Chapter 13 / More lies

December 21th, 15.003 La Paz, Ashveil Desert, Umbra [Vampire Continent]

The apartment was too quiet. Risha wasn’t there. School hours. He quickly realized that someone else was staying there with him, maybe Axis, as Reno’s stuff was everywhere. Weird, why didn't she come to stay with him? Dust motes drifted in the slant of morning light across the kitchen table, untouched dishes stacked neatly where Risha usually left them. Elon set himself down and stood still.

He exhaled, rubbing his temples. Ten days. He’d told himself he needed space, needed to cool the anger burning from the Checkpoint Village fight. But space had stretched, and stretched, until even he couldn’t tell if it had been reason or just pride keeping him away.

Maybe I overreacted, he admitted only to himself, though the words tasted like ash. Maybe.

He needed distraction but most of all, he needed confirmation. He went straight to the library, in the Academy wing.

Elon moved between the stacks, hands brushing spines, searching.

The book. The one she was reading and he found out later. The one that had set him off. The one that spoke about the prophecy and how Risha was involved in all of that. He remembered the cover, the weight in his hands, the words that had cut him so sharply.

But the book was nowhere to be found.

He searched the next row. And the next. His movements grew sharper, more frantic.

Nothing.

Did I imagine it? Did I—

His hand curled into a fist against the wood.

No. I know what I read. I know what it said.

The certainty wavered like smoke. But in a sudden, he was running before he realized it, cutting through corridors, his coat snapping behind him.

The school building stood warm and loud, voices of children carrying through the open windows. He scanned until—

Risha.

At his desk, bright-eyed, laughing as he nudged Nima with his hands. Perfectly alive. Perfectly fine.

Elon froze outside the glass.

Risha spotted him instantly, shot out of his chair, waving hard. “DAD!”

Elon pressed a hand to the window, shaking his head with the faintest smile. He lifted his palm in a calm wave, then tapped two fingers toward the teacher at the front.

Pay attention.

Risha groaned, but grinned, settling back into his seat.

Elon turned, stepping back into the corridor. Relief loosened his chest—

And then it hit him again. The world tilted cold.

He couldn’t feel her.

Not her presence, not her energy trace — nothing. The fields lay quiet, he was there just minutes ago, but it felt hollow without her presence there.

Cloud was sprawled near Risha’s classroom wall, next to Lola’s ‘cat’, head resting heavily on his paws, watching with eyes that knew too much. Sukira’s car was parked close by, untouched.

Elon’s stomach clenched. She’s here. She should be here. Maybe she’s using a piece of jewelry to hide herself from me? 

He turned back to the Academy wing fields — Ryn stood at the edge of the yard, her blade strapped to her back, uniform a mess as always. Her gaze was deadlier than he had ever seen it.

“Where is she?”, he asked, demanding an answer. 

“You’re very, very late.” She didn’t even look at him. 

Her words, little but more than usual, were cold as she was talking about the dead. She didn’t wait for his reply, just shoved past him with her shoulder and kept walking.

Elon froze, breath shallow. Then he broke into a run, again, legs carrying him toward the Command Tower, toward Jeda.

He needs to know where she is. I’m sure she’s out on a mission, doing some errands for Aaron. Like always.

The heavy door slammed open like a gunshot.

Elon didn’t bother with the formalities. He strode in, hair whipping, breath sharp. The long table was half-occupied by floating holograms — faces and forms that blinked and hummed in soft blue light — the familiar ghost-conference they’d used since the Citadel modernized. Axis sat solidly at the head, competent and cold. Jeda lounged opposite, one foot on a chair, cigarette already between his fingers though he hadn’t lit it yet. Sami’s visage flashed nearby, hands folded, unreadable, and Tech’s face was a pale mask on the same projection, unblinking.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we must end the meeting. ” Jeda called out in a sing-song that pretended cool. “Forgive me — but the prodigal prince we’ve been dusting the carpets for has finally decided to grace us with his presence.” He tipped an imaginary hat and flashed a grin that didn’t reach his eyes.

Elon ignored the jab. He crossed the room in two long strides and yanked Jeda out of the chair by the front of his shirt. For a second the room froze — holograms flickered — then practical hands moved, the only hologram left was the one from the labs. Jeda didn’t panic; he only laughed, one eyebrow raised.

