~The Entrapment Plan (Part 2)~

Meanwhile, Al grabbed the picture frame with the nine-year-old Lez‘s picture on it. She sat on the table together with a small jewelry box beside her laptop. She then took her seat on the sofa between Lez on her right and Mike on her left.

“Ready to see your biological family?” Al asked Lez as she could see the excitement from Lez’s face.

“Yeah, I wish I could meet them in person instead.” Lez wishfully said.

Al starts to open a picture of a couple wearing a royalty dress and suit with crowns on their head.

“Lez, this is your biological mother and father, Queen Alicia Gaia Seymour and King Siegfried Boreas Seymour.” Al introduces Lez her true parents’ picture to her. Lez made a long stare at it, which gave her a light-hearted feeling as he watched the image and made her smile.

“So Lez’s parents are king and queen?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, Mike, they are royalties the same as we do. We originated from Europe, actually. But eventually, the Scotts migrated to the US many years ago and made this place their base of operation, of course as a guardian, while the Seymour’s remained in London.

“Why did your family migrate to this place, Al?” Lez asked.

“The answer to that question has never come into my mind yet,” Al replied.

“Why did the Seymour’s come here, Al?” Mike asked.

“I don’t know the real reason for their arrival in this place, but what I know for sure is because of the Key as they were talking about it every time I hear them talk,” Al answered.

“But how did I got here in this place when I was still an infant when my family was based in Europe in the first place?” Lez asked that made the whole group think deeper.

“Oh yeah, I never thought of that. But maybe your parents came here before and gave birth to both you and Ember as twins, then the rest happened. I really don’t know.” Al replied.

“But wait! I think we could ask Clem or Nana Doris about it.” Al excitedly said as he called Clem and Doris to her phone to come over to her room.

“Hey, guys! What’s all of this about?” Drake came and asked while at the door.

“I’m having Lez see some pictures of her biological parents. And now she’s going to see her twin sister.” Al showed a picture of the nine-year-old Ember from her laptop.

“Wow! Lez really looked like princess ember in her childhood. Their resemblance is uncanny.” Mike said as he moved closer to see the picture on the laptop while comparing it to the picture on the table.

Drake moved quickly at their back and took a look at the picture.

“Yeah, their similarity is incredible, and it’s like a photocopy in a human form,” Drake commented.

Lez had a long stare at the picture of her twin sister. Something is drawing her to keep looking at the picture. The longer she stared, the clearer the picture she could see inside her head.

“Lez?!?” Al called as she shook Lez to regain her awareness.

“What happened Lez? I’ve been calling your name three times already, and you didn’t give me any response. Is there something wrong?” Al asked as the two men were getting worried also.

“Ah, nothing. I’m just having a deep thought of my twin sister, that’s all.” Lez replied.

They heard a knock at the door then after.

“Come in!” Al said as Clem and Nana Doris went inside.

“Good evening.” Nana Doris greeted the group as she went directly to Drake and hugged him.

“Good evening, everyone! Lady Medea, we’ve come here as soon as you requested.” Clem said.

“Yes, Clem, we just wanted to ask you about something. Maybe you and Nana Doris knew the answers.” AL replied.

“What is it, my lovely young lady?” Nana Doris asked.

“We were talking about the Seymour’s earlier as I’ve shown pictures of them to Lez. I mentioned to her that they were actually based in Europe came to stumble on a question on how did Lez end up being found as an infant here in the US? Did the Seymour family stay here for a while much earlier years ago? And what I mean is earlier than eight years ago.” Al asked.

“Yes, they did. The Seymour family came to visit here from time to time and your parents’ visits to Europe. But the problem is, I never remembered the Lady Seymour being pregnant during her visit here.” Nana Doris answered.

“Yes! But I remembered a time where they visited here together with their newly born daughter, Princess Ember, but that was a few months later from the day she was born.” Clem added.

“That’s odd. So the only thing we could consider is if the Seymour’s secretly went here without notifying our parents and gave birth to the twins here in the US. Then eventually, something that we don’t know happened to Lez where she ended up found at the tree. There is nothing more I could’ve to think of, of Lez ending up here.” Drake gave his opinion.

“And that something we don’t know might have a connection about her being the Key and this necklace,” Al added while opening the small jewelry box.

