The Last Hero (Villains & Monsters #2)

Chapter 47

Back to back updates? Holy shit, it kind of reminds me of summer 2021 Rae. Lol. How have you guys been? I seriously need to get better with updating again. I miss interacting with you guys. 

We're getting close to the end, and I'm feeling good about it. Writing split timelines is difficult, but I'm kind of having fun playing around with it. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to vote. Love you. -Rae 

- Late June, 2045 (Eleven months ago)

Jamie shoved his hands in his jacket pocket and leaned against one of the police cars, still unable to fully process what the fuck had just happened. His heart pounded, and he didn't realize that he was being spoken to until Justin snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Hey, are you listening?" he asked softly.

He shook himself out of his trance, then gave his brother his undivided attention. "Sorry, what was that?"

"He's dead," Justin repeated sadly. "Someone broke in and tortured him to death."

They were too late.

Jamie couldn't imagine the kind of fear that he felt in his last moments. He also couldn't imagine what Aniya was feeling right now. "How is she?"

"I managed to get her out of the house so she wouldn't have to see her father like that, but she isn't doing good." Justin said sullenly, then pulled out his phone, rolling his eyes in frustration. "Fiona is still nowhere to be found. This is insane. If she would've picked up, she probably could've teleported in time to save him."

Jamie checked his phone as well, and he didn't see anything new from Fiona. Then, he told Justin what he knew. "I got to the facility and I saw Aniya leaving. She was begging someone to stop. Whoever did this was sick enough to call her as they were killing him."

A mix of disgust and anger filled Justin's face. "That's fucked up. On top of Simon and Frost, we need to take time to find out who did this. This was... I don't know, I saw a bit of the scene when I went to get Aniya from inside. It was messy. Whoever did it wanted it to hurt. This was clearly personal."

Jamie had a feeling that Simon was connected to it. It would make sense. He was Valerie Reid's son, and Oliver Stevens nearly ruined her life. But he wasn't sure. There wasn't any fire involved, and he had to remember that Simon wasn't the only monster in Kunross. There were plenty of them. Oliver probably could've gotten involved with the wrong person.

Either way, he was dead.

The two of them tried their hardest to comfort Aniya, who had stopped crying and silently zoned out while Justin and Jamie finished talking to police, who were called by neighbors when Oliver began screaming. It was almost five in the morning when they finally returned to the facility. They went into an empty room, and for a while, the trio sat in silence.

"Any surveillance around the area?" Justin asked.

"Wiped," Aniya muttered as she put her hood up. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy. "I don't know what to do."

"Well first, we need to figure out what the hell is going on with Fiona. Kind of fucked up that she hasn't answered the phone at all," Justin said irritatedly.

Aniya rubbed her temples with a tired sigh. "This isn't like her. She's never done this before."

Jamie suddenly thought of Fiona's restless, irritated state recently -- a state caused by the juice -- and assumed the worst. Did she take too much?

"True. She said something about trying to find proof about an issue in the city, but her just not answering the phone like that? Especially when we all called her numerous times?" Justin then looked over at Jamie. "I really hate to ask you, but-"