18 Ineffective Guessing Game

Korū and Hikari were standing in the darkest shadow they could find in the dungeons with the three cats. They could only be seen by the five pairs of unblinking eyes, just staring.

Suddenly, Linda and Alina strolled in. Alina went to stand beside them, while Linda just rolled her eyes and switched on the lights.

It was Alina's idea to let the prisoners wait in suspense while the four of them had a good meal, but the twins and three cats were too impatient, and decided to go intimidate the subjects before the actual interrogation. They had quickly scarfed down the food set in front of them, including the cats that got some chicken with a dose of taurine. Why Night Stalker had taurine but no cats will always be a mystery to Alina. After they left for the dungeons, Alina and Linda had taken their time with their own food to let the prisoners have time to simmer.

Korū hissed at the sudden brightness as the lights turned on, reaching out to switch the lights off again. Kaguya, draped around his neck, merely closed his eyes.

Their actions cause Alina and Linda to chuckle. They then turned on the three werewolves huddling in another corner of the cell.

"Let's start, shall we?" Alina said sweetly. "Number one: Jen is obviously not really your daughter. No one in the entire world would just casually let their blood be dragged off into a cell for interrogation."

The three just stared at her bankly.

"That's a yes."

"The heck is that reasoning?" Korū growled.

"It was just a guess, and they didn't react with surprise at all. It's kind of like if I say you and Hikari were not siblings, you would at least start staring at me like I'm crazy." she shrugged as Korū stared at her, unimpressed. She usually functioned on facts and evidence, but there was hardly anything to go by here, and she didn't have the means to ensure that they would even tell them the truth. The best she could do was try her best to read their body language. It was risky, but it was the fastest way to get mildly accurate information.

"Next." Linda said. "I want you to tell us everything."

Jen scoffed. "And if we don't?"

"You die." Korū stated.

Linda shook her head. "If she does you won't get your fun."

A shadow of a sadistic grin flickered across Korū's face. Kagami somehow managed to replicate that expression on her own face. That combination of cat and person with such creepy expressions caused the hair on the prisoners' necks to stand on end. Hikari and Kage had matching, doubtful faces. They knew this interrogation was not going to end well. Kaguya was just… chilling on Korū's shoulders.

"We'll go easy first. Who are you?" Alina asked, addressing Jen.

"Jennessa Wilkes. I'm not the mastermind, Alina. I never had another name."

"Then who the hell is?" Korū demanded.

The Male Beta shrugged. "Your grandfather?"

"Bullshit." His eyes were harder than stone. "He's too fuckin narrow-minded to do all that."

"I think you're spouting nonsense at this point." Alina told the Female Beta coolly.

"That's what you think. I think that the reason he can do this is because he is narrow minded." The Male Beta said.

"Explain."

"Hold up." Alina said. "Start from the start."

No one answered.

"Go ahead, guys. You don't mind if I don't do any dirty work, right? This isn't really my thing." Linda said, making herself comfortable in the third corner.

"Sure," Korū snarled. He kicked them all on the head. They were sitting while he and everyone else were standing. "Speak, bastards."

Silence ensued.

"I'm gonna start breaking bones."

Still silence.

He casually moved forward to grab Jen's hand, which she tried desperately to yank back, her eyes widening. His grip became rapidly tighter and tighter. A snap was heard, quickly followed by Jen's horrified shriek.

Linda was staring at the floor, playing with her fingers, while Alina resisted the urge to shrink back. Both of them were not used to having someone so brutal as a friend. The twins, on the other hand, remained emotionless, and the cats continued to stare, unfazed.

He grinned. "Oops."

Alina stepped forward, stone faced. She then reached out to grab the broken finger harshly, willing her heartbeat to stay calm. Letting them know that she and Linda did not really approve of Korū's methods might just uncover a vital weak link that Alina herself was reluctant to face. "That's for Joel. He trusted you, you know. You were his best friend."

"You gonna talk, or do you want more broken bones?"

Still, no one spoke.

Alina was just about to draw her knives, when Linda stepped forward, away from the comfort of the dirty corner. Kaguya leaped off Korū's shoulder and took over the corner. "Wait a moment." She took in the hands of all three of them, her eyes focusing on each of the three pairs of hands slowly in the dim light of the cell.. "What… what happened to your nails?"

"What!?" Alina exclaimed. "Ah…" she hummed with understanding, also seeing what Linda was seeing. "I've heard about this before. 'To nail the coffin shut'? I thought it was just a legend. I didn't know witches like puns."

She turned to her friends. "Nothing we torture them with is worse than what they would face if they tell us what we want to know."

"Huh. Let's kill them, then." Korū drew his blade. "I'll make it quick."

"Tell us, is there anyone who could lead us to someone who hasn't made an ikrar? God, I think I'm pronouncing it wrong." Alina said.

"Tch." Korū put his blade away, looking kinda disgruntled at not being able to kill people.

"What's that?" Hikari questioned.

"It's very rare, very dark magic. You pledge or make a promise, before ripping out the nail of your forefinger on your right hand. Apparently it hurts a lot. It is said to hurt even more if people break the promise. Like, oh-my-god-this-is-going-to-hurt-for-the-rest-of-my-life-till-even-after-my-death kind of pain. Apparently, your spirit will still have to endure the pain in the afterlife. No one really knows exactly how it works, because they can't exactly come back to tell us that it's still hurting."

"Wow, that sounds pretty crappy. Why the hell do people even do that?"

"That's kinda what I want to know too." Alina said.

Korū pointed his blade at the three. "Talk."

"He promised us power and acknowledgment. We never considered that we might be discovered." The Male Beta sneered, glaring at Jen. "Useless."

"Dude, that's messed up." Linda said.

"And dumb." Alina said. "They're lying about the first part, by the way." She had caught the twitch that the Female Beta had given.

"Yes… very dumb." Jen murmured, giving a pained smile.

Suddenly, all four of the interrogators received a mindlink.

"Night Stalker is under attack."