Who am I?

"W-what do you mean?" I said, trying to keep my voice steady but failing due to the sheer surprise of the essence behind the question. Which is a mistake. I got alarmed too quickly, and it showed in my voice. But the real concern is what she has on me.

Did she notice something? What? And how? Could it be that she knows me, I mean the previous owner of this body? And my reaction to her introduction and being oblivious to who she was, gave her clues that something is off. No, no that is unlikely. She didn't show anything inferring we were acquaintances before today. Also from her appearance and accent, she doesn't originate from this part of the region, as Eric called them, or us Northman.

If the acquaintance idea is out of the window, then the next theory would be something I did or said. I kept strict control over my words throughout the conversation, or at the very least tried to. But I couldn't be certain, all thanks to this fucking headache. I tried to think of anything that warranted suspicion but nothing or at least that screams 'I am not who I am!'.

Or is there something I am missing?

Blessed. She confirmed I am not the only one with superpowers. But what if Is she a Blessed too? Does she have some sort of supernatural ability? If so, what type is it? What can her ability do? Lie detection? Improbable, almost all my words are true ...other than the name that it. Lying about your name is more than enough to earn suspicion. It isn't who I am that she wants to know but why do I have to lie?

Again, that is on the premise that she has some sort of lie-detection ability. But that just doesn't sound right. For one, the way she referred to the Blessed, of course, she may have lied, but she seems to dump them in some kind of arrogant bastard, or is it just Eric?

Anyway, the second and main cause is that it is too cumbersome. You don't have to go through physical coercion to make me talk if she had a lie-detection ability. She can just have to ask the right question and then dissect the truth from the lie.

Regardless, nothing seems to come up other than groundless guesses

... plan B then.

Click.

Since I wasn't able to come to an explanation for her words, I didn't waste any time and I activated my abilities. The Bar Mode, which should be blue when full, but currently is orange, depicts that it has not yet been recovered. The previous interaction has almost consumed all my cerebral energy, fortunately, it isn't in the red yet. I also noticed a slight change in its value; there is an increase of almost 2%. Which indicates that sleep isn't indispensable to recuperating brain energy. Of course, I already had a theory about that but now, the theory just became a fact.

I wanted to use the ability sparingly. The earlier aftermath wasn't as severe as yesterday, but it isn't negligible either. Having an all-time headache wasn't something I am a big fan of. Yet the real incentive for concern is the emotional suppression side of the abilities. I honestly was a bit freaked out at how I easily acted against Eric and all the apathetic plans I assembled.

Hence why my intent, if not necessary, will only use the ability in short bursts. I will need more training for quick activation for that, however, with short burst moments, I will be able to mitigate the damage caused by the unemotional decisions. And at the same time spare some brain energy.

I maintained the ability active for less than a second but it was enough to come up with some clues, and even a contingency plan. And the main clue was again the way I subdued Eric. The everyday civilian is not the everyday occurrence, her suspensions are warranted to say the least.

I also prepared some answers. Answers that aren't true but not false either.

I didn't want to lie only if the situation demand it. The answers aren't a lie, but a half-truth that can only be revealed by the villager and the hunter, and good luck with that. Of course, I feel somewhat bad for using the dead but I am pretty sure they don't want me to join them.

And even in the case she has a lie-detection ability, which I highly doubt, she won't be able to uncover them because they are lies only in this context. If you take into consideration my previous life they aren't lies. They are also not that complicated, and with the urgency this military team has shown, the chances of them confirming every word I say are slim. So I am confident it will work.

"You aren't from this village, right little Northman?"

...or not.

"...what?"

"I've been in this line of work for a long time, you see. Eight? Nine years? I have seen a lot of people dying, people killing other people, people killing other people's loved ones, and people who had their loved ones killed. Now, tell me little Northman, where do you think you are on this list?" Her grip on my coat's collar was strong as she pulled me even closer, a deranged smile on her face "...nowhere little Northman, you aren't on the list."

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Bell I think there is a misunderstanding."

I get it now. It isn't a lie-detection ability nor is it my scrabble with Eric. Well, maybe the latter had sparked something.

It is the way I acted toward the death of the villagers. And she didn't miss it.

The massacre at the village is... a massacre. It is horrifying and saddening seeing an entire village reduced to a dead village, with blood and bodies everywhere, men and women, from young to old, none were sparred. It is a spectacle that I am sure will give me nightmares for years to come. The only reason I haven't spewed out the hare meat I've eaten earlier was that I set my priority. And the experience I had with the horrifying entity most likely also helped in setting up my nerves bar high.

