Born in Blood

526  Orchestrated n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Well, well well," Liam said as he slowly stroked his chin like a sage. "What do we have here, hmm? A secret underground meeting?"

"I asked you who you are," the six toothed eel growled with hostility. "If I ask again, it'll be with my teeth in your neck, mammal." Dainty threat.

But instead of cleanly severing off its neck in that instant, despite a tiny urge to do so, Liam stored all four of his swords. He smiled diplomatically.

"Calm yourselves, gentlemen," Liam said, taking out a handful of pearly Shellings. "I'm sure we can all come to a mutual agreement and sort this little dilemma out with no bloodshed. I'm with the NOCL." If there was anyone that could boast about not being afraid to fight, it was Liam. The sight of a mangled corpse and the shedding of blood was more beloved to him than actual wealth… but he knew when to hold back. There was a time to murder, and a time to be political… even if the line that separated the two was quite thin.

Both the Rock Frogs and Moray Eels side-glanced at each other with cryptic eyes, then looked back at Liam, giving him a terse nod.

Liam threw both a Shelling each. "We're not secretly meeting," the six toothed Eel said cautiously, grabbing the Shelling and just swallowing it. As Liam thought, it was the ocean's method of storage.

 "We're confronting one another," the crowned frog added. Silence.

"Hmm?" Liam hummed curiously, leaning forward. "Do explain." There was another pregnant pause. The crowned frog gave Liam a heavy look. "There has been a murder." There was another silence. Everyone snuck suspicious looks at one another.

Their wary posture indicated that they were ready to lash out at any second, but held back the urge in the slight chance they attacked an ally. Liam arched a brow, but realization dawned upon him a second later. His face expressed nothing… but his mental cogs were turning as his eyes subtly scanned the packed cavity.

"Who's the victim?" Liam asked curiously. Pause.

The crowned frog and six-toothed eel stared at Liam for several seconds, perhaps weighing the benefits and negatives of pulling him into the loop.

After a couple seconds, they seemed to arrive at a silent agreement. CURRK!

The crowned frog croaked, and its throat bulged thick. What followed was a disgusting display of regurgitation, as the frog's chest rolled something out. At the same time, the six-toothed eel imitated it, waves of its muscle tensing and softening as something was inching its way out of its maw.

'What have I walked in on?' Liam thought, weirded out as the retching and gagging sounds sounded out. 'Am I supposed to vomit something out, too?' BLERGH!

GRHSH!

At the end of it all, the amphibian vomited out a dried out, mummified, mutilated Rock Frog corpse. And, similarly, the eel vomited out a mummified Moray Eel corpse. The corpses were coated with a protective layer of viscous mucus, courtesy of both the eel and the frog. Perhaps it was their way of storing items, since the corpses, although mummified, were still a full-fledged Rock Frog and Moray Eel. The atmosphere grew heavy. Liam scanned the corpses with his Spirit Sight, finding such a particular killing method strange. Abilities and techniques that allowed their user to drain another person dry like this was not common. In fact, most belonged to the vampires… but Liam didn't reckon the ocean housed many of those. Even Liam had just one ability that allowed him to absorb blood, and a major part of his arsenal was based upon his ichor — the vampiric nails… an old technique, but one he hadn't bothered upgrading. Maybe he should…

Liam brought himself back to the task at hand, walking over to the corpses and giving them a closer inspection. Just then, his scale-covered tail split in two, wrapping around the corpses and spinning them around. 22:58

Little bristles with snail-like eyes at the end of them emerged from its surface, which pierced the mummies and poked through them, getting an inside view. The eels and frogs watching felt a pang of shock. What kind of human had the ability to change their body so casually? What kind of human had a tail covered with eyes? What was this thing?

Inwardly, both parties were grateful a fight hadn't broken out. Meanwhile, as Liam combed through the corpses' details, he realized a few things.

There were countless little puncture holes — each the width of a penny — across the corpses' bodies… which Liam could only deduce were the cause of death and drainage. 'Something with spiked tentacles,' Liam thought. 'Something in either the jellyfish, or the octopus family.' 'Why are there no traces of pink glitter on them, though? Have they been cleaned out?' It was clear what this was.

It was the AG agent. The thing that had taken Liam's form was the same thing that killed these two fishes. If it could take the form of others so immaculately, it had to be a part of the octopus' family. But to Liam's eye, he couldn't actually see if the person who did it was among the twelve fishes present. Even with his Spirit Sight, which allowed him to see what the insides of the fish contained. 'Is it just one person?' Liam thought. 'Or two?' There were several questions unanswered!

"Where's the princess?" Liam asked the crowned frog and six-toothed eel with a subtle frown. "And who are these two, exactly?"

There was a pause.

Both the crowned frog and six-toothed eel tensed. "Answer," Liam growled quietly, losing his patience. A short pause.

"My son," the eel uttered shamefully. "My child, too," the frog said, and with the same tone as the eel. Despite their literal sons being murdered, the two identified them quite shamefully, as though they weren't heartbroken at all.

Liam remained silent with a stony expression, which made the eel and frog uncomfortable enough to continue.

"These two idiots orchestrated the kidnapping."