Chapter 157 - Combined Runes (2/2)

Both girls stared at each other in confusion. There was a time and place for everything and even though their emotions were running high, they needed to finished cleaning up before they thought about other things. Ruby was a pro at just this but even her mind wandered.

As Laz had jumped back into the warehouse, he quickly looked around at some of the stolen goods and found some clothes that seemed to fit. Using his black flame to cover his body, he burned off the old clothes and leftover blood covering his skin before changing into the new clothes he had picked out.

”That was almost too close...” Laz said to himself while thinking what an idiot he was. Although he was in better control of his energy now than he was before, the fact that his heart was pumping so hard after that battle showed that his blood was in a very agitated state. That meant that is was very intoxicating for women to be around him. It would have been impossible for them to resist had Leona and Ruby actually touched his blood stained clothes and body.

Crash!

Laz looked over to see that the several women from earlier had gather together in a cluster near the wall, hiding behind some of the stolen crates. They had thought that things were over and that they had survived, but then this reaper of lives had shown back up was doing something. Laz had knocked over some crates while looking through them for clothes which had startled the women, making them think he might be looking for them. As they tried to hide themselves more, one of them had knocked over something causing Laz to figure out that they were still here. He now had to decide what to do with them.

He didn't want to kill them, but he knew that each one of them could point investigators to him. And that wasn't a chance he was willing to take.

'If only I could erase their memories...' Laz was suddenly lost in thought as a light bulb turned on in his head.

While he was lost in thought, Leona and Ruby, after calming down though the actions of dragging the dead bodies, made their way over to him before dumping the bodies. Looking at Laz lost in thought and having changed clothes, they couldn't help but wonder what he was doing. Just before Leona voiced the question, Ruby noticed the abandoned prostitutes and understood. It wasn't going to be easy to kill people who could be considered innocent. But they couldn't risk blowing their cover either.

”What are you going to do?” she asked Laz, knowing what the problem was.

”What is he going to do about what?” Leona piped in, not understanding. She then noticed the group of women as well and frowned. Although each of them had masks on, that didn't mean that they were safe. She finally figured out what they were talking about and couldn't help but grow a bit cold. Not because they might have to kill these women, but because they presented a risk to someone she cared about. It was obvious her emotions hadn't settled down just yet.

”I'm going to try something,” Laz said as he walked over to them. Leona and Ruby immediately followed.

”Please don't. We won't say nothing to nobody... Honest...”

”Please... We have families...”

”I have a daughter and a son...”

The girls started begging, thinking that they were about to be silenced.

”Do any of you know where they keep money in here?” Laz asked, ignoring the pleaing.

”In a safe in Jimmy's room,” one of the more attractive ones spoke up, hoping to be spared by answering.

”Does the safe need a key, or a code or something?” Laz asked.

”A code... Only Jimmy knows it,” the girl answered truthfully. Laz just turned to look at Ruby.

”You think I'm an all purpose criminal or something?” She responded to his stare. He just raised his eyebrow at her remark.

”Fine... Show me.” Ruby had the girl lead the way to the safe while Leona and Laz just watched the others and waited. When they returned, Ruby was carrying a duffel bag full of stacks of cash.

”This guy did not trust the banking system,” she commented while handing the bag to Laz. Laz looked inside and saw that each stack contained ten thousand dollars. And there were many stacks worth in the bag. He then started handing out one stack to each girl's shaking hands. They tried to refuse at first, but he insisted. Once they all had one stack each, he closed the bag and handed it back to Ruby.

”And the rest is ours to split,” Laz said with a grin. Ruby and Leona looked at him wide eyed and laughed. There was still over two hundred thousand left in the bag.

”Now then, in a moment, you all will be free to go. But sadly, you won't remember this night or anything that happened here.”

”What?”

”What do you mean?”

The girls were confused. In fact, even Ruby and Leona were confused.

”Just look at me and think about what happened here tonight. Ok? No looking away, got it?” Laz said. Once all the girls nodded, Laz raised his right hand and ignited the black flame. With a smooth yet slow motion, Laz wrote in the air as though writing on paper.

The first thing he did was create a blank square of energy. It looked both real and imaginary at the same time. It made one question if he had actually drew anything at all. After that, he used his finger to write on top of it an S shape composed of three straight lines. Although it had happened in a moment, he had put a lot of energy into the empty rune and the S, causing beads of sweat to appear on his forehead.

”The Rune of Odin and the Ruin of Sowelu, emptiness and wholeness, MERGE!”

Although the words weren't needed, they helped him to focus his thoughts. In turn, the runes responded as asked and merged together into a single rune before turning into beams of light that struck every girl at the same time.

No one even had a chance to be scared before they were all hit, their eyes turning blank.

”Nothing happened here tonight. After performing your services, you got a special bonus before going home. Since you made a little windfall, you're going to stay home for a couple weeks and spend time with your loved ones. After you walk out that door, you will forget everything that happened here and go home before waking up.”

And just like a voice activated program, each girl got up and walked off in a single file after hearing the orders that Laz just gave.

Finally, only Leona and Ruby were left in the now empty building with both girls staring at Laz, wondering what the hell just happened.