Nana's eyes bulged in surprise rather than fear after hearing everything from Mason. "You mean you're being chased by assassins only you can see?" she asked. "And Raymond can't see them?"
Mason nodded. "I must find that necklace at all costs, even if it will cost me all my fortune," he said.
The door swung open, and Raymond appeared, surprise boldly written on his face. "You didn't tell me your secretary was the landlady's granddaughter," he said. "Since when have you known?"
"Since I employed her about a year ago," Mason replied.
"And since when have you known about his necklace coming back to him each time he sold it?" Nana chimed in, giving Raymond a hard look.
"Well… ever since it returned to him the second day he sold it," Raymond responded. "I'm sorry for not telling you. I'm simply scared of your chatterboxing ability. Mason wouldn't want the whole town to be aware."
"Do you have a death wish?" Nana groaned and lunged at him, but Mason was quick to grab her.
"Enough of your banter," said Mason. "We have a grounding situation."
"You need to calm down, Mason," Nana said as she returned and sat on the bed. "We can't be sure yet if what you saw is–"
"Of course you don't believe it," Mason cut in. "You're not the one having assassins with glowing eyes hot on your heels."
"That's not what I mean," Nana clarified. "You're the only one seeing it, which may mean it's the illusion your mind is creating because of your fear of losing the necklace."
"That's not helping, Nana," Raymond intervened. "You need to–"
"I guess you're trying to rephrase what she just said in a way for me to believe I'm going crazy, isn't it?" Mason cut him off. "You need to believe me, guys, those creatures looked real. They looked like they're from the past, their blades, style of robes, it's…" He sighed, seeing the futility of explaining further.
"Mason, you don't have to–"
"Forget it, okay?" Mason cut her off. "The sun is setting already, you should be preparing to settle down." He reached for the mirror beside the bed, just a few inches away from the closet.
Mason opened a drawer below the mirror and brought out a key. Just as he turned around, he saw a dirk reaching for his throat. He was lucky enough to gain control of his body and ducked.
The blow missed its target and shattered the mirror above. Mason stood on his feet, his eyes widening in terror as he saw the assassins coming for him. Dodging the second swing meant for his chest, the dirk cut the closet in half.
As he almost slipped from the grasp of his enemies, the second assassin grabbed him by the shoulder, and with a strength beyond understanding, slammed him against the bed.
Mason's eyes flickered to his friends, and he saw them at the entrance, engulfed by stunned surprise. "Run!!" he shouted to them. "They're here–"
His words halted as one of the assassins grabbed him by the neck and tossed him toward the door. Hitting his back hard against the wall, he winced in pain, blood flowing down his face.
"What the hell do you want from me?" he shouted, breathing heavily, and he heard a sinister laughter from his enemies.
"Your… life," both of them said in unison, their bodies shaking as they laughed, and their ominous glowing eyes seemed to be filled with hatred and disgust.
Now it dawned on Mason, this creature, despite being after his life, would've killed him if they wanted. They saw this as a sport, and him as prey. It's a hunt!
"Run. Prince, run for your life," they said simultaneously. "No matter where you go, or how fast you run, we shall find you, and we shall rip out your guts."
"Mason!" Raymond called, and he turned to face him. "Let's go! Let's get you out of here!"
Mason was unsure if everyone heard the creatures' voices, but with the look on their faces, he knew they were aware of the situation. As one of the creatures lurched forward with his dirk, Mason ran out of the room and out of the house. Raymond, Nana, and Vivian ran after him.
When the trio reached the elevator, they saw the door closing. "Wait, Mason!" Raymond called out to him.
"They're here for me, there's no reason for you to get involved and annoy them," Mason said. "I can't risk losing any of you, I really can't…" The elevator shut, severing what remained of his words.
"Damn! What the hell was that!?" Nana said, her heart pounding within her chest as she struggled to understand the sheer scale of what they'd just witnessed.
None of them had seen the creatures, but the actions and ruins they left behind were enough to make them believe Mason was being hunted by something beyond their power. Vivian stood frozen, her mouth open, but no word came out.
