It was already midnight in Manhattan, and Jocelyn decided to call it a night. She didn’t want to do another all nightery since she wants to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed early in the morning. Scrolling down her text messages, her boyfriend was hounding her all day. She could have texted him back, but she would rather keep him “hungry” for tomorrow. It is a good thing that her home was six blocks from her office, a high-rise apartment on the 15th floor.

Finally arriving at her home, she immediately kicked her shoes off and locked the door behind her. Her apartment was already dimly lit since she preset it that way. It was a very spacious apartment, is well furnished, soundproofed, and centrally air-conditioned.

Strolling around her apartment and checking her text messages, she didn’t really pay attention to what was going on. In a few seconds, she wished she would have when an intruder who was waiting for her to be a baseball that and hit her in the back in the knee. Immediately, Jocelyn screamed out and collapsed in pain. Then, the second intruder sprinted over to Jocelyn and began to kick her repeatedly in the stomach a few times.

Crawling up in a fetal position, the two intruders picked her up. Jocelyn was now on her knees while the intruders were restraining her. Breathing heavily and moaning in pain, a third intruder solely walked towards her brandishing a cordless power drill. Pulling the trigger on the power drill, Jocelyn sees the drill bit spinning right before her eyes as the third intruder grabs her by the hair and aims the power drill right between her eyes. Screaming bloody murder and pleading for her life, Jocelyn prays for someone to come save her.

Fortunately, her prayers were answered by a simple sound of somebody snapping their fingers. It was then the third intruder who was holding the power drill disengaged, lowering their weapon. Unbeknownst to Jocelyn, there was a shadowy figure dressed in a long coat wearing high heel boots. The unknown figure was sitting down in one of the vacant chairs with her legs crossed. She then rose out of the chair and walked towards the frightened Jocelyn, who dared to look up to see who it was. She wishes she hadn’t.

The devilishly grinning woman who had her long black and brown hair done in a loose braid with almond brown eyes were looking down at the disheveled counselor.

Jocelyn’s eyes widened in fear as she recognized her, “Adrian… I… I thought you were gone…”

The intruder holding the power drill stepped aside so Adrian can see her face-to-face, “you know why we are here, don’t you, counselor?”

Jocelyn tries to find the words to spare her own life. But anything she would say now would comfortably piss off the Angel of Death, “Mistress, I…”

Adrian didn’t want her to speak as she hushes Jocelyn with her two fingers, “don’t speak, just listen for once. I wanted the syndicate to expand here in America. I chose you as a bridge for that purpose. You’re pretty much were going to be the next person up to become the new district attorney because of our ‘persuasion and guidance.’ For years, we gave you such power and influence, and you disappointed me.”

Adrian walks around the room as she continued, “you went after Revan Zayne and outed her as Lady Memento without my direct order. You had the tenacity and audacity to use my contacts and resources to make your career. In the end, you turned Revan Zayne more beloved and influential than the Pope. She doesn’t even have to put on that costume anymore to make a difference. And there are our interests that you supposed to protect. Our banks have been robbed, our people have been murdered, and we have become the butt of every talk show host’s joke.”

The shocking revelation made Jocelyn physically ill, knowing she has let down the last person she ever wanted to disappoint.

Adrian began to summarize, “now, you are showing your ass in the media and browbeating a couple of boys who are clearly out of your league. Let me save you the trouble: anyone who is anyone knows that Mordechai Zayne is the new memento and he will remain as the new memento because the world needs a ‘godly reminder’ every now and then. And you will leave well enough alone. We don’t want another incident like what we had seen in London, where and when I told you to back the fuck off and let Revan fail! BUT YOU JUST HAD TO BE RIGHT ALL THE GODDAMNED TIME, JUST LIKE MY FUCKING BROTHER--!”

“I’M SORRY! I’M SO VERY SORRY!” Jocelyn eagerly pleaded while sobbing.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Adrian demanded as Jocelyn tried to stop crying but couldn’t. Seeing this made Adrian even more disappointed that one of her disciples had turned soft as a short period.

With her thigh-high boots, Adrian kicked Jocelyn as hard as she could in the ribs, breaking at least three of them. There was no screaming, there were no sounds. Jocelyn’s eyes widened as she almost passed out, experiencing the pain. The intruders decided to let her go and have Jocelyn fall flat on their face, which was very fitting.

Walking around her limp body, Adrian kicked over Jocelyn on her back while she was puking and choking on her own vomit. Gasping for air, Adrian nestled the heel of her boot on Jocelyn’s neck. Looking into the eyes of her frightened disciple, she gave a stark yet straightforward question, “give me one good reason why I shouldn’t end this relationship?”

“I… Please… P-please don’t kill me…! G-give me one more chance…!” Jocelyn begged and whimpered.

Seeing this plea for mercy made Adrian smile like a Cheshire cat. But deep down, it pissed Adrian off even more as she began to apply pressure on her neck. Jocelyn began to kick and struggle for air as Adrian looked on.

Adrian had zero-tolerance for insubordination and weakness. Jocelyn showed both. There was no room for such weakness and blatant overuse of power. There was a time and place for everything, and Jocelyn decided to go into business for herself, costing the Oleander Syndicate millions of dollars by profiting off a potential world war. That alone would have gotten Jocelyn killed, but uncharacteristically, Jocelyn left the incident unscathed by the Angel of death. While many of Adrian’s subordinates would be brutalized for lesser reasons, Natalia was given “preferential treatment.”

Even though she wouldn’t be given the same kind of treatment tonight, Adrian releases the pressure and steps away from Jocelyn. Thanking the heavens above, Jocelyn instinctively held her neck and started to gasp for air while coughing.

Adrian gives her reasons as to why she has spared her life again, “The Daemon King is still on the loose… Becoming more stronger day-by-day mentally and emotionally… He’s has now recruited many to be in his roundtable and those who have come to know him have decided to follow him… His obsession with destroying us all, has made everyone in the coalition on edge… Its obvious Siath is behind all this. So instead of swinging on little Morrie’s nut sack, why don’t you swing on the Daemon King’s instead, counselor? Am I right!?” Adrian persuaded.

But Jocelyn didn’t need much persuasion…

Adrian looked on as she called off her subordinates as they left the apartment, “one other thing, counselor…” Adrian sprinted towards while she was getting up, and punt kicked her in the face, sending Jocelyn tumbling down to the floor in pain.

“That’s for avoiding my phone calls,” Adrian scolded as she left the apartment, leaving Jocelyn broken but living to see another day.

They were a lot of circulated rumors that Jocelyn’s case against Revan was far too easy. Many of the precincts in New York City refused to help Jocelyn build her case against Revan. Many said that she needed outside help to put her away, and it was true. Nobody thought to guess that the Oleander Syndicate’s Angel of Death was helping your every step of the way both inadvertently and directly.

The Angel of Death Adrian Eichner knew that Revan Zayne would fail to find the bomb in time. Instead of Revan being at the place where the bomb went off, it was Natalia Silvestri who took her place. Not only Natalia took her place, but she was responsible for triggering the bomb to blow up.

It was a disaster and the most significant blunder that the syndicate has ever done. Instead of creating a war, they created memes. And the last thing someone like Adrian Eichner wants to be is a joke. Hopefully, with ‘The Beast’ still on the loose, Shane can finally get back in the good graces and find the culprit once and for all.