CHAPTER 196

All the guards saw were blurs before their comrades started falling one by one. Some of their guns were sliced cleanly through and the fact that they couldn't even follow the intruders movements blaringly highlighted the danger they presented.

"Protect the bosses!" Almost immediately, all the voices shouting started decreasing one by one.

"In hindsight, I might have been too hasty." Tristan muttered as he made light work of the security guards by paralyzing and compelling them.

He didn't make any use of his blood as he knew that would draw heavy and unnecessary attention to him. A blood-controlling supernatural was too flamboyant for anyone to ignore.

Instead of using the doors, he jumped to the second floor and went in through a window as he could feel that it was nearer.

A few turns and he came across a huge door at the end of a hallway guarded by a few men, werewolves.

"That's enough! Who are you and why are you attacking us?" A heavily buff man with a thick voice interrogated as he walked towards them.

"I just want to ask Mr. Katashi a few questions. Don't worry, I won't hurt him in any way."

The men, seven in total, flicked out their claws and bared their fangs at Tristan as he continued walking towards them.

He knew his intrusion was arrogant which was why he made sure not to kill anyone, but the act of a bunch of betas baring their fangs threateningly at him rattled his predatory instincts to confront them and show them who was superior. Luckily he could hold that in.

At least until…

"You're no Alpha, but even if you were, no Alpha could possibly get past us on his lonesome." The one at the forefront had said.

Tristan had to remind himself that even despite that, he was still the arrogant one for his blatant intrusion.

"If you don't stop at this instant, I will—"

SWOOOSH.

"You will do nothing." Tristan was found suddenly grabbing the werewolf by the neck and lifting him up. His eyes flashing red for a brief moment told the wolf all he needed to know, except that somewhere at the back of his mind he thought that this could be an opportunity to evolve further.

"K-kill h-him." He gurgled out, forcing the others to pounce on Tristan with bestial ferocity.

These were extremely strong betas, almost as strong as Malia when she was still a complete beta, except that it didn't matter to Tristan.

He threw the man in his hands to the other end of the hallway and ducked under a set of claws.

CRACK. THUMP. CRACK.

The moment his hands met any striking limb they were immediately broken, while those his claws met were simultaneously paralyzed.

He pushed open the door only to be greeted with the sound of a firing squad pointed at him.

A quick dodge and a burst of speed let him traverse the room and subdue the old Asian man he instantly identified as Mr. Katashi before any of them could quickly react.

"Put the gun down and keep quiet."

Katashi stared in shocked as they all obeyed Tristan's words like puppets with meaningless defiance in their ears.

"…Hakuma (Devil)." Katashi whispered fearfully as he glanced over his shoulders at Tristan.

"Watasi ha akuma de haari mase n. (I am no devil)" Tristan replied, further shocking Katashi who never expected him to understand or speak Japanese.

"Answer his questions." Tristan pointed at the door where Chris was standing with his gun in hand and looking exasperatedly at Tristan.

"You…" Katashi said as he was hit with a sensation of déjà vu as he saw Chris' posture and the gun he held.

"Sorry for the… aggressive intrusion, but we are out of time and running out of options as well." Chris apologized.

Katashi only snorted, not regarding the apology but instead wanted to know why they had attacked this place for him.

"Whether you believe it or not, this whole thing is because we wanted to ask you just one question."

"Just one?" Katashi repeated with glaring suspicion on his face as he took in Al the damage they had done. "Must be some question."

With how fierce they came in, Katashi had little doubt that they would take no for an answer so he resolved to answer whatever question they had as long as it didn't step on his honor.

"The Nogitsune: how do you kill it?"

Shock and grave understanding came across Katashi's face when he heard Chris' question.

"Is the Oni the only way to kill it?"

…..

"Well that was a bust." Chris said as he drove them back. "I guess we can just leave it to the Oni then."

Tristan sorted. "That's if we know which body it is currently inhabiting. Noshiko said it can't survive without a host body but we have no idea who it might be."

…..

Over at Allison's house, Allison and Malia were huddled on her bed watching a movie on her laptop while sharing a pair of earbuds.

