A couple minutes' passes after they enter the 'forest road', Johnathan suddenly shivering. The smell he's following is at its thickest, and that means the one they are looking for is nearby.
"Grace, 'they' are here, " Johnathan said with a wide smile, but he immediately regained his composure. "Park the car, Grace. It's time for real work."
Grace pulls the car over to the side of the road. Both of them exit the car and stand on the road facing the car. Johnathan mutters something incomprehensible with any human language. The vegetation at the forest's edge begins to swallow the car, simultaneously making it invisible and protected.
"Grace, close your eyes and connects it to mine," Johnathan commanded.
"Yes, Master." Grace obliged and kneeled beside her Master.
Johnathan closed his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opened them, they turned completely dark red. Grace feels a sudden intense pain in her eyes, but it quickly disappears. Veins at her upper face swell and emit dark red color just like Johnathan's eyes.
"Can you see what I see, Grace?" asked Johnathan as he dived his vision into the thick dark forest.
"Yes, Master. Clearly." replied Grace.
"Good. Now, as we can see, there are two groups of people out there. The first group is the one Aria Florence with. And the second group is Inspector Andrew, his detective, and two of his suspects. Count how many people at the first group, Grace."
"Yes, Master. There are 10 people in that group, Aria Florence excluded, And..... by looks of it, it's the same guy we meet in the morning, Master." Grace replied.
"Ho... interesting. Continue."
"Yes. Everyone is armed with small to medium fire arms. 4 men carrying a pistol, and the other 4 carrying a sub-machine gun and the last 2 carrying an assault rifle. All has suppressor attached to it. For Andrew's group they ca-."
"Not interested. Whatever they bring, it won't be enough. We still haven't seen any trace of the monster," said Johnathan as he widened his peripheral views. "No matter. Sooner or later, it will come out. When the armed group finally stopped moving, that's the feeding ground."
The landscape he sees is a tree line forming a circle. But that area is hidden because of the thick and wide arc of the branches that cover it. Johnathan concluded his analysis of the situation and undid his 'vision.' Grace's face turns normal after 'disconnected' from Johnathan. Immediately after that, Johnathan pierces his hand, and blood quickly streams down.
"Grace, give me your hand," Grace offered her left hand, and Johnathan immediately grabbed it. "I want you to make a barrier using these crystals."
Johnathan stabbed Grace's hand using his blood at the exact place it's flowing out. The blood flows into Grace's hand and forms a symmetrical crystal shape at her forearm.
"Make the barrier with 1 kilometer radius with that. After that, meet Andrew and his friends. Make sure that they won't interfere my work. Defend yourself if you have to, but don't overdo it."
"Yes, Master." Grace dashed her way to do her Master's bidding.
Grace vanishes as quickly as Johnathan takes a breath. The blood eventually stopped flowing from his hand, and his wound healed completely. He corrected his suit and hat, and when he was done, he entered the forest. Grace dashes through the thick forest until she finds a perfect spot to place the first blood crystal. As she feels the area is right, she jumps exceptionally high into the air, much higher than the highest tree. While airborne, Grace looks for the tree's alignment, indicating the 'feeding ground.' After Grace landed on the ground, she forcefully pulled out one of her Master's blood crystals from her hand. She didn't mind the pain as she concentrated on making the barrier. Grace crushed the crystal, and it turned into a pole-like object. She stabs into the ground facing the location of the 'feeding ground.' Grace continues to make the barrier until the 'feeding ground' and surrounding area are covered.
After a couple minutes of hard work, Grace placed the final crystal on the ground, and the barrier materialized instantly. Though invisible to human eyes, Grace can see it as clear as day. The barrier is connected to Johnathan, and he can sense everything as long he's inside it. Grace knows it well. And since she's Johnathan's "maid," the sensing ability is shared with her. But she is only able to sense the human inside the barrier. Nonetheless, it's already providing much help for her next task. As soon as she became aware of where Andrew's group was, she dashed her way to them. She takes a wider route to creep on them from behind in less than a minute.
