Rosworth Pharmaceuticals, CEO’s Office…
“I’M SORRY, SVEN, even Lieutenant Jacobs couldn’t do anything, but we believe that this man has something to do with the closing of the investigation.”
Sven gritted his teeth when he heard what Mavis said on the phone. They were in communication ever since she and her partner, James Randall handled the break-in that took place in their laboratory a month ago.
“Send me all the information you have on him.” he told her before he cut the call.
From what Mavis told him, it seemed that there was more to this that meets the eye. Just like what he thought at first. He couldn’t accept the reason that was given to him.
‘There isn’t enough evidence that’s why the higher ups decided to close the case.’
Well, that was bulls—t. Mavis and Randall were also put on a forced leaves but he was grateful that Lieutenant Jacobs, their superior, who decided to continue working on their case despite this setback. He met the man and he could say that he was someone who had his principles in the right place.
He put his phone back into the table as he leaned back onto his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose to ease the tension that was already giving him a headache. His stressful day started with meeting their board members, assuring them that the situation they were now facing would not affect the company and now this. He let out a deep sigh as he looked on a portrait hanging on his right. The face of a smiling old man with snowy white hair and moustache greeted his eyes.
It was the portrait of Samuel Rosworth, his grandfather. He was a gifted chemist, a Prime Alpha and the founder of Rosworth Pharmaceuticals. He tragically died five years ago, an event that haunted him until now. He stood up from his chair and went to stand in front of the floor to ceiling window of his office. From there, he could see the night lights below and the vastness of Hypnosia.
His grandfather founded this company in the Kingdom of Larran, fifty years ago. Since then it had become a pioneer of break-through medicines for every race in Luna Mundi, their country. The five realms and its citizens knew and respected their name. Especially, when they created the first versions of Serenity Pills, a type of suppressant made for Omegas of their race, specifically for those who were still unmated and not bonded.
Suppressants were type of medicines, usually in the form of tablets that helped Omegas controlled their Heats as well as their pheromones from affecting the other secondary genders. For the Valfaris, Heats / Ruts were a bodily function they had to undergo every three months. Within this period, they would seek to mate and procreate. They would also release pheromones to attract possible mates.
Besides the notion that Omegas were the weakest category in secondary genders, they also have the most powerful Heats amongst them and this was where the origin of their discrimination begins. It was due to the fact that if an unmated Omega went into heat, it could affect an Alpha in proximity and triggered their Ruts This went in both ways, as Alphas in rut could also triggered an Omega’s heat in proximity, the only difference was that it would only affects the Omegas and no one else.
The explanation for this was that within the Valfaris, the ultimate pairing would be an Alpha and an Omega no matter what their primary genders were. These kinds of union were what they said to be blessed by the Moon God. Well, these unions would be blessed if it was borne out of mutual desire to be together, but it wasn’t the case most of the time. With how potent an unmated Omega’s heat was, even the Betas were affected but they didn’t react impulsively like Alphas do. Most of the time, Alphas loses their senses and unwarranted attacks happened.
The aftermath was a chaotic mess. Broken bones, broken hearts and broken souls had all been attributed to be the fault of the Omegas. The society blamed the victims because of something they couldn’t control and because of this that most of them were treated as useless, baggage in the family and only served as marriage commodity to Alphas who were seeking mates. This was the thing his grandfather wanted to change by creating Serenity Pills and he could say that he succeeded.
As years passed, their company improved them; the pills now help unmated Omegas to function normally even if they were in the midst of their heat. It also made the pheromones they were releasing in its lowest level, lowering the unwarranted attacks to none. The emergence of the new categories of the secondary genders also became a big help and Dominant Omegas, who has the ability to control their pheromones helped in changing the views for all Omegas in general. His grandfather also developed a version of Serenity Pills for Alphas, called the Prime Tablets with the same effect as the first one, but unfortunately, all of these didn’t ran as smoothly as his grandfather had expected.
The Kingdom of Larran before had a very strict and conservative view of things. Even though his grandfather got the support of the public, the previous rulers along with the conservatives of the kingdom, opposed the distribution of suppressants. It took years and a civil war to be able to give it to those who really needed it. But he knew that even though Luna Mundi was now a progressive country, there were people here who still live in the ideals of the past. His grandfather also knew this and that was the reason why he chose to transfer Rosworth Pharmaceuticals in the State of Nyx. Here, people were open-minded and tolerance was granted without even asking for it.
D-15, if it was completed would serve as a new and improved version of the current Serenity Pills but with its loss, the company was again facing a controversy. The conservatives in Larran were also at their tail again and it seemed that their negative sentiment reached some of the government officials here in Nyx. He let out another sigh. He would not allow this to ruin the legacy his grandfather left.
