Jordan..

　　I sighed and muttered a curse as I remembered when Jenna and I stole those blood bags so I’d have enough strength to break into that Nexus Services facility.

　　Why the hell were they bringing this up now!!

　　That happened so long ago.

　　“You said it yourself, it happened 10 months ago so why bring it up now?” Lycian asked, pointing at the laptop screen.

　　“Sanctum hadn’t even be planned talkless of being formed then,” I added frantically.

　　“Yes, but we have been looking into supernatural activities that have happened since the past 2 years of supernatural discovery,” Darell stated and turned the laptop to face him back and he shifted it closer.

　　“Trust me, you’re not the only one who has been a victim of this,” he said and I sighed.

　　“I’m not a criminal. I don’t do this normally,” I said, trying to defend myself.

　　“I did this then because I needed strength to break into Nexus Services facilities and expose them,” I continued.

　　“This was done for a good purpose and because of that, me and my friends were able to expose the illegal activities of Nexus Services, you can check that,” I said, stretching out my left hand in the air.

　　“Yes, we know what you and your friends did, but what you did was a criminal offense and you still need to pay for it no matter the reason behind it,” Darell said and I sighed. I felt Lycian squeeze my hand under the desk and I faced him. He nodded in assurance before facing Darell.

　　“This was a simple offense and it happened long ago, can we plead bail?” Lycian asked ams Darell faced him, smiling.

　　“Unfortunately, you can’t,” Darell shook his head and I sighed in frustration, muttering all sorts of curses in my mind against him.

　　“I can’t?!” I raised my voice, but then I breathed in deeply and let it out. I was already getting myself worked up, but could I be blamed.

　　One second, everything was going so fine and the next, I was being faced with a bloody offense I had committed ten months ago and I and I had forgotten about.

　　“What’s the punishment then?” I asked gently, trying my best to calm myself down and Lycian was also squeezing my palm here. I didn’t want to overreact and most especially, I didn’t want something that had been disturbing me for the past eight months to rear it’s head up at this moment.

　　It was that dark replica. For the past eight months, I kept having frequent image flashes of that cynical and wicked grin in my mind. Whenever I slept, I would see his dark eyes and his dark red lips.

　　In my dreams, he would appear to me, taunt me and the two of us would fight as it tried to kill me. Whenever I got angry at someone, it would laugh at me and it would take all the strength in me to focus and prevent myself from taking a wrong action.

　　I was now beginning to get worried for my mental state, but aside that, it all felt so real. Especially in the dreams, the air I was breathing, the heat of the sun on my skin, the soil beneath my feet, the pain he inflicted on me, and the two of us clashing.

　　Lycian didn’t know about any of this and I wasn’t sure if I should tell him yet. It could be nothing but my mind playing tricks on me and I would get him worried for nothing.

　　“Mr. Hudgens?” Darell called me and snapped his fingers in front of my face. I blinked, realizing that I had lost concentration.

　　“Sorry, I asked a question now,” I said.

　　“What you did is punishable by a 3 months blood thirst rehabilitation,” he said and my jaws literally dropped to the floor.

　　Did he just say blood thirst rehabilitation. Like they would put me in some facility and starve me of blood till I could control my thirst?

　　Oh my God! The thought of that made me shiver and I faced Lycian who also looked alarmed.

　　“Is there any way to avoid that?” I asked Darell with a pleading expression. He remained silent for a while before smiling.

　　“Well, that’s why you were brought to my office instead of being taken to a cell and appearing in court the next day,” Darell replied, telling us that he needed me to so something.

　　“To avoid this, you can also take the other option,” Darell said and I stared at him inquiringly.

　　“Which is?”

　　“Field service,” he replied and I scoffed, leaning back into the chair I sat.

　　“You’ll have to assist out officials in a single field mission,” Darell added. So I would have to help them apprehend a supernatural criminal or arrest someone.

　　Easy.

　　I faces Lycian and he gave a supporting nod.

　　“Which mission are we talking about exactly?” I asked and Darell smiled. He looked at his laptop and began to type on it directly.

　　“For this mission we’re going to be apprehending an underground supernatural crime syndicate,” Darell stated.

　　Interesting.

　　“They are called the Russo Syndicates,” he added.

　　“They involve in illegal selling of Vampire blood as narcotics to humans. The Russo Syndicates kill humans and turn them into Vampires, then they kill them again and use their bloods in producing the narcotics,” Darell explained. That sounded familiar.

　　I began to understand why that particular memory had been brought to the surface by the portal. Nicole’s surname was Nicole.

　　“The narcotic is called V-Red and it’s composed mainly of Vampire blood. It gives human users a temporary strength boost, relieves them of pain, it basically works like other common narcotics, and it is very addictive,” Darrell said and looked up from the laptop.

　　“The Russo’s have been at it for long and they always slip away from being caught,” he said.

　　“You’re going to be leading the operation and you’ll be infiltrating them through a woman called Nicole Russo,” He added and turned the laptop around again.

　　I sighed in frustration as I looked at the face of Nicole on the screen and the information about her.

　　“But..but…”

　　“Yes, we know that you’ve been in a relationship with her before and that’s why we want you to do this,” Darell interrupted me and Lycian faced me, looking surprised..

　　I nodded, affirming what Darell said and I looked at Darell again.

　　“But I broke up with her and cut all ties when I saw her kill two humans,” I said, “it’ll be impossible to go through her again.” I tried to make him understand it was not possible.

　　“You’re still the closest connection we have and you can find a way around that,” he said.

　　“Or you can take the other punishment. What we’re doing is totally legal and field service is the other option. This is just the mission we think you’ll be most useful for,” he stated.

　　“Fine.” I agreed and sighed, “but I don’t even have her number again,” I said, throwing my hands in the air.

　　“Your phone?” Darrell asked and I reached into my pocket, taking out my phone and giving it to me.

　　He typed in a phone number and handed the phone back to me. It was the right number. I didn’t have it on my phone, but I still remembered. Vampires have a persistent long memory, but I thought maybe that’ll help avoid the mission.

　　I glanced at Lycian and then at Darell before dialing the number.

　　The phone rang for a while before the call was picked.

　　“Hello Jordan,” Nicole’s voice rang out from the phone. She still had my my number??

　　“Hiii.” I said and swallowed nervously. I faced Darell and he mouthed what I should say.

　　“Can we meet?”