Chapter 4: Vol.1 Part. 04

Luna was currently on her way to work but remained alert the entire time.

'I didn't feel any gazes on me that would indicate a secret follower. Even if someone has figured out that a vampire is lurking in the city, they don't seem to be able to identify me. That's a good sign I haven't left any significant clues yet.'

Luna unlocked the store. The first thing she always did, was to water the plants and bring them outside the shop to display. With lots of flowers in her arm, Luna went outside and placed them on a table. Every color was now standing in the morning sun. She was working in a plant store because she felt nostalgic in their presence.

'Plants really have become harmless, but enjoy that very much. I am not on the lookout for gigantic trap plants trying to devour you anymore. Those monsters could look absolutely terrifying. But I miss the Ents and dryads; they were always so lovely to strangers who got lost in the woods.'

Luna continued to carry plants outside while thinking about her past. The place became more and more peaceful as the flowers and small trees transformed the gray street into a small flower field.

'But there is one thing I can't understand; why and how did all those mythical creatures leave the world? Why am I the only one remaining? It just doesn't make any sense. It's as if someone locked me out on purpose. I mean, that would be an explanation for why magic vanished overnight.

At some point in Luna's life, magic vanished, and she was the only remaining relic in this world. It was then that overnight, the mighty sword Excalibur just became a cheap piece of iron.

'But a magic seal, strong enough to keep out magic from an entire world, should be impossible, even for gods to make. But it's a fact that magic was present 300 years ago.'

It was during the first world war that small amounts of magic reappeared in this world again. Suddenly, with a loud rumble, a shockwave traveled through space, and mana began to flood the surrounding. Luna's hair stood on end as her body became paralyzed, and she sank like a wet sack. As her senses came back, she lay on the ground and looked to all sides in panic.

'Wow, it seems it really was a seal the entire time.'

Luna stood up and knocked the dust out of her clothes.

'But the mana concentration is still so low that even simple spells would need an enormous amount of time to work. I simply hope that the next time the seal is damaged, more mana will reappear.'

As Luna continued her day, the sky began to rumble. Clouds formed over the city and became darker with every passing minute.

'I guess the returning mana will influence the weather today; I should bring the plants into the store again, only to be safe.'

Like Luna predicted, it soon became incredibly stormy. The blue sky was enveloped in a black cloud sea. The storm came faster than expected, and she had to squint her eyes at the wind while carrying the plants into the store. Branches flew around, and the window was shocked every time the wind slapped against it, the building trembled under the thunder, and the lightning lit up the dark sky.

'The returning mana sure does have an enormous influence on nature.'

She wanted to know what was happening in the world, so Luna walked to a small TV in the back room and tried to turn it on. The thing was old, and it took her a while to turn it on.

"Sudden severe weather warnings come from all over the world; researchers are still puzzled. The otherwise sunny days have developed into a global storm. We keep getting new reports from other countries with the same occurring phenomenon. We recommend all citizens remain in their houses for the time being until further information is known."

Luna was stunned; she didn't expect it to be this horrible. Suddenly the door opened, and a strong wind coming through the door threw the plants off the tables, benches, and floor. The flower pots shattered with a loud clink. Alarmed by the loud commotion, Luna hurriedly made her way to the main room.

A woman had closed the door already, and Luna just stood there with wide eyes and an open mouth.

Dirt covered the floor, plants lay on it, and shards of terracotta were scattered everywhere. It was a disaster. A lily scent hang in the air; Luna slowly turned her head to the door, where a woman with a brown jacket was standing, before her gaze wandered back to the floor, which was full of earth and shards of terracotta.

The storm was raging outside, but in the store, the air seemed frozen due to the shock.

"My apologies; I was just looking for shelter from this storm; I will help you with the cleanup."

Luna was having a hard time processing what just happened. "Sure" was the only word that came out of her mouth. After a while, she got some bags into which they could throw terracotta shards and plants beyond saving.

"The sudden storm is pretty intense, isn't it?" asked the woman, worried that she would have to stay in the store the entire day.

"Well, I've seen more violent ones," responded Luna.

"For real?"

Why did I even say that; I can't just speak about the great storms of the past when mana was still present. Think Luna, think.

"Yes, but this storm is still unique in its way," said Luna, trying to change the conversation.

"Why do you think so?"

"That's right; you haven't seen any news yet, do you? This storm appeared on the entire earth simultaneously," responded Luna, while taking a couple of shards and throwing them into the trash bag.

"That is unique indeed,"  Elina said, confusion written all over her face. "Ah, sorry. I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Elina." She said with a cheerful voice and outstretched hand.

"Luna." Was the only word coming from her before she shook Elina's hand. Luna and Elina continued to clean up the room; in the meantime, the intelligence team examined the camera footage.

 

***

 

"Have you already found something?" Asked Amber, but she had lost hope a long time ago.

"Negative; how did you even get all this video footage?" He has already looked through hundreds of hours of video material, but every single one had nothing they could use.

"I am just good at my job," responded Amber with a grin on her face; after that, she continued. "And here I thought you had fun analyzing all of this."

Klaus stopped what he was doing to look in Amber's direction to show his displeasure.

"How can someone even enjoy this kind of work?" He asked loudly into the room.

"It's just part of the job, so get over it." Amber continued to annoy him because it was just too easy to upset him. He was good in his field, but everything else was an annoying activity for him.