“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot about the necklace. Have we still got no clue about this necklace?” Drake asked.

“Zero! Nada! Got no information about this necklace yet.” Al answered as she sighed while raising the burnt necklace.

“What is this necklace all about?” Lez asked, for she knew nothing of what they were talking.

“Drake? Have you not informed this to Lez yet?” Al said, looking at Drake with eyebrows raised.

“Oh! Yeah, about that. I kind of forgot to tell her about that necklace. As many things happened to us lately, my mind got shrouded, which made me completely forgot to tell her. Sorry.” Drake answered while wiping his forehead.

“And? Anything should I have known about this necklace?” Lez asked as she looked at Drake while AL handed her the necklace.

“Yap. Sister Irene, the orphanage directress, told us that you were holding this necklace when found in the maple tree area. Now we know why it was burnt.” Drake said, pointing out that the necklace was burnt because of Lez’s flame.

“I wish we could ask someone about this necklace who knows something about it more.” Al wishfully said.

“Yeah. The only person I could think of right now was dad.” Drake said unintentionally.

“Yeah. You’re right, Drake. Dad might know the answers about this.” Al excitingly said.

“Hey, wait! Have John said anything about the 'convincing dad' thing he told you days ago?” Drake asked.

“Nope. He hadn’t answered me on that yet.” Al replied.

“So hey, maybe it’s not ideal to ask him for that right now. Maybe we could ask him after John already talked with him and agreed to our propositions.” Drake said while getting worried for Lez.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Guess we’ll have to wait until John’s notification.” Al replied that made Drake calm down.

“So I guess the mysteries of Miss Lezlie Anderson Seymour will remain a mystery.” Mike inserted.

“By the way, Master Drake, we already recovered and confirmed the dead body of our guard Philip in 'the' Anderson’s basement, sir, and also heard on the news that Antonio Rodriguez’s dead body was found at one of the coffee shops this evening. We are currently informing his family about the incident.” Clem sadly told.

“Oh, so you already sorted that out, huh. Thank you, Clem. I wish I could face them and tell them my heartfelt sympathy for the bereaved family, but I can’t for now. We have more profound concerns to deal with so that there will be no more mourning to come in the future.” Drake sadly said.

“Don’t worry about that, sir. I could take care of it.” Clem intuitively commenced.

“Thank you, Clem. We deeply appreciate it.” Al sincerely acknowledged.

“Please give their family all the help they need, Clem, and also the full cash contract and the bonus that I’ve told them before,” Drake said as the group went quiet in grief for a moment.

“Right away, sir!” Clem replied.

“We have to stop this from happening ever again,” Lez said with full of determination.

“We’ve got to Lez, we’ve got to!” Drake replied with resolve.

Meanwhile, happening in the Tech room,

“God damn it! Ethan destroyed all the security cameras inside the panic room. We should have known he knows every location of the camera’s in here, for he knows every layout of this mansion.” Jef self-talked while looking at the monitor.

“Nicole! Come in?” Jef radioed Nicole.

“What is it, Jef?” Nicole replied over the radio.

“Could you check for Ethan over the tempered glass of the panic room? He destroyed all the cameras inside, so I can’t monitor his actions. Can you see him?” Jef asked as Nicole started to look inside.

“No! Negative! I couldn’t see him anywhere.” Nicole replied on the radio.

“Damn it! Okay, call for Sir Drake and inform him about the situation as I call for backup. I’ll be there in a minute. Do not open the locks, understood?” Jef instructed.

“Loud and clear,” Nicole replied as she began to call for Drake as Jef called the other SBG team members.

Ring! A call was heard from Drake's phone as they were in Alex’s room, mourning.

“Who is it, Drake?” Al asked.

“It’s Nicole. Wait! I’ll have to answer it. Maybe it’s important.” Drake replied as he clicked to answer the phone call.

“Hello, Nicole? What’s up?” Drake asked.

“Sir! Please come to the basement. We’ve got a situation down here.” Nicole answered in a worried voice that made Drake think of big trouble.

“Okay, we’ll be right there. Just hold on.” Drake replied as he ended the call.

“Is something going wrong, Drake?” Lez asked as he could see Drake's face getting worried.

