A Successful Experiment

••• Lina’s POV ••• I entered a crowded and noisy bar; the lights and the smell of alcohol were dizzying. Going toward the bar area, I waved to the bartender. “What’s your poison?” he asked with impatience as there were many customers who needed to be served. I leaned against the bar counter to get closer to him and gave him a password I had received in advance in a low voice. He surveyed me with vigilance but reached into his pocket and handed me a key the next second. Ignoring his unfriendly gaze, I took the key and went into a small hidden room at the end of the corridor, a room that cut out all the sounds from outside. I shivered due to the cold air inside the room, which was as simple as a tomb, with barely anything inside except for a couch in the middle of the room. On it sat a middle-aged man in a suit. He was James, one of the Alphas in the mafia packs alliance decades ago. He knew my mate, and now I cooperated with him. He looked up from looking at his phone in his hand and said with a smile, “Congratulations on your successful escape, Lina.” I was very upset with the way he had handled everything, which made me ask him, “Why have you only been contacting me through an intermediary before?” “And...” I gestured to the room and pointed outside. “You didn’t even bother to tell me that your hiding place turned out to be such a crowded place. Are you not afraid of being found out by the ROYAL PACK?” He looked at me with slight disdain flashing in his eyes and sneered, “When did you become a coward?” “I’m not a coward,” I hissed. “Your hiding place is too dangerous!” “Don’t worry about it,” he assured me and waved his hand. “The most dangerous place is more often than not the safest place.” “After all these years, King and Queen are going to step down, and they will never realize that the mafia and rogue packs they "wiped out" haven't disappeared, at least not without someone like me opening a bar right under their noses,” he said with a smug smile. “You are the owner of this bar?” I hissed again. I thought he was just using one of the hidden rooms as a hiding place. James was braver than I thought... “Now it's time for revenge,” he stood up and said without replying to my question. “Come,” he gestured with his chin for me to follow him. He took me to the basement, where I saw a giant wolf bound in chains. It was hideous and looked very dangerous as it bared its canines and snarled with saliva dripping from one corner of his mouth. James looked at the giant wolf with a bit of excitement and said, “After years of experimenting on living bodies, I finally succeeded in creating this powerful beast.” “What’s special about it?” I scrutinized the wolf and found nothing special except that it looked like a crazy and dangerous beast. “Its skin is so hard that it’s impervious to swords and even bullets, and it’s absolutely loyal to its master, possessing the same intelligence as a five-year-old child,” he explained and went to the beast. The beast looked at James with a murderous gaze, but it didn’t do anything to him when James patted its head like a pet. It even stopped snarling. I looked at them with wonderment and couldn’t help feeling excited as well. If James had really succeeded in creating such a beast, then we would have a powerful weapon on our side! I suddenly recalled that he had someone give me a drug. To test it out, I found a professional killer, drugged his drink when he wasn't looking, and subsequently watched him turn into a monster who needed to drink the blood of his own kind to stay alive. That killer... Who was his name? Ty-something... I searched my mind for it and remembered his name was Tynan. I couln’t be bothered to remember his name since he used to be someone not important for me, but now he was. I should’ve started to remember his name now... From what I heard, he was a famous figure in the world of assassins, and that was why I chose him as my guinea pig. He had found out about it and even tried to kill me, but I pointed out that the drug made him stronger. For a professional killer, to be strong was important. After pointing out that drinking blood was a small price to pay for the strength he now had, I was saved from being killed by him. I told him to kill Abi because she knew too many secrets, which wouldn’t be good for me. She was like a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any moment. Planting that bottle of perfume she had in a locker was a move I took to ensure the werewolf committee and Bella would find out about it. I knew Bella would suspect Abi to have used it to kill her twin sister, and I had hoped Abi would get the death sentence, but she was only to be locked in a special prison. The prison had maximum security, and it would be impossible for me to ask someone to kill her inside. When I heard of her transfer schedule and path, I quickly contacted Tynan and asked for his cooperation. It was supposed to have been done by now, but I hadn't heard from him in days, which annoyed and scared me at the same time. Could he have been found and captured by the werewolf committee? I looked at James, who was still marveling at his successful experiment and wanted to tell him about Tynan. Maybe he could help me locate that killer and Abi. “James,” I called him and moved cautiously toward them as I didn’t think that beast would be nice to me as it was nice to James since I wasn’t its master. As I had anticipated, the closer I got to them, the more vicious the wolf seemed to be. It began struggling against the chains binding it, snarled, and snapped its jaw like it couldn't wait to kill me. I stayed a few steps away from them, not wanting to be that wolf’s food. Instead of scolding that beast for acting that way toward me, James looked delighted and proud. “Good boy,” he praised the wolf and patted its head again before turning to me with visible annoyance on his face. “What do you want that you have to disturb my time with my experiment?” he snapped at me. I rolled my eyes inwardly at him with irritation. He was the one who brought me here, and now he accused me of disturbing his time with his precious beast? Men... I didn't show my irritation at him; instead, I went straight to the point, “I need your help to help me find the whereabouts of my daughter and also another person... Tynan.” “Tynan?” he asked with furrowed brows. “That infamous professional assassin?” “Yeah,” I nodded. It seemed Tynan was more well-known that I thought. “Why should I help you find him?” he sneered and looked down at me. “You can use dark magic and have people like you everywhere. It’ll be easy to find him. I won’t waste my resources to find an unimportant person.” “He would be unimportant if he’s a normal assassin, but he’s not normal anymore,” I told him. “What do you mean?” he asked with narrowed eyes. I began telling him everything, from how I used Tynan to test the drug he had given me, the side-effect of the drug on him, which was drinking the blood of werewolves and a little bit of cannibalism, to how I asked him to kill Abi and how he hadn’t contacted me yet until now. “You stupid bitch!” James roared furiously after I finished recounting everything. His angry roar agitated the beast and made it struggle again. The sound of rattling chains filled the basement as he tried to free himself, looking like he wanted to protect his master from me, the enemy. I shrank back in fear of both James and the beast. “Why did you do such a stupid thing?” he reprimanded me with a growl and a glare. “You had done a terrible job. What will you do if that creature is found by the royal pack or the werewolf committee?!” He lunged toward me and grabbed my neck, stopping the air from entering my lungs. “J-James...” I struggled to free myself. He had a magic amulet with him, and my magic would be of no use to him. “If anyone finds out, it will ruin my plans,” he brought my face closer to him and snarled right at me. “I swear I will make you as food for my experiment and let them shred you into pieces and drink your blood until your corpse doesn’t even resemble anything other than chunks of flesh if anything goes wrong because of your stupidity.” He squeezed my neck harder, and I was about to claw his arms when suddenly we heard the door being opened. “A fucking bunch of idiots,” a low and icy voice rang out and reprimanded us. James turned pale, hurriedly let go of my neck, and stepped back, lowering his head, not daring to look at the newcomer. I coughed, rubbed my neck, and lowered my head just like James had done. The two of us had the same fear in our hearts because we both knew... MASTER HAD COME.