Wait?
What did she say?
I was stunned at what I heard from Ms. Urduja. "I witnessed and heard your arguments nearby. And I can hear loud and clear that she will have this incident to be reported."
"But she-"
"ENOUGH!" All the people gathered looked in the direction of the voice and Mrs. Carlson approached them, with two bodyguards in tow. "I heard enough of this nonsense!" She looked at the two guilty candidates in anger. "You two, come to my office right now!"
The candidates only whimpered in fear as they left the scene, passing by the organizer herself. Then she looked at us with a smile on her face. "Ms. Marquez, thank you for stepping in." She said to Ms. Urduja. "Ms. Brown, I thank you for saving Ms. Yemana. If you didn't intervene, she would have been drowned by now."
"It's no big deal." I smile awkwardly. "It's my job to make you guys safe after all."
"And it is my duty to reprimand you of what you've done." I felt shivers down my spine as Ivan grabbed my arm and dragged me inside the building. While being dragged, I could see Ms. Urduja waved at me with a smile on her face.
*
"What on earth are you thinking?!" This is the first thing that the sadistic Ice Emperor said to me while we were inside the building alone. "What you did is insubordination! I told you to stay away from any affairs that is non-vampire related!"
"And you just only stand there and do nothing while I'm swimming my ass on saving that candidate!" I talked back to him. "Listen here, mister: I don't care if I didn't follow your orders, but I did what I did to save a life that is in danger!"
Sheesh, I can't stand this guy.
"But like I said earlier: let the organizers handle this incident!" He ran his hair through his fingers in frustration. "I will not tolerate this! From now on, do not-"
"Now, now, Ivan." Before he could finish his sentence, a hand was placed on his shoulder as he turned around and saw Angelina with a smile on her face. "Don't be too harsh on your teammate. She's doing the right thing to intervene."
"You too, Angelina?" Ivan retorted as he swatted her hand away from his shoulder. "Don't you ever dare started me with your explanation."
Angelina ignored him and looked at me. "Hi! You must be Anna, right?"
"Um, yes?"
She approached me and reached out her hand for a handshake. "S-ranked agent, Angelina Turpentine. Pleasure to working with you."
"The pleasure's all mine too." I said as we were handshaking our hands. "May I ask if you are a part of this man's team?" I asked as I pointed at him.
"Me? The same team as this guy?" She looked back at Ivan and laughed. "No, I lead my own team. It's just that I took this as a solo mission. I don't want any of my girls to be involved into this."
"Angelina's team is an all-girls team." Ivan explained, "Most of their missions are espionage in events." Then he looked at her. "Enough chitchat, do you notice anything unusual lately?"
Angelina's face shifted from her cheery self to being serious as the topic shifted. "Actually Ivan, in the past few days after the latest victim was found, I have formed some theories and suspicions that will lead us to the victims' death."
"Like?" Ivan asked. I was curious as well.
"When the latest survey from the evening gown category was released to the public, and Ms. Phosop was revealed to be its leading candidate, I knew that something was not right. This also the same to the national gown category, where four of the leading candidates for four consecutive weeks are also found dead after it was released."
"So, you're saying that the vampires are using the surveys to choose their victims?" I asked.
"Precisely." she replied. "Before Ms. Phosop, another candidate who was formerly leading the evening gown category was found dead after the first round of survey was released, and days later, another candidate who is also leading the evening gown was also found dead as well. Currently, Ms. Urduja is the leading candidate for the evening gown for the fourth round, but that update has not been released yet. Add the swimsuit category to the mix, and most of the people will vote for Ms. Urduja to be its leading candidate. This may be a theory; if the vampires are using the surveys to choose their victims, as you said Anna, this will lead us to one conclusion: There is a higher possibility that she will be the vampire's next victim."
The room was silent after what Angelina told us about her theory. It was deafening for a couple of minutes before I spoke up. "Do you think, we should suggest to the organizers to stop releasing the surveys to the public?"
"I don't think that would work." Angelina answered while looking at me. "The pageant experts and die-hard pageant fans are also expecting to see the latest surveys to see who is the leading candidate that is likely to win the Ms. Cosmos crown. Stopping it now will cause an uproar on their end."
"Which means, the only option on us now is to guard the candidates whether they go." I said quietly in a serious tone. I turned my head and saw Ivan took his time to digest the information. Then, he was thinking of a plan for a few minutes until he spoke up:
"Angelina," he turned his head towards her, "since you said that the current evening gown survey is not yet release to the public, can you order one of your teammates to keep an eye on it?"