“Something happened at the basement that we need to find out. Let’s go, and we need to hurry.” Drake told them as Mike, Al and Lez quickly went out of the room.

“Nana, Clem, stay here and lock the doors. Do not go out or let anyone in until we say so, okay?” Drake instructed them as he went, and they locked the room.

Drake speeds himself up, leaving the others behind, for he wants to secure the area first before they arrive.

“What’s the situation here, Nicole?” Drake asked with a worrying voice as he suddenly appeared in front of the guards.

“Jesus! I forgot you have that speed ability, sir.” Nicole got startled for a moment.

“Jef told me that Ethan destroyed all security cams inside this room. I tried to locate him by looking through this tempered glass, but I could not seem to find him, sir.” Nicole reported.

“Has this door been opened?” Drake asked.

“No, sir. It has been sealed from earlier and never been unlocked by then.” Nicole replied as Jef arrived on the scene.

“Could you really not see Ethan inside?” Jef asked, shouting at Nicole while running as he approached the group.

“No! Negative!” Nicole shouted back.

“Sir!” Jef greeted Drake.

“What’s the report at the monitors, Jef?” Drake asked.

“Completely trashed, sir. We should’ve searched for any weapons around him before we locked him inside, sir. I never thought he would use those small sticky bombs he requested from me to fetch from his apartment earlier.” Jef said.

“What request?” Drake asked.

“Earlier at 'the' Anderson’s house, he requested me to grab some of his equipment from his apartment, for he said it might help a lot on our job,” Jef explained.

“What kind of equipment?” Drake followed a question.

“Some night vision that he already had, a knife, a silent handgun, SMG and assault rifle, tracking device, a grappling hook, and many more, sir,” Jef answered as the other SBG team members arrived together with Al, Mike, and Lez.

“I am sure that he hasn’t got those SMGs and rifles with him, but he could have any of those smaller items around him,” Drake assured.

“Okay, this is what we have to do. Jef, go and find that equipment you said and hide that Ethan wouldn’t find it. Bring Heather and Feng with you.” Drake instructed as the three went running away.

“Jin, together with Sam, both of you proceed to 'the' Anderson’s room. Lock the doors and do not let anyone in until we say so.” Drake ordered as they ran as fast as they could upstairs then proceed to the designated area.

“Nicole, prepare your stun gun. We might need to use it against Ethan.” Drake said as Nicole reequipped from her handgun to stun gun.

“Damn it! I couldn’t see him anywhere. Where could have he gotten.” Drake murmured as he had a peek at the tempered window.

“I’m going to open the door. Hand me a stun gun.” Drake requested from one of the four mansion guards as one of them handed his stun gun and pulled his handgun instead.

“Hand me one too.” Al requested as the other mansion guard pulled his handgun and gave his stun gun to her.

“Al, stay here. The four of you (talking at the mansion guards) stay here and be on your guard.” Drake said as the guards backed meters away from the door. One in the front of the door, one on the right side, and two on the left side where Lez and Mike are behind them.

“Nicole and I will enter inside to secure the room,” Drake instructed as everyone nodded their head to agree.

“Nicole, I’ll do a quick sweep at the area. You stay in front of the door as I step in.” Drake commands.

“Understood, sir!” Nicole replied as Drake quickly sped himself up and searched for Ethan at every corner of the room in seconds.

“God damn it! He’s not here!” Drake shouted in anger as he stayed at the center facing back at the door.

“How could that be? He couldn’t have gotten elsewhere. The door’s been locked and never been opened until now. How could he escape?” Nicole said as she stepped in and moved beside Drake.

“Are you sure that this door hasn’t been opened until now and no one suspicious got near it?” Drake asked to confirm.

“Absolutely, sir. We’ve been here the whole time guarding this room.” Nicole replied.

“Then he must have another ability on his sleeves. Consuming two souls may have given him powers to escape this room.” Drake confidently said.

“And what powers could be in your mind, sir?” Nicole asked, wondering.

“I guess he can copy appearances, not just a human form. But I’m afraid he can also change into an animal or maybe an insect form. And that would be disastrous.” Drake explained.

“That small sir?” Nicole said, doubting Drake’s words.