Elon shoved Jeda against the concrete pillar beside the table, forcing him to a pinned, half-standing position. Jeda’s cigarette almost dropped, but he grabbed it last second, mid air.

“Pardon?” Jeda said, mock-innocent, rubbing the spot where Elon’s grip had left a bruise already. He put the cigarette to his lips and tried to light it anyway. “Ailin will kill me for this—”

“—I’m sorry, Ailin,” Jeda said aloud before anyone could intervene, holding the cigarette up like an offering. “I really need to smoke or I will definitely kill him.” He inhaled as if the room was his stage. 

Ailin wasn’t even there, but she was the one who sat the no-smoking indoors rule.

Axis didn’t smile but he went: “Smoke scent or blood stains? Hmm. I don’t know which one is harder to remove.” He was clearly pissed at Elon, too. He didn’t try to hide it. 

Jeda shoved Elon’s hands out from his shirt, roughly. 

Elon scanned every face, even the ones inside the only hologram that remained for a shape that would give him the words he needed.

“Where is she?” he demanded, voice raw. Not where is Risha — he’d seen the boy at school. This was worse: Sukira was gone from the world in a way he could not understand.

Jeda let a bitter laugh slide out of him, sitting back again on his chair. “NOW you care, Sunshine?” He barked it, mocking and cold. “She’s been missing for ten fucking days. If she’s alive, call it a miracle. And if you want miracles, you’re in the wrong room.”

Elon’s hands balled. “Don’t play games.”

Jeda’s face shifted. “I’m not playing any games. And don’t you dare to demand a single answer after you disappear like that”.   

The humor drained, and something older and more honest took its place. He let out a long breath like a man who’d been holding it too long.

“While you were playing hide-and-seek I was waiting for one of you to magically come back and explain. For a second I thought—‘Elon must be on his way to bring her back.’ Stupid of me. Naive. Childlike.” He laughed once, sharp.

“Calm down,” Axis whispered.

“I won’t calm down. I haven’t been able to calm down in ten days.” Jeda jabbed a finger at Elon, two black dark circles under his eyes showed truth. “I had to interrogate Risha, poor fucking child, to figure out what happened between you two. You disappear and then— V L A D shows up, toys with us, and she walks off with him”. 

“What?” Elon put a hand on him as soon as he heard the name. 

“Ah, do you remember him? Nice dude; he was the one behind the yellow alarms after all. We suspect he entered once to wander around and then he came back to take Risha.” Jeda’s tone was everything but soft.  

“Explain everything. From the beginning”, Elon pinned Jeda once again, from his chair to the wall. The cigarette in his mouth reached the floor this time. 

“Oh sure. Let me pour you a cup of tea in the fucking meantime”, he couldn’t stop with the aggressive joking. “I’ll start with the obvious: she disappeared at the barrier, right after coming back from the Checkpoint Village, where you decided to be a selfish bastard and ran away. There, Vlad — you know him — showed, toyed, taunted. They had a beautiful conversation. It's recorded, by the way, go to Tech’s to listen to it. Then she went with him. Comm cut, she ripped her tattoo off. I didn’t even know it was possible, that incredible woman flayed her skin off for us. The half-demon of his ex boyfriend left no teleport signatures, no exit route we can parse. The device she left behind was half-broken. The sand is stained with her blood to confirm it. That’s the first layer.”

He loosened his tie and his collar and leaned closer as if the room had grown intimate, conspiratorial.

“Second layer: whoever’s behind this? They aren’t amateurs. They didn’t just get lucky. Vlad came for Risha, yes, but when she stopped him, he switched to plan B. They bought her by offering Vlad a wish. They bought her once to run tests. Long time ago. Tech found old purchase orders and files from a secret project connected to the Velarics — clearly, this was their way of getting rid of her. Dominique remembers it, she was not exiled from Umbra, she was sold. Jeda — yes, I — confirmed it, and those papers are filthy. That’s why Tech is pale and quiet over the hologram. You don’t just steal a Commander and vanish without the world noticing. Unless you want the world to notice. Which means someone wants us seen.” He lit another cigarette he pulled out from his pocket. Still pressed to the wall by Elon’s strength. “That last part might be my paranoia. Maybe it's only her past haunting her. But somehow, my guts are telling me it's all connected”.

