29 Dead?

Ley was still in dreamland when urgent knocks yanked her out of her sleep. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was just half past 4 am. She ran her palms on her face to somehow wake herself up. The knocks sounded again, this time louder than the last. She went to the window and opened it, still half-asleep. 

Unsurprisingly, Sera entered while voicing her complaints, "Why did you lock your window?"

"What do you mean locked? I don't remember locking it yesterday," she denied with a frown.

"Nevermind that. I need to tell you something important. You wouldn't believe what I saw earlier on Landon's base. I was sneaking inside a building where I can drop off the card but suddenly alarms were ringing and I thought I was busted. However, they were chasing someone else throughout the compound so I followed them to get a clear eye and I saw Landon emerged from the forest and cornered the intruder. I saw that it was a shifter but what shocked me was it started using magic. It was a taboo!" Sera frantically told the story but broke off in the middle upon seeing her lack of reaction, "Are you listening?" 

 "I don't think I'm awake yet since I just heard you say a taboo was being chased at Landon's base," Ley replied stiffly, not liking where the recount was going

"And it's dead already!" Sera exclaimed which shocked Ley so much that her brain momentarily can't keep up. Her mind immediately went to the other taboos outside the reservation that was scattered all over different cities.

"Have you seen the face?" she mumbled shakily while reaching for her phone on the nightstand, intending to call them all back and check if they're all fine.

"I haven't seen it that well but it doesn't look familiar to me," Sera answered while grabbing Ley's trembling hands. Ley wasn't comforted by what Sera said as she hadn't met all the taboos yet.

"I need to recall everyone," she whispered to herself while wrapping her hands to her shoulders as if she needed to do it to keep herself together.

"What are we doing next, Ley?" Sera whispered when she was already quiet for a long time.

"We need to recover the body. I need to see it for myself," she looked at Sera, this time much more composed than before. Her shoulders are weighed down with responsibility to Taboos. Their only place in the world is with each other and she has to protect them with all she can.

She stood up from her bed abruptly and said, "Let's go to the kitchen and plan things out while drinking coffee."

Ley put two steaming mugs of coffee in the counter and sat on the stool opposite Sera. They drank quietly for a while. When the sunlight started peeking through the window, Ley put down her mug and faced Sera with a grave expression.

"Are you sure that the taboo is really dead?" Ley asked, making sure that they would be retrieving a dead body and not going there for a rescue mission.

"I would be surprised if it wasn't. They were really aggressive and Landon was going in for the kill. He was really enraged and went ruthlessly at the taboo when he could've used it for information or something before killing," Sera said in doubt.

"I wonder why he did that. We have plans today too," she mused, wondering if they would still go today.

"How's it going with Landon by the way? Are you sure that you should be in a relationship with him?" Sera asked.

"What the heck are you saying? We're not in a relationship," she denied incredulously, her pitch higher than usual from the surprise.

"You're not? It sure looks like it," Sera commented teasingly.

"What brought on this topic anyway?" Ley said, her tone puzzled.

"I feel like he is too ruthless. If you had seen him so ferocious earlier then you would know what I mean," Sera explained, her eyes unfocused as she recalled the happenings.

"Well, he wouldn't be standing on top of a conglomerate if he wasn't ruthless besides shifter women prefer those qualities as that mean they would be well-protected not that I care but that's how it works," she stated her opinion on the matter, finding everything about it normal.

"See! You're defending him already but if you really like him that much then I don't really mind. Just go for it," Sera encouraged her but she knew all too well what her place is in this world.

"Don't be silly. Regardless of whether I like him or not, I can't be in a relationship with him and you know why," she said, injecting as much humor as she can on her voice to project nonchalance.

"You're the one being stupid. Why avoid things like this? You grew up well even though your circumstances are like this, didn't you? Well, if you don't want serious relationships then how about flings? You should at least experience that instead of avoiding everything," Sera was so riled up that her hands were all over the place as she gesticulated.

"Well, if your definition of growing up well is extreme then I guess I did," she laughed but her eyes were without humor.

Sera glanced with concern at her for a moment but when she was about to speak, Ley's phone rang out loud disrupting the tense moment.

She did a 'wait' hand sign to Sera then answered her phone without looking at the caller ID, "Yes, hello?"

"Sorry for calling so early in the morning," a mellow, raspy voice greeted her ears and her brain just melted after she recognized who the caller is.

"Uhm. . . Yeah. No problem," Ley spoke incoherently while Sera rolled her eyes at the ridiculous behavior.

"Something urgent suddenly cropped up at the office and I can't make it today. Can we reschedule?" 

"It's fine. Just let me know when you're free, the sooner the better. Alternatively, I could just go on my own," she suggested though it's futile.

"No, this won't take a few days. I'll contact you," he firmly said before ending the call.

"You were about to say something?" Ley glanced at Sera.

"Nevermind. You're clearly hopeless already," Sera muttered.

"Don't be silly. Let's just plan for tonight," Ley ignored her comment.

"You're clearly the one who is silly," Sera said while picking up her coffee mug.

***

The wind blows unhindered, rustling the leaves of the tree where Ley and Sera climbed to get a good look on the base as well as provide a hiding place temporarily.

Ley opened her eyes after getting a feel on the surroundings and whispered, "There's a lot more guards than usual. Can you do it?"

"You're talking to someone who's a master with illusions," Sera bragged.

"I would have believed you if I didn't know your specialty were curses. Your grandfather will drag you by the hair if he heard you," Ley said with a smile.

"That's why I'm a runaway," Sera shot back.

"You better not ditch me like the last time," Ley warned, remembering the embarrassment when it happened on Roma's apartment.

They walked like they were strolling a mall but Ley knew that Sera's working her magic as she felt the fluctuations in the air and it wasn't as easy as she was downplaying it earlier. 

She was casting illusion magic to disguise the two of them but she took it to a whole new level. She also needed to cast various magic to erase their presence since they were dealing with Shifters, she had to mask their scent as well. Casting all those illusion and scent-masking spells and maintaining them takes a lot of toll to the magick.

They walked undiscovered into a heavily-guarded building where they stored the body without disruptions. Sera quickly put the body inside a body bag without Ley looking at it as she can't bear to look at the face right at this moment.

They went out immediately and headed to the dense forest surrounding the base without anyone the wiser. Ley breathed a sigh of relief with the main task done. They would just have to get home now and do the inspection.

They were almost out of the boundary when low growls echoed into the night. The two glanced at each other in disbelief and thought only of one thing.

Oh shit.