Welcome to the Mafia Family

Chapter 30 - Yukino

As soon as Natsu, Laxus and the others left my sight, my phone beeped. I looked at it and found it was a text from my friend and co-worker at Sorcerer Weekly, Yukino.

Yukino: Hey Lucy! I haven't seen you @ work for a while. R u free to meet up for coffee right now? I need ur opinion about this story I'm working on.

It wouldn't hurt for me to meet up with Yukino, would it? Especially if I pick a place close to Dragneel Inc. and bring Loke with me but I should ask him for permission. "Hey Loke, would it be alright if I meet up with a friend from work?" I asked. "Should be ok since it's still broad daylight as long as it's somewhere nearby. One question though, is it a female friend?" he asked. "Yes but you can't flirt with her. She's already got a boyfriend" I replied and he frowned. "Where should I meet her?" I asked, changing the subject. "How about Café 7? It's two streets down" he suggested. "Plus they have some ready hot waitresses" I heard him whisper to himself and I rolled my eyes. "Heard that" I said and then turned to my phone to text Yukino back.

Me: Hey Yukino! Sure, do you want to meet @ Café 7?

Yukino: Yep, I'll be there in 15 mins :)

Me: C u soon :)

"She'll meet us there in fifteen minutes" I told Loke. "Plenty of time" he said with a smile and then typed something on his phone before putting it up to his ear. "Hey Mira? Just letting you know I'm taking Lucy outside to meet a co-worker of hers...Café 7...We should be back in an hour or less...Thanks Mira" he said into his phone and then hung up. "All settled. Now if anything happens, Fairy Tail will know where we've gone. Let's go" he said and then we walked out of the building.

It took us about ten minutes to walk to Café 7. Café 7 was a cute little modern café underneath a two-storey apartment block. Once we were inside, Loke observed our surroundings. "I'll sit in that corner over there and observe your conversation" he said, pointing to a seat in the back corner. "If you feel like you're in any danger, put your hand under the table and cross your fingers like this" he added while showing me his crossed fingers like he was making a wish. "Got it" I replied and then he walked over to buy a coffee.

A minute after Loke got his coffee and sat down at his lookout spot, Yukino walked through the door. "Lucy!" she cheered as she saw me. "Yukino, it's good to see you" I greeted as we gave each other a hug. "Same. Let's grab a coffee and then we can talk" she said and then I walked with her to order a coffee.

Once we placed our order and got a number for our table, we sat down at a table close to where Loke was sitting. He should be able to hear our conversation. "So how did that article about Natsu Dragneel go? I'm so happy you finally got a big story" she asked. "It went really well. Mr Dragneel answered all my questions and Jason told me the magazine got a lot of female readers because of it" I replied. "That's awesome. I'm so happy for you" she said and then a server placed our coffee in front of us.

"How about you? What stories have you been working on?" I asked as I took a sip of my coffee. "I've been working on the story about the string of murders across Fiore which is actually what I wanted your opinion on. I believe it has something to do with the Dragon King. Have a look at this" she said as she took out files filled with photos and paper out of her bag.

She pointed to each of the five different crime scene photos. "Don't they look similar?" she asked and looked for my reaction. Each photo was extremely graphic. The victims were all male, stabbed to death multiple times and blood was splatted around the entire room. "They were all killed by a blade of some sort but get this. The murder weapon was never found" she said, interested.

"What are you? A detective now?" I joked and then noticed something strange in each of the photos. With the right angle, I could make out a letter in each photo. "Do you mind if I take a photo of these?" I asked. "Ah sure but why? Did you find something?" she asked. I brought out my phone and took a quick photo of the crime scene photos. "No but these might help with my novel. I'm thinking of writing a murder series in the future and this would be a good reference. You know how I like to keep it real in my stories" I lied as I quickly emailed the photo to Levy. I'm sure she'll see what I saw in these photos.

"Right" she replied, believing my lie. "Anyway, I think you could be onto something, but you should be careful. This is the Dragon King we're talking about. I wouldn't want anything happening to you" I said. "Awe, thanks Lucy. Um, sorry to change the subject but I need to go to the bathroom. Do you want to come with me?" she asked as she stood up. I gave Loke a quick glance to see if it was ok and he nodded. "Yeah sure" I replied as I stood up.

We left our empty cups of coffee and took our bags to the girls' bathroom. Yukino went in first while I followed afterwards. As soon as the door closed behind me, Yukino spun around and sprayed something in my face. I immediately coughed from suddenly inhaling the strange substance. "What the hell Yukino" I coughed and then started to feel lightheaded. My body suddenly became weak and I collapsed to the floor. My eyes barely holding onto my consciousness. "Sorry Lucy" I heard Yukino mutter.

One of the bathroom stalls opened and I heard the clicking of heels. "Excellent work Yukino. Sting will be happy" I heard the woman who owned the heels say. Did she say Sting?! 'Yukino is a part of the Sabertooth mafia?' I thought in surprise before my eyes closed and I passed out.