CHAPTER 59

As soon as they entered the store, Mikael detected a familiar scent - the unmistakable odor of vampires, and there were many of them present. The scent filled the entire store. Mikael swiftly surveyed the area but found no other presence besides himself and the elderly man.

The elder noticed Mikael's gaze wandering around the store. He said, "Feel free to look around. If you have any questions, you can come back to me. I'll be reading some books over there."

Mikael nodded and watched as the elder walked to a nearby bookshelf. Without hesitation, Mikael followed the trace of his true energy that he had placed on the crow-masked woman.

As Mikael walked to his destination, he passed through several bookshelves, rooms, and corridors. After a few minutes, he reached his intended destination, only to find a wall blocking his path.

Mikael frowned deeply, deep in thought. "I can sense my true energy beyond this wall. Could it be...?"

Mikael looked around and noticed bookshelves surrounding him. He went to each one, picking up every book that caught his eye. With swift movements, he reached the last bookshelf. Just like before, he took every book from that shelf until he came across a book titled "A Human Anatomy."

As he picked up the book, it lifted slightly from its position, and Mikael heard a "CLICK" noise coming from somewhere. He quickly turned his head towards the wall and indeed, it was now slightly open, as if there was something behind it.

"As expected," Mikael murmured and smiled a little as his suspicion was proven correct. Without waiting any longer, he approached the wall and, before entering, he looked around, checking if anyone or the elder was watching him.

After confirming that no one was observing him, Mikael entered the wall and closed it behind him. The chamber was dark, but fortunately, Mikael had heightened senses, so he was able to see as clearly as day even in the darkest environment. The first thing that assaulted his nostrils was a thick scent of vampires that still lingered in the chamber.

To make everything better for him, he searched for a switch or button to turn on the lights after entering the chamber. He soon found it not far from where the entrance was. He then turned on the lights, and the chamber was clearly revealed to him.

In the chamber, there were three separate rooms, in the back middle, left, and right. Mikael decided to enter the room on the right first. As he went in, he noticed that the room was empty. However, he did a thorough search of the room and noticed some dried bloodstains on the floor.

Mikael bent down and rubbed the dried bloodstain with his fingers, murmuring, "This must be where they feed on their victims."

Mikael then exited the room and entered the room on the left. As he entered, Mikael immediately noticed a large table in the middle of the room and a big board hanging on the wall. He approached the table and there were some papers on it. He picked one of them and read it.

To his surprise, the paper in his hand contained his information: where he lives, his age, height, appearance, and more. He frowned and picked up another paper. He saw Carlisle's information on it and continued to pick up more papers until he realized that most of his and the Cullens' information was there.

Mikael decided to put everything in his storage ring. He then went to the big board on the wall and saw that there was a map. He took a closer look and realized that the map was of the state of Washington. He ignored the map and searched the room thoroughly before exiting the room.

Mikael then went to the last room, the room on the middle of the chamber. Before he enter the room, he noticed that the trace of his true energy was the strongest there. Without waiting any further, he entered the room and he noticed that the room was messy.

Torn papers, broken tables, and chairs. He ignored them and went directly to where his trace of true energy was.

"How unfortunate," Mikael sighed as he watched a corpse with a severed head in front of him. 

Indeed, the corpse was that of the crow-masked woman whom Mikael interrogated a week before. Her body was in front of a table, and her head was beneath the table, quite far from where her body was.

Mikael didn't do anything to the corpse for now and decided to search the room first. After a few minutes, Mikael went back to the corpse and decided to bring it with him. He put the corpse in his storage ring and exited the room.

Mikael checked the chamber thoroughly one more time and, after confirming that there was nothing else, he exited the chamber and closed it. Just in case, Mikael went to the book that he had triggered before and decided to break the mechanism by forcefully picking the book from the shelf.

He placed the book in his storage ring and intended to throw it away later. He then went back to the elderly man.

The elder noticed his presence and smiled, "Ah, you're finally finished?"

Mikael nodded and said apologetically, "Sorry if it was too long."

The elder shook his head and put down the book in his hand. "Plenty of books to keep me company here. I don't mind it. So, any questions?"

Mikael nodded and asked the most important question on his mind, "What was the name of the store before it closed?"

"It was The Nocturnals, quite a name, if I may say so myself," the elder answered as he set down his glasses.

Mikael nodded in understanding and asked an important question, "If I'm not mistaken, there should be a customer list. Is there a list of people who borrowed books from here? Do you mind if I take a look?"

The elder looked confused for a few seconds until a realization appeared on his face. He said, "Follow me, it should be there."

The elder then led Mikael to the store's counter. The elder searched the counter for a minute and went back to Mikael with an apologetic look on his face, "I'm sorry, there is no list of customers here. Maybe the previous owner took it with them."

Mikael sighed in disappointment and said, "No problem. But, did the previous owner say anything to you before they handed you this store?"

The elder shook his head and said, "No, they said I can do anything with the store. So, I decided to rent it."

Mikael nodded in understanding and asked a few more unimportant questions to avoid arousing any suspicion. After about ten minutes, Mikael walked out of the store and, before leaving, he glanced back at it.

"Bookstore, huh..."

.

.

.

You can support me here and get more chapters in advance;

p@treon.com/tikuskecetit