Pull yourself together, Sven. He reminded himself. He frowned when he remembered something. He took his card holder and drew a black and gold business card. Tactica Private Investigation and Protection Agency. It was the private company owned by two of his closest friends. Calix called him this morning regarding an incident involving one of his employees. Hmm…Maybe this is the right time for me to pay their office a visit.
“HEY, RUNE, HAVE YOU MET this Sven Rosworth in person? I mean, your best friend is working for him, right?”Rune turned to Riven De Villalune who was sitting beside her. He was the youngest member of Tactica’s Cyber Security Team and came from Ivslight, the realm of the humans. Calix brought him here to set up the materials for this meeting. She frowned when she saw the crooked, black-rimmed glasses that almost cover his face. She fixed it for him and the young man mumbled a ‘thank you’.“Nope. Usually, Brenner and I see each other outside work. They have also a different company structure than ours and although, he told me that Sven was the best boss out there, it’s not every day that he mingles with them or the rest of his employees for that matter.” she answered. “Why did you ask?”Sebastian ‘Sven’ Rosworth was the CEO of Rosworth Pharmaceuticals. He was a licensed chemist and the only heir of Rosworth fortune, a close relative to the current monarchs of the Kingdom of Larran, bill
“NEWS OF OMEGAS GOING into sudden heats in public are getting more and more every day. The State of Nyx already issued a directive to let them stay in the confines of their homes for the meantime until this issue is resolve —”The video was then put on pause. Rune looked at Calix who was sitting on her left. He shortly met her eyes before it went to Wren and Calvin who were on the opposite side. They occupied half of the table with Brenner and Riven seated beside Calvin. All of them knew that this case would be different from the other cases they handled before. Their eyes then went back to Eugeny Bernstein, who was standing in front and presenting them all the information they had on the missing drug, the effect it had on the company and how they thought that it was connected with the Omega cases. Eugeny fixed his glasses before looking back at them. Sven who was seated near the front turned his chair, crossed legs and with the air of authority oozing from him, he faced them.Rune fe
SVEN RAISED his brow on Rune’s question, not because it was out of place but rather because it was an interesting one.“How about Betas?” she continued. Everyone’s attention was now on her.Brenner shook his head. “No. To tell you the truth, we didn’t think about it because D-15’s purpose is for the Omegas alone.”“So, you don’t know what will be its effect on other secondary genders?” she followed up.Brenner nodded. “Yes.”“Hmm…” she pondered.“What’s with these questions, Ms. Navarre?” He interjected.He was curious as to where this was going. She was going to open her mouth but Calix spoke and offered an explanation on her behalf.“Let her, Sven. If she’s asking questions, it means that there might be something we might have missed from this discussion. By the way, she was the employee involved in that incident I called you about three days ago. ”A sudden interest rose on him. “Oh. Go on then,”To his amusement, Rune gave him a blank stare while thanking Calix. She brought her at
“OPEN THE ENVELOPES in front of you.” Calix said as Sven looked at him. He then stood up from his chair and went in front. Sven gave him the remote before he stepped aside, giving the floor to him to continue. All of them did what he told. True to what Rune thought a while ago, the envelopes contained information about a certain person.Calix then pressed the remote and a slide came up the screen. A familiar black-haired woman with round, emerald-green eyes appeared along with all the information about her. She was beautiful albeit the gothic type and although smiling, her gaunt face and pale complexion gave her a mysterious aura. But the woman was not really a mystery at all. In fact, her face was on posters and billboards all over the State, making her familiar to anyone.“Valentina Craventus, the first Omega who is running for Nyx’s Head of State,” Calix continued as he looked on the screen.Every six years, Nyx held its election and the Head of State would be its highest elect lea
“BUT that’s not enough to point your finger at him as the mastermind behind the burglary.” Rune said as her eyes went back to Sven.Sven then stood beside Calix. “You see, Ms. Navarre, Damien has been eyeing Rosworth Pharmaceuticals for some time now. When the economic crisis hits us ten years ago, he offered to buy the company from my grandfather but was refused. We survived the recession and ever since then, Mr. Montford has been on our trail. He didn’t build his own pharmaceutical company per se, but he, unknown to many even to our own industry, is a major shareholder in Medicina Laboratories Inc.”Her frown deepened because the company that Sven mentioned was Rosworth Pharmaceuticals’ number one rival in the pharmaceutical industry.“In these past years, he didn’t make any drastic move, so, it’s true that we couldn’t just say that it was him. But a source informed me that a few days ago, he was at Nyx Central Police Station and seen leaving the Commissioner’s office. After that th
