The night had teeth.
Cold wind moved through the trees outside the warehouse, bending the branches until they scratched the walls with long, dry screeches. The sky was moonless, the kind of dark that swallowed shapes and turned every shadow into something suspicious.
Inside, the warehouse was quiet, but not calm.
Victor was standing near the table, looking at an old map spread under the weak yellow light. Adrian was near the door, as always—silent, alert, like a guard who never rested.
Lina was sitting on a wooden crate, but she wasn't really sitting. Her body was still, but her mind wasn't. She kept thinking about what Lucas said.
You dominated me.
She still didn't understand what that meant… but she felt that it was true.
Lucas was on the upper level, leaning on the metal railing, looking down at everyone. From above, he could see the whole room. Every entrance. Every window.
He looked relaxed.
But he wasn't.
"You're thinking too loud," Lucas said from above.
Lina looked up at him. "I'm not even talking."
"You don't need to," he replied. "Your face does it for you."
She rolled her eyes slightly. "You think you understand everything."
Lucas gave a small smile. "Not everything."
He jumped down from the upper level.
He landed silently.
Too silently.
He walked toward her slowly.
Victor noticed, but said nothing. Adrian noticed, and said nothing. They were watching… but they were also observing something else—something unspoken between the two.
Lucas stopped in front of Lina.
"You're scared," he said quietly.
"I'm not scared," she replied.
Lucas leaned slightly closer.
"Your heartbeat says otherwise."
Lina looked up at him مباشرة. "Maybe my heart is reacting to you, not to danger."
Lucas didn't smile this time.
"That's not better," he said.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then—
Adrian suddenly turned toward the door.
His voice was low but sharp:
"Someone's outside."
Everything changed in one second.
Victor folded the map بسرعة.Lucas turned his head toward the entrance, his expression going cold.Lina stood up.
Silence.
Then—
Step.
A sound outside.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Not trying to hide.
Lucas whispered:
"Hunters."
Victor looked at Lina. "Stay behind us. No matter what happens."
Lina nodded, but her hands were already cold.
Another step outside.
Then a voice.
A man's voice.
Calm. Confident.
"Open the door," the man said from outside. "We know she's in there."
Lina felt her stomach drop.
Lucas' eyes darkened. "That's the guy from the street," he said quietly.
Victor didn't answer. He was thinking fast.
The man outside spoke again:
"You have something that doesn't belong to you," he said. "Give us the girl, and we leave."
Lucas laughed softly, but there was no humor in it.
"That's not how this works," Lucas said.
The man outside continued, ignoring him:
"If you don't open the door," he said calmly, "we will come in. And I promise you… it will be painful."
Adrian cracked his neck slowly. "I really don't like Hunters."
Victor looked at Lucas. A silent conversation passed between them.
Then Victor said one word:
"Ready."
Lucas smiled.
"Always."
The door exploded inward.
Wood shattered. Metal screamed. Dust filled the air.
Three men walked in through the broken door, wearing long dark coats. Each of them held a weapon—crossbows, but not normal ones. The arrows were black, metallic, with strange symbols carved into them.
Hunter weapons.
Everything happened fast.
One Hunter aimed directly at Lina.
Lucas moved so fast Lina didn't even see him move.
He was suddenly in front of her.
The arrow fired—
THUNK.
Lucas stopped.
He looked down.
The arrow was in his shoulder.
Lina's eyes widened. "Lucas!"
Lucas looked at the arrow like it was an inconvenience.
Then he pulled it out.
And smiled.
"Rude," he said.
And then—
He attacked.
He moved like a shadow breaking into pieces—too fast, too sharp. He grabbed the first Hunter and slammed him into the wall so hard the concrete cracked. Adrian fought the second Hunter, fast and precise, like a trained soldier who never wasted movement.
Victor was fighting the third.
Lina stood frozen for half a second.
Then she saw another Hunter behind them.
A fourth one.
He was aiming.
At Lucas.
Without thinking, Lina ran forward.
"Lucas!!"
The Hunter fired.
Lucas turned—but not fast enough.
So Lina did the only thing her body told her to do.
She grabbed the arrow in the air.
With her bare hand.
The entire room froze.
Lina was breathing fast, holding the arrow.
The metal tip was pressed into her palm… but it didn't go in.
The symbol on the arrow started to glow faintly.
Lucas stared at her.
"What… are you?" he whispered.
The Hunter smiled slowly.
"Thank you," the Hunter said. "Now we know it's true."
Victor shouted: "Lina, drop it!"
But it was too late.
The symbol on the arrow flared with light.
And Lina felt a sudden, violent pain in her head—
Like something had just found her.
Like something had just marked her.
She screamed.