"I will do that." She replied, "I already informed her on this in advance after the candidate before Ms. Phosop was found dead."
"That would be great." Then he turned his head to me. "And you, Anna?"
"What is it now?" I asked him, annoyed. I nearly forgot why I was angry at this guy.
"I want you to guard Ms. Urduja." He ordered.
What? Why is this guy ordering me to guard again? "Wait a minute here, mister!" I complained. "I thought you are the one who is guarding Ms. Urduja."
"Do you think you can handle protecting all the candidates in case of a vampire attack?" he asked in a cold detached tone while glaring at me with those icy blue eyes of his. I shuddered as I shook my head in response.
Seriously, this guy is a piece of work. "The reason why I ordered you to guard her is because I have seen your record in protecting Lord Lilitus."
Oh, I forgot about him. I wonder how he and the others are doing right now, especially Kouga.
But I snapped out of it as I realized my current situation right now. "Just because I guard him doesn't mean I'm doing it again!"
But he just ignored me and turned his back on us.
"Hey!" I shouted.
"I'm going to the organizer's office to discuss some precautions and suggestions based on our discussion." Then he turned to me and pointed his finger at me as if I was a criminal. "And don't you dare do something funny this time!" Then he turned back again and left.
Seriously, this guy!
"Seems you are in a bad mood dealing with him." Angelina said as that Ice Emperor is out of our sight.
"That guy doesn't give me a break since I was entered on his team." I complained as I told Angelina everything about all the missions that I was taken to as well as unlimited work with no breaks and vacations.
After I finished complaining, Angelina sighed for a few minutes.
"Anna," she spoke to me with a sad look on her face. "You should need to understand Ivan more as you work with him, as for you to understand the reason why he is like that."
Wait, why is she concerned over that guy? Now I'm curious.
"Before he became the Ivan we knew today, he was a kind, compassionate, and cheerful B-rank agent. He was a hardworking and dependable agent and all of his teammates looked up to him as a model agent. His team leader has high hopes of him becoming a S-rank agent, a rank he is currently holding. Until that one fateful day."
What happened to him on that day? I asked myself as Angelina continued. "From what I've heard and read in the report archives, it was a rainy evening. They received a mission that there was a vampire activity on the forest outside Lincoln. His team and another team went to the forest as ordered. But what they didn't know is that they are walking into the vampire's trap. As in the blink of an eye, one by one, the agents accompanied him were slaughtered before his eyes. Not only that, but he also witnessed the other team being bisected and having their blood drained. His team leader was beheaded, and the rest of his teammates being trapped in a black void and heard their despairing screams as they were crushed from the inside. Turns out, the vampire they are facing is a high-ranking vampire from the rebel side. If it wasn't for a S-rank team that was sent as reinforcements, Ivan should have died that day."
I was stunned at this realization, like someone poured a bucket of cold ice water onto my face. "What happened to that vampire?" I asked, wanting to know what happened.
Angelina went silent for a moment until she replied, "He got away. After that fateful mission, Ivan changed drastically. He transformed from a kind, compassionate and cheerful one to a serious, apathetic, and detached agent. His current teammates are worried about him that he will lead himself to the path of revenge and to his own destruction. Most of the agents that are working with him but later reassigned to another team somehow can't stand his coldness and apathetic attitude. For him, they are a tool that means to an end."
I lowered my head and looked down on the ground as I processed this information. I realized why he is taking missions left and right without a single break and some of the agents can't stand him except for his current teammates.
No wonder he doesn't care what happened to the incident around him, as long as it is not vampire related.
"We are SECTA agents, and we are only dealing with vampires. Listen to me: let them be and focus on your duty." I remembered he said that to me before I disobeyed him and saved Ms. Yemana from drowning in the pool earlier.
"I should apologize to him." I spoke out in an apologetic tone, then looked up again to face Angelina once more. "I said something that it shouldn't have."
"No, it's okay." Angelina reassured me, "He is already get used to it. But," she continued in worried tone, "I'm glad that there is someone to steer him and put him into the right track. I somehow observed your argument with him from afar earlier. He may be good at hiding it, but it seems like someone is calling out to him at last." Then, she looked at me with a sweet smile on her face. "Anna, as his fellow S-rank agent, please continue to babysit that guy for me."
"Eh?" I was stunned again, this time by her request to babysit that guy that almost made my jaw drop to the floor.
And I thought I was going to be sympathetic with him.