Reapers - Thirteen Brothers

XXIX - The Enemy

The study hall in the left wing of the mansion wasn't as grand as I thought it would be. Tall wooden bookcases lined the crimson velvet-swatted walls. A long table that could hold more than twenty people centered the room, illuminated only by a big round fluorescent lamp that looked like it belonged to some operating room rather than a study area hung from the ceiling. Sun light passed through the dark red tapestries, making faint wavering lines on the black carpet.

Archie was standing beside a wide pull-down flat LCD monitor, writing random words on the touch screen with a digital pen. Vladimir and Vincent sat on the front seats, elbows on the table, and chins on the back of their hands. As we stepped in, I saw Rosario tugging the plate of chocolate cake away from Amyr.

"Finally," Vincent groaned. "Now, can we get this over with?"

Vladimir fixed a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose and nodded at the silver-haired man to begin.

"My pleasure," said the familiar, gesturing for us to the take the seats behind our masters which we did in a hurry.

He ran a hand over the screen and several pictures lined up in front of us-pictures of eleven boys of different nationalities, between ages twelve to mid-twenties. However, their appearances were similar in some ways, like the pale silvery-gray eyes and the wavy dark hair except for the other two blond boys who looked exactly alike, they could only be twins. I knew right away from the portraits lining the hallway along the training room that they were Reapers-Vince's and Vlad's older brothers.

"Based on the detailed description given by Master Vincent," the butler-looking familiar began. "We can narrow the list to five." He began swiping the pictures of the older-looking Reapers into a folder until only five pictures remained.

In front of me, Vincent did not pay any attention. Darkly, he picked up the fountain pen in front of him and started sketching intently. The look on his face was so serious as though he was pouring all his seething rage on the paper. While he was doing this, his face had this special look-intense yet sentimental-that seemed to me like he was in a special Vincent zone no one could cross. Several seconds later, I found myself looking at the picture of the intruder, his bandaged face, his dark hooded cloak billowing against the wind as he glanced over his shoulder to see if Vincent was catching up. It was so lifelike I almost gasped at it.

Archie dragged the remaining pictures to the center of the screen, blowing them up a bit so we could see clearly.

"The height and body built point to these people. Master Cairo, The First," Archie said pointing at the picture of a boy no older than fifteen with slick black hair that waved at the back of his head. He had the air of authority with the hard look on his face.

"He's the oldest among all the brothers," Mei whispered behind me.

"And I'm guessing he's named after the capital of Egypt," I murmured back, rolling my eyes. How old could these people be?

"Oh, no," Mei shook her head. "The capital of Egypt was named after him."

"Oh... why not?" I smiled sheepishly at her.

Shooting us furtive glances, Archie cleared his throat to get our attention and continued his presentation. "Master Darius and Master Cyrus, The Third and The Fourth, respectively. " He gestured at the twins with dark blond hair, about the same age as Cairo. "Master Pierre, The Sixth and Master Kyoshiro, The Tenth," he continued without moving a facial muscle.

I saw Mei cringe a little at the mention of The Tenth-an Asian boy with neatly cropped spiky black hair, ominous slanted eyes and a thin slit-like scar at the tip of his right brow. From what Mei told me, it was Kyoshiro who found her and gave her to Vladimir. It must be hard for her to hear that the person who had saved her life many hundreds of years ago could be the one sabotaging our operations.