At the mention of the Nightqueen, the three other mutants that guided Joe and Mike to Kyle's office looked nervous.
“Those three weren't fazed when Kyle killed Cory. So why does mentioning the Nightqueen make them so nervous?” Joe thought to himself.
"The Nightqueen'' is a mysterious woman who emerged eleven years ago and established the Nighthounds gang. No one knows her origin or how she managed to gather such a large number of followers so quickly. However, one thing is certain - she became the indisputable leader of the Golgatta underworld and formed the strongest criminal organization ever to exist in the history of the Western continent.
Very few people have laid eyes on her. Even the police have no photographs of her and only rely on second-hand descriptions of what she looks like from other people. It seemed like Joe and Mike were about to become one of the rare cops to meet her, which didn't bode well. No living cop had ever seen the Nightqueen, and there was a reason for that. Cops who meet her tend to go missing afterward. Joe didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what happened to those policemen.
Kyle: “You two are really unlucky. You managed to walk away from John alive after annoying him, only to end up meeting my boss. Hmm. She’ll make you wish I had killed you here. I would have made it quick, like Cory. She’ll take her time,” he said as he stood up from his chair.
Kyle made a gesture to his subordinates while walking past them and out of his office. The Nighthounds lackeys grabbed Joe and Mike, pulling them onto their feet, and made them follow behind Kyle.
As they exited the hallway, Joe couldn't help but look down from where they came. He could see a trail of blood from when they dragged Cory’s body out of the room, leading to the elevator that they originally came from.
They ended up going the opposite way, deeper into the Night Tower.
Walking even deeper into enemy territory, Joe couldn’t help but notice a strange feeling. It was as if they were being watched. But, he didn’t know where or why. He only got that feeling in the hallway and not while inside Kyle's office, and it was getting stronger as they went deeper.
Joe finally realized it wasn't just a feeling of being watched, but unease. It wasn't the same unease he felt with John or Rob. That feeling from John was more like a warning, and Rob was just murderous. This sensation was like walking through a dark forest while being watched by unseen creatures in the shadows that could be either harmless or dangerous. That was the kind of anxiety he was feeling.
Even the senior officer could tell that the lackeys walking beside him could feel it, based on their expressions.
Kyle turned his head while walking to look behind himself at everyone following him. He seemed to have noticed the troubled expressions of his subordinates.
Kyle: “You three best get used to this, or you won’t be able to handle meeting Madam Allara.”
Mutant Man: “Y-Yes sir,” only one of the lackeys responded.
“Who's madam Allara? I don't recall that name ever being mentioned in the Nighthounds reports I’ve read. And, what does he mean by getting used to it? Is this feeling of unease normal here?” Joe silently thought to himself.
They continued to walk through the long hallway and up the stairwell into another hallway.
While following Kyle, Joe encountered a few more members of the Nighthounds syndicate, some of whom he recognized from reports as high-ranking members. However, unlike Samson, none of these members stopped to talk to Joe. They just gave him a curious look and went about their business.
Eventually, they came upon massive double stone doors at least fifteen feet in height (4.5 meters). It was extravagant and had beautiful lion designs on them that appeared to be gold-encrusted. And, with how wealthy the Nighthounds were, it was probably real gold.
The door looked heavy and would be difficult to open for a single person.
Kyle: “Hey boss! It’s me, Kyle! I brought the two guys like you asked!” he yelled out.
Ten seconds went by with no one daring to say anything. Suddenly, and without warning, both doors slowly started to open outward by themselves. The doors opened up to reveal a big round table that could seat up to thirty people. There was no one currently inside.
On one side of the room was a giant fixed glass window that had a stunning view similar to Kyle's office. Opposite the window was an unmanned bar that had a bunch of expensive bottles of liquor on the shelves. Behind the large round table on the opposite to the entrance of the room was another, but smaller, gilded door.
The group entered inside. As they passed the threshold, the doors suddenly closed behind them. Joe looked closely at the doors to try and figure out the mechanism that allowed them to open and close, but didn’t notice anything obvious as the doors fully closed, sealing him and Mike in this room.
Kyle: “You two, sit," he said while pointing to some chairs at the table.
Both Mike and Joe did as they were told and took a seat where Kyle pointed.
