Claimed by The Rogue Alpha
Claimed By The Rogue Alpha Chapter 83

A knock came and Lyons-still with his eyes fixed on his nightstand said, "Come in."

The door swing open. It was the butler. "Sir, the hall has been assembled."

Lyons waved him away. Now was the time. Turning away from the nightstand, Lyons walked out of the room and reached the hallway. He descended quite a number of stairs, before reaching the basement door.

As he opened the door, noise of chattering people hit him. He could make out what each one of them was saying.

The noises died down as the people spotted Lyons. He looked ahead to see a multitude. Hundreds and hundreds of Brookehurtian citizens. He smiled to himself.

He stood in front of them. "Good evening, the great people of Brookehurt. I'm so glad you honoured my request. As you know, our town has been under attack, in which loves and properties have been destroyed. May I use the opportunity to apologise for that." He paused fir let that sink in. Everyone paid rapt attention.

"As a way of helping out, I am donating a sum of five hundred thousand dollars."

There was a loud gasp, before rounds of applause rang off. The hysteria stretched for a long time. When it died, Lyons continued:

"Thank you for that. It is the least I can do." Soon enough, the guards began walking around, giving everyone refreshments.

"Now, for the main thing. I'm sure a lot of you have heard about the Fridgetonian girl and Brookehurt's connection to her disappearance." The murmuring of the crowd was enough evidence to support Lyons' belief.

He continued, "The monster in that video is none other than Matteo Macini. Now, I don't know if anyone of you knows him, but-"

"I do." Someone spoke up his hand. Lyins searched around and spotted a shaggy guy whose hand was raised. Despite his unkempt state, I decided to give him an ear.

"Yes. Come here, friend."

The fellow slipped through the crowd and approached Lyons. There was a tight frown on his face and he reeked of cannabis. Yet again, Lyons wasn't bothered. All he was after was the stuff the dude had to say about Matteo. "What do you have to say?" Lyons asked when he for to stand beside him.

"He is a dick. A feeble dick!" The ground broke down laughing. Lyons couldn't help but chuckle as well. It was refreshing having someone insult the fucker.

"He took my girlfriend from me."

There, the laughter ceased. The guy's face grew damper. "I was going to propose to Yvonne that night. I'd set our living room, ready for the surprise. I mean, I had told her I was going to work that night. We worked in the same club." He glanced at Lyons. "And so, with the ruse, I went back home and set everything up, only for me to get back to work and replace that sonofabitch f*****g my girlfriend."

Everyone gasped. Lyons' jaw hardened. He'd always known Matteo was up to no good, but he hadn't just realised how horrible he was.

"I couldn't have it. The fucker had the guts to talk back at me!" He sighed. His sigh, shaky and tense, "And so I followed him, ready to unleash my anger. But to my utmost surprise, he morphed. He is a xiene." Lyons jerked back. A xiene?!

“That a*****e is a xiene," the guy added with a chuckle which made Lyons fear that he had been joking. However, Lyons knew that kind of laughter. It was that of disbelief. The type you had when you didn't refuse to accept a sad truth. "I saw his eyes."

The guy turned to Lyons yet again. "I saw his teeth, the claws, everything. The fucker is a xiene!"

Lyons stood frozen, watching as the guy's mouth with no sounding coming from it. Lyons face was paler than the shade, pale.

Matteo was a xiene? As in x-i-e-n-e? What more bad luck could the day possibly hold?

Eventually, Lyons' ears opened up. The guy had stopped speaking, but was staring intently at him.

"I know the way to The Malchian Grove."

Amidst the maddening noise, Lyons heard him clearly. And then, he found himself waiting for the rest of the message to come.