“I’m still not sure, though. But that’s the only thing I could think of with the kind of ability he had.” Drake explained.

“Drake? Nicole? Is everything alright here?” Al asked as she moved closer at the door to have a peek while pointing her stun gun at nowhere.

Suddenly, Al stumbled on the floor as someone unseen quickly grabbed her arm, pulled, and threw her inside the room. Drake and Nicole promptly turned to look and saw Al already lying on the floor.

“Aw! That hurts!” Al ached in pain as she lay flat on the floor.

“Al, what happened?” Drake asked as both Nicole and himself crouched to help her.

“Someone grabbed me and threw me off the floor,” Al replied as the door suddenly shut and locked with them still inside.

Drake quickly got up started to bang the door. “Hey, open up the door!” requesting the guard posted at the front door to open it for them as he peeked at the tempered window.

Of course, the guard could not hear him, but he understood the situation and what Drake meant by his action.

“What just happened? Lez asked the guards in front of her, for she recognized that someone pulled Al inside the room as she swiftly vanished from her sight.

“I don’t know, ma’am but stay here as we check.” One of the guards replied as he signaled the front guard to check things out as the other guards watched and pointed their guns at the door.

Drake still bangs at the door, but no one outside can hear what he says. The front guards slowly move towards the door, also pointing his handgun in front of him.

Tsuk! The sound of a piercing thing was heard as it collided on flesh.

Drake stopped banging at the door and stared at the front guard through the window, who suddenly stopped while staring back at him with widened eyes.

Slowly, a drop of blood starts to drip under the guard's jaw. A burst of blood splattered the area as the guard dropped down, dead on the floor. Drake saw it all happen as he froze inside the room. A bloody blade of a knife can be seen with an invisible handle floating in midair that made him bang the door again. Lez screamed and covered her mouth while Mike shouted, “Holy shit!” at the same time.

“He’s invisible! Shoot him! Shoot him!” Mike shouted to the guards who could not see the person they had to shoot.

“Where is he?” the guard on the right shouted, pointing his stun gun at the floating knife.

The knife floats towards him quickly as he fires his stun gun but hits nothing but air. The knife went into his chest and stabbed him multiple times as the guard dropped on the floor, dead.

“Where is he?” one of the remaining two guards said, who is holding his handgun pointing at the dead body.

“Lez, Stay back. Give me your gun.” Mike said as he asked for the handgun of the guard who is currently holding a stun gun. The guard handed him the pistol and started pointing elsewhere.

The bloody knife starts to float again and now slowly moving towards them.

“There! Shoot him!” Mike said as he and the guard who held a handgun starts to shoot.

They somehow hit the target as they heard Ethan groaned in pain as blood drops were visible dropping on the floor towards them.

“In there!” the guard holding his pistol said while pointing his gun at the blood drops. He got instantly killed as the bloody knife flew into his head as the invisible Ethan threw it at him swiftly.

Mike saw the guard dropped dead on the ground as he shouted and started to shoot at every angle and emptied his mag.

“Where is he now, sir?” the only guard left asked Mike pointing his stun gun at every angle.

The blood drops are now nowhere to be seen. The place became quiet for a moment as they were still coping at the area, trying to find out if it was now clear.

“Where did he go?” Lez asked both Mike and the guard.

“I don’t know Lez. Maybe he ran away as he got shot.” Mike replied, still pointing his gun with an empty mag.

“Stay here. I’ll go check.” The guard said both to Mike and Lez.

He slowly moved forward, watching every corner of that hallway on every step that he took.

Suddenly, the guard stood still as Mike and Lez wondered why.

A red line of blood suddenly appeared on his neck as he dropped to the ground dead.

Lez screamed and started to raise her hand while Mike pulled the trigger of the empty gun as it clicked.

Ethan appeared in the distance holding another knife in his hand.

“Hello, there, my princess! Look what I got here.” Ethan said as he wickedly smiled at them while licking the blood on his knife.

Lez recognized the kind of knife Ethan was holding, and it was the same kind of black knife that Chris used on her before.

“Get away from me!” Lez screamed as the torch of flame came out from her hand and slightly burned Ethan’s left hand.

“Feisty little bitch!” Ethan angrily said as he threw a tear gas grenade underneath them.

