"Investigators, patrol officers, analysts. They don't just cover for Gerard. They're part of the family."
"To remove Hale… you simply have to kill him. Gerard doesn't care who sits in the chief's chair."
"The main thing is that the new person continues to follow orders. If you put your own man in place… he probably won't even notice."
Gideon leaned closer, his eyes narrowing.
"And exactly how can we remove him?"
Max smirked with his broken lips.
"You can't, really. He's too careful. But if you kill him quietly and immediately put someone else in his place… Gerard will see it as nothing more than a changing of the guard."
"The important thing is that the new chief keeps feeding them."
Bruno listened silently. His massive face remained expressionless, but cold fury was building in his eyes.
Gideon placed his laptop in front of Max.
"Give us access to the databases. Everything you have. Evidence, files, connections."
"We'll start cleaning up the traces of resistance right now."
Max hesitated for only a second. Then he slowly nodded and dictated the password. Gideon quickly logged in. His fingers flew across the keyboard.
Files began disappearing one after another, reports, photographs, surveillance records on Flash's group.
Susie stood off to the side, quietly whispering a spell. Her palm glowed with a faint blue light.
She was creating a barrier, an invisible but tangible shield around Ethan. Ethan watched her from the side.
"Done," Gideon said after a few minutes.
"Most of the evidence has been deleted. Now they'll be searching for us blindly."
Bruno stood up. His shadow completely engulfed Max.
"You were useful," he said.
"But you're still a vampire."
Max jerked, trying to stand, but the chains held him in place.
"Wait! I told you everything! I helped you!"
Bruno didn't reply. He simply raised the pistol loaded with a silver bullet and shot Max in the head. The shot sounded muffled.
The deputy police chief's head snapped back. Black blood sprayed across the wall.
Gideon nodded silently.
"Clean."
Ethan turned away. Susie let out a quiet sigh but said nothing.
Meanwhile, in the mayor's office building, in a large office on the top floor, a very different scene was unfolding.
Richard Hale stood before Gerard. He knew he was cornered.
"I know your little secrets, Gerard," he said quietly.
"About Anna and how you're using her. You know what she really thinks of you."
Gerard sat behind the desk, motionless. His eyes were ice cold.
"And what do you want?"
Hale smiled.
"I want guarantees. And I want you to remove the bounty on my head. Otherwise… I'll tell everyone the truth about your loyal assistant."
Gerard was silent for several seconds. Then he slowly pressed the intercom button.
"Everyone to my office. Immediately."
Ten minutes later, the office was full. Michael, Elizabeth, several high-ranking vampires, and Anna.
Gerard looked at Anna.
"Speak," he said coldly.
"What are you hiding?"
Anna stood straight, but her hands trembled slightly. She understood she was trapped. To protect Flash's team, she couldn't tell the truth. She couldn't mention Ethan.
"I… was helping small street gangs," she said finally.
"Ones not connected to the poor. Just to… have extra eyes in the city."
Gerard smiled.
"Eliminate them all," he said calmly.
"Everyone she named, tonight."
Anna closed her eyes for a second. She realized she had just sentenced dozens of innocent people, small-time criminals who had nothing to do with Ethan, to death.
It was her first serious moral fracture.
She stood in the middle of the office, feeling something inside her crack.
Gerard looked at her with satisfaction.
"Now you know your place," he said quietly.
Later that same day, closer to evening, as the sun began to sink toward the horizon.
A small glass bottle containing a dark green wisteria decoction stood on the table. The liquid inside glowed with a soft light, as if some ancient and dangerous life flickered within it. Ethan stood in front of the table, unable to take his eyes off the bottle.
He reached out but froze before touching the glass. Heavy, uneasy thoughts swirled in his head.
"If I drink this… my blood will become poisonous for a while. What if I lose control in a different way? What if I become weak exactly when I need to be strong?"
Susie couldn't hold back. She stepped closer and gently touched his shoulder.
"Are you sure?" she asked quietly, almost in a whisper. Real anxiety, almost a plea, filled her voice.
"You're already barely holding on."
Ethan looked at her. He saw how worried she was, and it touched him more deeply than he could express.
"I know, Susie," he replied softly.
"But the exhibition will be full of vampires and Gerard's people. If they sense my thoughts, it will all end before it begins. I need to appear as an ordinary human."
"At least for a couple of hours. I can't risk all of you."
Susie bit her lip. Her eyes glistened with tears she was trying not to shed.
"I understand…" she whispered.
"But I'm scared."
Ethan closed his eyes for a moment. Her words touched him deeper than he had expected. He placed his hand over hers and squeezed it gently.
"And that's exactly why I have to do it. I can't go in there feeling like they're looking at me and reading my thoughts."
"I need to be… just Ethan. At least for a while."
Flash, standing by the window, finally spoke. His voice was low and calm, but it carried clear concern.