Elon’s jaw worked. He looked at Jeda as if the man had ripped a letter from his chest. He finally let him go, again. 

“And the last layer?” Jeda sneered, then softened as Axis put a hand on his shoulder. “The worst. She went willingly. It was her or the kid, and she didn’t even hesitate.”

Elon’s hand rose, not to strike but to steady himself. He remembered his promise—how he’d knelt in the scrap of some quiet night and said, “I’ll be here. I’ll stand by it.” 

The breath left him cold; the memory felt both sacred and foolish. He also remembered how he accused her of using him and Risha, and how wrong he was. 

“I broke my promise,” he whispered. The confession was small and bright in the room.

“Yes, you fucking did, Sunshine.” Jeda’s anger was a blade.

“Jeda, don’t add fuel,” Axis knit his voice between them.

“Why aren’t you looking for her?” Elon asked, fixing Jeda with one desperate look. The committee dissolved around them; for a moment they were just two men at an empty table.

“I’m so close to punching your pretty face,” Jeda smirked, hands all over his face and messy hair, barely holding it, cigarette ashes all over the floor. “You can’t even imagine.”

Axis stepped in, knowing damn well that Jeda was about to lose it. “We do not know where she is, and even if we knew, sending a team would mean casualties, plus the possibility of being traced.” He stopped and looked directly into Elon's eyes. “I hope you understand that we can’t afford to do that for one person”.

“You were the one who should have been here to stop this,” Jeda said, tired and furious. “And you should have been here sooner to get her back. It’s been so long we don’t even know if she’s—””

Sami’s image cut in, blunt as steel. “Elon, bring your ass here right now.” Her voice was command, not counsel.

Elon looked up, stunned, throat working. His mind was miles away. 

It’s been so long we don’t even know if she’s— alive?

“Run, don’t walk, Elon. Run,” Jeda’s voice suddenly broke like glass as he yanked at him, “what the hell are you waiting for? Don’t stand there like you did that time she—” The sentence faltered; Axis had to pull Jeda’s arms away before he could reach for Elon, but he continued anyway. “—this reminds me to that time that she fucking died for you and you stood there watching. MOVE NOW, you fucking fool”.

The room tightened like a drawn wire. Elon’s breath came back like a small storm, the promise he’d broken ringing in his ears like a bell.

The corridors of the South Wing blurred as he crossed through security, ignoring greetings, questions, alerts. The door to the lab slammed open with the same violence as the one in the Command Tower minutes ago.

Tech and Sami were already waiting for him — the former seated at the center console, hands flying over the glass interface; the latter leaning on the edge of the desk, arms crossed, sharp eyes already on him.

“I want to hear it,” Elon said, breathless.

Tech didn’t ask, he knew. The interface responded to a simple gesture, and a familiar buzz filled the lab — the soft buzz of the comms recording channel activating.

Every mission, every alert, every open channel was recorded automatically. After debrief, the comms team could choose to delete or archive them, based on relevance, classification, or security level. This one — the one from the barrier breach — had been preserved the second it hit the logs.

Sukira’s voice came through first, casual but charged:

“Vlad, stop. You have my attention now. What can I do for you?”

Elon stood still. The sound of her voice hit him like a shot to the heart.

Vlad’s reply was soft, too calm:

“What you can do… is hand me the boy.”

The conversation played out. Word for word. Sukira’s steady refusal. Vlad’s sickly charm. The casual way he said “Every Risha in the world.” Sukira offering herself. Vlad’s glee. The detail Elon hadn’t known:

“Last time I told that boyfriend of yours that history repeats itself…That was the deal once, wasn’t it? A body for a wish. And you were the body.”

Elon’s hands pressed to the console.

Then came the final moments. Tech’s voice shouting. Jeda's voice panicking. Then silence.The sound of Sukira’s nano-device shorting out. The line going dead.

When it was done, Tech didn’t look up. He simply muted the feed.

Elon stood motionless. Trying to put the pieces together. 