AFTER A FEW HOURS, Sven was now again outside Tactica’s Base two. Calix and Wren accompanied him while Eugeny, Calvin and Rune followed along with Brenner, who became rather somber. Alistair went out of the car when he saw them and waited.Sven then turned to Brenner. “You can go ahead.”The poor guy just nodded and thanked Calix and the rest.Rune faced Calix. “I’ll take him to the car,”Calix nodded and the two left. He briefly met Rune’s eyes and that same inexplicable feeling he felt when he first saw her was there again. Rune then put her arm over Brenner’s shoulders as they talked in hushed tones while walking away. Calix already mentioned to him in one of their night outs that an employee of his were friends with one of his chemists, but he didn’t expect that it would be these two. Admittedly, this woman had caught his attention more than he expected. True that he heard a lot about her from Calix and Wren, but his interest on her was just passing. He was just thankful that his
“IMPRESSIVE.” Rune looked at Sonja when she heard that. They were in front of a tall, black building accented with gold. Sonja had been working with Tactica for four years now. Her long, black hair was in neat ponytail, a light make-up dusted her face while her eye make-up highlighted her chocolate-brown eyes. At five and ten inches they were of the same height but she was taller than her now because of the heels she was wearing. They were also of the same built except that Sonja had a more womanly body that hers.“Damn the rich.” Barty commented sarcastically.Rune couldn’t help but smile as it was common for the big, burly, older man to let out crass remarks. He and Calix dropped them before they would go on their way and meet up with Sinna later. She returned her gaze back to the monolith in front of them. They stopped in front of the stairs leading to its lobby. From where they were standing, she could see shiny, black, marble floors, glass doors and windows. The golden letters th
SVEN COULDN’T hide his amusement at Rune’s obvious discomfort. He almost smiled when she scrunched her nose and grimaced as she tried to loosen the tight collar of her black, long-sleeved shirt. Despite that, she tried to focus on what was happening in front of her to the point that she scribbled something on the small notebook she was holding.Her black-rimmed glasses occupied half of her face and with her black, knee-length, pleated skirt, black stockings, black ankle boots and her neatly combed hair, she looked like this gothic, nerdy, young witch who was out to curse or cast a spell to everyone with her gloominess. Hell, he almost laughed when she entered his office on her first day here looking like a dowdy old maid in the peak of spinsterhood. It was all part of her disguise, he knew that and it was supposed make her invisible, to blend in with the background as one of his secret bodyguards but damn if he could ignore her existence. He didn’t mean to but now, he was aware of eve
VALENTINA looked up when the door of the doctor’s office she was in, opened. She was currently in the Luna Valfari General Hospital, the nearest hospital where their event was held. Her personal doctor who was working here let her used her office as she went outside and help. Kirsten ‘Kit’ Hanks, her executive assistant came in along with Petros Ducali, her head of security. Both of their faces were grim and she felt her stomach tightened again for whatever news she was going to hear from them.“How’s Helena?” she asked in a steady voice. It wasn’t the time for Kirsten to see how devastated she was because if there was someone who had been most affected, it would be her.Helena Fontana was her best friend, a bright and bubbly woman with chocolate-brown hair and eyes, while she met Kirsten in college. Both of these women were with her ever since she started her political career and through the years, she saw how the relationship of these two changed from friends to lovers. And although
JOHANN gritted his teeth as he looked at his face in the mirror. It was not swollen anymore but half of it still had the purple and yellowish coloring from the beating he received a few days ago. He also had a bandaged cut on the right side of his forehead. A faerie’s tag tracker, huh? Bullsh—t! He clenched his fist tightly when the reason why he received the beating in the first place entered his mind. His Valfaris senses failed him again as it always did. Yes, he was a Valfaris and a quarter human, his biological father being only a half-Valfaris.He was already disappointed that he turned out to be a lame Beta, but the worst part was when he found out that the smallest f—king portion of his genes was ruling out some of his Valfaris attributes. In his case, he didn’t have the ‘smell’ of a Valfaris and he couldn’t smell them either. So, in the end, he couldn’t identify someone’s race by his nose alone. And even though he had the Valfaris endurance and other physical changes when it c
“MAV, JAMES IS HERE.” A voice interrupted Mavis from cutting the vegetables for the dish they were making for the kids. She paused and looked at Emilyn Lee, the other person helping her preparing the food.Emilyn frowned. “Hey, don’t look at me as if I have something to do with his arrival.”A burst of laughter echoed in the kitchen and this time, she turned to the source of it and saw Gabe Augustine standing in the doorway. Emilyn then joined him as Mavis rolled her eyes with a grin on her lips. They were currently in Madalenna Orphanage, the place where they all grew up. It was a state orphanage where its biggest benefactor was Samuel Rosworth and the Rosworth Pharmaceuticals. She was also under their scholarship when she went into the Police Academy. Samuel Rosworth often visited them before, sometimes spending the whole day with them. Sven was still studying that time at Larran but on vacations, he went here with his grandfather, so she knew him from before but she didn’t have the
