Noctura

twenty seven

seungyoon

I STAND in front of the AAN building. There are only some lights on here and there, because of how late it is. Most people have gone home already. But there are some who are still in there, working, trying to find out more about the Nocturas and how to kill them in mass.

I take a deep breath and pull my hood up over my light hair. My mask is secure over my mouth and nose.

After another deep breath, I start moving up the stairs.

I get to the doors of the AAN building and open them, walking into the building. There's a woman sitting at a front desk, looking down at some papers.

She doesn't even glance at me as I turn left and head toward the offices in the building.

Once I see the small offices littered throughout the large room on the first floor, I see there are only four people still here. One of them, the one closest to me, is a young woman. She has auburn hair cut just above her shoulders and she's looking through paperwork, highlighting and underlining things, making notes on another sheet of paper.

I move over toward her, stopping in front of her desk.

She looks up at me, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

"I need to talk to you," I whisper through the mask, just loud enough for her to hear.

"Who are you?" She asks quietly. I see her reaching for the cellphone sitting on her desk.

I reach out and gently touch her arm, forcing her to stop reaching for the phone.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I stare at her, intensity in my eyes. "I need to talk to you and only you. If you shout, I'll run. If you call someone, I'll run. You'll miss your chance to gain some important information."

She swallows. "Who are you?"

"Someone you've been looking for," I answer. "But if you want to know more, I'm gonna need you to come outside with me. Is there a backdoor?"

Hesitantly, the woman nods. She slowly gets up from her desk and begins leading me toward a backdoor of the building.

We pass the other three people and none of them even look up at us.

We head out the backdoor and into the dark alleyway, away from any other eyes or ears.

"Who are you?" She asks again. "Why do you want to talk to me?"

I lower my hood and then slip my mask down to my chin.

Her eyes widen and she takes a step back. "Yoon. From the Alliance."

"I'm not here to hurt you, or anyone else," I tell her, showing my empty hands. "All I want is to ask you some questions. And in return, I may answer some of yours."

"Tell me why I shouldn't call for backup right now, or shoot you with my gun."

I give her a small smile. "Because you can't do either. We live in a world where people don't come when someone screams, don't we? And you don't have a phone or a gun."

She takes a shaky breath and doesn't pull a gun, confirming what I suspected.

"As I thought," I say. "Now, do you want to answer some of my questions?"

"First, tell me why you're here."

"I already have. I need to ask you some questions, maybe ask for a couple favors."

"Why would I do anything for you?" She narrows her eyes. I can barely see her face in the darkness. "You work to help Nocturas. You kill other humans for them."

"That isn't important right now," I say quietly. "What's important is that if you don't help me, Mr. Hamada and everyone else at the AAN will learn to regret their mistakes of the past, if they don't already."

"What?" The woman asks. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do you know anything about turning humans into Nocturas?"

The question stuns her to silence.

"So, you've never heard of it?"

The woman doesn't respond.

"Yes, it has happened before. And yes, I have evidence of this happening. Her name was Eunmi. She was a human until someone turned her into a Noctura. She was the most powerful Noctura ever known to man, and she killed everyone in the building they created her in. Eventually, someone in the business had to tell the AAN so they came and killed her. But you've never heard of this, have you?"

There's a long moment of silence before she finally answers. "No. I've never heard about this."

"Well, it's true," I tell her. "I knew Eunmi. I took care of her after she escaped the laboratory. But the AAN found her and killed her."

"Why are you telling me this?" She asks. "What do you want from me?"

"I need information and I need you to get that information for me," I command. "I need to know if these experiments are still happening, and if there are any documented Nocturas that were once human."

"Why?" The woman shakes her head. "Why do you need to know this?"

"I know of a Noctura who might have once been human," I explain. "I need to know the truth, and so does he. You have to help me."

"Or what?" She exclaims. "I could lose my job! I could lose my life. Why would I help you?"

"Because if you don't," I say carefully, "I will tell everyone that the AAN is conducting experiments, turning humans into Nocturas. I'll give them the concrete evidence I have of the AAN doing this. All hell will break loose once the public realizes the one organization supposedly protecting them is turning them into the very thing they fear most. And it'll all be because you wouldn't help me do some simple tasks."

The woman stands in silence for a long moment. She's probably thinking about my words, weighing the pros and cons of helping me. She doesn't trust me, but she also knows who I am and what I'm capable of. There's a part of her that believes me, and another part that isn't so sure.

"Fine," she says. "I'll figure out what I can. But I'm only a rank one officer. I might not be able to find anything out."

"I trust my instinct," I say. "I think you'll do pretty well in finding this information."

"What do I do once I have the information? How do I contact you?"

"You don't," I tell her. "Don't worry, when you have the information, I'll know."

"How?" She asks.

I grin, even though she can probably only see a faint outline of my face. "Do this for me and I'll give you a favor in return."

She takes a deep breath.

"Find the information. And once you find that, I'll make sure you can find me."

Without another word, I pull my hood over my head and my mask back up over my mouth and nose.

I quickly move out of the alley, leaving the woman to stand there and mull over her newfound mission.