"We need to help him. I don't want to lose my brother," Nana said, tears forming in her eyes. She turned to Vivian and continued. "Do you know how we can reach him?"
Vivian remained unresponsive, oblivious to what was happening around her. Her eyes were wide open, but unseeing. Nana shook her out of her daze and repeated her question.
"There's a spy app installed on his phone," Vivian replied. "We should be able to locate him with it, he installed it for reasons like this." She pivoted and rushed back inside to fetch her iPad.
Meanwhile, Mason got outside the building, and about ten feet ahead stood the assassins, their eyes glowing a dull yellow light from within their dark cowl.
"Fuck! Just what the hell are you monsters?" he grumbled as he turned west and ran. The sun was already setting, leaving an orange hue on the horizon. Mason weaved his way from one alleyway to another, occasionally turning back to see if he'd lost his pursuers.
After running for more than what seemed like a decade, he finally reached the end of the alleyway he was currently in, with no other way to escape. He turned around and saw the creatures ambling toward him, their weapons at the ready.
"Enough running, Prince. It's time to decide your fate," said the assassins simultaneously, their steps rapidly closing the gap.
Tears flowed down from Mason's eyes as he watched the creatures who would take his life, raising their dirks up. "I guess it's my time," he said and closed his eyes, bracing himself for what was to come.
He waited, but death didn't come to him. He heard clanging of steels, and he opened his eyes to behold an enormous creature attacking his enemies.
Perhaps he was seeing another hallucination, he rubbed his eyes and opened them again. In front of him stood a menacing creature with a human body and large bat-like wings. It has long pointed ears and sharp claws, about five inches in length.
With the precise swing of its claws, it hacked at the assassins, ripping through fabrics and flesh. Their cries of agony echoed down the deserted alley as the bat-like creature fluttered from one place to another with unimaginable speed. With another swing, it snapped off one of the assassins' weapons and opened its throat.
The second assassin, seeing its companion going down, seized the opportunity of the diversion, and thrusted its dirk into the bat-like's bare torso. Blood oozed out of the wound as it twisted the blade.
The bat-like grabbed the assassin's hand and snapped it. The bone-crunching sound filled the air, and it screamed in pain.
The bat-like pulled the dirk out of its belly, and the wound rapidly closed up into an angry scar, before disappearing as though there had been no injury to begin with.
The assassin, caught in a stunned surprise, was grabbed by the winged-human, who thrusted its razor-sharp claws into its ribcage and ripped out its dark heart.
The creature opened its mouth in a silent scream and fell down, its glowing eyes flickered and died. Mason, seeing the display of raw power, trembled in fear.
"I saw you have your hands full and I thought I should help," the bat-like said to Mason, a small smile crossing its face. As Mason's eyes met with it, he couldn't stop himself from shivering. Its eyes are like those of a cat–horizontal pupils, more frightening than those of his pursuers.
"Calm down, I'm human like you, and this–" the creature's eyes darted down its body– "is a gift. Take care, friend." It flapped its enormous wings and took to the sky.
"Mike!"
Mason heard a voice, and ahead of him stood a girl he couldn't quite see clearly due to the dim lighting. She waved at the bat-like creature frantically.
"Be right back on time," she said, her voice lowering, and Mason wondered if the bat-like would be able to hear her from that distance.
"So he's really human," Mason wondered. "And he saved my life." He stepped forward, his gaze locked onto the bat-like form floating in the air.
"Thank you, Mike. I'm Mason. I owe you my life," he whispered, not possessing the strength to shout, considering all he's been through.
The bat-like creature glanced at him, and Mason could see what seemed like a smile on its face.
"You're welcome, Mason," his voice echoed down to him before disappearing into the night sky.
"Oh My God!" Mason exclaimed in terror. "He could hear me!" He brought down his head to see the girl who had called the bat-like creature earlier, but she was gone. The alley once again returned to being quiet and deserted.