----------------------------------------
"Hey, Andrew. Do you hear that?" asked Samuel as he looked at their surroundings.
"Nothing. Hey, do you hear anything punk?" asked Andrew to one of the thugs who was still conscious.
"I hear nothing. Cause I'm so fixated looking for landmarks before YOU ASSHOLE HIT MY FUC--!" Andrew hard slaps his head before the thug can finish his sentence. "Oh, I can't wait to fuck you up."
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Shut up. Let's move on. Show us the way. And Samuel, stop looking around like an idiot. There's nothing there." said Andrew as he pushed the thug to continue the walk.
"*sigh*. I could've sworn that I heard something," said Samuel.
"You're correct about that, Mister." a sudden female voice can be heard directly at Samuel's right ear.
That voice makes him fear for his life. Samuel instinctively throws his back elbow towards his back, parallel with his eye level. That young woman easily evades his strike and quickly countered by throwing him to the ground. The ruckus makes Andrew and the thugs aware and turns their attention towards the noise.
"YOU!" Andrew pulled out the confiscated silenced gun earlier and aimed it toward Grace which he immediately realized by her outfit.
But before Andrew can shoot her, Grace move as swiftly as an eagle and grabs Andrew's hand upward. Baffled by how fast Grace moved, Andrew let his guard down and got knocked down by her. One of the thugs got terrified and attempted to run for their life. Alas, Grace quickly caught and threw him back to Andrew.
"Seriously, you guys are slow," said Grace with her arms akimbo. "Now now, no need for such hostility. I apologize for sneaking up on your friend Inspector. I can't help the urge."
"Then why are you attacking us? You okay, Sam?" said Andrew while trying to get up.
"Yeeaahh... I'm fine. Just shocked." replied Samuel as he regained his composure before he got up.
"Well.... that guy throws the first punch, soo...," Grace referred toward Samuel as she shrugged her shoulder gleefully. "Anyway, why is that guy trembling like crazy? I mean, there's no way ghosts are living in this place like these," said Grace as she approached the thug who still sat on the ground. "Or you see something else?" said Grace up close to the thug's face.
The thug is trembling even harder that he can't mutter a single word.
"Ssshhhh," Grace placed her index finger on the thug's lips. "If you want to see another day, say nothing about me," Grace whispered in the thug's ear.
Andrew still points his gun toward Grace, but Samuel grabs it and tells him not to do it. Andrew reluctantly lowers his gun. Grace just smiled at Samuel and Andrew.
"Now, be a good boy and tell me your name," asked Grace as she helped the thug stand up.
"J-Joseph." the trembling thug answered.
"How come such a good name belongs to a scum like you? And why is it you oddly familiar? Hmm, whatever." asked Grace as she dusted Joseph's clothes. "By the way, Inspector. I'm afraid that I forced you to become a spectator. This case will be handled by Master, and not any of you will interrupt him."
"And why should we listen to you?" asked irritated Andrew. Samuel just shakes his head.
"You'll see soon enough. I only warn you once. Test me, and I may break more than just your bones." said Grace as she glared at Andrew. "Now, Joseph. Lead the way, please," she immediately changed back to a playful mood.
Joseph walks first, and Grace follows him. On the other hand, Andrew and Samuel watch them until a little further away.
"Andrew, I'll do the same if you prefer to trust your guts. It's telling me to follow what she said. I got a feeling that this case is more sinister than you think it is," said Samuel as he was concerned about what Andrew might do.
"Goddamn it, fine. But tell me a reason why I need to trust your guts?" asked Andrew irritated.
"I'll explain as we walk."
Samuel goes ahead by himself, and Andrew soon follows.
