The Lycan King's Fate Calling (Shawn Gibson and Sylvia)

Rufus' POV:

We drove out of the city and headed to a secluded countryside. Eventually, the car stopped in front of a two-story villa with a massive courtyard.

"Let's go. Time to work." The clown in the red mask gestured for everyone to get out of the car. As we filed out one by one, he handed us each a cigarette. The others were only too eager to accept the small token. I presumed that it must be a pre-work ritual or something, so I also took the cigarette that was offered to me. Instead of smoking it, however, I simply toyed with it between my fingers.

"Hey, why aren't you smoking?" The one in the blue mask elbowed me as he eyed my cigarette. "This is the good stuff, you know! Jack is so stingy and only gives them out when we have work to do. You'd better make the most of it."

I lowered the register of my voice, just as I had done earlier. "I haven't been feeling well these days and was told not to smoke. Whenever I do, I get violent coughing fits."

"Well, what's going to happen to that pretty little cigarette you've got there, then?" The man was practically licking his lips at this point.

"You can have it." I tossed the cigarette over to him and prayed that he would go away.

"Thank you. How very nice of you." The blue-masked clown was giddy as he tucked it inside his pocket.

I turned and walked away to a quiet corner, taking stock of our surroundings. The villa seemed to be the only building in the area, and by the looks of it, it had been built with a specific purpose.

I was willing to bet my fortune that this was the base these criminals used for their human trafficking operations.

"Come on, let's get to work. You guys, come with me to bury the bodies. The rest, go inside and make sure the goods are okay. We can't have any more escapees." The one called Jack gestured at a handful o men to follow him. I wasn't included, so I shuffled into the courtyard with the other clowns.

The courtyard was even larger than I'd initially thought. Not a single patch of grass was in sight-it was all gray stone slabs as far as the eye could see. High walls surrounded the place, and upon closer inspection, I realized that they were lined with electric wires, no doubt to keep anyone from running away.

Behind the villa was another fixture. It looked like a giant warehouse, if the commodity was the human body. The ground was covered in blood, and limbs were randomly strewn here and there. Clearly, it was a major crime site.

"Take a seat and get some rest. It will be a while before Jack and the others get back." Unsurprisingly, without their leader, the other clowns proceeded to slack off and lounge around.

I grabbed the opportunity to observe

the general terrain and even entered the villa under the pretext of using the bathroom. I managed to find a room on the second floor where the abducted children were being held. The door was locked, but I could hear their whimpers and eries from the other side.

An iron chain was secured around the knob, so I had no way of breaking them out for the time being. I needed to return to the warehouse first.

"You all heard the crying, right?" one of the clowns nodded at me as soon as I came back, and then chortled with glee. "Those kids probably are starving by now."

"It's the first step in training them how to be

obedient," another clown chimed in. "They've only gone hungry for a day. They still have two more days to go."

Before long, the clown called Jack

came back, still carrying a shovel. He plopped on one of the benches and gulped down a pot of water.

"You lot will have to buy more tinet

in the coming days. Should be around five to six years old, No

older, or it would be hard to keep

them in order."

I knew then that they still intended to create a two-headed creature out of their poor victims, and my heart sank.

"Twins are hard to find, you know," a henchman complained. "And younger ones even more so."

"Well, they don't have to be twins,

exactly. We can just use two random kids. The important thing is that they are in excellent physical condition.or they're just going to die like the others. The clown in the red mask

switched his cup and took a swig of

wine. Judging by his crude language, I had no doubt that his appearance was just as hideous as his manners.

"It's not that simple. Kids these days are coddled and spoiled by their parents. There's no way someone of that age would be able to withstand our little activities here." For a moment, everyone grumbled about their situation and the hardships they faced in procuring their goods.

"See, everyone in the last batch is worthless. Sally snatched the best-looking kid, and the rest of them are either stupid or disabled."

"Why don't we go and steal thatboy from Sally, then?"

"Don't even think about it. Have you forgotten how fierce that crazy bitch is? If we take the boy away from her, she will give us hell."