Bang! As smoke comes out from the grenade that Ethan threw.

Mike and Lez started to cough as their vision became blurry as they gasped for air. They were screaming in pain as they felt the burning sensation in their eyes. They slowly fall onto the ground while Ethan laughs and watches them at a distance waiting for the gas to diminish.

“And here you are, fell into my hands. I’m going to make you suffer, make you watch your parents slowly die while watching you in despair.” Ethan menacingly laughed at Lez.

As Ethan was about to grab Lez, Jef, together with Heather and Feng, arrived.

“Get your hands off her, you filthy scumbag.” Jef fires his gun at Ethan and hits him on his shoulders while Heather helps Lez get up and Feng as to Mike.

Ethan groaned in pain as he backed away from them. He quickly turned invisible.

“Oh no, you don’t, mother fucker!” Jef quickly wore heat vision goggles to see Ethen even in invisible form and shot him thrice in the chest as Ethan fell on the ground and blood splattered all over the floor.

“Are you all okay?” Jef asked both Mike and Lez as they both hung on Heather and Feng.

“Thank God you made it back, guys,” Mike said to the team.

“Sir Drake called us on his phone and told us everything that happened. He also informed us about Ethan's invisibility ability. Luckily Ethan has heat vision goggles on his equipment that I grabbed, and it really made its worth.” Jef explained as he moved a step forward.

“Wait! Please don’t come near him, Jef. He’s not dead.” Lez warned Jef as he took steps backward.

“But he already shot him three times on his chest, ma’am,” Heather commented, for she believes Ethan is dead.

“Yeah. From the look of that much blood spreading on the floor. I guess he should be dead by that.” Feng added.

“Nope! Don’t trust what you see, guys.” Mike said as he stood himself straight. “Remember, we’re fighting a demon, not a normal person. I’ve seen this scene many times before, and it’s not safe to be near him. Demons do regenerate faster than anyone could imagine.” Mike explained as the three SBGs raised their weapons and pointed at Ethan.

“So what are we going to do now, sir?” Jef asked Mike.

Ethan quickly got up in his demon form, screaming, which startled everyone.

Lez quickly grabbed Heather’s stun gun on her side and fired at Ethan. It hit on his chest and started to electrocute him as he groaned and squirmed in agony.

“Grab your stun gun and fire at him!” Lez shouted as Feng and Jef fires their stun gun.

Lez was waiting for the moment for the smoke to come out, but it didn’t happen. The stun gun's electricity produced was not enough to make the demon abandon his host and save itself. After seconds pass, her weapon has lost the charge, but Ethan still stands squirming as Jef and Feng’s gun electrocutes him.

“Take this, you asshole!” Lez said as her hands started to blaze and torched Ethan in his place. Jef and Feng’s gun lost their charge while Lez continued to burn him.

Ethan managed to run away even though his whole body was on fire when the electrocution ended, and he received significant damage and heavy burns all over his body.

“Oh no, you won’t escape us,” Jef said as he ran after Ethan and shot him with his handgun twice.

“Jef, stop! Let him be. We can’t kill him with your weapons and neither be with my flame.” Lez explained as Jef follows.

“Wow! Ma’am, your hands are blazing! That is so cool.” Heather said as she and Feng stared at it, for it’s their first time to see Lez’s ability.

“Yeah, but still not enough to stop the demon that we faced.” Lez desperately said, for she thought she could defeat the demon this time.

“I’ll go and help Sir Drake,” Jef said and moved in front of the panic room door to open it.

Same time as the door opened, Allen, with a lot of mansion guards, arrived.

“Thank you, Jef. What are those in your head?” Drake said after Jef opened the vault door.

“It’s a heat vision goggles, sir. I managed to see Ethan even in his invisible form due to this equipment.” Jef replied.

“Where’d you get that?” Drake curiously asked.

“It’s one of Ethan’s equipment, sir, that he ordered me to get from his apartment. We hid most of his equipment, and when you called and informed us about the situation, I remembered he had this and grabbed it for use.” Jef replied.

“Excellent initiative Jef.” Drake commended Jef.

“Thank you, sir,” Jef replied with a smile.

“Drake!” Lez called as she came and hugged her boyfriend.

“Are you alright?” Drake asked worriedly.

