The knocking on the door stopped after Vanessa asked who it was. She and Damian were sitting at the table in the kitchen, and the front door was far from them.
"What should we do?" Damian whispered.
They did not know who it was, and if the person did not respond to their sayings, then it was not a good thing!
Vanessa made a hand sign for Damian to go up the stairs where her room was, so he did. She followed him closely behind afterward.
Once they were up in her bedroom, Vanessa pointed to her closet.
"Hiding inside the closet? Really?" Damian thought.
That was the worst place, and anyone breaking in would look there! But he still did as Vanessa told him, both inside the closet.
It was dark inside, yet Vanessa quickly found a button and pressed it, opening the secret panel behind the closet! Everything happened without a sound, and soon both of them went toward this hidden panel that closed a few seconds later.
A sound came from downstairs. Damian's body was not what it used to be after all his increase in attributes, so he heard it. It was someone lockpicking the back door of Vanessa's restaurant!
After that, everything became quieter, but once the intruders went up the stairs to her room, Damian heard their footsteps.
The intruders looked around Vanessa's house, searching in each corner that she might hide, and the last place they looked was the closet.
The closet's door slowly opened, and a figure wearing a dark cloak and hood entered. It was dark, making it impossible for Damian or Vanessa to see that person's face.
They moved the clothes around, trying to see if someone was hiding there, yet found nothing.
"Found something?" one of them said.
"No, nothing. How did she leave this restaurant so quickly?"
The intruders knew she was there because she talked to them when one knocked on the front door. As for the other intruder, it was already in the back, lockpicking the door!
They had studied the place, and it only had those two doors. They would see or hear even if Vanessa jumped through the window.
"She must have a secret passage and is gone by now. Well, we should not worry. We will get her, eventually."
The two figures left after realizing Vanessa was no longer there. They did not leave the area entirely but waited outside, hiding behind some bushes and trees, looking toward Vanessa's home to see if there would be any movements.
"Should we leave now?" Damian asked.
Damian and Vanessa were still behind the hidden panel, and the place did not have plentiful space for two people.
"Yeah, I think so. They were probably hiding nearby to see any movements. I don't think it is safe to sleep here," Vanessa said, opening the closet again.
She knew it was unlikely the intruders would return on the same night for the second time, but there was still the possibility, and there was no denying that it made her feel uneasy, unable to sleep.
But what could she do? There was nowhere to go; they might follow her if she left.
"I can help you with that, but there are some conditions," Damian said, sitting on her bed, gazing at Vanessa, who was standing right before him.
"You can help me? Well, if you truly can, then speak your conditions."
Damian smiled, "first of all, are you still in that secret organization of yours?"
"Yes and no. The organization ended after we failed the mission, but we are still inside the school, so you can say the organization still lives. Why?"
That was precisely what Damian wanted to know. But there was one thing bugging him, his identity.
Serana and Hazel were people he met down there, in the dungeon, and he trusted them, but his identity should remain a secret, perhaps only known by the top members of his new organization, The Dawn.
Vanessa and those others from their old organization were people Damian wanted to recruit. Still, they would have to prove themselves worthy of knowing he was the master behind everything, and the spots for top members were limited.
So Damian came up with the idea of acting like a regular member of The Dawn and being the leader simultaneously!
"The organization is just starting, so it will be easy to fool everyone. Plus, I can get another ability or item that makes me be in two places simultaneously, so it should not be a problem."
After setting his thoughts right, Damian looked at her and said, "if I told you I am a member of a new secret organization, would you join it? Maybe convince some of the old members from yours."
"What? A new secret organization? Who is the leader? How can he be great enough to catch my attention to join this organization?" Vanessa asked.
In her mind, even if the ideas behind the organization matched hers, she still wanted some benefits of working for someone. But who was the leader? Vanessa had no idea; she was a proud lady who would not accept orders from any weak person.
Damian's mind worked like crazy to think about something that would make her think twice, and there was something.
He smiled malignly, "no one can see the face of the leader, but he's someone that can improve others' abilities and even give more."
Vanessa stared at him for a few seconds, thinking that what Damian was saying was just bullshit. Not that humans could not have more than one ability — they could, as the serum was advancing fast — but only a few individuals could, and no one had the power to give others powers.
"Impossible. Unless he has a version of the serum the top scientists don't have," Vanessa said.
She was not buying it, "why don't you enter this organization to be close to me? And you can see if that is true or not," Damian said.
"Well, I will think about it if I have the chance to meet with your leader, and if this whole thing suits my desires, then I can join, yes. Anything else?"
Damian still wanted to know more about the key he got tattooed on his chest, but asking Vanessa directly wouldn't give him decent answers, but if she joined The Dawn, he would have the chance to get the answers from her.
"Only this. " Come close to me," Damian said, pulling Vanessa by the hips.