"I swear, Amber if you say one more word, I will go crazy."

"Can you two lovebirds finally stop arguing?" Jone really had enough of this; it's one thing to analyze so much video material, but these two take it to the extreme with their arguing. Finally, it was quiet again. 'Immediately after the storm moved on, we should take a break. Everyone would need a moment to get other thoughts.'

But he was soon ripped out of his peaceful moment.

"Jone, I might have found something important." Amber broke the silence first but with an unexpected exclamation. Immediately everyone jumped up from their chairs and rushed to Amber's side.

"What exactly did you find," asked Jone, who was the first to arrive. Amber rewound the video for a few seconds.

"Have a look there," she said and pointed her finger at the roof.

A person in black could be seen quickly climbing down the wall. Their target was still wearing a mask, but somewhere on the wall, the person put it away. Now on the street, it was too dark to see the face covered by a hood.

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"Klaus, search the other cameras in the area. Amber, can you enlarge the video so we can identify the person?" Jone quickly gave commands; they found their first clue, and maybe they could even identify the person if they reconstructed the path. It was not certain that this was their target, but it was a start.

"I'm on it, boss," replied Amber, and after brightening and enlarging the footage, they could somewhat make out certain things.

"It looks like a young woman. If you can trust the lighting, she seems to have pale skin and short black hair."

"Try to get more detailed pictures; I'll call Elain and Almar back in the meantime," said Jone before he took out his phone t call Elain.

"Hello, this is Elina Travis." replied a voice from the other side.

"Hello, Elain, it's Jones. We found something and needed your presence."

"I'll be right there." with that line, the phone call ended.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, at Luna.

"Did something important happen?" Asked Luna.

"Yes, something important was found. So, unfortunately, I have to leave quickly. Oh yes, before I exit, please send the invoice for the destroyed plants and pots to this address here."

She took out a letter and handed it over to Luna, who took it and put it into the cash register. When Luna turned around, Elina had already left the store.

"Great, now I can put the rest away by myself!" Luna loudly cursed out loud.

 

***

 

Jone and the rest of the team waited for Elina and Almar to return; the storm had already cleared a bit, so it shouldn't take long. After 15 minutes, Elina and Almar stormed through the door.

"So, what did you find to call us back immediately?" asked Almar. He was out of breath. It was still raining, and they sprinted to get out of the rain as fast as possible.

"Believe it or not, we found our vampire!" Amber cheered, which left Elina speechless, and Almar's eyes became big.

"That.... was suddenly," Almar finally said. He could still not believe they had found their target this fast.

"It's a young woman, and she moves over the roofs. No wonder we had trouble tracking her down."

Cameras were not stationed on the roof of a building normally. But they luckily found a camera that caught her on the way down.

"Does that mean you have her face?" asked Elina.

"Correct," said Klaus. "It is currently being compared to our database."

Behind Almar was a computer that compared faces from their database. An individual from the team would need to manually confirm the person's identification if a face matched the image they received.

"Could you show us her picture?" asked Almar, this time more curiously.

"Sure, and here I thought you would never ask," Amber said while carrying a laptop. A picture of a woman with dark eyes and black hair secured with a red ribbon appeared on it. The first thing they noticed was the ashen skin she had. The instant Elain saw the picture, her whole body froze, and she became pale like a sheet.

"Is everything alright?" asked Finn, who was the first to notice Elina's change.

"I...I just met her at the store I used as a shelter from the storm," Elain stumbled and couldn't stop thinking about how dangerous the circumstance she was in was.

"What, in which store did you meet her?" Jone was the first to ask. If they got her workplace, then they could find out her identity.

"It was the Fairy Plant Store, I think." Elina was completely at her wit's end after potentially being in mortal danger. She covered her face and tried to calm herself.

"The Fairy Plant Store you say?" asked Jone again.

"Yes, why?"

Everyone was looking at Jone, the leader of the operation. Did he know something they didn't?

"I did purchase my plants in that store. Now that I think about it, strange things happened there." Jone remembered his first day in Mainz. He was buying plants for his room in the hotel because it looked so tasteless. 

"It felt like I was in some kind of trance state. On that day, I dismissed it as a lack of sleep, but later that night, I couldn't sleep a wink. Maybe she did something to me?" Jone was talking with her. He would have seen her teeth unless she could hide them.

'But how does she hide them?' After pondering about that for a minute, he decided to ask Elina if the vampire did anything suspicious.

"Elina, did you see something unique with her?" Asked Klaus

"Now that I think about it, she had ashen skin, but I didn't see vampire fangs."

Jone had an idea. They would have to prove that their target was the vampire first, and only then could they arrest her. It was risky to monitor her due to her instincts. They could not exclude Luna from possessing a sixth sense; if she discovered them, they would lose their intended target.

"Klaus and Almar, you were not seen by the vampire yet, so I want you to visit that store tomorrow. You take hidden cameras with you that exactly record the mouth. Try to talk to her as much as possible. You should also observe each other to find out if she uses mind tricks on you."

When they can prove her vampire fangs, an arrest should be possible without problems.

"We understand, boss." Said Klaus and Almar in sync.

"Klaus, Almar, you prepare everything for tomorrow's mission. After that, it's over for today. So the rest can already go home. But don't forget that tomorrow is an important day."

 

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