BRENNER sat up from his bed. He checked the time on the luminous clock sitting in the nightstand and saw that it was only two in the morning. He let out a sigh before he opened the small, round lamp beside it. He ran his palms over his face afterwards. There was a lot going on that was keeping him awake until morning and these past few days seemed liked a blur with how things turned out.Taking the accounts of what happened in Moontown and the confirmation that D-15 was used for other purposes other than what they intended it for, brought a lot of turmoil in him. From the blood sample brought by Calix, D-15 was diluted and mixed with La Mistique, a strong aphrodisiac that was under the illegal drugs list of IRIB. Not only that, it had strong hallucinogenic and relaxant effects that it was commonly used by sexual predators on their would-be victims. Mixing the components of the two substances created a new drug that was potent enough to send any Valfaris into Feral state. And being Fer
SVEN WAS still reeling from a mix of shock, fear and amazement when he stepped out of the car. Dang, I can feel my knees buckle. Connor, who opened the door for him, had this sh—t-eating grin on his face.“I’d say that you enjoyed that ride.”“Yeah, and I hope that what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” His voice was laced with sarcasm but as expected, Connor only laughed at him.The blonde looked on the other side when they heard the door opened and Rune came out from the driver’s seat.“You heard that, Rune? You’ll make Sven stronger.”Yes. She was their driver. The reason why he didn’t saw her when they left Casa Noches was because she was already in the car. He didn’t expect that because Connor was the one who drove them there since it was Alistair’s off today, but with the news given to him, who would drive was the least of his problems. Well, that thought flew out of his head when Rune stepped on the accelerator and sped away as if they were in a car chase in the movies and su
“RUNE, can you slow down?” Connor’s grimace was obvious on his face while looking at her chomping on the steak she ordered. “That steak is not going anywhere, you know.”“I’m hungry.” she snarked at him as another chunky piece of meat went into her mouth.They were currently in Casa Noches, a high-end restaurant for the rich and famous here in Hypnosia. The place spelled opulence from its high ceilings, huge glass windows down to its round tables covered in white linen that was neatly arranged. White was the over-all color of place with gold accents, greeneries and a fresh bouquet of colorful flowers in each table completed the light, minimalist appeal of its interior. And it was quiet, like people here were not allowed to talk out loud. She almost snorted at the thought.She and Connor were seated a few tables away from Sven and his date. He told him before they entered that they could order anything they want. She was not in the mood to eat when they left the office, but when she sa
FROM HER computer screen, Rune let her eyes roamed again inside Sven’s office; she had been doing this for these past days in order to familiarize with his environment and to rest her eyes from reading business documents which tire her out after only a few paragraphs. She was guarding Sven alright, but she would die of boredom with just sitting and doing nothing, so she told him to treat her like she was really his assistant.It was also her way to distract herself from only looking at him and having weird thoughts about them since they were all alone in this huge office. Anyway, no one would fault her if they knew. She was just a normal woman after all who couldn’t help herself fantasizing about the gorgeous man, who was unfortunately, just a few steps away from her. But hell yeah, she would chastise herself for being distracted by him every day that they were together alone. Argh. This was the very reason why she declined to be put inside his office in the first place.She was actua
“GET IN.” Said the man who was driving the black car that picked up Johann just outside the third street in that part of Moontown, the guy was wearing a black cap, a black mask and an all-black outfit.He grinned when he recognized him. He hurriedly went inside and sat beside him. This was the same man who called him up a while ago and told him that there were people looking for him around that medical facility. He had known this man for about a year and even if it wasn’t in his nature to trust immediately, he sure had no problem trusting this guy. It was because in the short period of time that he knew him, this man showed him what loyalty means.“Thanks for the save.” he uttered.The man just gave him a cold glance and kept on driving. “I told you to be careful.” he said after a while.“Who are those people anyway?”“Private investigators hired by Rosworth.”“Huh. Is he that determined to find his precious D-15?”The man didn’t even look at him when he replied. “If I were you, I’d l
FROM THE car window, Calix eyed the two-story, gray and white building on the other side of the road where they parked their car. The silver letters near the top of the building spelled its name. Duskinrose Medical Center, it was a suburban hospital in Moontown, another town in Nyx. Barty was with him but he was outside having his cigarette break while Sinna just went inside the hospital and would be the one to confirm the information forwarded to them by Mavis Grace. According to Mavis, Jonathan Goldbloom, Johann’s fifteen year old younger brother was confined here just before the break-in happened and was in a coma.As per Johann’s records, his brother was his only remaining family and ever since their parents died when Jonathan was ten, he had been his guardian. Based from the medical records Riven got from his previous hospital in Ivslight, Jonathan had always been sickly and developed a rare blood disease. His condition fluctuated to better and worst over the years. One thing tha