Chapter 424: Chapter 424 The Vostok Enforcement Centre

Liam rubbed his chin slowly, eyes still drifting back toward the cordoned street behind them as if the answers might still be lying there in the blood and shattered concrete.

“If we want to find this fledgling,” he said at last, voice calm but edged with tension, “where do we even start from.”

Irina did not answer immediately. She turned around as she head for get car, When she finally looked at him, she shook her head.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “That’s the problem.”

Liam studied her face. Irina was rarely uncertain. When she was, it meant the situation was already bad.

After a brief pause, she pushed off the car and straightened. “But we can narrow it down.”

“How,” Liam asked.

She gestured with her chin toward the direction of the station. “Forensics. We pull the full list of casualties from the attacks. Everyone who died as a direct result of whatever did this.”

Liam nodded slowly. “And then.”

“And then,” Irina continued, “we look for the one who had a proper burial.”

He stopped walking for half a second, eyebrows lifting as he caught up to her stride. “A proper burial?”

“Yes.”

They moved side by side now, the city noise fading into the background as the weight of the conversation pulled them inward.

“Explain,” Liam said.

“For a human to be fully reborn as a vampire,” Irina replied, “the body needs to be placed into the ground.”

Liam let out a quiet breath through his nose. “You’re serious.”

“Completely.”

“Why,” he asked. “What does the ground have to do with it.”

Irina slowed her steps slightly, forcing him to match her pace. Her voice lowered, not out of secrecy but habit.

“Think of it like nature,” she said. “Change does not happen in isolation. Everything follows a cycle. Birth. Decay. Renewal.”

She glanced at him briefly to see if he was following.

“For the transformation to complete,” she continued, “the body has to believe it is dead. Not wounded. Not fading. Dead.”

“And burial convinces it,” Liam said.

“Yes,” Irina replied. “The pressure. The darkness. The silence. It cuts off the world completely. No sound. No light. No movement. The body gives up.”

“And then it comes back,” Liam said quietly.

“Something does,” she corrected.

They reached her car. Irina opened the driver’s door and slid in, Liam taking the passenger side without hesitation. The door closed with a solid thud, shutting out the rest of the world.

As the engine started and they pulled into traffic, Liam stared out the window, thoughts turning.

“So we find the dead,” he said. “Then we find which one was buried instead of cremated.”

“Yes,” Irina replied. “Cremation ruins the process. Always has.”

“That narrows it down,” Liam admitted. “Not by much, but enough.”

They drove in silence for a minute, the city blurring past them.

Then Liam’s eyes shifted, landing on the badge clipped neatly to her coat.

He pointed at it casually. “You know,” he said, “you don’t really strike me as someone who follows the law.”

Irina chuckled, a low sound that carried more amusement than offense. “That’s because I don’t.”

“Then what’s with the badge,” Liam asked. “You wear it like it means something.”

“It does,” she replied. “Just not in the way they think.”

She glanced at him briefly, eyes sharp with humor. “It’s a front. A very convenient one.”

“So you’re not actually police,” Liam said, more statement than question.

“No,” she said simply.

He turned fully toward her now. “Then how did you get in.”

She shrugged lightly. “Same way I get into most places.”

Liam smirked faintly. “Force.”

“Influence,” she corrected. “Fear helps too.”

He nodded, then frowned slightly as another thought surfaced. “And the badge.”

“A badge isn’t hard to obtain,” Irina said. “Especially when you don’t care about paperwork.”

Liam exhaled. “Fair.”

For a moment, he almost asked how she forged it, who she threatened, who she erased from a database. But even as the question formed, he dismissed it.

That wasn’t the right one.

He tilted his head, studying her profile as she drove, her posture relaxed but alert, like a predator pretending to be human.

“No,” he said slowly. “That’s not the question.”

Irina glanced at him again, already knowing what was coming.

“A badge is easy,” Liam continued. “Especially for someone like you.”

She waited.

“How the hell did you get them to believe you?”

Irina glanced at him from the driver’s seat, one hand steady on the wheel, the other tapping lightly against the door.

