"Hills, what's that supposed to be?"
Francis was busy punching a punch bag. He was covered in sweats already when the coach startled him. "Pardon?"
"What on earth was that move you're doing just now?" The coach stared at him.
"I was just doing brushing up some basics..." Francis said, shrugging.
"But you aren't even doing it properly... This is kickboxing, not some plain old wannabe-boxing-club. If you wanna do kickboxing, then do it for real, feel the passion burn inside of you...Like Minamio over there."
The coach nodded at a the far end where Reo was doing some complicated kickboxing techniques without a punch bag. He wasn't even breaking a sweat since from the past hour where they were paired up to duel.
When the coach left, Francis sighed and went back to his training. When it was time to hit the showers, Francis was about to go into one of the showers when a cool voice said, "You're Franshiska Hills, right?"
Francis turned around to see Reo staring at him. Francis had never came up close to Reo before. But now he could see that Reo is quite handsome, although from afar, he may look like an oddball who only bury his nose into a book.
Francis gave a moan of annoyance and said, "It's Francis, not Franshiska."
"Do you know Glenn Skyler?"
Francis gave a huge stare before answering, "Hell yeah, we had been best buds since we enrolled into Columbia."
He then caught sight of something. A bandage covering the side of his neck. Reo caught him looking at his neck and quickly covered the bandage with his hand, hastily replying, "It's just a small bite. Do you know the girl who is currently living with him right now?"
Francis gave him another huge stare and said, "No, I don't know much about her. Except, her name is kinda funny. Vivi... What kind of girl's name is- Huh?"
Reo had already vanished in front of his eyes while the whole time he was talking.
*********
SPECTACULAR BREAK-IN AT MANHATTAN BANK
Mon - There was a break-in at Manhattan Bank last night. Police believes it is the work of a criminal gang but most people claimed that no ordinary human could pull out these kind of stunts which involves melting the metal security gate, destroying the alarm with a sharp object, or putting the security guard into a deep sleep, not to mention there are huge scratches and ripped out metal at the security vault. The police had not managed to gather any evidence but will keep on investing this case further, of course.
Lloyd sipped his early morning coffee as he read this. There's only one thing the police and reporter got right for sure. This is not the work of an ordinary human. He walked over to the mail and saw a whole lot of Chinese, Japanese and Western-take out menu on the mat where the delivery boys shove them through the slot. The only thing that is not about take out delivery is a handwritten letter by Dario who normally sends a letter to taunt him.
So, I guess it's another supernatural case is it? He wrote.
Lloyd almost feel like writing back to him and said, "Look, pal. If you really wanna taunt me so much, then get your butt out here and said it straight to my face and STOP wasting paper and ink for God's sake!!!!!!"
Instead, he chucked the letter into the shredding machine as Glenn got up, wearing only a vest and khaki pants as pyjamas.
"Uhhh...What time is it? Did I miss anything?" Glenn mumbled.
"Nothing..." Lloyd said. Glenn went over to the fridge and took out a fresh OJ. As he sipped the juice, he said, "Doesn't sound like nothing."
"Well..." Lloyd pointed at the paper shredding machine. "I just shredded a letter."
Glenn's eyes widened and said, "It had better not be MY letter."
"No, of course not. It's a letter addressed to me."
"Then why did you shred it?"
"Dario."
Glenn frowned. "What did he write this time?"
Lloyd handed the newspaper to Glenn and took the paper shredding machine and dumped the shredded contents into the wastepaper basket. "He wrote a letter concerning about the mysterious break in." Lloyd muttered.
V.V. got up, clutching a Minnie Mouse plushie, and rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Uhhh...I had a reallly bad dream..."
"What kind of dream?" Glenn asked.
"About a giant mushroom trying to devour the world..." V.V. mumbled, taking out a couple of chocolate chips pop-tarts and tossing it into the toaster. "Anyway, I applied for a job at Maggie's Bookworld downtown. Today is my first day."
Lloyd and Glenn both sweatdropped. A giant mushroom devouring the world???? But when they heard the last part, they shouted, "Say what???"
"Don't worry. I'm using a fake name." V.V. said. "I have to leave by 9."
Glenn shrugged and said, "You want to investigate this case?"
"Maybe." Lloyd said, heading over to the window. "But as mentioned, not a lot of people have evidence yet."
RIIIING!!!!!!
Lloyd swiped the phone up with his usual gutso.