He remembered it — the book in the library. The one he found before the fight with Sukira. The one he used to accuse her. It had been planted there. Vlad had broken into La Paz — that was the first yellow alarm. Not a system glitch. Not a test. It was him, playing chess. 

The second alarm — the mercenaries — just a distraction. A coincidence even.

And the third…

He came back when I was gone. He knew I wouldn’t be there to stop him from taking Risha this time. And she did everything to protect him.

His chest tightened so sharply it felt like something had cracked. His last words to Sukira burned in his mind like acid: “You’re using him. You’re using me.”

He pressed both hands against the console like it could hold him up.

Sami finally broke the silence. Her tone wasn’t soft — but it wasn’t cruel, either.

“That’s how he works,” she said. “Vlad. He would do whatever… whatever hurts most. He always wins by tricking you into hurting yourself.”

Elon’s voice came rough: “She offered herself.”

“Of course,” Sami said. “That’s the kind of monster she is.” Her eyes narrowed. “You should have known that by now.”

I’m the worst. Elon kept holding to the table but now laid on his feet, defeated. 

“I’m sorry to cut this guilt parade”, Tech cleared his throat a bit disgusted by the show. “But I believe we have a lead.”

Tech tapped something into the console, bringing up a biometric interface. A soft glow spread across the screen — pulsing lights, cellular frequencies, a trace algorithm.

“Oh, you beautiful genius, I completely forgot about this”, Sami leaned in after caressing his hair. “A while back… I planted her nano-cells. Experimental. I embedded them into her bloodstream. Just to see if I could track her through void transfers. I was testing theories.”

Tech added, “They were dormant. But just now… we got a hit. Two actually.”

The first was tangled with Jeda’s bio-signature. Elon felt the punch right in his stomach.

Then came the second hit. Far weaker. Almost not there.

Tech expanded the reading. The map displayed the edges of Umbra — sharp peaks and endless snow — and highlighted a cluster in the far Umbra Alps. Remote. Cold. Far beyond where any tracker drone would reach.

“It works. Tech, it works!!” Sami stared. Then her voice dropped. “But this means one of two things,” she tapped the location. “She’s alive. Or she’s…”

“Don’t,” Elon cut her off, sudden and final.

His eyes locked on the faint pulse of light flickering in the Alps. It was like watching a heartbeat on the edge of flatlining. Still there. Barely.

Tech finally broke the silence, not even looking up from the screen. His voice came flat, almost bored — but cut like a scalpel. “I mean… I’m not exactly a champion of irrational behavior, but…” He tilted his head toward the pulsing signal on the map. “Shouldn’t you be halfway there by now?”

Sami didn’t miss a beat. “Look at that! Even he knows what comes next.”

Elon was already turning. No words. No nod.

♥︎

The door slid open to the familiar smell of food and furniture polish — someone had clearly cleaned recently.

At the dining table, Reno was dramatically hunched over a math worksheet, making spaceship noises with his pencil, luckily, Haru was there to help him. Axis sat at the head, reading on a tablet the last updates about the yellow breaches and how everything make sense now. And Risha — head tilted, a pen between his teeth, a furrow between his brows — looked up the moment Elon stepped in.

His eyes lit up.

“Elon—!” he started, pushing back his chair to run over.

But Elon raised a hand gently. Not stopping him — just softening the moment.

Risha crossed the room and hugged him anyway, fiercely, arms around Elon’s middle.

“I’m here,” he said, voice quiet.

Axis looked up, unreadable. “You came back.”

Elon met his eyes. “Yes, but I’m leaving soon.”

That was enough for Axis. He understood. He didn’t ask. A small smile already on his face.

Reno raised an eyebrow. “Uh, did we miss something?”

Haru blinked. Risha didn’t let go.

Elon’s hand rested on the back of the boy’s head, thumb brushing gently through his hair — grounding them both.

“Are you going after her, right? Is she in trouble?” Risha asked, sharped as always.

“I don’t know, kid. I don’t want to lie. But I’m going to bring her back.” Elon replied, hiding his own insecurities as much as he could.

They only watched as Elon crossed the room, opened the closet, and pulled down the travel bag he hadn’t touched in over two years.

♥︎