BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 181's

"His name is Nolan," Jose introduces the girl. "He's my friend from the South. Nolan, on the left was Adrian Marsh, who was Lucas Clearwater's right. You know Maria."

"Miss Garnet," Maria's correction was sharp with a sweet fussy smile. His eyes critically paid attention to Nolan, who was now dressed very neatly and sweetly like a lady from a distinguished family.

Nolan simply greeted hai-hello around, then sat down by Jose's sofa, ignoring Maria's squeaky mottling. Although equally annoying to Nolan, but he likes Maria more than Lady Chantall. At least Maria did not look at him with a look as if she wanted to kill.

"I don't have time to explain the details of the matter in more detail." Jose put his letter knife on the coffee table, on the side of his tea cup. The waiter had just come to bring them a small meal and a hot drink. "But obviously I need as many people as possible."

"Who can read?" ask Clearwater.

"People ready to die?" Marsh asked the criteria needed.

Jose approached his cabinet and opened the first drawer, taking out a roll of map from it and a file of documents. Quickly responding, Maria marginalized the cups of tea and food, assisted by Nolan. Then the Bjork map is held on the side of an empty table.

"You can read that data, too" said Jose, throwing a swipe of documents he had gotten from Krip into Marsh's lap. Nolan recognized the file as the papers Jose had discussed with him, also in this room. It felt as if just yesterday he was dragged by Maria to the boutique and then followed Jose discussing the black ghosts in this room.

"These are the names of the missing people?" Clearwater read through sheet by sheet. His forehead was crinkled at the newspaper clippings containing a list of missing persons' names. Some names circled around the pen. "This is a list of missing people I met?"

Jose nodded. "It was not announced, as it is still under investigation," he added with guilt. He picked up the pen available on the runway under the table, then started doodling some places on the map. "Count Albert disappeared around Peace Road near the Art Building. Lady Esther in her room. Madam Vethoria at Moss Creek cottage."

No one was surprised to see Jose speak the names and places of missing people in detail, except for Nolan. "You got everything?" he asked in wonder.

"My intentions are pretty good" said Jose. His hands did not stop crossing the map.

Clearwater twisting eyeballs. "If your memory like that is considered decent, what's the value for Adie? Severe?"

"Kok being me?" Marsh laughs. His eyes were still fixed on Nolan, whom he considered an anomaly in this room. According to him, the girl looked too neat and clean for a Southerner. "Jose is easy to memorize unimportant things, Miss. Bet, he must have memorized how many spots on your face and the location."

"Commenting on a girl's physique won't make you more attractive, Marsh," Maria rebuked sharply.

"Everyone is angry with me. I'm always wrong in your eyes" Marsh complained as he rubbed his cheek that had been scratched by Maria's ring. His hand moved stroking the chest, as if someone had just stuck an arrow there. "Sorry for offending you, Miss. Jose's friend is my friend too."

Nolan just laughed. "My face is spotted, and I like it."

"Good, so from now on I'll call you Miss Freckle."

"And I will call you the Great Mouth Gorilla from now on" said Nolan deftly, instinctively knowing that he was going through some sort of initiation process.

Marsh squinted, at first glance looking like he would be offended. Then his laughter came out friendly. He held up both hands in a surrender position. "I got. Well Miss Nolan, I won't be nosy anymore."

Jose cleared his throat slowly to draw attention, turning their focus back to the map. "Well, it is known for sure where the position of loss is only a little, but this is enough. I'm asking as many people as you can to spread out at these points, find and remove any suspicious marks."

"What kind of sign?" Marsh noticed the map full of black cross marks. "What is a suspicious standard for you?"

Jose turned the pen in his hand carefully, adjusting the thickness of the ink he would make to 2 pt, twice as large as the original thickness. Then connect the dots on the map with long lines. "We were unconscious for a long time" he said. "But the point where these missing people if connected will form a magic cluster."

A shape appears on top of the Bjork map. A circle with a hexagram pattern inside. Transmutation circle. Maria shuddered at him, something in her reacted to seeing that form.

Clearwater had since been matching the spots on the map with the lists on the files in his hand. The man watched with a deeper wrinkle on his forehead. "There are people you don't count" he said.

"Those people might just be a diversion to shuffle patterns." Jose tapped the tip of the pen. "You know the seven basic sins of man? I'm just counting people who have the same criteria here. The same sins."

