“How do you not know the face of the person you’re looking for?” said Paolo, masquerading as the real me. “I am Erind. Why would I lie about that?”

(Why did you add the part about lying thing?) I said. (That’s something a liar would say.)

(Really? Sorry!)

(Just follow what I tell you to say.)

“Why would you lie about who you are?” Stella said, catching on to Paolo’s slip-up. “That’s an interesting question. We do have pictures of Erind, and yes, you do look like her. You are, most likely…her. But aren’t you just a smidge too eager to come here?”

“Because I want to save the little girl. I’m here now, so release her.”

“Is that so?”

“She doesn’t have any part in this. It’s me you want.”

“But what is ‘this’ you speak of?” Stella said.

I had no fucking idea what ‘this’ was either—‘this’ being everything that was fucking happening. I wanted to try prodding Stella into spilling information without directly questioning her; the likelihood of her lying would lessen that way. This might be my only chance to gather some clues before the fighting started. As they say, knowledge is power.

“This? I…I don’t know,” Paolo said with very convincing delivery. “All I know is you had me kidnapped a couple of weeks ago. There was this guy with weird hair. He said his name’s Rofirio. The guy with the power to liquefy solid surfaces he touches?”

(This is information Erind would know), I explained to Paolo. Then to all of them, I said, (I don’t notice anyone hidden by illusions, so the other Adumbrae Ramon saw before aren’t here. Calder could make them look like the hostages or something, but I don’t know why he’d do something like that since they already have the upper hand.)

“Rofirio and his purple mohawk,” Finlay said.

“May his purple mohawk rest in peace,” his brother chimed in.

Stella, however, was silent, texting on her phone as if we were a waste of her time.

A tactic to show dominance? Or she wanted us to continue talking because she didn’t have much information? Probably both. Fine. I really didn’t want to ask questions, but I had no choice since the ball was in my court.

“Why did you kidnap me?” Paolo said.

The twins looked at each other. Stella was still focused on her phone.

“Is it because of this?” He stomped on the ground, following my instruction, and made the floor shake. Cracks branched out from his foot all across the beautiful marble slab beneath us.

“Woah!” Calder said, keeping the pot and cups on the table steady.

“She really is not human,” Finlay said.

Theatrics. And it did get Stella’s attention as I hoped.

“Yes…so it appears,” she said. “An Adumbrae like our intel said. Alike, yet very much unlike us, I bet. Is this the reason the Supplier requested us to capture you? However, why didn't he give us any information? We incorrectly assumed you’re just a normal girl.”

(The Supplier?) I blurted out.

“The Supplier?” he echoed.

Stella ignored his question. “If only he briefed us of the risks, the parties who also wanted you, then we could have appropriately prepared and wouldn’t have lost so many people at the docks. A fucking fiasco that was. I was the one who had to coordinate the cover up for that one.”

“Here I am now. So, release Lizzie.”

She still wasn’t listening to Paolo. “That explains one thing…or maybe it doesn’t. You, a ‘true’ Adumbrae, in contrast to us. Very rare, yes. But why does the Supplier specifically want you? I’m sure he has plenty of true Adumbrae at his disposal.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked past Paolo, glaring at me, Doms, and Ramon.

“Um…I…”

(They don’t know the true value of Erind!) I exclaimed to the three. (Their bosses must’ve kept it a secret from them. We shouldn’t let it on that she’s actually a prospective Corebring or they won’t even bother exchanging Lizzie for Paolo and just attack us.)

“Why do so many people want you?” Stella droned on. “Who was that wolf bitch who rescued you at the docks? She was also there at the club. And who are those with you? What’s so special about you that everyone’s after you?”

“Err…” Paolo stepped back, overwhelmed by the questions. (Help! What do I tell her?)

“Greetings from Vegas!” I said with a jovial wave. Time to take center stage. It was hard to verbally maneuver through only a mouthpiece. “Well, that’s not really accurate. I’m a mercenary hired by the guys at Vegas, and so are the rest of us. But we’re not actually from there.” I gestured to Ramon and Doms. (Just trust me on this), I told them.

How would Stella disprove my lie? Both of us were on a fishing expedition, but she wasn’t aware I was in the same boat as her. In her efforts to fish, she revealed she didn’t have much information about what was happening, giving me an opening to insert lies.

“Mercenaries from Vegas?”

