Eugen and I headed to the nearby cafe owned by a friend of mine and were escorted by the staff into a private room where Yvon and Toini were waiting for us while snacking on macaroons.

"Hey, how'd your fitting go?" my brother asked.

I told them what had happened and irked, Toini crushed the macaroon she was holding.

"I just got her to calm down..." muttered Yvon, "That poor macaroon..."

Hearing this, Toini hit Yvon, "Poor macaroon?! How about poor Yvette?! Your twin sister is about to become the center of attention all for the wrong reasons because of her wedding gown and you're worrying about dessert?!"

"It's not like she's panicking, look at her she's way too calm about this just like when she told me she was getting married! If anything I'm worried! Who knows what plan she's got cooking up!" he retorted, "What are you hittin me for?! I'm your boss, you know?!"

"Before you were my boss you were my friend, who is two years younger!" said Toini.

Instead of talking back to Toini, Yvon turned to me and asked, "Are you really going to wear one of those gowns to your wedding? I know that it's obvious but I'll say it anyway, if you wear any one of those it's going to be problematic socially and dangerous when you-know-who finds out."

I stuffed a macaroon into Toini's mouth to keep her from getting into another fit of anger, "Don't worry, I've got it covered."

After swallowing the macaroon, Toini asked, "And exactly how do you plan to avoid hot watters?"

I smiled mischievously, "That's something that I'll have to discuss with Marleigh."

♡

After lunch, Yvon and I decided to head home early. We finished everything we planned to do and he wanted to get some rest before heading back to Yugen's headquarters tonight for a meeting with a VIP client.

As we were leaving the cafe, all the curtains in the cafe were drawn simultaneously and it suddenly got dark.

Confused, Eugen asked, "What's going on?"

Then a loud thud was heard.

"What was that?" Toini asked.

"Open the curtains!" said one of the customers.

When sunlight entered the cafe, most froze in fear at the sight of a woman's body on the floor. She was still alive, wiggling around, but losing blood fast, a puddle of blood was slowly forming under her.

A man and a woman screamed in shock and though we were just as surprised as them we knew that we had to act fast, a person's life was on the line.

"Allister!" Yvon called to the manager. "Secure the area! Someone's been stabbed! If anyone acts suspiciously, apprehend them! Don't let anyone out!"

Eugen immediately approached the victim and assessed her condition. "Ma'am, my name is Eugen Guérisseur. Can you hear me?"

Eugen immediately approached the woman to assess her condition, "Ma'am, my name is Eugen Guérisseur. Can you hear me?"

The woman groaned in reply, something sounding like a "yes".

"Ma'an, we're going to turn you on your back to see what's causing you to lose blood," Eugen explained to the woman and then asked me for help, "Young miss, please help me carefully do so."

Together, we turned her on her back and saw a stab wound.

Toini exclaimed, "That looks deep!

"It is," Eugen replied as he put on the gloves he carried in his inner coat, "Toini I need your towel, now!"

She handed him the towel quickly and then he began to apply pressure on the wound, but the blood was quickly soaking through.

"DOES ANYONE HAVE A CLEAN TOWEL, CLOTH, OR FABRIC?!" I shouted.

"Here," said a familiar voice.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

A hand appeared, holding out two towels. I turned around to take thank the person for their help and found myself meet the purple eyes of my fiancé.

"Lev?"

"Yvette?"

We were both surprised to see each other but though I was taken aback, I focused on the emergency at hand.

"Thank you!" I said grabbing the towels and handing them to Eugen.

"Someone needs to elevate her legs!" Eugen then turned to Egor and asked, "Can you do that, mister?"

"Sure," Egor replied and acted accordingly.

"We've sent word to the emergency services!" said Yvon who had finished securing the are, "Help is on the way- Lev?! Egor?! What are you two doing here?!"

Lev answered while taking off his coat to keep the woman warm, preventing shock. "Egor and I were in the area for work, and he needed to use the bathroom. What exactly happened here?"

Lev answered while taking off his coat and then covered the woman to keep her warm and prevent her from going into shock.

"What exactly happened here?" Lev asked.

"We don't know exactly!" Yvon replied, "The place just went dark and then we heard something hit the floor. The next thing we knew the curtains were being drawn and we saw this woman on the ground."

"I've secured the area. No one has gotten in or out through that door since the incident happened," Yvon added, referring to the front door.

