Chapter 19:

“Where’s Dara?” Everyone asks, looking around the room.

“Dara is on vacation right now. She needs to hide since she encounters the dead person of the one who got away from the damn Serpent’s Lair. It is not safe for her to go back here until I guarantee that they will not come for her,” she lies. Well, Dara is going to Italy already and she bet that the goons will not follow her there since they are overjoyed by killing her mother.

“That’s a good decision. Anyway, let us start,” Cara says.

“Well, we all have bad news. Our mission is a failure. All the things we go into are all dead ends and it is like they are erasing everything about them,” Minho informs them, annoyed for being a failure on a mission he’s been given.

Leigh turns her attention to Clarisse. “How about you?”

Clarisse sighs for having everyone’s attention. “Well, my mission is to gather data about Lilly Redford but I have to warn Cara about it since a person in her past is linked.”

Cara gasps and points at herself. “Me? Why me?”

“The leader of the Serpent’s is Alistair Redford but we know him as…”

“Michael Campbell, the ex-lover of Cara,” Leigh interjects then sighs. No wonder he knows who her mother is but even so, for him to target Cara’s mother too. Does this mean that his grudge for Cara became bigger because of the death of his little sister? Then the target of the revenge is not her from the start but Cara and she is just a side trip to anger Cara more.

“How did you know?” Clarisse asks confused.

“Well, it’s my gut feeling. I just realized it when you said that it’s from Cara’s past and the only link I have is Lilly. Well, on the first year of Lilly entering our group, she always wants to talk about Cara’s ex-lover, most especially that man. So, I just figured it out today.” She shrugs then sighs.

“So, this is a revenge for me?” Cara inquires in surprise.

“Apparently, half of it is part of his revenge for you and half of it is for his sister,” Clarisse answers. “From what I had gather and thought, this revenge is for both since you are still connected to Lilly’s death.”

Cara looks sullen and full of guilt.

“Lilly’s death is inevitable and also your break up with Michael or Alistair. Even if Lilly didn’t die four years ago, I’m sure I would have killed her these past few years. And from the long forgotten years of your relationship with Michael, your break-up is inevitable too since, that guy is too bad to be true. I can see his soul even if he hides it beneath his fake self. The break-up was not good but that doesn’t mean he is not petty for getting revenge,” Leigh clarifies to ease of the guilt building in Cara. Of course, her guilt is not even valid because all of the reasons behind the killing and break-up are valid.

“But…”

“I agree with Leigh,” Clarisse butts in. “Whatever the past is, killing Lilly will bring this upon us. Leigh knew that but still she chose to protect her family over letting a demon live.”

“So, now that we know who is targeting us, we can be careful and protect ourselves. From this point on, whatever happens be prepared to kill or be killed, arasso?” Leigh looks at them, one by one.

“Yes,” they reply.

“For the next plan, Clarisse, you will still be on the Lilly case,” Leigh looks at Clarisse. “Find out as more information as possible about Alistair Redford. Every little bits of information is needed and any information is important.”

“Okay, I will,” Clarisse responds seriously. It is a bit of stressing investigating about Lilly as she remembers how close they are even if she has to act but sometimes their quarrels and friendship is real and that makes Lilly more of a human to her. Leigh knows that but she can’t do anything but order her to investigate since the whole family is at risk. And she understands that.

“Minho and Cara,” Leigh calls, “I want you to go back to the public safety department and increase the chance of knowing about Alistair. If I am right, he is one of the higher ups in there.”

Cara, until now, can’t fathom to take that Michael is revenging to her. The break-up was a mess, she admits but that doesn’t mean he can hurt anyone in her family. This is just plain stupid and the break-up is mostly his fault.

“CL and Bom, I want you to go to 23rd street and enter the bar name Bloodhound, the door near the restroom is a secret door leading to one of my friends, the password for you to