“Unlike you…Adumbrae…if you’re really deserving of that label, the three of us are the real deal.” I placed my hands on the sides of my head and dramatically pulled it up. Stella raised her brow at my demonstration. With the little I recalled of their operations from my short interaction with Vanessa and her friends, I knew they had some way of stopping Adumbrae from taking over their bodies while remaining mostly human in appearance. My full body wasn’t human except only vaguely in shape; there was only one conclusion here.

“Another true Adumbrae?” Stella said. “A very developed manifestation.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You’re saying the Vegas boys hired you? I suppose it’s for deniability.”

“They know you’ll notice if one of their own is sneaking around your territory.” I was super confident with my lies because the truth was so incredibly unbelievable that anything else sounded like a plausible explanation in comparison. “That’s why they hired us instead of sending their people.”

“And here I was already thinking of killing you guys. I suppose I’ll have to be courteous to our colleagues.”

“Much obliged. There’s no need for violence. I’m aware of the, um, thing you have going on with our bosses, but we have no part in that.”

“So…what brings you guys here in our wonderful city of La Esperanza?”

“We’re here to guard Erind. Discreetly. She wasn’t aware of us until tonight when we had to reveal ourselves to her after what you…did…to this entire place.”

“Oh, really?”

“I’m going to head you off before you make any wrong assumption. We’re not with Blanchette. She’s the one you’re calling wolf bitch.”

“Blanchette…”

“She's a true Adumbrae too, as you put it. I don’t personally know her, but she is quite famous in Adumbrae circles. I had no idea she was in this city until she showed up at the docks in her giant werewolf form. I didn’t know she was also there at Eve. Isn’t that your—”

“If you don’t know, then you don’t need to know.”

“Touchy, touchy. Anyhow, I haven’t got the slightest idea what Blanchette wants with Erind either, so I can’t help you there.” I paused to give time for Stella to react, but she didn’t say anything so I pressed on. “We’ve been living in this building since Erind moved in to keep watch over her, and it’s only this time that people are coming for her. It turns out it was you guys. Now, I’m not sure what to do. At the end of the day, aren’t your bosses and ours on the same side?”

Stella smirked. “Of course, we are.” She circled around the table as she continued, “Which is why our current predicament is interesting. Both of our groups want Erind. Why though? Is the Supplier pitting us against each other? How does this Blanchette figure into all of this?”

“I don’t have the answer to your questions.” I presented her disjointed tidbits, some true, mostly false, and let her draw her own conclusion.

“I have my suspicions—"

“To be candid, we don’t care about your internal affairs,” I said, cutting her off for some pushback. “We’re focused on fulfilling our contract. Living as an Adumbrae is very difficult, which is why we have to align ourselves with you…people…even though we don’t want to.”

“Isn’t that a bummer?” she said with a fake sympathetic expression.

“Unfortunately, it’s apparent now we can’t carry out our work because of…let’s just say internal bickering among the management. So, we’re pulling out of this job, and you carry on with your business. We just want to get the daughter of our Doms here.” Then to Doms, I said, (Sorry for not thinking of a fake name for you.)

(Will she believe us?) Doms asked.

(It doesn’t matter.)

(What? I thought you’re trying to bluff her we’re on the same side?)

(Not really), I said. (She won’t believe us no matter what we say.)

And herein lies the beauty of this situation. I bet Stella’s brain was burning itself out thinking of various possibilities. She'd be considering explanations I couldn’t come up with as a lie, especially when I had no idea about their organization, or maybe that was with an ‘s’ since there were at least two rival groups here.

If I was in Stella’s shoes and someone explained to me the actual truth, all this nonsense shit of SpookyErind—I hope you’re not there listening to my thoughts—I wouldn’t believe them. I’d probably attack them for trying to take me for a fool.

Thus, the best course of action was to give an acceptable lie, and Stella would come up with a more ‘believable’ explanation even if it was nowhere near the truth. She’d convince herself it was the truth I was hiding, doing my job for me. Unknowingly, she’ll provide us with a reason why she shouldn’t just kill everyone of us.

I'm really having fun here. I wasn't in any danger at all, but I still didn't want to lose to Stella.

There was only the matter of exchanging Lizzie left.

Stella stopped walking and paused right behind Lizzie. She straightened her ruffled hair with her fingers. “What does our little friend here have to do with it? She’s your daughter?”

“Yes!” Doms said. “I had her before I…turned.”

(Good thinking adding that.)

“Why is she with you?”

