“What…” Verdell’s face froze as she took the ticket.

“I know who you are, and what you wanted to do,” Lt Higgins scratched the nervousness pestering his neck. “A word of advice… don’t glare at people, especially if it’s the first time you’re meeting them in person; you’re making me remember things. Now, I have to take care of you, too, which makes me sad that I have to.”

Verdell tightened her jaws. “You—”

“Keep your head straight, Verdell Silbert,” Lt. Higgins commanded with a kind smile. “I respected your mother and father, and it sure as hell would break my heart if I took care of the child they begged me to leave alone.” He looked at both sides. “Look, I don’t want to do this, too, so I’ll respect your decision about becoming a mage. Just don’t stick your neck out and live a good life. It’s what they wanted—”

“Don’t… don’t tell me what they wanted for me.” Verdell broke, shattering the tensed peace of the people around them. Her body begged her to move, but she clenched her fists until they swelled instead. The policemen glared at her. Fighting her way out was not the best choice, so she stepped back and hung her head low with a deep breath.

“Oh, I do believe that you knew full well what they wanted for you,” Lt. Higgins whispered. He waved to tell me to stand down, letting his eyes trail to see Rosemarie and Hermano’s back as they approached the target’s house. “I am a very weak man,” he looked around and nodded. “and no one here could stop you from killing me. You made a good choice by doing nothing.”

“What are you…”

“I think you know what you’re ideal life is supposed to be,” Lt. Higgins widened his kind smile. “otherwise, you would’ve killed me at the second I revealed myself like some terrible Disney villain; it also means that there’s a way for me to save you.”

Verdell shivered at Lt. Higgin’s sudden warmth. What she faced was a giant that had longer, thicker and stronger limbs that could easily crush her; her teeth chattered at the thought.

Hermano and Rosemarie still seemed to be too busy to look back and mind the countless guns pointed at their backs. Verdell remembered Rosemarie’s words. It was bright enough to overpower the looming image of her own mother mauling her siblings that flashed in her brain, but it wasn’t enough. She breathed through the coldness that raked through her legs, trying to process this unknown motion that welled up in her heart as she let the reddening tension in her fists go.

Verdell trembled, but she opened her mouth, knowing that only her voice would waver. “Just… D-don’t k-kill Miss Rosemarie and t-that g-guy, please.”

Lt. Higgins stepped back, crossing his arms while keeping his kind smile. Verdell’s eyes were defiant yet begging, and he matched it with a master craftsman’s patient smile about to finish his creation.

“That’s good.” Lt. Higgins nodded. “This makes the effort of having someone get some tickets for me.” He tapped Verdell’s shoulders and scoffed upon meeting her patience. “Remember the dates on that ticket. I’ve paid some good money on them, and trust me, you’ll know when you need to leave. You would need to leave. In a month and a half from now, probably, people are going to die, so save yourself and another person, okay?”

Verdell held her breath and looked away.

Lt. Higgins chuckled, he gave a bit of his attention to the zombie giant that was about to demolish their target’s house and turned back to Verdell. “Don’t worry about Rosemarie. I hate making sacrifices, but if I need to, I always make it count. Could you imagine all the trouble I would get if I killed her now?”

Lt. Higgins snapped his fingers, following it was a bang that called upon a red expanding cloud. The policemen smiled at first, celebrating their skirmish, but their breaths were cut short when faced by the heavy rusty air. Soon, the sharp droplets pattered on their faces, stiffening their limbs with the stench of blood as though being drowned in concrete. They waited for orders, but they ended up acting as an audience who welcomed a hail of bones and flesh.

Drawn to the two mages in the dimmed battlefield, their silence was broken when their target’s head dropped, bounced, and rolled over the grassy fields.

They won.

Verdell stepped back, her eyes widening as she wiped the blood off her face. “A-are you going to kill me too?”

“No,” Lt. Higgins chuckled. “by the gods, no. First, your parents begged me not to, which I would respect and take to my grave, and second, I’ll only do it when I feel like you’re ruining or about to ruin my plans, which you won’t. I have two reasons for that too.”

Verdell furrowed her brows.

“You won’t be reporting me because you either want to kill me, not jail me, and I have a hostage.” Lt. Higgins pointed Verdell at Rosemarie. “For the other one… No one would believe the words of a magus.,” Lt. Higgins tilted his head and gave Verdell a kind smile. “especially if it’s you.”