“Did you even hear anything I’ve been telling you since earlier,” she asked, her tone flat but edged with irritation.

Liam blinked and turned his head slightly. “Which part exactly.”

She rolled her eyes hard enough that he could almost feel it. “Influence,” she said. “That whole explanation I gave you. The part where I answered your question.”

“Oh,” Liam said. “That.”

“Yes. That.”

She exhaled through her nose, clearly tired. This man talked too much, questioned too much, and somehow still missed the obvious. She kept her eyes on the road for a moment, then spoke again, more casually this time.

“By the way,” she said, “where’s Lana.”

Liam answered without hesitation. “The journey took a toll on her body. She wanted to sleep.”

The car slammed to a stop.

Liam had not been wearing a seatbelt. His body jerked forward violently, instinct kicking in just in time as he threw a hand out and grabbed the front of the dashboard. His shoulder hit the seat, his breath knocked halfway out of him.

“What the hell,” he snapped, turning toward her.

Irina did not respond right away.

She stared at him.

Not a glance. Not a quick look. She stared. Her eyes locked on his face, sharp and unblinking. Ten seconds passed. Then fifteen. Liam shifted slightly in his seat, uncomfortable now, unsure if he should speak again or stay quiet.

At around twenty seconds, her expression cracked.

She burst out laughing.

It was loud, sudden, uncontrollable. Her head tilted back as her laughter filled the car, one hand slapping the steering wheel as if she had just heard the best joke of her life.

Liam stared at her like she had completely lost her mind. “What is wrong with you.”

She laughed harder.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. There was no point. He waited, jaw tight, eyes narrowed, as she slowly got control of herself.

Finally, she looked at him, amusement still dancing in her eyes. “You guys had sex,” she said plainly. “A lot of sex. And she’s tired.”

Liam froze.

His eyes widened, his mouth parting slightly before he could stop it. “What.”

Irina laughed again, this time softer, almost pleased with herself. She eased her foot back onto the gas and the car started moving again like nothing had happened.

“I can smell her on you,” she said calmly. “And it’s damn strong.”

Liam leaned back into his seat, exhaling slowly. He rubbed a hand over his face and then looked out the window.

Of course.

There was nothing he could say. Nothing he could deny. She was a werewolf. Not just any werewolf, but an alpha. Her senses were sharp enough to pick apart lies without words. Smell alone probably told her more than most people learned in a lifetime.

He shook his head slightly. Maybe I should have thought about that before I lied through my teeth.

Irina glanced at him again, still smiling. “Relax. I don’t care. Good for her.”

He said nothing.

The rest of the drive passed in near silence. Not an awkward one. Just quiet. The city stretched around them as the car moved through wider streets, taller buildings, heavier traffic. Liam watched it all through the glass, mind slowly shifting back to the work ahead.

Eventually, the car turned into a massive secured area. Gates opened. Armed guards nodded. The space beyond was enormous.

Irina parked and killed the engine. “We’re here.”

Liam stepped out of the car and stopped.

He stared.

The police station was huge. Not just wide, but deep, layered, built with purpose and authority. Thick concrete walls rose high, reinforced and solid. Long stretches of windows reflected the grey sky above. Multiple entrances branched off in different directions, each guarded, each busy with movement.

Vehicles were parked everywhere. Patrol cars. Armored vans. Unmarked black sedans. Officers moved in groups, some talking, some walking with purpose, others standing watch. The place felt less like a building and more like a controlled zone.

It was intimidating without trying to be.

Liam slowly turned, taking it all in. “This place is massive.”

Irina stepped out behind him and shut her door. “It has to be.”

She walked up beside him, hands slipping into her coat pockets. “This city doesn’t forgive weakness. Neither does what lives under it.”

He glanced at her. “Comforting.”

She smirked faintly.

They started walking toward the main entrance. The closer they got, the more Liam noticed the details. The heavy doors. The reinforced glass. The sheer number of people inside. This was not just a station. It was a hub. A fortress dressed as bureaucracy.

Irina slowed slightly and spoke from just behind him.

“Welcome,” she said, voice calm and almost proud, “to the Vostok Enforcement Centre.”

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