Shadow Color (NEW VERSION)

Chapter 11

It was hard to say and sometimes, it seemed it was best not to know what Vincent thought of him. For the way he was, whether he liked him or not, that wouldn't stop him from secretly running tests on him. To him, everyone was just a walking test subject for his next project.

"Sorry. Anyway, thanks," Felix said before slowly moving the cup to his mouth to take a sip. It was odd for Vincent to do this. Maybe he had a change of heart just this one time.

"By the way, I may need your assistance later," Vincent began as he looked back to his notes on the desk. Maybe he didn't change after all.

"What is it?" he asked, hoping it had nothing to do with any of his research projects. Vincent was more than just the leader of Mystica; he was the scientist of the group. He was always finding ways to improve his team's strength, movements, and sometimes equipment. Because of this, he doesn't go out often.

Vincent reached for a pen and began to spin it between his fingers as he leaned back in his chair and placed his feet on the desk. "I'm going to need some help with keeping an eye on that one subject. I have something special for them. But that won't be until later, so rest up now so you'll be ready."

"Mm hm," Felix responded as he closed his eyes and lowered the cup, someone must have brought him the coffee before he woke up, it was still fresh. The warmth of the cup and the warm sunlight made him relax a little, almost to the point where he could fall asleep again.

"Before I lose you, I'd like to have a little chat about something," Vincent said as he stopped spinning his pen in his hand and pointed it at Felix. Felix opened his eyes a little and stared at the chestnut-colored floor and dark blue carpet. "You were so close to capturing her two nights ago, what happened?"

Felix remained quiet; he had almost forgotten about that. He searched his memory and tried to find where the mission had gone wrong. Then he realized everything had gone wrong the moment Macaria came into the picture. Her powers were strange. He was surprised to have run into her in the alley again earlier that morning. The one piece of crucial information that he needed to know was her name and he didn't have that. He didn't know anything about her. "It was that girl I briefly told you about. She gained wind abilities the moment she was in danger. That magic though- "

"It's not something that an ordinary unknown has," Vincent interrupted.

Felix nodded.

"But you were defeated by a girl who doesn't know how to use her powers. That's a little... concerning and embarrassing," he added.

Felix sighed as he closed his eyes, "I know. It just caught us off guard. It was so unexpecting. I'll do better tonight." He began to feel guilt settle in. Sure, he was frustrated about the failed mission the previous night, but he wasn't sure how much more he could continue failing just to capture one person. It had been an occurring result for about half a year already.

Vincent shook his head as he removed his feet from the desk and leaned forward towards Felix, "Don't worry about it tonight, take the night off. Trust me, your recovery time is longer than you think. As for the new unknown girl, she sounds interesting. Find out more about her-"

"Hold on," Felix interrupted. Vincent leaned in closer. "Don't most people with unknown blood gain their powers when they feel threatened?"

Vincent nodded, "In some cases, yes. Anyone with unknown blood can gain their powers at any age. Their powers can come over night in their sleep, the very moment they feel threatened, or some have also gone to extreme measures and have tried to inject unknown blood into themselves in hopes of gaining their power faster. However, most people have died from that and there are no cases of it being successful. But with Renley dragging her around the city as she was, I was surprised to see that her abilities didn't appear much sooner. On most cases, they instantly appear the moment one feels threatened. Her abilities appeared half an hour later than what they should have."

Hearing the part about people injecting themselves with other unknown blood made Felix feel sick. He was almost certain Vincent was mostly speaking from experience rather than repeating stories he had heard. "So, there could be a chance that she's just an unknown who felt threatened and gained her powers?"

"Absolutely, but that energy from her magic wasn't ordinary and it's too pure for it to be something a human could cast. If I knew her name, I could look up her family tree and see if unknown blood runs through her family. But if not, I guess there's always the possibility of an affair somewhere in there," Vincent replied.

"About your ability, you can use two different kinds of magic, right? How does that happen?" The moment Felix asked this, Vincent's smile faded as he looked off to the side. It was clear he didn't want to answer. "For the most part, it's a rare occurrence, but it's something I wish not to talk about."

This made Felix wonder if there was an accidentwith one of his projects. With the conversation cut shorter than what he wanted;Vincent returned to his work while Felix began to wonder about Macaria. Who wasshe and why did her magic feel different? But most of all, why did Vincent havesuch an interest in her? He had met plenty of people whose magic feltdifferent, but why was Macaria someone he was eyeing?