“Yes, I’m fine, but Ethan got away.” Lez worriedly said, for she knew Ethan would come back for another attack.

“I know. I saw most of the happenings as I peeked in the window.” Drake replied to Lez.

He then walked towards the bodies of their fallen comrades. He clenched his fist with anger, for he still can’t stop death on its path.

“Sir, we already searched the entire mansion and nearby perimeter, but we can’t seem to find the perpetrator,” Allen reported.

“It’s alright, Allen. Tell everybody not to engage with the demon. If they manage to encounter him, tell them to inform us immediately. They cannot harm the demon with bullets alone. And I’ve seen the effect of a stun gun on him, and it’s much effective than any bullet gun but not enough to hinder him greatly.” Drake said.

“As you wish, sir,” Allen replied.

“By the way, Allen, do we have those heat vision goggles at the garrison?” Drake asked.

“We do, sir. But not much. Why’d you ask, sir?” Allen said.

“We can use those goggles when he turned invisible. Could you bring five of those and give it to the SBGs?” Drake instructed.

“I think that’s the exact number we had, for now, sir. I’ll ask someone to bring those and distribute them to the SBGs immediately.” Allen obliged.

“Thank you, Allen, and please add more of it by tomorrow,” Drake said.

“I will, sir!” Allen replied before he left and radioed the guards for the instructions.

“Lez, please return to your room together with your parents. I know Ethan’s main target, for now, is your parents, and that’s why you need to protect them. Mike, Al, Nicole, please go with them. It would be safer for them with all of you in one room. And go grab more guards to be stationed outside the room.” Drake instructed.

“Where would you go?” Lez asked.

“I’ll be with Jef, Feng, and Heather and grab some more men to check the servant’s quarters to see if they are safe. I can’t just leave them be unsafe and unchecked.” Drake replied.

“Okay, we’ll wait for you inside the room,” Lez replied as she hugged and kissed Drake before they left.

“Al! Please station some guards for Clem and Nana in your too.” Drake shouted as they were a distance away from them.

“I will!” AL replied as they climbed upstairs.

“Okay, guys, we’ll wait for Allen’s return, then proceed to the servant’s quarters,” Drake instructed.

“Yes, sir!” They all replied.

Later on, Allen returned with what Drake requested, the heat vision goggles given to Heather and Feng for Jef already had his. Drake wants the remaining three goggles to be provided at Nicole, Jin, and Sam, who are currently guarding Lez and her parents upstairs. He ordered Allen to care for the bodies of their fallen comrades.

He gathered five more mansion guards to go with them as they patrol and check the servant’s quarter one by one. They carefully checked each room until they reached the last room.

Drake knocked on the door thrice as the maid opened the door to see them.

“Good evening! Sorry for the disturbance, but we need to check your room for safety.” Jef said.

“Okay, sir, please come in.” the servant said as she widely opened her door and stayed beside it.

Jef, Heather, and Feng entered the door to check on every corner of the room and saw nothing suspicious inside while Drake waited outside with five other men with their stun guns.

“Oh, good evening Sir Drake. The lady servant greeted Drake with a smile.

“Good evening. Have you noticed any disturbances around the area?” Drake asked.

“I do, sir. I heard someone earlier running and screaming and move towards the east. I don’t know what it was and never want to know more that’s why I locked my doors.” The servant replied.

“Sir, the whole area is clear. I think that bastard Ethan went into the forest area.” Jef said as he reported to Drake beside the servant lady.

“I guess so too. Come on. Let’s get back inside the mansion and take our rest.” Drake ordered as the three SBGs went outside the room.

“Please stay safe and lock your doors. If you are in trouble, just alarm your bell, and we’ll be here immediately.” Drake instructed the servant.

“I will, sir! And thank you.” the servant replied.

Drake and the team left the area as the lady servant closed and locked her doors. As the lady turned her back at the door, a menacing smile was visible within her face as he changed her appearance back to Ethan. His burns are still visible but slowly regenerating as he moves towards the bed. There and then, the body of the lifeless servant lady can be seen at the corner beside the door. It was never seen earlier, for it was covered behind the door and assured by the lady servant who indeed was Ethan in disguise by posting near the door.

END OF CHAPTER 17