Manhunt

Chapter 23

The rapping sound of a harsh knock against a window woke Julia up, prompting her to fly out of bed and crouch down to the floor. Her knife was already in hand as she scanned her room for any signs of an intruder. She peeked at her window to find a form huddled in front of it, a single hand placed against the glass. Julia's eyes narrowed as she squinted to look pass the darkness.

Marianna?

Her friend knocked once more with her other hand, much lighter now that she knew Julia was awake. She rushed over to open the window, shoving her knife back into her pants as the wind blew into her face.

"What are you doing here?" Julia whispered at her, moving away for her to come in. But she remained planted on the roof, a grave look on her face. "Is everything alright?"

"No," she replied as she shook her head, staring at Julia with a petrified expression. "I'm here to warn you, Julia, but I have to be quick."

"What is it?"

"You're in danger." Marianna pressed, glancing at her surroundings before looking at her friend carefully. "I found them—they were talking about you—"

"Who?"

"C—" Suddenly, Marianna's cell phone started ringing, the sound echoing into the night. Her face visibly paled before she backed away from Julia, searching the neighborhood for the second time. "Shit. I'm sorry, Julia." She murmured anxiously, skidding around in a circle on the roof before effectively jumping off it. Julia rushed out of her window and ran to the edge, watching her friend looking up at her.

"Who? Where did you hear them?" She asked again, her heart racing.

"Cruentum Spinam." Marianna replied quickly before running into the darkness, leaving Julia with a whirlwind of emotions to deal with. She suddenly felt extremely unsafe, and she rushed to climb back into her room before shutting the window behind her, locking it in place. Julia stood there for a moment, processing what had just occurred with Marianna.

Had Marianna looked into Ms. Lazo's assault case after all? Zane had assured her that he'd convince her otherwise once he understood the gravity of the situation, but it was possible that Marianna didn't listen. She always did things her way, and this may not have been an exception. Did that mean she'd found Mortifer? Or worse, did she find someone else who was involved in the manhunt? Julia wasn't even sure if she was dealing with one enemy, or more.

Cursing under her breath, she walked over to her computer. She'd do a bit of research before notifying her parents of Marianna's visit, hesitant in waking them up in the middle of the night. Ever since the first rose was discovered, her parents had been sleeping less and focusing all their time on finding leads for Mortifer. She felt she could wait a few hours so that they could catch up on some sleep before devoting themselves to the cause tenfold.

Settling into the cushioned seat at her desk, Julia thought back to the name that Marianna had told her, feeling as though she could faintly recall hearing the foreign name. Whether it was the Latin lessons from freshmen year desperately trying to do its work, Julia couldn't be sure. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought, concentrating on her recollection as her computer fully loaded at a seemingly snail like pace.

Cruentum Spinam...perhaps Sydney had said the words before. Her Latin was quite advanced, as it was the first of many languages that she'd begun learning since an early age, so it could've been likely. Julia typed out the words onto the search engine that her father had recently installed onto her computer. It was kin to the database in the Virtus lab, but with its smaller program, it didn't have nearly as much information as the agency would.

It searched quickly, and to her surprise, there were absolutely no results. It meant that the name wasn't an organization that Virtus had encountered, nor was it a specific location that was noted by previous agents. It meant virtually nothing to the agency and its world.

She went on Google and typed in the name, seeing a lack of results similar to the agency's search engine. All it could provide her was translations for the words, which ranged from 'blood-thirsty, blood-stained, bloody, crimson, and thorn. Otherwise, nothing pointed to anything concrete. Was this a legitimate name? Or in her rush, Marianna had given Julia more than one hint by throwing those words out? With the lack of search results, which was suspicious considering the magnanimity of the search engine, someone was hiding something. Julia couldn't help but feel like she was on the right track.

Blood-stained. It was hard not to tie that to Mortifer, considering how applicable it was to the current situation. What if Marianna had just been confirming the assassination body targeting her? If so, it didn't help Julia much. They already knew who was after her, even if she didn't know the exact reason. She was only a trainee, so she wasn't valuable to Virtus or Mortifer.

Blowing out a sigh, she drooped her head before rubbing her hands over her face. She needed to talk with Marianna, but would she be able to? She had disappeared in a hurry, and she looked fearful.

Shit. Now incredibly worried, Julia reached for the phone sitting beside her desk.

Suddenly, her eyes grew heavy, and her body weak and tired. Her outstretched arm fell limply onto the table, and she struggled to hold her head up before it, too, followed its descent. Her mind started to go blank, fading into a deep gray before everything went black. She whimpered, not understanding why she had the sudden urge to pass out.

Was she about to faint?

She tried her hardest to move her other arm down to the edge of the desk, hoping to bring herself up and move to her bed. When she tried to push back, something blocked the chair's path, and she realized that she wasn't alone anymore. Heart racing, her body grew too weak, and she fell into a paralyzed state with an unknown figure standing behind her.

"Sweet dreams, Julia." The voice said, a dark chuckle echoing in the room.