True Leader

Goren halted and he frowned. He turned around to see where the foreign echo came from. He walked back towards the room and looked left and right. Then he stepped to the side and checked behind the pillar next to the room.

No one.

Goren looked down and saw a single black clip lying on the floor. He picked it up and sniffed it. "Smells like a human… someone was here…" He turned his head into the passageway that led to an emergency exit. "Ha! They must have gone through there!" Goren held the clip tightly and ran into the passageway.

Meanwhile, Mitchell had gotten into the Royal Suite. Mr. Cheng was too weak and groaning in pain to even scream. Mitchell instantly pulled up the towels on the table and tied Mr. Cheng's mouth. The man's eyes went wide as he searched the intruder's face for any sign of recognition.

His hands were also tied now and he tried to scream. Mitchell clicked his tongue and pressed the old man against the bed, his grey hair flattening under his balding head. The cold metal of Mitchell's gun sent chills through Mr. Cheng's spine and he found himself unable to breath. He tried to use his blood manipulation powers, similar to the one he had given Goren, but that only sent shots of pain throughout his chest.

"Wha… duyu… bant…" he tried to speak through the cloth inside his mouth.

Mitchell snarled and pressed the gun deeper into his skull. "More like what you want, Mr. Cheng. What does your sect want from the Project Dream System?"

Mr. Cheng's eyes widened as he realised that he was just a member of the project his sect was targeting. "Yur...phailure.." he mumbled, smiling.

"Why? Won't us achieving immortality be beneficial for you also?"

Mr. Cheng shook his head. "In dis borld… only the shtrongest will be immortal."

"And who's that?" Mitchell glanced up at the door to see if Goren was going to return.

"The Last Magnate. He ish da one who gabe us the power to control…" He groaned, writhing on the bed. He needed blood and the close proximity of a human was making his senses go crazy. "...control blood."

Mitchell's eyes widened in shock. "Are you guys also… cultivators?"

Mr. Cheng smiled wider. "Better than you jerks." He screamed and lurched forward, baring his teeth to bite Mitchell's cheeks. Any part, any drop of blood will do.

Mitchell yelled in shock and walked backwards. Mr. Cheng got up with new found strength driven by lust and pounced on Mitchell. He opened his mouth and was about to bite Mitchell's exposed neck when he halted… and fell limp on Mitchell's body.

Mitchell let out a disgusted squeak as he pushed the man away from him. He held the gun in one hand and his head in the other, filling with instant regret. "Shit, I just killed him-" His head turned back when he heard the door open.

"What was that sound?" a male voice asked.

Mitchell hid the gun back in his coat instantly and stood up to face a pale-colored Goren. His eyes were fixated on the person on the floor, who looked like his… father.

"What did you f*cking do?!" Goren yelled, walking forward and grabbing his father's collar. "Father… father!"

Goren whipped his head back to look at Mitchell with red eyes. "You."

Mitchell stood his ground. He wasn't going to run away from this sick bully anymore. Tiara always stood up to him, but Mitchell never did.

"Why'd you kill him?" Goren pushed Mitchell against the wall.

Mitchell shrugged, trying to be calm. "If not him, then me. I chose me."

"What do you mean- oh. You know that he wanted blood."

Mitchell looked up at Goren now. "Don't you want it too?"

Goren smirked. "Yeah, mind lending?"

"Why me, when he's right there?" Mitchell glanced down at the elephant in the room.

Goren snarled. "I can't eat my father."

"You have no reason to eat me either."

"Why are you here?" Goren asked.

"Why aren't you killing me? I just killed your dad."

"I will, after I get answers."

"Then I need answers too."

Goren frowned. "What did you want from my father?"

"Nothing much, just wanted to chit chat," Mitchell pursed his lips trying not to laugh. 'What the heck is wrong with me? I just killed a person and here I am making jokes.'

"You really think this is the optimal time to be laughing?"

"Your dad's dead," Mitchell shrugged, "He's the leader of your sect, right? Good riddance. So what now, is the sect going to disband?"

"Far from. Father isn't the leader," Goren smirked.

Mitchell's instincts spiked. He knew it. 'I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I fricking knew it.'

"Then who is?"

"Not me."

Mitchell narrowed his eyes. Goren wasn't going to spill the beans, for sure. Then something turned inside his head. 'Wait a minute… he isn't killing me right now because he doesn't have any means to. The only reason a person will talk to the killer of their father is to… buy time.'

Mitchell looked up at Goren who was staring back at him with a sly smile. 'What are you buying time for? Why are you stalling this? What are you waiting for?'

"He ish da one who gabe us the power to control…control blood."

Mitchell's insides flipped as he remembered Mr. Cheng's last words. Is Goren perhaps waiting for the right moment to do exactly that? Before Mitchell could cope up with his realisation, Goren let out a sigh.

He tapped his chest twice. "Oh, the pain is gone. Guess five minutes are up"

"What pain…" Mitchell's voice was barely audible. 'I need to get out of here now.'

Goren laughed and grabbed Mitchell's throat. "Time to pay for your actions."

Mitchell gasped and he felt his veins pop. Like, literally, pop. He felt his heart constrict and his vision go hazy. 'Shit he is controlling my blood!'

...…

Tiara opened her eyes and saw the room ceiling staring straight at her. A wave of relief washed over her as she turned around and discovered that she was back in the studio flat. Never had she ever felt this happy. "We escaped, Percy!" she laughed.

"Percy?" she said with a smile in her voice. Percy was sitting right there in front of her with his eyes closed. His breathing was slow.

"Why aren't you back from the game? I am back."

She frowned and shook his arm with her free hand. "Percy…" her voice fell. She bit her lip and reached for the phone. "Buttboi, where are you? It's so dark outside." She pulled up his name from the call log and called him.

The phone was picked up instantly and a strange voice entered her ears. "Who might this be?"

Tiara gasped. Where the hell was her brother? But this voice… was so painfully familiar from back in the hospital. 'Why did Mitchell go and meet this jerk?' Little did she know that it wasn't a normal meeting.

"Oh you woke up, sleeping beauty," Tiara snapped into the phone.

"Oh!" Goren exclaimed, raising an eyebrow at Mitchell who was on his knees now just like V previously. "If it isn't my middle school bully, Tiara Keeser. Guess what your brother is doing now?"

"Leave my brother alone!" Tiara screamed into the phone.

"Or what." He threatened, all humour in his voice gone with the dust in the room.