"I've met him. Johnathan Brown. Several years ago, before I was assigned to Central Police Station," Samuel said after a while. "It was a case about missing livestock, cows. It's actually not a case per se, but the report of missing livestock keeps coming in for a full year. We concluded that we make a full investigation. But after we did that, we got nothing. Uninvited, a man came into our office and said he had a solution for solving the case. We didn't listen and tried to make him leave. He stayed on his spot, and when we tried to drag or push him, he won't budge either. He then said that if we want to catch our culprit, we have to set up live bait. And then he leaves."
"I've read that case of yours. It was concluded that it was a wolf pack attack. But it's not the case, isn't it? Why alters it?"
"Because if I wrote it as it is, most people won't believe it. Anyway, we debated among our self if we actually need live bait. We asked the townsfolk, and most of them rejected the idea since they already lost so much. Until there's one man who's willing to give up his only cow for that plan. He said he just wanted it be over with. We executed the plan later at night. We placed a cow as bait at one of the townsfolk's farm that near the forest. We hide our self at a hold that we dig, about 200 meters from cow. Right around midnight, we hear a rustling from the forest. The cow becomes restless all of a sudden. Slowly, a shadowy figure coming out from the forest. The shape..... it's nothing like you've imagined. I don't know what it was, but it's big, have lots of long limbs like human but isn't. All deputies just frozen in place, either in awe or scared to death. But I know for sure it's the latter, since I am. But the owner of the cow comes out from the hiding and went gun blazing with his shotgun."
"Damn, I want to meet that man," Andrew smiled a little.
"He got killed shortly after. Because he went out alone and shot the 'thing', he got attacked after he landed a few shots. That 'thing' just slapped him, and in an instant he becomes a minced meat. Poor guy. But because of that, the 'thing' aware of us and start runs towards us. We returned fire, but our rifle didn't do much, not even a scratch. While other so focused firing that 'thing', a man casually walks towards the 'thing'. I shouted to him to get away, but he ignored me. The 'thing' got distracted and turns its attention to that man. As it about to slams one of its limbs to that man, the attack stopped midway, and it jumped back a little. And suddenly it went silent. No one moves, not even the 'thing'. The silence broke when that man raises his hand towards the 'thing'. It got startled and turned its tail around. It ran so fast as if its life depends on it. The man flings his hand twice, and all of a sudden the 'thing' got sliced twice and falls to the ground."
"Sliced? Just like that? The 'thing' died instantaneously?" Andrew stopped for a moment.
"Yes. And we just stood there, dumbfounded. After the dust settled, we finally able see that the man who killed the 'thing' is Johnathan Brown. He walks towards the decimated cow owner, placed his hand to it, and suddenly the cow owner..... comes back to life. One of the deputy got terrified and accidentally shots John, but John catches the bullet. John tells us deputies to concern more about writing the report and cleans up the mess. And he just left the scene. In the end, we write just like you said, it was wolf pack's doing, and we decided to not talk about it."
"Whoa wait, how come the cow owner came back to life? Somehow I don't believe you. What you just told me sounds like a fairy tale," said Andrew shaking his head a little.
"Then, how do you explain the moment he noticed us back at the hotel? Even though we're a hundred meters away from him, and we're inside the car. Or how he manages to left us a video in a very short time? Or when he suddenly gives you a lead at Miss Barbet's house?" said Samuel with a convincing tone.
Andrew goes silent after that. He doesn't know what to say to counter that argument. Andrew becomes lost in thought, unaware of his surroundings. Samuel sees Grace's signal to lie low since they arrived and stops Andrew. They hide behind the thick bushes but strategically enough to observe the "feeding ground" with little obstruction. The first sight they see is a young woman tied to the pole being beaten by several men.
"That's good enough." said the man, presumably the group's leader.
They stopped attacking her and went back to their group. Grace swiftly holds and covers Andrew's mouth as soon she sees that Andrew is about to be snapped. Andrew struggles, but he can't break free from Grace's grip. Andrew hinting Samuel to help him, but Samuel just shook his head. Samuel knows they can't break their cover, even more so when the young woman they see is Aria Florence.