"Hello, Supernatural Demon Slayers (S.D.S.). How may I help-"
"Is Glenn there?"
"Eh? Who are you?"
"I'm Francis, for God's sake. Can you please put Glenn through the damn phone?"
Lloyd tossed the phone to Glenn and said, "For you."
Glenn picked up the phone and said, "Hey, Francis. What's up?"
"Glenn, have you seen the news?"
"I just finished reading it. Why?"
"Well, how would you react if I told you that I know who are behind the theft?"
"WHAT?!!!!!!"
**********
Francis was at Grand Central Park, leaning against a lamp-post when Glenn came over.
"Francis, you got to be kidding me..." He said as he got closer. "You know who was behind the break-ins???"
"Yeah." Francis said, avoiding his eyes. "To tell you the truth, I'm surprised as well."
"When did this happen???" Glenn asked, sitting beside him.
Francis got up and said, "How much do you know about me, Glenn?"
"Erm...Not much. Except that your dad is the leader of a Mafia gang. Oh, and your mom divorced with him and raised you with the Jews."
Francis looked thoughtful. Then, he said, "Don't get freaked out, okay?"
Glenn's eyes widened. "Freaked out???"
Francis gave a sigh and went to a nearby parking lot. There's a silver Volvo, a SUV, and a Mercedes parked in the parking lot. Taking a deep breath, he lift the Mercedes up into the air as though it weighs nothing.
"HOLY COW!!!!!!" Glenn yelled. "Have you been taking steroids or something?"
Francis put the Mercedes down and said, "No. Have you heard of the Radioactive incident in 1900's?"
"Yeah. I heard about that one." Glenn said, getting up as well. "Why?"
"In the 1988, a group of scientists tried to create super humans as in, humans with supernatural power through radioactive. The cops caught them and hush it all up and sealed up the radioactive toxic waste, but some leaked out in the same year."
He then paused for a while and said, "I was one of the few victims that survived that incident."
"Blimey, you never told me about that before." Glenn said, awed.
"You never told me anything about your part-time job either." Francis countered.
"There's a valid reason for that." Glenn protested.
Francis then continued, "I fell into the waste that polluted a river near an abandoned warehouse in Washington. Believe me, it isn't fun. At first, nothing happened. The next few days, I felt painful and burning sensation all over my body and my genes felt like bursting. It's only a week later I realised I gained the ability of super strength."
"Blimey, Francis. Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Because I thought you would have shunned me. I'm a freak. My mom couldn't even sent me to a normal school because of it. She have to home schooled me and work at night." Francis smashed the marble edgings of the fountain. "It's like a curse."
"That's not true!" Glenn grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "So what? I'm not normal too."
"That's easy for you to say." Francis muttered. "You're normal."
"I'm not, Francis. I'm actually a skipped generation descendant from a line of vampires. Including a 5000-year-old vampire who happens to be be my great-great-great-great-great and so on ancestor who is hell bent on getting rid of me to prune his family lines."
Francis stared at him. "But you don't even drink blood."
"I only inherited some vampire traits. For example, supernatural beauty to lure victims and inhuman strength, speed and stamina. I'm not sure about the blood part, but Lloyd said I drained Reo's blood."
"Minamio??? But I saw him in kickboxing today. And he's not a vampire." He then remembered the bite. "The bite injury on his neck. Was it...you????"
"Yes. I lost control." Glenn said. "But I won't bite anyone. Honest. I'm not dangerous. My great-great-great-great-great and so on ancestor said my venom isn't poisonous."
Francis stared at him, straight into his eyes. Then he said, "OK. I trust you." He then grinned. "So, can you transform into a bat?"
"No, I can't transform..."
"What a shame. That means you can't help me beat the traffic from the Brooklyn Subway."
Glenn started laughing and said, "Believe me. I prefer flying than using the bus." His expression then turned serious. "OK. Back to buiness. About the radioactive incident, are there any more victims???"
"Yeah. They probably take refuge at some old abandoned factory or warehouse." Francis said. "Pyro had been persuading me to join him for years. But I always rejected his offer."
"Are there any more of them?"
Well, why don't we grab a coffee at Starbucks and I'll tell you the rest of it?"
**********
"Vivien, could you help put these magazines back into their rack?" Kelly, the cashier asked.
