Chapter 12: Another body.

Trouble?” Damien’s voice cut through the cafeteria noise. “What kind of trouble, Maya?”

Maya glanced around the crowded room, trying to catch her breath, her eyes wide with urgency. “Not here, we need to go.”

Serena, who was still sitting too close to Damien, tilted her head. “I’ll come too.”

“No,” Lyra said quickly, her tone sharper than usual.

Serena frowned. “Why not?”

“Because you don’t even know what’s going on,” Jack added. “And honestly, you don’t look like you can handle trouble.”

Serena’s lips curved into a sly smile. “You’d be surprised.”

Maya shifted uncomfortably, watching her. For a second, Damien caught something strange in Maya’s eyes, like she was sensing something the rest of them couldn’t.

Serena’s smile faltered, she looked at Damien, almost like she was waiting for him to protest but Damien said nothing. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt the same unease Maya did.

“I said stay here,” Maya said firmly, her voice harder now. “Please.”

"I don't care what you say, I'll only do what Damien says."she blinked.

Damien smiled at her." You don't want to get in trouble, stay here."

Finally, Serena leaned back, crossing her arms. “Fine, go play your little secret game but don’t blame me when you realize you needed me.”

They didn’t wait for her reply. The four of them slipped out of the cafeteria and hurried across the quiet streets, heading toward the abandoned house.

Maya dropped her bag on the old table and pulled out the leather bound book they had taken from the school library.

"You took the book from the library?" Lyra asked, looking suprised.

" Technically, I borrowed it." She smiled.

" What did you mean by trouble?"Damien asked.

“Look,” she whispered, pointing to a symbol in the book.

"It's a B.....," Jack muttered, staring at the book.

"No dumbass, it's a Beta symbol." She flipped the page.

" The illusionist,"Maya's eyes widened.

Maya lowered her voice." I saw this symbol on my window this morning, this happened last two years and all the family ended up dead. Anywhere this symbol appeared the illusionist always kiss the entire supernatural who saw this symbol."

Damien leaned closer. “ Why, What does it mean?”

Maya’s looked at him. “It means desire, this symbol… it makes your deepest desire come alive.”

Jack raised a brow. “That doesn’t sound so bad. Free wishes, right?”

Maya shook her head. “No, there’s a cost. The moment your desire comes alive, it starts to eat at you and eventually…” She hesitated, her hand tightening on the book. “…it kills you.”

The room grew quiet, Damien eyes scanned the others.

Lyra whispered, “ I've only heard of it, I didn't think it was real. The illusionist is one of the oldest supernaturals, they feed on power too and they kill mercilessly.”

“Oh... it is.., they’ll get what they want most,” Maya said, “but it’ll destroy them.”

Damien shivered, his dream of Lyra flashed in his head, her lips spreading apart, her extended claws, her monstrous face. Was that his desire? Or his fear?

Jack tried to lighten the air. “Well, whoever made this thing had a twisted sense of humor and a sick way of killing.”

But Maya didn’t smile, she closed the book and leaned closer. “There’s more, on my way here, I overheard two cops talking near the station. They said a new body was found.”

Damien frowned. “And?”

“They said the body was… blue.” Maya’s voice dropped. “ It's just like what is in the book, victims of the illusionist always turn blue due to its venom, it sucks it's victim dry of blood.”

The room was silent again, even Jack didn’t crack a joke this time.

Lyra’s fists clenched. “So it’s real, the illusionist is killing again. If it's in Oakland then it means everything is going to go wrong."

Damien turned to Maya.. “Where’s the body?”

Maya looked at each of them, then said, “The hospital morgue.”

By nightfall, they made their way to the hospital. They passed the back door and crept into the morgue which was at the far end of the hospital.

Jack grinned, pulling out a bent card. “Good thing about hanging with me, you never need a key.”

"Where did you get that from?" Maya asked.

" My mom's a cop, remember." He whispered.

“Jack,” Lyra hissed, “this isn’t a game. If we are not careful, we're gonna get caught.

“Relax, just watch and learn." He slid the card in and with a soft click, the door unlocked.

The room was cold and silent, rows of metal drawers lined the walls, each holding what nine of them wanted to see.

Maya led the way. “The cops said drawer number seven.”

Jack whistled. “Lucky number.”

No one laughed.

Lyra pulled it open, a wave of smell hit them. Inside lay a young man, maybe in his twenties. His skin was tinted blue, lips dark like frostbite. His eyes stared blankly upward.

Damien’s chest tightened. “It’s true.”

Lyra examined the body." There's no bite, no cut, where did it drain the blood from."

Damien leaned closer." You're right, what it means it drains souls not blood. If it drained the soul then the blood will surely go dry. Everyone will think it's a normal death except from the blue body."

Jack whispered." This is bad."

Maya’s face was pale as she shut the drawer, her hand trembled against the book in her bag. "This proves the illusionist is real and it's here in Oakland.

Jack muttered, “So what now?”

Maya tuned to Jack, "First we find out who the illusionist is, we have to inspect any more dead bodies. If we find the creature we comtain it or else it's going to continue killing even you Damien."

"What if it's here because of Damien.....is it possible. Damien is a true Alpha and he's going to have a lot of supernaturals after him. What if the illusionist is where because of Damien."

They all tuned to Damien.

“Someone's coming,” Maya whispered.