Across the table from them was a chair that seemed bigger and more grand than any of the other seats at the table, clearly meant for someone like the Nightqueen to sit at.
Kyle then turned his back to Joe and Mike and started to talk to his subordinates.
Kyle: “While we wait, you three can help yourselves to the bar. It’s stocked with some pretty nice shit.”
Mutant Man: “Um, sir, is that OK?”
Kyle: “That’s what it is there for. I know you three are still relatively new to your rank and still not completely used to the upper levels yet. So, relax a bit until the boss shows up.”
As soon as Joe noticed that none of the other Nighthounds were paying him any attention, he began to work on his jinsil cuff. Joe had been working on getting his cuffs off discreetly ever since he was captured. He had a paperclip in his pocket, which the Nighthounds hadn’t bothered to take when they searched him, and he was using that to try and pick the lock on the cuffs
Kyle: “Oh, and in the scenario you manage to get those cuffs off you and cast a spell here, you’ll be wishing for death. Because you'll get the attention of someone very nasty,” he said, clearly addressed to Joe, but without looking at him.
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Joe immediately stopped what he was doing and tried to hide away the paperclip he had before anybody saw it. He then looked at Kyle, who still had his back turned to him.
“Did he know what I was doing this whole time? And, what does he mean by attracting the attention of someone nasty? I thought the worst person in the Nighthounds was Samson. But, I heard him say he was heading out of town to Loffa. So, who is he talking about? Is he talking about the Nightqueen herself?” Joe wondered silently to himself.
The three lackeys turned to look at Joe with a murderous glare.
Kyle: “You three forget it. The boss will handle those two.”
Kyle walked past the other three mutants to the bar, where he picked up a bottle off the shelf and began to pour himself a drink. The three subordinates looked between themselves before following after Kyle and getting themselves a drink as well.
It seemed that no one from the Nighthounds side was paying attention to the detectives anymore. Mike turned to Joe and started speaking.
Mike: “I just wanted you to know. It was an honor serving with you.”
Joe: “Shut it. We’re not dead yet. If you have time to say that, start using that noggin of yours.”
Mike: “OK then. How about I told you so.”
Joe: “Actually, I’d prefer it if you didn’t.”
Mike: “No. We’re in this mess because of you. I told you we shouldn’t have come to the east, but you didn’t listen. Now we’re going to die.”
Joe: “That’s not guaranteed yet. We might be able to talk our way out still."
Mike: “Still? Do you hear yourself? Was your entire plan to try and reason with Kyle, cause that didn't work. Those reports on him being the least homicidal of the Nighthounds were bullshit. And, now we're meeting the NIGHTQUEEN,” he said while emphasizing the term Nightqueen. “No cop that’s met with her ever returns. You and I know what that means,” he said, not caring if any other Nighthounds in the room heard him.
Joe: “Look. I'm not going to debate with you about—” Joe was interrupted by the sound of doors opening.
The door on the other side of the room opened up and two individuals walked out. One of them looked to be a bear mutant wearing fine clothing. Walking beside the bear mutant was a beauty with long white hair.
The woman wore a long, shoulderless, black and white silk gown in the Eastern continent style. The part of the dress with the black accents had intricate gold embroidery with flowers woven all over. The top of her head had two pointed white fluffy fox ears, and behind her were nine huge white fluffy fox tails, so large they could be seen from her front. She had a perfectly normal, attractive human face and only appeared to have fur on her ears and tails.
She was a mostly human-looking mutant with a few animal traits of an arctic fox, but she also had the peculiar trait of multiple tails.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZnTbNsy.png]
Neither officer had ever seen her before, but the second hand reports they read about the Nighthound leader matched every detail they saw.
This was Yin Whitetail, The Nightqueen.
Joe briefly looked at his side to see what Kyle and his three subordinates were doing. The three lackeys were staring intensely at the Yin, while Kyle casually sipped his drink, not really paying attention.
Yin walked over to the table, and the bear mutant pulled out a chair for her. She then took a seat and stared across the table at Joe with a neutral expression that the senior officer couldn’t read.
Yin: “So you're the one, huh?”
Joe: “Um, miss. I can explain everything—” he was cut off mid-sentence again by Yin raising her hand, indicating for him to stop speaking.
