Victor woke up the next morning, tired and dreary, momentarily forgetting the events of the day before. The hotel he was staying in was called The Hilton Arc de Triomphe Paris and was definitely the most beautiful and luxurious hotel he had ever resided in. He stumbled into his en-suite bathroom and got into the shower, letting the hot water wash over his body and wake him up fully, bringing the memories of yesterday to the front of his mind.
After he had took Camille to the first aid room in the building and had her head seen to, Adrien had come looking for him and asked Victor to talk to a few people that were involved in a different case. Victor willingly obliged, happy to be of help, but had been disappointed to be pulled away from Camille, whom had left work by the time Victor was finished and went back to her office. Finding his Soulfinder had given him a thrill and a kind of happiness that he hadn't ever experienced before, and he was desperate to learn everything about her.
He got out of the shower and got dressed quickly. He grabbed a coffee to go and a croissant from the café across the road for breakfast, before going over to the Savant Net building as fast as he could, just so he could see his soulmate again. Eloise was on the phone when he walked past her, but she smiled and gave him a little wave.
Victor knocked on the door of Camille's office and waited for a moment. "Come in," he heard her call out. "Hey, Victor." She spoke with a huge smile on her face when he entered and closed the door behind her.
"Hey, Camille," he replied, mirroring her smile. "What are we working on today then?"
"Well, actually, we have a development in the case," she said. "We got the heat sensors fitted in yesterday evening, and last night we picked up two guys that were hanging out around the house of a Savant family. We think that they're working with Jules' group, but they aren't talking."
"So you want me to talk to them," Victor guessed.
"Oui," she nodded. "So, are you ready to go?"
Camille was on high alert today, simply because she felt flustered around Victor and his gorgeous features, and felt like she had to impress him by working hard. As they headed down to the basement where they had cells and interrogation rooms, she held her head up high and swayed her hips as she walked. She found it strange that she was trying (and most probably failing) to look sexy and elegant, considering that was the complete opposite of who she was and she'd never tried so hard for anybody before.
She stood behind the glass - which looked like a mirror to the people in the room - and watched as Victor entered and sat across from the first guy, whom had dark hair and had been identified as twenty-seven year old Philippe Margoux. He hadn't spoken one word to anybody that tried talking to him; this frustrated Camille, although it certainly wasn't the first time this had happened.
"Hello," Victor said with a nod as he tried to get comfy in the hard plastic chair. "So I'm sure that it's no surprise why I'm here. We really wish you'd co-operate with us, it would make this pass so much quicker. Just tell us what you know."
Philippe let out an impatient, tired sigh as he rolled his eyes. In an accented voice he said, "I don't know anything. And I know my rights by the way, you can't hold me for longer than 24 hours unless I make a confession or you have any proof."
"Oh, we know that." Victor nodded. Camille watched as Victor tilted his head to the side and didn't say anything else; he just looked at the man in front of him in apprehension, eyebrows furrowing together. After a long minute, he asked, "who do you work for?" There was a new underlying tone to his voice and Camille guessed that he was using his compulsion powers on Philippe. The two men were locked in a staring contest, neither one of them blinking, both rigid in their seats; it slightly scared her that her Soulfinder could have this amount of power over somebody, and she was thankful he didn't know anything about her power, because he would surely react more scared than she was right now.
"We don't know who he is," Philippe replied in a monotone, flat voice. "He says all of his orders through Jules Badeaux - his second in command." Camille got chills all over her body at those words. "Jules tells us what to do and we do it, no questions asked."
Victor stayed professional, despite the fact he obviously knew that Camille would be affected by Philippe's words, and continued asking questions. "What is the aim of your group? Why are you killing Savant families?"
"We're killing them to get the attention of the Savant Net. They'll never find our leader and this won't stop. The Net will be working so hard to find our leader that they'll be disorganized in other things so it'll be easier to overtake them. We want to create a new world, led by Savants because we are superior to ordinary humans. If somebody refuses to join our group, we'll kill them. We are going to change the world."
"Is that why you and your buddy were hanging outside the family's house last night?" Victor pressed. "Were you going to ask that family to join you, then kill them if they refused so they couldn't tell the Net?"
"Yes. It's what we've been doing for the past few weeks."
Camille didn't want to hear any more. She tapped on the glass twice with her knuckles to indicate for Victor to finish the interrogation, told the other person in the little side room with her to report back to Adrien, before going into the corridor where Victor was already waiting for her. "I had to use my power obviously," he said as he followed Camille back towards the lift to go upstairs. "But at least we know what they're planning now."
She pressed the button for the ground floor. "Yeah, it's enough to put them both in jail, he basically admitted that they've both killed people." She looked at her watch and saw that it was half past 11 - they had been down there for nearly an hour, having had to prepare what Victor would ask before he went into the room where Philippe was. "I'm going for an early lunch. Do you want to come with me?"
"Yeah, sure," he nodded eagerly, a happy grin on his face. "You'll have to pick the place, I don't know where the good places are around here."
"That's no problem."
"Camille…" He sighed as they stepped out of the lift. "You don't have to hide your feelings from me, you know. You just found that not only is your brother a part of the group, but he's the second in command. I can tell that you're upset."
They signed their names in the book where employees checked in and out (there had been a machine to use, but it broke), and went outside. It was a particularly sunny day and Camille took a deep breath, thankful for the fresh air and open space. She'd felt like she was suffocating inside the building.
They walked alongside each other for a minute until she finally replied. "I am upset, yes. But also… I'm not surprised. Jules has always been confident, and a leader. I should have thought of this earlier. I'm disappointed more than anything, it's still hard to think about my brother being against the Net… But I don't want to talk anymore about it."
"Okay," he smiled. "Let's get lunch then, and finally get to know each other."
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