The morning light filtered through Grey’s office windows as he finished briefing Kent on everything that had transpired the previous night.

“We’re in serious trouble,” Kent said, fully grasping the gravity of their situation. USOV’s deepest secrets were now in Dorian’s hands, and each one was potentially devastating enough to destroy the organization entirely.

Grey stared blankly ahead, lost in thought, until Kent broke the silence again. “And this creature he called a djinn, I’ll have our research team look into it immediately.”

“As soon as we finish here, make that your top priority. I need to know how Dorian managed to get his hands on such a powerful entity,” Grey replied.

Kent then asked “How did he even become a summoner in the first place?”

Grey raised both hands and shook his head, “Your guess is as good as mine at this point.”

“We need to deal with Dorian, and fast,” Grey continued, his tone becoming more decisive.

“I say we bring Lucien on board. This affects him just as much as us—hell, maybe even more for him,” Kent suggested.

Grey the said, “That’s the problem. Dorian made it crystal clear to keep Lucien out of this, or he’ll go public with everything. And if we involve Lucien directly, there’s no doubt he’ll come to Michigan himself.”

“But Lucien could get involved without actually coming to Michigan,” Kent pointed out thoughtfully.

“True,” Grey said, considering the possibility. “What are you suggesting?”

“I’d say we definitely don’t want to drag Liam directly into this, and Lucien might be the only person who can provide us with personnel assistance at a level sufficient to defeat Dorian without starting another large-scale conflict like last time,” Kent explained.

Grey nodded slowly, then added, “The White Hunters and our other allies need to be informed. If this all goes public, they’ll be affected too. But we need to handle everything subtly, since Dorian knows exactly who we’re connected with and may already be monitoring their movements.”

He released a heavy sigh just as Kent’s phone began buzzing insistently. When it buzzed a second time, Kent immediately pulled it out, given that double notifications meant something important enough to bypass his Do Not Disturb settings.

Grey watched as Kent checked the message, which simply read: “You need to see this,” followed by a link. Kent clicked the link, and a video opened showing Dorian standing confidently behind a podium surrounded by journalists. His voice rang out clearly: “People of Michigan, Grinning Dead is back!”

“Oh no,” Kent muttered, immediately passing the phone to Grey, who replayed that devastating line and shook his head in disbelief.

Almost instantly, Grey’s phone began buzzing with incoming calls from various faction presidents and other concerned parties. The most prominent caller ID showed Mayor Zach Ruggan’s name flashing on the screen.

“What do we do?” Kent asked, with a face that showed deep concern.

“For now, go see what our research team can dig up about this mythical creature under Dorian’s control. I need to think through our next course of action,” Grey said.

Kent nodded grimly and headed for the office door, leaving Grey alone with his ringing phone and thoughts.

…

Liam entered the USOV facility not so long ago, immediately noticing the grim expressions on the faces of agents throughout the building.

He then made his way to the field agents’ room, searching for Team C, and found them gathered around a set of couches in their usual corner of the large space.

Even Sarah, normally quick with a greeting or a joke, sat in somber silence with the others.

“Why does everyone look like shit?” Liam asked bluntly as he approached them.

“You haven’t heard?” Amir replied, looking up with surprised concern.

“Heard what?” Liam asked, genuinely lost about what was happening.

Elaine then spoke up, “Dorian Graves is back in Michigan, and it’s for real this time. Not a stopover, not a vacation, he’s actually getting his faction, Grinning Dead, back up and running.”

“Hmm,” Liam muttered, his face showing only some concern, mainly because the atmosphere everyone created around the name Dorian Graves had never been positive. “I thought the Director wouldn’t have allowed that, given what the state went through before,” he added

“That’s what we all thought too,” Sarah finally spoke up, “But here we are again. I just hope this won’t be a repetition of last time.”

“Hey guys, remember, I wasn’t here the last time,” Liam pointed out.

Elaine’s face broke into a slight smile at his comment, remembering that she’d made that observation before.

Just then, Brian walked into their area with a cheerful grin, completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere. “Hello, everyone!”

Liam turned toward him casually. “Hey man, didn’t see you around yesterday.”

“Oh yeah, sort of a personal matter, but it’s all resolved now,” Brian replied still maintaing that smile on his face.

“Hmm,” Liam muttered, simply nodding in acknowledgment.

In truth, it hadn’t been a personal matter at all. Brian had simply grown temporarily bored with being surrounded by humans, for what he felt, was so ong, and since nothing particularly spectacular had happened with his person of interest, Liam, he’d decided to spend a day doing something that felt normal to him, creating art in a quiet studio where he could just exist without the constant need to maintain his human facade.

Additionally, Brian had also learnt from the vast internet knowledge stored in his mind that telling people something was “personal” would most likely keep them from prying further, a useful human social convention that he just aided his story.

As he settled in with the group, he finally noticed the heavy atmosphere that had settled over not just Team C, but the entire room. “Hey, what’s with all the gloom on your faces?” he asked as his eyes scanned through the room. “And now that I look around, everyone else seems the same way.”

“Dorian is back,” Sarah said.

Brian nodded. “Yeah, you guys mentioned him one time, but that was some days ago, so…”

“No, this time he’s back for good,” Sarah continued, her expression growing more serious. “He’s bringing his faction back up too—Grinning Dead.”

“Oh?” Brian said, his face remaining completely expressionless as he processed this information. After a moment, he simply shrugged, “Okay.”

To Brian, this was a rather trivial matter, and frankly, he didn’t care about it either.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep