Legend of the North

Chapter 8: Blackmail

“What the hell is going on?” Brayan demanded, panting heavily as he stared at the white walls surrounding the group.

“How the hell should I know?” Aidan shot back as he leaned against one of the walls that he had tried to punch a hole through only to hurt his fist instead.

Jeanine nervously nibbled on her thumbnail, staring down at her phone, as she tapped frantically on the screen. It continued to reiterate that there was no phone signal and to move into an area with coverage.

“Why? Why isn’t it working?” she muttered, unable to tear her eyes away from the screen.

Katie watched all of this play out and tugged at Jagger’s sleeve, asking, “Jagger, baby, what do we do?”

Jagger’s grim expression didn’t falter, studying the scene before him. He hadn’t expected this to happen when he brought his gang to bully the greatest disgrace of the century. When Cristian had summoned his beast, everyone had been shocked. Everyone knew that there was always a light show during the summoning. The brighter the light, the more impressive the summon, though there have been cases where it wasn’t always true, but it was the norm.

During his own summoning, there had been a bright red glow. However, none of that happened during Cristian’s turn. One moment there was nothing there, and the next there was a small wolf right in front of Cristian. No fanfare or anything. It was obvious to everyone that Cristian had managed to summon the weakest beast in history.

So how did they end up in this situation? It should have been quick and simple, but now they were trapped in an unknown space with seemingly no way out. How did Cristian manage to pull it off?

“Jagger,” Katie tugged at his arm again.

“Enough,” he snapped, shrugging her off.

She stared at him with wide, hurt eyes, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t stop thinking about the impossibility of the situation and getting back at Cristian for humiliating him like this.

As if summoned, Cristian’s voice rang out in the space. “Are you enjoying yourselves?”

The group frantically searched their surroundings for the source of the voice, but they couldn’t find anything. His voice seemed to be coming from everywhere.

“Show yourself, coward,” Jagger spat, veins bulging in his arms.

“I will, but I think we need to set some ground rules here,” Cristian said.

“Who do you think you are? You’re just trash,” Brayan snapped, jabbing a finger at the ceiling.

“If I’m trash, what does that make you then?” Cristian mocked.

Brayan screamed incoherently at the ceiling and shook his fists threateningly. If he could, he would have summoned his beast already to break them out of there. Why wasn’t his beast answering him?

“Let’s cut straight to the point. You want to leave, and I honestly want nothing to do with any of you, but I demand compensation for the stunt you pulled,” Cristian stated.

“You really think you can get away with this. Once everyone realizes we’re missing, you have to face all our families,” Aidan pointed out.

“That’s right, so you better let us go right now,” Jeanine ordered.

Cristian chuckled. “I think you’re forgetting something important here. I’m currently known to have the weakest beast in history. Do you really think anyone would believe I could take on any of you much less all five?”

That effectively silenced them. He was right. If it hadn’t happened to them, they wouldn’t have believed he could pull off such a thing. No one in their right mind would think someone like Cristian could put them in their place. Not to mention, they had separated from everyone else without telling anyone what they were planning. Their families probably thought they were partying somewhere and wouldn’t notice anything wrong until much later.

“What do you want?” Jagger said through gritted teeth.

“I’m glad you asked. You see all of you have put me through physical and emotional distress that can only be resolved through money,” Cristian said cheerfully.

“Are...are you blackmailing us?” Katie asked in disbelief.

“Blackmail? No, it’s compensation. The injured party is always compensated for any harm they go through by the guilty party,” Cristian said.

“What if we refuse?” Brayan asked.

“You know I don’t have to let any of you out. I can just leave you there forever. I wonder how long all of you will last,” Cristian said, sending chills down their spines.

“Y-you can’t do that,” Jeanine stammered.

In a cold voice, Cristian said, “I can and I will. It’s up to you, but the clock’s ticking. If I don’t get an answer soon, you won’t get another chance.”

The group turned to Jagger for answers, and he ground his teeth. He should have smashed Cristian’s head into the pavement when he had the chance. How dare he do this to him? Did he know who he was? However, he knew better than to lash out when he was at a disadvantage. For now, he would go along with Cristian’s demands. Once he got out, he would summon his beast to deal with Cristian.

“Fine. How much do you want?” Jagger spat.

Without missing a beast, Cristian said, “I want five million.”

“What?” the whole group blurted out.

“Since there are five of you, you can split it to one million each or have one person pay the full amount. It doesn’t matter to me,” Cristian said.

“As if we’ll agree to such a crazy demand. Where are we going to get five million?” Aidan demanded, pointing at the ceiling.

“Maybe you should have thought twice before coming after me,” Cristian said without an ounce of shame.

Before anyone else could argue, Jagger said, “We’ll get you the money, so let us out.”

“Oh, I never said when I’ll let you go. You five can stay there for a couple days to think over your actions. Then I’ll let you out. Enjoy your stay,” Cristian said.

The group screamed and shouted at him, but he ignored them as a wicked grin stretched across his face.

[You have quite the devious expression on your face.]

“Oh, I just acquired the funds I need for stockpiling supplies,” Cristian said, bending down to pick up Fenrir.

[But the apocalypse is in a week. How long do you plan to leave there?]

“Humans can’t survive more than three days without water on average, but since I’m starving them too, I’m pretty sure they would go nuts in less time than that,” Cristian said causally.

[I’m looking forward to it.]