However, here is the thing Bell found suspicious, the villagers are unknown to me. The way humans reacted to a stranger's death is different from families or even let's say someone you see regularly. And my reaction to the villagers' death is relatively tame.

"Misunderstanding? Really? Do you think that I won't recognize someone who has seen death?"

"My gramps is a hunter."

"So do you think it explains everything?"

"Everything? What is the everything you are talking about? You are just seeing shadows where there is none." I said with a deep frown with a firm voice displaying a bit of anger. I thought of all fucked up shit on why she would suspect me more than I have called for. And none of those logical shit was the reason. She suspects me just because she suspects me. The way I reacted to the death of the villagers is somewhat of but not enough.

Maybe if I tried to act grieving and she noticed my poor performance, then she would be right that is suspicious. But I haven't, I displayed my genuine emotion as they are. And do you fucking think that all humans will have one unchangeable reaction to every situation? No, every human reaction will be different; some will be sad, some will be angry and some will be disbelieving and denying reality.

No, I am not angry, definitely not by this.

"Oh!, you think I'm being paranoid." Raising her eyebrows she said her grip loosened a little.

"I think that you should get some rest."

"True, true, I really need some of that. But Victor... don't you think you are way more paranoid than I am?" She said her odd smile curled into a genuine one as she looked down at the space between us.

A centimeter away from the left side of her abdomen, a tip of a blade pointed against her. And at the end of the blade is the handle which is held by my hand.

The contingency plan, which I reluctantly decided to employ. The plan consists of using the tactical knife she hosts on her right thigh in case something went wrong. Her way of acting rang a bell that she may not be fully sane. Not at all surprising, soldiers are known for developing unstable mental stats. A paranoid personality disorder is a mental health condition with patterns of distrusting and suspecting others without any reason. Of course, it is just a possibility but not doing anything and waiting to find out is not acceptable, especially since the woman in front of me is capable of ending me.

"Sorry but gramps always said to be wary of women, especially the beautiful one."

And those that can break you like a twig.

"He must be quite the boring figure." She said before releasing my coat's collar and then smoothing it back on.

"You have no idea." I said the tactical knife still pointed at her abdomen. The spot it is directed to isn't unpremeditated, I took into account the bulletproof vest that presumably she is wearing under the military jacket and the human anatomy. The injury won't be enough to kill her but it is enough to save my neck.

"Still I've got no answer from you Victor Rose."

"What answer?"

"There are two roads leading from the car to this location, one is long the other short, we took the long one and walked through more blood and bodies. Why didn't you propose the short one, Victor Rose?"

I smiled, so that is it. The reason for her suspension.

She set up a trap to check if I am familiar with the village. First the friendly queries of Zane and now this unexpected pitfall of Bell. And both of them begin with the premise I am from this village.

"It is simple really, because I like your ass." She frowned likely not because of what I said but for the lack of seriousness, so I continued seriously "I said it is a misunderstanding Bell." I retracted the knife before turning the handle in her direction and then offering it to her "I didn't propose the short road for the simple reason I wasn't aware of it."

"Really? Ignorance? Is that you answer?" She looked at the knife handle before looking back at my eyes, not taking the knife.

"Yes, that and the fact that you made the false assumption that I am from this village."

"What?"

False assumptions, I truly do like that. At least the half-lie I prepared won't go to waste, it just needs some tweaking. Let's just hope that my assumptions aren't false too.

"I never set foot in this village before, I live with gramps in a house forty minutes from here."

My assumptions are the team is too much in hurry to verify the words of a not-that-important civilian and I am not registered in some government database. The latter assumption was ignited by the words Alec, the team leader mentioned 'The great disconnection'. And aroused by their lack of any sort of communication devices, not even a walkie-talkie. So by extension, if they even had a radio device, pulling my information from a computer is unlikely. Then again it's just an inference, the possibility of it being false isn't low. However, I work with what I have.

"Never set foot in the village you say?"

"Yes, grampa occasionally trades goods obtained through hunting with some of the villagers, However, I never entered the village myself."

"What a convenient excuse you have there." She sighed after looking into my eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time, then she seized the knife from the handle and stored it in its sheath at her right thigh "...let's go, we wasted a lot of time here already, something I am sure you didn't intend to cause, right Vic?"

"Of course not." I followed behind her as she turned around heading in the direction of the card, where the others are waiting for us.

"And don't look, you lost that right."

"I already had my fill."

And it is not like there is anything to see. Literally. Her military jacket is long enough to hide wherever there is to see.