NOVEL WEB Chapter 99: Behind Closed Doors
After his brief conversation with Edmund, Dorian returned to his suite in the grand hotel. The room had a king-size bed adorned with a tan leather headboard and crisp white linens, while a large abstract painting dominated the wall above it.
At the foot of the bed sat a beige sofa scattered with decorative pillows, and floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a view of the city below. Dorian collapsed onto the sofa and began loosening his tie, but a familiar feminine voice drifted from behind him. "Let me help you with that," she said softly.
A grey arm reached over his shoulder to assist with the knot, and Dorian's expression brightened immediately. "Hey," he said with genuine pleasure in his voice.
The figure moved gracefully around the sofa to face him. She had this striking grey-blue skin that seemed to shimmer in the room's ambient light, and curved black horns crowned her forehead, framing long dark hair that cascaded past her shoulders.
Her eyes had this weird pink makeup around it, and she wore traditional robes with intricate gold detailing, a flowing white outer garment with purple accents. Kiyomi actually was a mythical creature.
She pulled his tie completely free and tossed it aside before settling beside him. "My sudden appearances don't scare you anymore," she observed with an amused smile.
"It's been over a year, I'm used to it now, Kiyomi," Dorian replied, his voice carrying a different type of tone that wasn't as unsettling as it usually was.
"How did it go today?" She asked, sounding rather concerned.
"Grey is being a bitch," Dorian answered bluntly whilst shaking his head.
Kiyomi's expression hardened, and then she said "Why do you bother with all of this? With me by your side, we could destroy your enemies, whoever they may be, right this moment."
"I know, my love, I know," Dorian said, reaching out to touch her face. "And I will get my revenge soon enough."
"Come here," Kiyomi said teasingly, and in a surge of emotion, they both leaned forward and shared a passionate kiss that seemed to wash away the day's frustrations.
...
Meanwhile, the agents of USOV had returned from their successful mission against the monster, and Liam now stood in Director Grey's office while Kent occupied one of the sofas positioned in front of his desk.
"That was excellent work out there today," Grey said to Liam, having monitored the entire operation through satellite feeds. "Just a few weeks ago you couldn't handle a titan-class monster, and now you're defeating one with so much ease. I wonder if you're approaching Selene's level from the White Hunters."
"Thank you, Director, but comparing me to Miss Selene is still too much," Liam replied modestly, though he couldn't hide a hint of pride.
"Fair enough," Grey acknowledged, then his expression grew more serious. "However, I must say, the threat-level reading systems that we and other factions rely on is becoming increasingly unreliable, and today it cost the Hollow Demons a valuable fighter against these creatures. We need to devise better methods and systems to have people know what they are facing."
Liam's curiosity was piqued. "Is there a particular reason the system isn't accurately detecting proper ranks anymore?"
"These sort of things are somewhat expected, but recently the errors have been unusually frequent," Grey said, his brow furrowed in contemplation.
"Hmm," Liam murmured, having no more words to offer.
"You may go now, Liam," Grey said, dismissing him with a nod. Liam acknowledged the dismissal and left the director's office.
Kent's phone buzzed insistently, prompting him to check the message before looking up at Grey. "Sir, Quinn is returning to the State today," Kent reported.
"Good," Grey replied. "Have the SUVs ready for pickup when it's time." Kent nodded and slipped his phone back into his pocket.
...
As the day wound down and no further field operations were required, the official work hours came to a close. Liam emerged from the USOV building with Brian walking alongside him.
"Good first day at work," Liam commented casually.
"Thanks," Brian replied, then asked out of curiosity. "Though if I may ask, what ability did you use to take down that monster?" Although he had dismissed it in his mind that it could be anything close to what he suspected. It was probably just a form of mind control, and that much wasn't usual for humans with magic in them.
Liam simply smiled and said, "See you tomorrow," before vanishing in a brilliant flash of lightning that illuminated the entire street for a split second.
Brian scoffed and an amused smile spread across his lips as he watched the spot where Liam had been standing. "I can tell that studying this human is going to be very entertaining," he murmured to himself before making his own way off the premises.
...
The next morning arrived with the jarring sound of a breach alert piercing through Liam's sleep. The special device for those alerts, beside his bed buzzed insistently at 11 AM.
Any USOV agent within Detroit, who held this device would also receive these same alerts, location signals, threat assessments, along with the mission instructions all transmitted directly to their comm devices in real-time.
Liam groggily reached for the device and slipped it into his ear. The instructions were straightforward enough, they had to assist with civilian evacuation while another faction handled the actual monster threat.
He pulled the comm device out with a weary sigh and slumped back against his pillows, ready to ignore the call entirely. "Fuck," he muttered, then immediately felt this weight settle on his shoulders.
He was an agent now, and his active involvement, even in something as routine as evacuation, could save one more life or prevent situations like what happened the previous day with Jeremy. With another deep sigh, he forced himself upright and began getting ready to leave, his body protesting every movement.
The truth was, after returning from work the previous evening, Liam, for the first time in what felt like forever, spent hours mindlessly scrolling through the internet, creating a TikTok account and losing himself in an endless stream of memes and viral videos.
What had started as casual browsing had somehow stretched until nearly 4 AM, leaving him with barely seven hours of sleep and a phone battery that had died somewhere around dawn.