Irina awoke groggily, with dawn yet to arrive. She was not sure whether it was four or five, nor did she care much. The discomfort was awful either way, to the point that raising her upper body from the bed felt like forgoing a seat in paradise.

  She glanced sleepily to her right, then to her left, where Marcus and Vanessa respectively slept without issue. Their restful faces made such a mockery of her that she might have poured cold water on them, were she not more concerned with what was happening outside the house.

  There was no noise, no bright lights, and certainly no tremors. It was no wonder her nighttime companions dreamed happily, but Irina herself was also aware of all the protective boundaries set up on the outskirts of her residence.

  Naturally, she became alert as one after the other, they were invaded and dealt with. An initial layer that hid the residence from ‘notice’, rather than one’s actual senses. A second layer to drive intruders away through great emotional discomfort, and a third one to confound them as they got increasingly lost in a formless maze, forced to turn back or get nowhere. Only after passing these would the more violent ones be in play.

  The current invaders had reached the sixth of seven total layers, however. Not only that, but they had done so without triggering any of the damaging traps. Her two bedside companions certainly would have been forced awake if that happened, so scared as to make Irina laugh out loud.

  These intruders knew, whoever they were. But while someone else might worry about the possibility of a dangerous enemy, she trusted her work too much for that. She knew who to expect in these circumstances.

  Irina stepped out of bed, feeling Marcus’ skin rub against her bare leg as she did so. She could have made no contact with a little bit more effort, but really, why would she?

  It was quite dark, but she quickly found a camisole, underpants and shorts simply by prodding around with her foot. Slippers were the most annoying, having found their way under the bed somehow. She quickly wore them alongside her jumbled attire before making her way to the bathroom.

  Door closed and lights on, Irina looked at herself in the mirror. Aside from a noticeable fringe at the top right and a few smaller ones at the lower left, her naturally blonde hair had been dyed a bright bubblegum pink that made her look somewhat younger than she really was. That is, whenever the length of it was not assaulted by her pillow and her eyes did not show her rough wake-up so blatantly. She still looked no older than her twenty years, but it was an appearance sloppy enough to bother her.

  Prepared to not go back to sleep for a while, she brushed her teeth and combed her hair to a mostly decent state so that only her eyes remained as a testament to her fatigue. She turned off the light, went from the bathroom back into the bedroom, and then out into the hallway. One of the expected people was already waiting for her near the other end.

  Quite tall, skin of a dark brown color and with well cared for black curls of a short length, he was quite good-looking despite a lean build that was more on the lanky side. Probably being outside until just a while ago, he wore a black leather jacket over a dark blue shirt, thick jeans, a pair of rather new-looking boots, and gloves.

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  “You really couldn’t wait until I unlocked the door?” Irina walked past her visitor, hardly sparing him a glance.

  “It got annoying to wait for the others outside. Y’know how they do have to go through most of the last layers properly.” Alain replied with a deep, yet smooth voice. He followed Irina to the front door, unconcerned with her actively rude display.

  She unlocked and opened it, stressfully exhaling through her teeth as the cold night attacked her underdressed body. Clearly waiting for her, the remaining two members came into view.

  Slender, black-haired Jae-sung with his actor-like pretty looks gave off an uncanny image that was almost creepy in the cold darkness. It did not help that without any apparent discomfort, he wore a tight, long-sleeved V-neck shirt in white with an abstract doodle design, skinny jeans, sports shoes and nothing else.

  Just as impressive, if not even more so, was olive-skinned Javier standing just slightly behind, a mane of wavy, medium-length black hair partially covering one of his eyes. Easily exceeding the two-meter mark, he was substantially taller than even Alain, with musculature to match unlike the latter. Defined bulk was noticeable even through his gray parka, even more so through the jeans that naturally did not match his jacket’s thickness. His appearance was not that of a bodybuilder, but for such a large man, even perfectly proportionate muscles made him look more than a bit beastly. It was difficult to tell whether the tranquility in his brown eyes was more relaxing or threatening.

  “So, who’s going to come up with the excuse for ruining my sleep?” Irina stepped back and sat on the chair normally used to put down keys and bags upon arriving, trying to get at least somewhat away from the cold invading her home through the open door.

  Jae-sung was the one to reply, a regretful if still light-hearted tone in his voice.

  “Tina got busted.”

  It took Irina a solid second to fully process what he said.

  Tina, Valentina. The Violet Thorn’s Scar-Tail had been arrested?

  “You’re shitting me.” She looked from Jae-sung and Javier to Alain, the latter one shrugging.

  “It’s the truth. She was taking cuts at Epsilon Five and things got way messed up.”

  “Messed up how!? Don’t just tell me a fucking bit at a time!”

  “Snitch says some masked freak caught them by surprise. Took down Tina and like four dealers and left them trapped in some gunk, according to some girl the cops were interrogating.”

  “Apparently this guy’s been a bother on the street level for months, even has a few posters around. I guess he’s feeling extra ballsy by now and today was really lucky for him.” Jae-sung followed seamlessly from Alain.

  Irina could not help it, clasping both hands to her face, then trailing down. This was truly a setback among setbacks, with one more worry to keep in mind.

  Finally, she asked, both wanting and not wanting to hear the answer.

  “… These four dealers. Did any of them have ‘special loans’ at the time?”

  “Seems like one of them did.”

  Alain’s reply felt like a nail on Irina’s head. She brought her hands down to her lap, still together as she looked up to her fellows. She was smiling, but her eyes were anything but happy, despite having lost all of their previous sleepiness.

  “Well, we don’t bitch out from a fight, much less from a single cocky fuck. But when do we hit?”

  Irina’s question was responded to in a way that caused even Alain and Jae-sung to turn in the same direction she did.

  “Tonight.” Javier’s voice was deep, dominating. Even fearsome.

  The word itself reminded Irina that it was probably four or five in the morning. This meant less than a day until they struck back.

  Was it an issue for them? No way. It was the masked piece of shit who was neck-deep in a pool of it.

  “Debt or insult, everything is repaid. To the last drip.”

  No one spoke back against Javier’s decree. Agreement was as universal as it had ever been.

  Wildcard, Phantom, Miasma and Hellbound.

  Four out of the Violet Thorn's five Unmasked would get rid of the uppity annoyance.