Lev monitored the woman's breathing and pulse while Eugen kept talking to her, calming her down.

Egor turned to by brother and asked, "How long untol the emergency services arrive?"

"Roughly a few minutes. The cafe's *skyeire is one of the fastest in the area, also the hospital isn't far from here. It won't be long now, we just have to hold the for until help gets here," Yvon responded.

(Skyeire - resembling a falcon, with a wingspan of nearly three meters and a streamlined body built for speed and agility. Its plumage is a mix of dark greys and striking whites, providing excellent camouflage against the sky and clouds.)

It took a few more minutes for both the emergency services and intrèpolians to arrive. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital, and we were questioned by the intrèpolians.

It took at least fifteen minutes for the emergency services and the *intrèpolians to arrive but for us it felt longer.

(Intrèpolians - A division of the Imperial Armed Forces whose job is to ensure public order, enforce laws, prevent and investigate crimes, and ensure community safety.)

When they arrived the woman was immediately taken to the hospital and the entire cafe was cordoned off and we were questioned by the intrèpolians.

They used the staff's rest area as a makeshift interogation room, many of the customers vere visibly uneasy which was understandable given our current situation.

Among us Yvon was the first to be questioned and while he was, an intrèpolian shouted from inside the kitchen, "WE NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION HERE! A CHEF HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT!"

That sudden news frightened many of the customers and the next report of another intrèpolian didn't help calm some.

"THE BACKDOOR IS WIDE OPEN! THERE ARE TRACES OF BLOOD LEADING INTO THE BACK ALLEY!"

The inspector hypothesized that the assailant must have fled using the kitchen's backdoor. Given the layout of the cafe, it was possible.

"SEARCH THE AREA!" Inspector Juke ordered his men.

The intrèpolians stationed outside followed the inspector's instructions and not long after, they statted to chase a man who was covered in blood and was spotted to be sneaking away.

In the end, he was caught and taken in.

"I-I'm innocent of the crime you're accusing me of!" he claimed, "I don't even know how I ended up covered in blood in the first place!"

In the end, he was taken into custody for assaulting a police officer who apparently was only concerned because he was shaking in fear and covered in blood, the poor intrèpolian officer got a concussion when he shoved him into the wall.

After they aprehended the suspect and every person in the cafe and nearby was questioned, we were allowed to leave. Inspector Juke told us that we might be called to the station for further question and thanked us for our cooperation on the case and quick wits.

As we waited for Lev and Egor, who was talking to the inspector, in the entrance of the cafe, Eugen bumped into a woman.

" I'm sorry!" said Eugen who bent over to pick up the woman's fan.

"It's fine dear!" the woman said in reply.

When Eugen was handing the fan to the woman, she cryptically whispered loud enough for the four of us to hear.

"Fascinating, isn't it, how a person can murder another just because they can?"

Yvon and I found the lady's comment disturbing but suspicious. What could we do about a random stranger's remark? Even the intrèpolians didn't seem to suspect her.

My brother and I found the comment disturbing and highly suspicious. As we stood there frozen in shock by what we just heard she left the cafe.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" said Egor.

As we were leaving, Toini noticed me looking back and whispered, "Do you want me to look into the case, chief?"

As we were leaving, Toini noticed the expressions on my face as well as my brother's and whispered, "Do you want us to look into the case, chiefs?"

"No," Yvon answered.

"Let the authorities handle this," I added to his reply.

While Eugen was busy discussing with Lev and Egor what he did as first aid for the victim, Yvon addressed Toini's question.

"It's the job of the intrèpolian division to handle things like this," he said, "It's not Yugen's task to do their job for them."

"That being the case, I still can't help but wonder if this isn't a standalone case," he added.

I raised an eyebrow and made sure that Lev and Egor weren't listening, "Elaborate, quickly."

"Over the past couple of weeks, murders and attempted murders have plagued the capital. The intrèpolians classified them all as standalone cases because of their randomness. But this has been happening continuously for weeks, each assault days apart," Yvon explained.

"Over the past couple of weeks, both murders and attempted murders have been plauging the capital. The intrèpolians have mostly classified them as standalone cases because there wasn't any solid evidence to link them together," he explained.

He added, "But this has been going on continiously for weeks, each assault only days apart."

"What are you getting at, chief?" asked Toini.

Yvon answered, "If these aren't random standaline crimes, I'm afraid the capital might have a serial killer on the loose."