Joe already got beaten for speaking when they didn’t want to hear him. So he complied and closed his mouth really quickly. The bear mutant came up to Yin's side and whispered something into her ear before backing away. Joe didn’t hear what was said.
Yin: “I understand you annoyed John. How did you manage that?”
Joe gulped. He was trying to choose his words carefully. He knew what he said right now might determine their fate.
Joe: “I-It wasn’t purposeful. I didn’t insult him or anything. I think I said something he didn’t like.”
Yin: ”And, what did you say?”
Joe: “I asked him if he knew anything about curses or where I could find more information about them.”
Yin: “Curses, huh. I can see why he might get annoyed by such insinuations.”
“Insinuations? Was asking about curses really that insulting? The information I got said the guy on Eld street had all kinds of obscure and powerful magical knowledge. Questions about curses shouldn’t have been that strange for such a guy. Unless I'm missing something?” Joe quietly thought to himself.
Joe: “I-I’m not sure I understand.”
Yin: “You don’t need to understand. Now, onto what is to be done about you.”
Joe: “Please, we’ll do anything,” he said while bowing his head.
Mike also bowed his head along with Joe.
Yin just looked at both officers with her expression unchanged.
Yin: “Stop with the begging. I don’t care for it. I’ll cut straight to the point; I’m not going to kill either of you.”
Mike: “You’re not?” he said, surprised.
Yin: “No. You two know some very interesting people. They called in a whole lot of favors to keep you two breathing. Otherwise, between learning about John through our network and pissing him off, I would have encased your feet in cement and thrown you two into the Golgottia River.”
“Who is she talking about? Who's the one she's referring to? Is it that executive Kyle mentioned earlier, or is it someone else? Damn it. I want to know, but I get the feeling she won’t say. I also need to limit how many questions I ask in this situation. She said she won’t kill us now, but that could change if I say something she doesn't like.” Joe surmised.
Joe was being extra cautious. He already pissed off John today with what he said, and that seemed to be partly the reason why he’s in this mess. He didn’t want to piss off the Nightqueen with careless words.
Joe: “Does that mean we can go?”
Yin: “I suppose. I only asked Kyle to bring you here so I could see your faces. But, there are three things I want to make very clear. First, if you tell anybody anything you saw today or where to find John, I will unleash my hounds to hunt you two down to the ends of the world. Is that clear?”
Both Joe and Mike nodded their heads.
Yin: “Good. Second, you will be permitted to come and go from the east end as long as you stay out of our business. Be thankful. You’re the only cops in this city with such privileges.”
Joe's eyes widened in surprise. This was so much better than he expected. He knew Yin said she would spare them, but he thought it was a situation where they would kick them out of the east end and tell them to never return. However, it seems like the Nightqueen was going to allow them to continue their investigations, even if it took them to the east.
Yin: “Oh, and don’t let this tiny privilege go to your head. There are plenty of people in the East who are not directly associated with us and hate cops. We’re not obliged to stop them if they try something against you. So keep that in mind.“
“So, I guess I still can’t go around the east saying I'm a cop. I wasn't going to do that anyway.” Joe silently thought to himself.
Yin: “And thirdly, It should also go without saying. If we ever see either of you two on Eld Street again, those privileges and my mercy I have given to you will be retracted, and I will make good on that promise of throwing you two into the river.”
Joe: “Understood. If that’s everything, we’ll take our leave,” he said, trying to end this conversation and get out of here as soon as possible.
Yin: “Well, almost everything,” she said with a sly smile. ”It wouldn’t do for you to leave here without facing some consequences.” She then turned her head and addressed the people that were standing by the bar, drinking. “Boys, rough these two up a bit and then dump them somewhere outside our territory.”
Immediately after that order, the three grunts that came with Kyle put down the drinks they were sipping on and started to approach the officers.
Joe and Mike started to panic.
Joe: “You said you wouldn’t harm us!” he yelled out.
Yin: “I didn’t say that. Your benefactor only asked me not to kill you; they didn’t say anything about beating you to a pulp.”
Joe was surrounded. The grunts chuckled and cracked their knuckles. The last thing Joe would remember from this interaction was a fist flying into his face.
(Author's Note: Man, this was such a long time coming. I hinted at her all the way back in chapter 6. Now I finally get to introduce Yin! 😭)