Malia was engrossed in the movie they were watching so she didn't notice when a car pulled out of the driveway.

"Hey Malia."

"Hmm?" Malia responded absentmindedly to Allison's call as she was fully focused on the movie.

"Um, I was just wondering. What does it feel like living with Tristan?" She asked tentatively.

"… That's awfully specific." Malia tapped her lips and put on a thinking expression. "A word would be lazy, but I don't think that explains it. Hmm, fun? No… Peace? Hmm, not quite. Fulfilling. Mm, that has a nice ring to it. Yeah, you can say it's fulfilling."

She looked at Allison and smirked. "Finally thinking of getting a boyfriend?"

Allison huffed. "Yeah right, you greedy girl."

Malia stared at her in surprise. "And what do you mean by that?"

Allison rolled her eyes at her confused friend. "Narcissist much? You took the best sample and left us to choose among the remainder."

Malia sat up and looked at Allison with the slightest hint of a glare in her eyes and wagged her finger in front of him. "First of all, Tristan is not a sample as that would mean I had other choices to choose from. I don't."

"O…kay?"

"And secondly, remainders? Really, Allison? That sounds like something I would say in a fit, not you."

They went back to watching the movie after that but it seemed like Allison still wanted to ask something as she kept chewing her lips until Malia just couldn't ignore her anymore.

"Fine. What is it?"

Allison shrugged. "Nothing much. Just wondering is all."

Malia glared at her and closed the laptop with a bit more force than intended.

"Hey, careful with that!"

"Allison, I love you, but you're slowly pissing me off right now. Just out with it, will you?" She said half screaming.

Allison frantically waved her hands in front of her in surrender. "Alright, alright. Sheesh."

She scrutinized Malia's expression and seeing that she wasn't on the verge of flipping out, exhaled in relief.

"Like I said, I'm just curious but what if, a strictly hypothetical what if, that somewhere down the line Tristan starts having feelings for someone else. What would you do?"

Allison gulped as she saw clearly as the look in Malia's eyes changed. Only now that she was staring straight at it did she realize that Malia's eyes were almost like an animal's in that the black pupil was smaller than normal with brighter irises around it.

"It depends." Malia simply replied, but with her facial expression stretched taut.

"… On what?" Allison softly asked. She knew fully well that she was on tenterhooks with every question she asked.

"Who it is." Malia didn't give her a chance to ask why as she soon continued. "If it's someone from the park like Tierney, then I'll break every bone in her body.. even if I have to fight grandma to do it."

She then took a slow breath and continued further. "If it's Lydia or someone else from the school then I will simply kill them. As easy as that."

"…"

"…"

Even if they didn't say it, they knew that there was a certain growing tension in the room, as if both of them knew something drastic but was deliberately not pointing it out.

Allison gulped, her hands trembling slightly while her back was slowly getting drenched in sweat.

The tension was so palpable that it created the illusion that made Allison feel as though it was getting harder to breathe, because that was just how much the current Malia scared her.

She tried putting on a smile but she doubted it looked as full as her normal smile. "Seriously? A little too extreme, no?"

"You tell me." Malia shrugged.

"Okay, purely hypothetical because I don't want you cutting my head off anytime soon, but what if it was me? No thoughts of drama whatsoever, but what if it was me in some alternate future that was sharing in Tristan's affection for you? Will you really kill your best friend?" She pouted cutely and puckered her lips in mock hurt.

Malia finally chuckled, a genuine one, and shook her head as before flipping open the laptop to continue her movie. She couldn't believe this was actually something Allison had her pause her movie to ask.

Allison smiled and just hugged Malia as they both went back to the movie in a lighthearted mood.

They finished the movie in a jovial mood and Allison went to her wardrobe to pick out what she'd wear for the day, when…

"If it was you Allison, I wouldn't kill you or at least not as quick. I'd permanently disable your legs and arms and you'd watch as I do everything in my power to end your family. Then and only after then will I slowly tear your flesh apart. Savoring every part I carve up while feasting on it."

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