“What!? Why didn’t you say anything!”

The frustration in Suzuka’s tone made me flinch. She clenched the hospital bedsheets in her hands and glowered disapprovingly at me. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her in her one good eye. The other was still wrapped up in bandages from the surgery.

“I don’t know. They were both there, I felt uncomfortable.”

Suzuka grumbled and flung herself back onto the mattress.

“The director’s son is murdering clients, and you feel uncomfortable!? Come on Maggie, something needs to be done!”

“What should I do?”

Suzuka sat up straight and waved her hand in the air. “Isn’t it obvious? Go back to the director. Tell him the truth.”

I bit the inside of my cheek.

“I can’t, he’s gone on a business trip to America and I don’t have the clearance to contact him.”

The rounder let out an annoyed grunt and folded her arms.

“Great, so we have to work on a team with a complete maniac until then.”

“it gets worse.” I murmured.

I told Suzuka about Chloe and the other missing clients and immediately regretted it. I had to use all my strength to keep the rounder from leaping out of her hospital bed.

“That bastard! She was a baby! If I ever see him again, I’m going to make sure he suffers.”

“Suzuka, we can’t make assumptions about this!”

After settling her down and getting her reassurance that she would not escape on a murderous revenge trip, I made my way out of the hospital. Although I understood Suzuka’s sentiment, something deep inside myself was convinced that Mateo was not involved in Chloe’s disappearance. I could not stop thinking about how nervous he had been with that gun.

It was in that moment that I decided I needed to confront the protector again. Before I could begin to plan, I got a call from an unknown number.

“Maggie, you need to come here now. There’s a client here and there are Slayers everywhere.”

When I heard Mateo’s frantic voice, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Mateo, what’s going on?”

The man who had held a gun to me only a few days ago spoke again.

“Please. They’re going to kill her!”

The way the protector’s usually calm voice cracked at the end of the sentence told me that this was not a trick.

After getting the address from him, I took a taxi to the client’s location. Mateo was vehement about not getting the DOPD involved with this. Against my better judgement, I went along with his wishes. After all, the life of a client was at stake, and I didn’t have time to go back to headquarters. It was only as I got in the taxi that I realised Mateo was most likely doing this to avoid getting caught with the Slayers. I could feel my heart rate grow at this thought but I pushed it down and focused on the scenery outside.

High-rises gave way to standard apartments, which soon became clusters of poorly constructed flats and warehouses. A group of children in dirty clothing ran across the cracked path, carrying armfuls of metal waste. Presumably, they were taking it to a scrapper for spare change.

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as I watched the barefooted children pass. I had lived on this island my entire life, and this was the first time I had ever come to this part of Northern Ardour. I doubted many people who worked at the DOPD had ever stepped foot here.

With the address I was given, I found myself in front of a large empty warehouse that had once been used for storing fishing equipment. From within, I could hear the muffled sounds of shuffling and shouting. Peeking through a crack in the warehouse’s door, I saw a group of people of varying ages.

Something large was stumbling about in front of them. I could see flashes of browns and mottling white spots. The client. I heard it let out a pained low.

“Stop! Stop it!”

Mateo was yelling. With only the client’s safety in mind, I swung the door open. All eyes fell on me, but I found myself staring at the behemoth at the back of the warehouse.

The doe met my gaze, its eyes filled with sorrow. It had to have been melancholic, and level one judging by its smaller stature. Despite this, I could still imagine its bones being mistaken for those of a dinosaur. On its back sat a large boulder that caused its spine to bend painfully inward.

Mateo pointed at me. “She’s a counsellor, she can turn Valory back to normal!”

One of the Reaper members spoke, a large man with muscles bursting out of his arms. A tattoo of a laughing skull met my gaze from one of his biceps.

“She’s turned,” he growled, “we need to kill her before she escapes and murders someone. There’s kids outside. It’s what she would have wanted.”

It was only then that I noticed they all had weapons in their hands. Guns, tasers, even high-tech laser weaponry. Despite the fear fluttering in my body, I felt myself switching into work mode.

“If you try to attack her, she’ll become aggressive. Most clients do. It’s a defence mechanism.”

Hearing this, some of the gang lowered their weapons. A skinny man with a scar across his face sneered at me and clutched his gun tightly. He also had a laughing skull tattoo, this one emblazoned on his hand.

“She’s a ticking time bomb. We need to get rid of her.”

He aimed his pistol’s muzzle to a spot between the deer’s two black shining eyes.

“Stop!” Mateo yelped.

The man pulled the trigger just as the protector wrenched his arm downward. The bullet whizzed through the air at an angle and clipped the client’s cloven-hoofed leg. The deer let out an agonising scream as black blood began to spray out of the wound.

Terrified, the client began to stumble around the warehouse, desperately trying to find a means to escape.

Someone threw the door open with a clattering bang and the group dispersed, leaving behind the three of us. Mateo was rolling around on the ground with the scarred man, struggling for control of the gun. I needed to act fast.

“Valory, Valory can you hear me?”

I yelled out to the rampaging deer. I watched as the doe’s ears perked before it continued to thrash about. The client was aware of its own name, at least. As I slowly crept over, the deer’s hooves became tangled in a mess of nets and fishing wire. The client toppled over and fell to the ground with a dull thud.

I heard a pained grunt and turned my head. Mateo was out cold on the ground, his chest still rising and falling. Standing before me was the scarred man, a smile growing on his face as walked towards the ensnared doe. He raised his gun towards the client’s head and glanced over at me.

“No hard feelings, everyone’s gotta work. I just can’t let this abomination murder any innocents.”

Without hesitating, he pulled the trigger.