Chapter 85: A Murder

I followed what Zoen had told me and headed for the mansion where the rich guy was looking to hire new guards to protect himself from the monster invasion. That alone was already... weird?

For starters, Zoen’s informant had betrayed me and taken me prisoner. Like it or not, that made Zoen a suspect in all this, but I still gave him the benefit of the doubt. There was no way to be sure. Maybe his informant had just betrayed him too, and that was it.

What was really bugging me, though, was the monster invasion in Canada. Seattle had been massacred. Huge buildings collapsed, streets completely wrecked, people dead. Vancouver had none of that.

It was like the invasion hadn’t hit Canada as hard. But the news had said every country around the globe was attacked. It wasn’t just a United States thing.

I didn’t know. Everything felt off, but I decided to go through with the mission. I thought about sending Zoen a message about it, but if he really was behind my kidnapping, he could send more people after me, and I wanted none of that. I decided to keep all contact at zero.

The rich guy’s mansion sat in the middle of nowhere, deep in the dense forest outside Vancouver.

It looked close on the map, but it was really isolated. There were barely any roads leading to it. I figured the only one that existed was there because the guy had it built himself, clearing the forest to make it happen.

I had no trouble getting there, since I could fly with the wings I made with my cube. I took off as soon as I left Vancouver, flying low over the dense treeline.

It was cold. Really cold. But I didn’t feel the cold like I used to. Maturing my bloodline had changed that. I wasn’t as fragile as regular humans anymore. At least, it seemed that way.

When I got close to the mansion, I dropped out of the sky and walked the rest of the way so nobody would spot me, just like I did at Zoen’s place. These rich guys loved insane security and living in the middle of the woods.

But while Zoen had only one guard near the gate, since there was a powerful barrier around his mansion to keep out people and monsters alike, my new target was different.

There were at least 10 guards at the gate, spread out in different positions. None of them had weapons, of course, since they were all hunters.

I walked slowly toward the gate, and it didn’t take long for the guards to come at me. Five of them approached while the other five stayed near the gate.

"Don’t move," they shouted. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

I raised both hands to show I wasn’t looking for trouble.

"I talked to someone online about a guard position," I said. "I can show you my ID, and you can check it with your boss."

The guard frowned. "Weren’t you supposed to get here 3 days ago?"

All the new guards had arrived on the same day, 3 days ago. Nobody was late like me. But what could I do? I’m pretty sure none of the others had been kidnapped like I was. I got here as fast as I could, considering the situation I was in.

"I ran into some trouble on the way," I said. "But I’m here now, and I’m eager to work. Could you please talk to your boss?"

The guard walked up to me and patted me down, then pulled my ID out of my pocket.

"I’ll go show him this," he said.

I waited outside for about 15 minutes, until the owner of the mansion finally showed up to talk to me.

He looked exactly like the photo Zoen had shown me, except he seemed fed up and short on patience.

"I know you came to be a guard, but we’ve got enough guards already. However, there was a murder two days ago and the gardener died. You can take his spot. We’ll talk about pay later."

That was all he said before leaving, going back inside the mansion to do God knows what. But his words kept echoing in my head.

A murder. A recent one. I had just arrived, so at least nobody would see me as a suspect, but if the gardener had been killed, what guaranteed I wouldn’t be next?

Whatever, though. I was powerful, and I could defend myself. I didn’t need to be scared of something like that.

The guard who had searched me earlier was a bit friendlier now that he knew I was a new employee of the mansion.

"Let me tell you," he said, "I’m glad you’re the new gardener. We were scared we’d have to take over that position and end up dead."

Wow, that was really comforting. Seriously. I kept my face blank as I followed him through the mansion grounds, walking across the huge garden toward a small stone house at the back.

"Sorry, I’m not trying to scare you. But, you know, it’s weird for a gardener to just get killed out of nowhere."

I turned my head and stared at him.

"You’re one of the new guards that got hired, right?"

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"Then you’re a suspect too," I said, looking at him coldly. "I can make it to the gardener’s cabin on my own."

This guard was weak, so if he tried to kill me, he’d be the one dying. But I didn’t want to show how strong I really was. The best move was to act like a weak, suspicious gardener. If I wanted to find out more about the monster invasion, assuming the owner of this mansion even knew anything about it, I needed to be a ghost in this place.

The guard got a little irritated when I said that. I could tell by the look on his face.

"Fine, go ahead. The key is under the doormat."

He left, heading back to his post. I could feel his eyes on my back. For some reason, that guy kept watching me as he walked away. Maybe he was just pissed, and nothing more.

I reached the front of the cabin, which was made of stone with some wooden pillars. Not the ’refined’ kind of wood, but rough tree trunks.

I crouched down and took the key from under the mat that said ’Welcome’ in front of the door, then went inside. It was cute.

Not that big, but it had everything a man needed. A bed, a kitchen area, a bathroom, and a TV. The only thing missing was a video game console. Maybe I should buy one and get some kind of entertainment going.

There was also a small separate room. I opened the door to see what was inside.

Tools and more tools. It was where the old gardener kept the equipment he used for his work.

I walked over to the fridge and opened it. Luckily it was stocked with water, soda, and of course, beer. I grabbed a bottle, popped it open, and sat on the couch near the TV.

I took a few sips, enjoying the moment while I had nothing to do. About two minutes after I sat down, someone knocked on the cabin door.

I pulled back the curtain to see who it was. A beautiful woman in a skin-tight maid outfit, showing off a lot of her assets.

Her face had no pimples or blemishes, so she definitely took good care of herself, and her eyes were as green as the forest around us.

I opened the door with a smile on my face.

"Hello, how are you?" I said. "Nice to meet you, I’m the new gardener."

"Hello," she smiled back, showing perfectly aligned, bright white teeth. "I’m one of the maids here, in charge of cleaning the outdoor facilities. I just wanted to welcome you. Tomorrow I’m assigned to tell you more about your job and what’s expected of you."

"Of course," I said, still smiling. "Thanks for the thoughtfulness. How about coming in for a beer?"

I don’t know why I invited her out of nowhere like that. She looked surprised by the offer, and even though she turned it down, I could tell that deep down she wanted to say yes.

"We can do Thursday," she told me. "That’s my day off. Does that work?"

It was Tuesday, so that was relatively soon.

"Sure."

She gave me a little wave and left. I closed the door and made sure every window in the cabin was shut. The last thing I wanted was someone trying to assassinate me on my first night at the mansion.

I grabbed a few more beers, turned on a random channel, and just sat there relaxing for a bit. I could’ve gone for a walk to see more of the mansion, but honestly, I didn’t. That would only make me look suspicious. I preferred to chill in the cabin and figure things out slowly.

When it was really late at night, I turned off the TV, nearly tripping over the empty beer bottles I’d left by the couch. I went to the bedroom and lay down on the bed.

I could’ve slept inside my pocket dimension, since it was a lot safer, but I didn’t. I wanted to be out here, precisely to see if anyone would try something.

And in the middle of the night, I woke up out of nowhere. I grabbed my phone to check the time. 2 AM. I heard footsteps approaching my cabin.