“We’ve been watching Erind for a long time,” Doms replied. She followed the story I was feeding in her head. “To fit in the place, like living here in this building, I brought my daughter with me.”

“Isn’t that sweet?”

“Please, she’s the only family I have.”

She’s already writing off her husband? She wasn’t wrong about that one though. (Paolo, your turn to speak), I said as I taught him his lines.

He boldly stepped forward. “Doms is my neighbor. I’ve played with Lizzie plenty of times and I’ve grown to love her.”

“You still want to save her even after knowing her mother was hiding secrets from you?”

"Yes! Even if she was just some random kid, I still don’t want her to be dragged in this mess. Release her and I’ll go with you guys with no resistance.”

“Very commendable,” Stella said with a smile. “We’re not monsters as to take a child away from her mother." She helped Lizzie off her chair and told her to come to us. Finlay and Calder stood back.

Jackpot! Whatever wrong explanation Stella came up with led her to the conclusion it wasn’t worth it to mess with us.

Paolo swallowed and took a deep breath. I could feel his nervousness through our link. He closed his eyes and suddenly became calm, as if he accepted he wouldn’t return once he gets to their side. He started walking, and Lizzie followed suit.

Everyone, even the hostages and the guards, all watched the two of them approach each other.

Doms walked forward, but I stopped her. “Wait for Lizzie,” I said. (Ramon? You ready?) Once we get Lizzie, we could safely start fighting.

(Yes. Just tell me.)

(Don’t let them notice you’re preparing to charge.) To Paolo, I said, (Once they lay their hands on you, fight them.)

If I still had a human body, I would've found it hard to control my body and not sigh in relief as the two of them passed each other. This has been probably my biggest faceoff with anyone before. My verbal tussle with Bianca had way lesser stakes than this. Some thrill was welcome every now and then.

It was only a few seconds of both of them walking to the respective sides, but it felt like it stretched to minutes.

Stella was smiling smugly. I didn’t like it.

Doms couldn’t hold it any longer and ran to Lizzie once she was a few feet away from us. “My baby! I’m sorry I let them take you.” She knelt down and hugged her.

I focused on Paolo. Finlay and Calder went to meet him while Stella drank another cup of water. Her eyes were over the lip of the cup, staring straight at me. Her shoulders shuddered. She was chuckling!

(Paolo! Fight them!) I pointed my finger and aimed. (Ramon, go!)

Paolo had his fists up, but Finlay and Calder run past him, rushing to meet Ramon’s attack. He looked back in confusion.

“Look out!”

About a dozen men revealed themselves behind Stella, hidden away all this time by an illusionary background. They looked like cheap version of those terracotta warriors from China, with way simpler features. Finlay’s clay soldiers. Fuck! They didn’t show up in my vision!

The clay men jumped over Stella and the table and piled on top of Paolo, trying to pin him down with their numbers. Paolo fought them back in a fit of rage. Their brittle body parts broke off with every punch and kick.

Ramon engaged Finlay and Calder. I shot Calder with my finger and ordered him to stop. Seeing the opening, Ramon pummeled him to the ground, then he took on Finlay.

“Payback time, you bastard!”

“Get up, Calder!”

“There’s something stopping me…fuck!”

I squeezed every drop of my concentration to take Calder out of the fight. Ramon was handling Finlay pretty well; he beat him once, he should be able to do it again.

Were we winning?

Stella flipped the table to the side, then haughtily walked over to Paolo fighting the clay soldiers. She shoved them away and reached for him. He punched her right on the jaw, but her head didn’t even move an inch. Stella grabbed his head and slammed it to the floor, almost burying it in one go.

We’re not winning!

(Ramon you need to help—Wait! Take him hostage!) I ordered. He didn’t question me and tried to hold on to Finlay with his purple blade held to his neck.

“Stop! Stop that!” I yelled at Stella who was thrashing around Paolo like he was a ragdoll. I wanted to wince, but my metal body couldn't. Seeing my human form getting beaten was unpleasant. Fucking shit. This wasn’t going as planned. We didn’t even manage to hurt Stella at all, or even force her to reveal her powers. “We have Finlay! Stop what you’re doing or else—”

She grabbed Paolo by his long hair and pulled up his limp body. His eyelids fluttered. He was barely conscious. “Or else what?”

“Uh…can we exchange people again?” I said.

Stella stuck her tongue out at me. “I don’t think so.”