"Ahhh, he speaks." Xiran chuckled while Rivan smiled from behind him.

"We want to bag the Phantom Vampire, that’s why we came here." Agent 35 said while wincing with immense pain.

"Who gave you the information on him?" Xiran asked stepping closer to him.

"Another hunter. She perished in the fight with Phantom." Agent 35 grimaced.

"How many of you are still here?" Xiran inquired next.

"Just me, I wanted to gather more information on you before leaving."

"Me? Huh? Interesting. And what is that you gathered about me? Let’s hear it." Xiran stepped even closer to him with danger emanating from his whole body.

"Not much, you seem like a maniac though." Agent 35 spat out.

"Was that meant as a compliment? Rivan you think he just complimented me?" Xiran asked in an amused voice.

"I don’t think hunters are capable of that, they are pretty uptight. I think he meant it as an insult." Rivan replied in a bored voice.

"Insult? I see. Should he be taught a lesson so he would learn to not throw insults when in a compromising situation?" Xiran asked Rivan with an amused expression.

"Let me do the honours." Rivan stepped forward and Xiran provided him with his space.

"Well we need his tongue, but I don’t think we need his teeth. We don’t know when he might bite." Xiran replied in a sing-song voice. Agent 35 understood they were toying with him, trying to break his spirit and he was completely at their mercy.

The merciless punches Rivan threw at Agent 35’s jaw had him reeling and coughing up teeth and blood in no time. His screams and yelling did not affect them, instead, he felt they relished in his misery.

His face swelled up like a balloon while his mouth was almost empty of teeth. When Rivan finally stopped and stepped back to look at his handiwork. Xiran placed his elbow on his friend’s shoulder to admire it.

"Looks like you left few of them Rivan, you are getting sloppy," Xiran whispered perking his lips up.

"I am, I think I need more practice. Let’s hope we find more of these scumbags."

"Carios extract all the information you can from him and then cut off his head and send it to his Senior at Avarance. The last time I spoke to him, he wanted me to enlighten him. So let’s enlighten him properly. And when he calls, make him wait before putting it through me." Xiran gave full instructions to Carios.

"Understood! Sire," Carios replied.

Both friends then left the room leaving Agent 35 at the mercy of Carios. Agent 35 knew that the most vital piece of information will die with him and he felt his heart at peace, knowing Aselia was still safe.

----------------------

Back at the Avarance headquarters, Aldridge sat with his head clutched in his hands.

He had just received the severed head of Agent 35 with a note that said: "I told you to stay out of my city. Instead, you asked for enlightenment, here is some enlightenment for you. Next time I find your scum in my city I will send piece after piece of their body while keeping them alive. Stay out of my city or I will wipe out your organisation. You have only seen my anger, next time I will unleash my wrath and burn your world down.

Yours sincerely,

Mayor Mazitine."

He handed the note to Yurian who read it with wide eyes and an angry expression. "I am going to get Aselia out of that hell hole. What if Mazitine gets his hands on her and discovers her true identity? We don’t know what she is going through?" Yurian declared.

Aldridge banged his hands on the desk before speaking in an angry voice: "Is that what you gathered from the note? I have already lost so many of my best agents and hunters on this mission. I am not sacrificing you as well. And we don’t even know what information Agent 35 had given them before dying. The state of his head showed he was severely tortured."

"I am hoping he didn’t tell them about Aselia at least. Rest doesn’t matter that much. Besides, are you going to just leave Aselia over there? You will do nothing to help her?" Yurain seemed annoyed at his decision.

"Right now we can’t do anything. They will discover and kill whomever we send. We have to believe in her now, she can extract more information the longer she stays there. My only grievances are she lacks that alluring touch about her. If she had only listened to me and trained in that department she would have already wrapped that Xiran around her finger and gotten all the information we needed about Phantom." Aldridge gritted his teeth.

"She is already risking her life with every second she stays there. And she is the one who gave us the required information in the first place. Give her a break. She is a hunter not some street slut." Yurian was frustrated at what he was implying right now.

"Leave Yurian, let me think and don’t take any action which will jeopardise her mission or our organisation. Sit tight and wait for my orders." Aldridge dismissed him, and Yurian left his office with gritted teeth and clenched fists, banging the door behind him.

Aldridge then picked up his phone and made a call to Xiran, whom he believed was Mayor Mazitine.

Carios received the call and told him that Mayor Mazitine was busy so he should call some other time. Aldridge was adamant so as instructed Carios made him wait before connecting the call to Xiran.

"Hello," Xiran spoke lazily.

"It’s me, Head of Avarance; Aldridge Lockinstan."

"You are? Doesn’t ring any bells. Do I know you?" Xiran seemed almost bored.

"We spoke not a while ago. You just sent me the severed head of one of my agents."

"Umm, now that you say it. Something is coming to my mind. And about that head, I was only cleaning up my city so sent the trash back where it belonged. I don’t allow rats in my city." Xiran’s voice was calm as a breeze.

"It was my mistake, I just want a truce with you now. We only came to your city looking for Phantom. But clearly, we didn’t understand that we were disrupting your city in the process. I assure you we will keep our distance from your city in future. Let’s work together." Aldridge offered him an olive branch, while in reality he only wanted to enter his good books and win his loyalty, then further use it to destroy him and his city for killing his agent.

"Hmm, I don’t work with hunters. You people disgust me. Stay out of my city and my space if you wanna live." Xiran was too smart to fall for his traps so he cut the call with an amused expression on his face.

Rivan was sitting with him, both friends smiled at each other and celebrated their victory with two glasses of red nectar.

Now that Aselia was better and Xiran was in a much better mental state. Rivan had decided to return to his business. Rivan’s company was located in the same city that his friend owned and Xiran wanted him to run the city with him as they had both established it.

Rivan was more business-minded and loved running his company and growing his multi-national business. But he would always help his friend whenever the need would arise. So they were having a last drink together before Rivan went on another business trip.

They didn’t know that future was not as bright as they thought right now...