V.V. smiled at her and said, "Sure." She picked up a stack of magazines and neatly put them back into their places, with the edges neat and not bent of folded. This is a perfect job for her. Working in Maggie's Bookstore is quite fun, actually. When she first applied for the job, she had given them her project, a detailed history of the first World War , the Russia and Japan War. They were so impressed that they hired her on the spot.
The door pings and a customer entered. V.V. straightened up and smiled, "Hi. Can I-"
She froze.
Reo was standing at the door, holding a cup of hot chocolate and carrying his Adidas sports bag. He is also staring straight at her.
Uh-oh, V.V. thought. She quickly dropped the magazines and ran to Kelly, saying, "I need to use the bathroom. Can you help me serve that guy?"
"No problem." Kelly said. "Hi, sir. What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for a sports magazine and a few paperback novels. Here's the list." He held out a list for Kelly to see just as V.V. darted into the bathroom and shut herself into a cubicle. Her heart beating fast.
How does he know I'm working here??? She thought. How??? If he tells this to his gang....
Taking a deep breath, she stared herself at the mirror. Mostly, she would be wearing the same white dress and the rikka brooch. But Maggie's bookstore employees all have to wear a uniform. For boys, it would be a white shirt and pale grey pants. For girls, it's a white top and a pale grey skirt, oh, and tennis shoes. They don't look flattering but it's uniform all right. It's a strict dress code.
V.V. then emerged from the cubicle to find Kelly placing some paperbacks into a carrier bag. Reo was leaning against the wall, his eyes fixed on V.V. as he sipped his hot chocolate.
"That'll be 37.99 dollars." Kelly held out her hand.
Reo handed a fifty to her and said, "So, how did you end up working here?"
"We nearly ran into a bit of debt." V.V. muttered.
"You two know each other?" Kelly asked with interest, stacking some stationery into the shelf behind the counter.
"We...er...had a bit of history..." V.V. muttered again.
Everyone was silent for a few minutes, until the phone suddenly rang.
Kelly reached out to it. "Hi there. Meggie's Bookstore. We stock up most books here and we can even deliver them for you...Eh??? Who's this? You want to speak to Vivien??? Okay." Kelly held out the phone to V.V. "Here. It's your call."
V.V. put the phone to her ear and said, "Hello???"
"V.V., what's time is your shift over???" Lloyd's voice rang into her ears.
"Um... 2.00 p.m." Vivi answered. "Why?"
"Well, could you just get out of here, like now?"
"But..." V.V. checked the clock that hung on the wall. "I still have 2 more hours."
"Can't you say something...like a family emergency?" Lloyd said hurriedly.
"It depends on the situation." V.V. said.
"Where's the girl who answered the phone? Let me talk to her." Lloyd said.
V.V. shrugged and said to Kelly, "He wants to talk to you."
Kelly also shrugged but took the phone from her. "Hello?"
V.V. turned back to the counter to see Reo still standing there, his purchase in one hand, his cup of hot chocolate in his other hand.
"If you have no buiness here, I suggest you leave." V.V. said coldly.
At that moment, Kelly said, "Vivien, you had better go back now."
That startled V.V. "What? Why?"
"Why didn't you tell me your grandfather is having grandular fever???" Kelly grabbed a book from the shelf and shoved it to V.V. "Here. Take this book with you. It's a book about grandular fever. You have to check it thoroughly. And since this is a crisis, no charge."
"But, Kelly-" V.V. protested.
"No buts. Your brother is picking you up." Kelly snatched V.V.'s employee key card off her, which hung on around her neck with a strap and slid it into a little silver box to clock her out. "I'll explain it to Maggie. You go to the hospital and be there for your grandfather. And-" She leaned in closer to her. "You must tell me what happened to him. Don't leave out any details."
"Um...Okay..." V.V. gave up. There's no way she could wriggle out of this.
She went into a cubicle and changed into her usual clothing. Just as she was ready, she saw the familiar Land Rover right outside, waiting for her. She grabbed her little bag pack and dashed out, saying, "Thanks, Kelly!"
As she climbed into the vehicle, she said, "Grandfather having grandular fever??? Could you come up with something less extreme???"
"Sorry, it's the best that I could off." Lloyd turned a sharp turn and nearly had V.V. thrown across her seat.
"Where are we going?" V.V. scrambled back up to her seat and buckled her seat belt firmly.
"To the thieves' hideout." Lloyd put the pedal to the metal and the Land Rover leap into a growl and sped off.
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