Chapter 48

The room was silent as we sat at the small breakfast nook in our suite. In front of us sat notes, and files. Nick was pacing back and forth on the phone with Igor and Ki looked irritated.

The last couple of hours had been nothing short of frustrating. When I had reached Nick he was already turning to leave. He had perked up, eyebrows raised in question, but I shook my head in answer.

Nick ends his call and looks over his shoulder at us as he says, 'Igor is going to speak with the Prime Minister and the Mayor of Oxford to see about getting the CCTV video of everyone going in and out of the building, as well as building security cameras. He will also see about the investigative reports.'

Ki nods, looking a little more irritated as he says, 'This feels like a black hole we are slowly sinking into.'

'Couldn't agree more.'

He sits down as I glance out the window, the twinkling city lights illuminating the otherwise black night. The moon was as shadowed as our moral. When we got into the car, we had discussed what we had learned, my mind going back to that moment.

'So what did you learn Ki?' I asked.

'Well the lady from NHS said as far as they can tell it wasn't a biochemical weapon, seeing as everyone was alive. She is considering terrorism.'

I wave that off and look at Nick. He was staring out the window, eyes glued to the smoke collumn as he growled, 'The room they went into was the filing room.'

Ki and I looked at each other, the bubble had burst. Slowly, I felt myself deflate. The file was gone, as well as the one man that could even tell me the donor's name. Frustation burned through me as I felt the pheremones building as they came off Nick. His face was dark, his sclera slowly turning red, his pupils slits as he growled out in almost a demonic voice, 'The leader of the Phantasma should be afraid. when we catch him, I'll tear out his throat.'

My whole body felt squeezed by his power, and Ki calls out, 'Stop it Nick, she can't handle it.'

Suddenly, the majority of the power lifted and I gasped for the breath that had been almost literally ripped from my chest. Coughing, I rub at my throat, sweat pouring off me as I look between the two Purebloods. Nick was barely keeping his rage caged in place. I could see it in his slitted eyes, and twitching jaw. His body was unmoving, looking like a marble statue in Armani. Finally catching my breath and gathering my frantic and bird like panic, I say, 'The Professor was...'

'Fullerman,' Both men say and I blink in surprise.

'We could hear your conversation,' Nick says, giving Ki a raised brow.

Of course they could. It never ceases to amaze me about these Pureblood Phantoms, they could hear a whisper from a hundred miles away if they really wanted to. They could hear everything or one voice in a crowd and tell you what everyone said. That is when something clicks in my mind and I look at Nick asking, 'Did you feel anything?'

'Excuse me?'

'Did you notice anyone in the crowd. If you were listening to me, you can also remember anything about someone talking, or their thoughts, in the crowd.'

Ki looked intrigued as well. Nick's temper was still boiling and I had just notched it up again as he says coldly, 'No.'

I felt frustrated and had slide further into the seat, looking out the window. Now I found myself doing the same, but without the natural light of day.

Nick says in frustration, 'It feels like we will never get a leg up on the Silent Phantasma. We are always behind.'

Then the word flowed out of my mouth before I could stop them, 'You're wrong.'

It took me a moment to realize there was no movement, just silence, and blink realizing what I said. Turning, I see the two pair of predatory eyes on me, from different spectrums of the color wheel, and Nick asks slowly, a bit of cold fire in his smokey voice, 'Is that so?'

A chill ran down my spine, but I try to squash the fear, even as I smelt his powerful pheremones and say, 'We are getting too close.'

The pheremones stopped, his stern face placid, and Ki's questioning as I explain, 'They weren't expecting us to find this. Out of every possiblity, I bet they didn't expect me to study biochemistry and identifying DNA markers. Not only that, maybe that's the reason why they are after me, I have knowledge that could expose them.'

'Still it is gone, burned up in the fire,' Ki says, looking a little miserable.

But I shake my head saying, 'Your wrong. Think about this, they have had at least a two hundred year start in hiding their leaders identity, if not longer. We have only scratched the surface. Printer stock paper is about...what...fifty to sixty years old? So that means they have had that in place for a possibility of that long. But this... this they didn't.'

'I don't follow,' Nick says, but Ki jumps in, 'I get it. They were scrambling to hide this.'

'That's right. Twelve years ago they got close to destroying it, but didn't.'

'Then that means someone in the conference hall in Eguishhym was a spy for the Phantasma,' Nick says coldly.

Ki and I both swivel our heads to look at him. His hands were laced, and his face contemplative, but his eyes were lazered on Ki. Ki looked nervous suddenly and says, 'You can't believe its...'

'My brother is the only one who left the room.'

'You know E wouldn't do something like that. He's one of the five!!!'

'Absolute power, corrupts absolutely.'

This shocked me as I looked between them. Ki became indignant and snarls, sharp canines flashing, 'You know as well as I do why he left!'

'Do I?'

Slapping my hands on the table they snap out of their dialogue and look at me sharply, a bit surprised by my outburst, as I yell at them like children, 'Shut up! Accusing others won't help the situation right now! What we do know is that they have panicked and now we are getting somewhere. They can't keep hiding in the deep pits any longer. Nick, whatever your brother is doing, I find it highly unlikely he would give himself up that easily. There were many on phones while in that room, look at them, research every single one of your A ranks. Ki, stop defending Igor, he can defend himself! You need to look at every Night Hunter in that room and see who they were calling, kapesh?!'

They were quiet for a long moment, and I suddenly realized how stupid I just was. I was like a Chihuahua yapping at two Dobermans. But then Ki burst out laughing, and Nick gives the albino a look of disgust and some amusement. Ki's belly laugh filled the room until he calmed and said, wiping a tear, 'I felt like I was being scolded by my aunt. Thank you Nina. We needed that slap on the wrist. You're right, there were a lot of cellphones in that room, any one of at least thrity night Hunter's could have had part. They had only twenty four hours to do what they did. So we have a possible lead that way. We will get on it.'

'Also look to see on your part who they report to. Nick since they all report to you, and you know them well. Maybe you might know of those dissatisfied with your families leadership, or arent prepared to follow you.'

Ki nodded, pulling out his phone, but Nick looked a bit irritated as he replied, 'Many are dissatisfied with both my father's and my own leadership, especially with this high stress situation.'

'All the more reason we need to be more allusive in our inquiries.'