"Pride," said Maria softly, found her pattern from the names called. His eyes opened wider as soon as he saw what was in the middle of the magic cluster. "This is your house, right?"

"Yes, Uncle Marco is the key tomorrow. The cover." Jose took a slow breath. "Therefore there are many golems infiltrating here."

"Gollem?" Marsh was astonished.

"For me" Mary answered. Bitter tone. "He needs me as a container to hold the souls of others. And in order to perform the ritual, there must be a sacrifice. He's done it a long time ago, to other people as well."

Clearwater gaping. He looked at Jose with a questioning look, confirming the truth of the statement.

Jose nodded, explaining in more detail, "She wanted to use Maria's body to accommodate her boyfriend's soul. In order to perform a soul transfer there must be a portal opened. And opening the portal costs money, it takes rewards." He tapped on the pattern drawn on the map. "The rewards of blood and life."

"Romantic," said Marsh, still amazed. He hurriedly apologized as soon as Maria glared at him.

Nolan looked at Maria for a long time. He just remembered his dream. "Do you know Arabella?" tanyakanya. "You're a little similar."

Jose and Maria looked at each other. "What?" ask them in unison.

Nolan recalled that Marco also reacted strangely to the name. Knowing that the possibility of his dream was not just a dream, Nolan recounted his vision. "But that's it" he said as soon as it was done. "Just tell Argent. I don't know what to say."

"But I know." Jose smiled with satisfaction. He patted Nolan on the shoulder with appreciation. "I'm even more convinced of the success of this plan, thanks to you."

"What's your plan?" Maria was enthusiastic.

"First," Jose said. His eyes looked back at the map. "Remove the mark Sir William made so that his transmutation circle dispersed. I suspect he made the mark with blood. Blood is a great medium for magic. Especially, he must have used the blood of his victims." He closed his eyes, casting the shadow of the dried corpse of Higgis in his mind. "But who knows if there are others. So anything that looks awkward, slide it or just destroy it."

"If there was blood, the police would have found it, right?" sergeant Maria wonder. "And if you follow your story, it means this cluster has been made a long time ago? Minimum since three or four months ago because Sir William only came around October."

"Well, that's the hard part. The traces of his blood must have been lost and faded" Jose said. "Perhaps the blood that is dripped is only a little so it is not ignored by people since the first? Maybe just a drop."

"You mean to look for drops of blood in a city this big?" ask Nolan in surprise.

"We still have a maximum of four days." Jose still displayed a calm face, as if everything was under his control. The man's calmness rubbed off on his friends. "And that's why I need a lot of people. I know we're not looking for something in the room, but in the city. That's obviously hard. But at least we have a picture of a route where to look for it. Don't have to flip every rock in Bjork, just at a specific cluster point."

"On blood," Clearwater interrupted. "It can be found easier than you think."

Marsh. His mouth opened in a circle. "You're right!" yelled, patting the thigh hard. He looked back at Jose with excitement. "Yesterday, Luke and I discussed this with Simon! We're talking about a trail of murders, and Simon's telling us there's a way the police can look for traces of blood. Even if it's been long or removed, it will still be visible."

"The way is?" ask Jose.

"Luminol" Clearwater replied. "Liquid or luminol powder. Traces of blood will glow slightly in the dark if exposed to the substance. The longer the former, the clearer the light. We can buy it or make it ourselves, but obviously it takes a lot if you want to spray it all over Bjork's walls. A lot of costs too."

"Oh, my wallet is pretty thick." Jose grinned, starting to find a bright spot. He looked at Nolan. "Who are you running from, by the way? Which girl do you mean?"

"That girl." Nolan rolled his eyeballs. "Cantal cantal who it is. He's a bitch."

"Lady Chantall?" Jose correcting. He laughed. "Because you hugged Uncle, right?"

"Marco doesn't mind, so why is he so angry?" murmur Nolan.

"Marco?" marsh, Clearwater, and Maria together.

Nolan avoided Maria's gaze. He was actually just mimicking the way Maria deliberately heated him up by kissing Jose's cheek last time. For some reason Nolan was worried now, not wanting Maria to know he was imitating the girl. "I can just call his name. He's allowed it, huh."

Jose raised an eyebrow, in disbelief. "If you are that familiar, please help me make excuses" he said. "Uncle must be angry because I ran away from home secretly."

"Marco is not very angry" Nolan said, shrugging his shoulders. He brought his head closer to Jose and whispered, "but your uncle, who was eavesdropping behind the door, may be angry."

***