Chapter 19

I submitted my work early and left the office with the detective. One moment can change anything. I had a lecture from Julie to leave everything behind and work a normal job like everyone does and another one from the detective, stating we have one life, and what's the point of living if we don't cross our comfort zone and get out seeking adventure? I was in all this because Anais would have chosen this. No one asked me what I wanted to do. It wasn't like they know I am not Anais. But I feel like the shadow of someone I don't feel around at all. What if she never came back and I would never go back to the moon? Do I want to go back to the moon?

Where is Elodie anyway? She disappeared too.

"Wait, you know Julie and Alexandre. Do you know the others too? Claude, Samuel, Andre… The group I mean."

"You met them all. Though we don't see each other often; they are on their own. You may never see us all together. The only one who introduced us was Andre and since he retreated into his own business and wealth, we never had a group activity. Julie is Alexandre's step-sister. She was with him since he was young; they were inseparable. While the others, more like we were a teenager gang, indulging in sex and bullying… Also doing dangerous things. You may never know where we can throw ourselves from a cliff, enjoying the fall," a quick smile painted his lips quickly.

"Why did it fall apart? It seemed like you were in it for something grand."

"You probably find it weird but when one of us is interested in someone, the others can't help but explore the possibility of stealing the girl, like a game of who will win the girl. So, Don't go down that road. You must have met them because Alexandre took a liking to you but leave it that way. The others are dangerous. They like it when the girl feels broken because of the game she never knew she was part in."

"But you didn't do it."

"I told you," he pulled a cigarette. "We are like two groups now. Ones who need to work hard for their futures and ones who have it easy. We are here, right in front of the mortuary."

We went inside the mortuary and it was freezing. The atmosphere was somewhat depressing. A big refrigerator for the dead!

The corpse was completely devoid of blood. Unlike how I saw her, she was double of her size and her skin… Oh my God! I couldn't see more of it. The smell… I couldn't keep my hand away from my nose and breathe from my mouth felt like I tasted her. I couldn't… I just couldn't stay inside and rushed outside seeking air. The detective stayed inside examining the body. How could he keep a straight face in front of all that? It was horrible. Who caused her to be like that? She was still cut in half like the detective did by mistake.

"Well, you didn't notice anything."

I turned facing him. "No, there is nothing wrong with her; just the cut you did. Anyway, is there any reason why her blood is missing?"

"I am in the same position as you. I don't have any single idea. I thought you might enlighten me with your wisdom but it seems you can't. I begged the Police to let us examine it. Of course, I only used my name, taking all your credits."

"Did you tell her family about it?"

"Yeah, they came running and they did the same thing as you. When she was separated from the tree before, her body was in a better shape. If you came before, you might have seen her clearly. They had to remove part of her skin because of the shape she was in. I don't like the sound of this case. Better give it up."

"You who talked about diving into dangers and exploring new things, now you are giving up."

"Yeah."

"I got a threatening call, which means I am finding out something super dangerous and I hit the nail on the head," I smirked.

"What did they say?" he was calmer than I thought. Did he receive one too?

"To give up on what I am doing," I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't care about it. I feel like I have mick on my side. I noticed something weird on the body but I don't know if it is something worth looking into; there are biting marks all over her body."

"Thank you for informing me about something so obvious, that's why I wanted to give up on this case. The Police closed it and ordered for the body to be cremated, that's why I brought you to see it. I thought maybe you would see something to keep it from closing again. I guess it's a lost cause."

We stared at each other for a while, each one in their own thought. Why is Alexandre so focused on this case? And where is he? So many questions but little answers. I didn't want to investigate this either… But Anais… I sighed.

"Are you Mark Silvestre and Anais de la Croix?"

A beautiful blond woman with a blue uniform and white blouse approached us. Her blue eyes shined but they weren't like Andre's. What Andre has to do with this?

"Yes, we are," I nodded blushing.

"I didn't want to ask about it since we already know who you are. I already know you are the one who found that body inside the tree," she swept her surroundings with a glance before returning to me. "You don't have to deny that. We know everything if we want to… Were you here for the corpse? We will take care of it but we want you both with us. You have potential to be… special investigators?"

"Special investigators? Are you the ones who investigate the supernatural cases?" the detective who watched from the side for a while finally spoke. His eyes who were dead since I met him turned shining like a jewel. He was excited truly, unlike how he tried to bring me to this place.

"I know you have been trying to catch our eyes for a while," her voice was deep and sexy, she spoke with a professionalism I couldn't reach yet. She knew when to smile, when to show her serious tone… "Do you know why you never rose higher than the others in the same field as yours? Because we pulled you down, mister Mark. You are investigating something no one needs to know. What will you tell them when they discover a body that died two weeks ago completely mixed with a tree? Will you take responsibility for their freaking episodes? It's hard to be an investigator, mister Mark, and there are many who wishes to keep things hidden."

"Why? What's the point of hiding it? What's the point of living completely in peace unaware there are predator everywhere?"

"Humans," her voice was a whisper. "Humans are the worse predators. Believe me! No one needs to know that we are investigating cases we aren't sure the cause behind it; ones that seemed impossible to crack."

Oh, they were talking about the cases. I thought they talked about the races for a while.

"What kind of cases?"

"That kind that makes your skin crawls. How did you find out about us?"

"Simple. I gambled. I had theories. The first time I saw something like supernatural was ten years ago. The second time, when I was with my gang. It was easy to put theories. I thought there is no possibility that there isn't someone taking care of this, shutting down every single case I took. Except for one, the one that was a completely normal murder that I cracked in a single day."