kept banging on the door with her free hand.

The gas filled the small space in seconds.

I’m her last minutes of consciousness, Alessia thought about taking her phone out and maybe leaving a message or something.....

But what would she leave, she had no idea what was happening.

Her legs went first, the joints softening and her knees giving way.

She slid down the wall and her phone clattered to the floor in turn cracking the screen.

The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was the red gas curling and thickening above her.