Partners In Crime

Vincent brushed past her, and she couldn't understand why he was running so cold toward her, it was starting to get on her nerves now that she realized that he was getting in the zone.

It wasn't as if she was going to chase after him first despite feeling the tension that seeping into their bones. It wasn't even the time for romance either, and she knew that best.

Her shattered life that was getting slowly pieced back together came in first along with trying to piece the puzzle of the mystery around vampires and vigilantes. Charlotte bit her lips before following after Vincent as he walked out.

Sera tapped her pencil on the health chart with her phone pressed against her ear before snapping the cover closed and placing it on the desk when she and Vincent stepped back into the main area. Darion glanced down at the chart before discretely slipping it into one of the drawers of the desk with a smile.

"How was your chat?" Darion asked.

Vincent completely ignored him which brought a smirk to Darion's lips that didn't get past Charlotte rising Vincent's ire. Sera was on the phone with someone, and Charlotte could tell that she wasn't pleased with her lips pulled down into a frown.

She clicked off the call and slipped her phone inside her pocket, looking up at the ceiling for a moment as if saying a prayer for patience. Darion was quick to latch onto the fact he and Sera had discovered that they were somewhat close. In what way? She didn't know herself.

"How long have you known Vincent?" Darion asked with a raised eyebrow.

Charlotte leaned her hip against the wall, playing with his banter. "For a few months now. We are the best of friends. Partners in crime. Against the world."

Darion laughed. "I'm sure it was all by chance."

Vincent slid him a glare. "Chance and fate are two sides of the same coin."

"What a romantic."

Sera rolled her eyes. "Oh, please."

"Let's get back to business," Vincent slowly said before pointing at his watch. "You do know why we are here, correct?"

"I'm assuming it has something to do with the vigilante breakdown that we had gotten wind of," Sera said.

Vincent nodded. "We found a run-in with free vigilantes last night when we were scouting. I cleared them."

"Did you call for the clean-up crew?" Darion asked.

"Yes," Vincent answered before loosening his black tie. "Although, I guess that our crew didn't get there first, judging how my phone's silent. Charlotte and I were sent to another location in the meantime and discovered more tracks that were left behind."

"And that is why you are here now," Sera finished.

Vincent tilted his chin down with his lips pressed down into a grim line. "Any new updates on the experiments you two ran a couple of weeks ago?"

Sera sighed. "It failed. We had to scrap the materials."

"I got the news that it went through."

"What? That isn't true," Sera trailed off. "Who did you hear it from?"

"Stone."

"The council must be rushing the process," Sera muttered before moving back with her chair to grab the clipboard that was mindlessly tossed there and frantically looking through the pages. "It can't be. The results were unusable."

Darion tapped his fingers mindlessly on the desk. "I gave a vial to a council member when they swung around a couple of days ago."

Sera snapped her fingers. "Yes, I remember that."

"They might have tampered with it to get a bad batch," Darion said.

Sera leaned back in her chair with her fingers intertwined on her stomach. "I highly doubt that."

Charlotte tilted her head to the side, as she took in all the information. What was the experiment on? "Blood vials?"

Darion swung his gaze to her. "Yes. We were testing mixing vigilante blood with vampires."

Charlotte bit down on her lips. "Vincent, isn't the idea similar to the ones we found in the hideout?"

Vincent nodded. "The vigilantes were likely running the same experiment to see if vigilantes could ingest vampire blood."

"Couldn't that be a death sentence considering that vampire blood is toxic to humans?" Charlotte asked.

"That's true, but wouldn't it be the natural reaction would be to figure out if the two types of blood mixed in the first place?" Vincent answered.

"Vampires were curious about the matter of vigilantes could ingest vampire blood as well," Darion said. "It would make sense if the vigilantes had gotten there sooner."

"But my point is the fact that the experiment didn't even work," Sera said frustratingly. "The blood turned cloudy before diluting back to what it once was. Vampire's blood to a vigilante isn't poisonous since the two were able to mix together, but they don't mix."

"Maybe that is why the vigilantes abandoned the leftover vials there since there was nothing to see in the first place," Charlotte said.

"I don't think that was the case," Vincent said as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Sera, can you hand over the documents on the new influx of information?"

"On who's orders?" Sera asked.

"Stone."