"I can see how you'd have trouble with this one." he said to Adrian, nodding toward Emma. " Her species are quite fast and vicious, not to mention they love to fight in a packs but so long as you're able to separate one of them from the group, they aren't that difficult to deal with."

" It's no surprise you were able to come back alive." His eyes then shifted to Snow, and his expression grew more serious. "But her… she's a different story altogether."

Snow, who had been remaining silent for so long, frowned all of a sudden, her eyes narrowed. "Are you mocking me, human?" she hissed, her voice turning icy. A cold air seemed to envelope her in an instant.

Adrian looked back and forth between them, curiosity pushing aside his fear for a moment. " Mr Miller, I don't think it's nice for you to provoke Snow..."

" What difference are you even talking about?" He questioned.

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Mr. Miller's lips. " I wish I were joking boy but I'm afraid that's not the case."

"Since someone like yourself could survive an encounter with a deadly Gorgon, I can't help but wonder about your survival skills, Your luck must really be something." He crossed his arms over his broad chest. "There's no way you should have been able to avoid her gaze."

Adrian's brow furrowed in confusion. "Her gaze? I don't understand, is something wrong with your eyes?" He turned to Snow.

"What's he talking about? You never told me your eyes were hurt." Adrian's expression turned worried.

Snows sour look eased up seeing the genuine look of worry on his face which secretly warmed her heart but the next moment, there was a flicker of frustration in her eyes.

" There's nothing wrong with my eyes dear."

"He's simply talking about my real power. The reason your kind usually flees or attack me whenever they see my species."

" You see, My gaze can freeze the blood in your veins and turn your flesh to ice. A single look into my eyes, and you'd be an ice sculpture in the blink of an eye." Snow said with a smile yet Adrian felt a chill down his spine at her remark.

Adrian stared at her, the pieces falling into place with a cold dread.

" This... Your joking aren't you." Adrian asked Snow only for his heart to plummet when she shook her head. He rapidly turned to Mr Miller with an incredulous look. " But the journal mentioned a 'paralyzing shriek,' it didn't say anything about turning people to ice!"

" Huh? Well I might have misplaced a word or two in that book."

" Misplaced?!" Adrian eyes twitched. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, he had relyed on the information in that book, to think that he had actually risked his life on something that contains some degree of falsehoods.

Thinking back to all the moments he'd spent with her, He had been inches from her face, had looked directly into those strange blue eyes multiple times. But thinking back to it properly.

' Ending up as an ice sculpture is a lot better than being eaten alive.' he stroked his chin before rapidly shaking his head to dispell such thoughts.

" If you had such an ability before," he blinked, turning to face her." How come you never used it on me?"

Snow was momentarily surprised that the faint traces of dread had completely vanished from his face in such a short amount of time, though she had grown to love him, she had secretly expected him to dread her after gaining this new piece of info but to think that he wasn't abhorrent towards her at all. Adrian wasn't aware but Snow found this human she'd decided to call her mate more wonderful than ever.

She looked away, trying to stop the blush threatening to cover her cheeks before saying . "Because I couldn't."

" It was stolen from me... Temporarily." She sighed as if recalling something she found bothersome.

"The thief who attacked me, the one who left me injured for you to find…"

" I'm afraid that whoever it was, used some kind of ability to sever my connection to it. While fighting them, I was able to get them to tell me how their power worked, if I remember correctly, They had said it would only be permanent if I died from the wound." She glanced at Adrian, her eyes squinting into crescents, she wrapped him in her tail before pulling him close and wrapping her arms around his neck, then licking him with her tongue. "They clearly didn't expect me to survive. And I wouldn't have, if you hadn't interfered." she beamed.

" I-i see, I'm happy I was able to help but could you please release me... We're Infront of the doctor." Adrian looked like a caught bunny, too helpless to resist, he didn't want the doctor to see him in such a helpless state.

" Why should I. I don't think he minds." Snow bit her lower lips, her expression looking slightly seductive and eager.

" S-Snow... Please." Adrian stuttered, suddenly fearing for the worse.

Mr. Miller, watched the two behave intimately, he massaged his brows looking tired all of a sudden. Grey who was laying down, growled unhappily, Emma on the other hand was silent, she had found a rock to sit on awhile ago and was simply staring off into the distance.

"This thief. Could you describe them." the doctor couldn't bear to watch them any longer and spoke.

Snow's tail gave an irritated twitch, her face turned away from Adrian's that was completely flustered due to the traces of saliva still left on his cheeks.

" I couldn't get a good look at them but they were extremely skilled, and Fast." She said after some thought.

" Oh? Anything else?" The doctor asked. Snow's expression soured but she closed her eyes before pondering again.

" I think they used two different abilities in the fight, one to enhance their speed, and another, the one that stole my gaze." She paused, her brow furrowing as if trying to grasp a fading memory.

" I don't know if this helps but during our fight, I had a feeling that they were holding back, as if they had other cards to play but didn't need to use them against me." Her lips curled into a sneer. " It was someone pretty arrogant. That was for sure."

"What did they look like?" Mr. Miller pressed, his voice low and urgent. His expression had darkened all of a sudden as if he remembered something.

" Well, they were a figure in dark cloth from head to toe," Snow said. "A mask covered their face so I couldn't see it. But…" She hesitated, a claw going to her chin. "During the fight, my tail managed to slice through their cloak. It was just for a second, but I saw their back. There was a strange marking I happened to notice."

" Oh?" The doctors eyes widened slightly.

"What was the design?"

Snow was confused why the doctor kept asking questions, and why he seemed so eager to know who her aggressor was. But she decided to answer since the quicker she could get him to stop, the quicker she could get back to spending some time with her husband.

"It wasn't like any marking I'd seem before, it looked simple if anything."

"This marking, did it look like a crown? Or maybe A diamond?" Mr. Miller's questions came rapid-fire.

Snow shook her head. "No. It was different, it looked like an upside down valley with a line across the middle.

' An upside down valley? What's she talking about?' Adrian began to ponder what she meant. ' Wait, is she trying to say...'

Adrian, who had been following this with growing unease caught on to what she was trying to say.

"An Ace?" Adrian and Mr Miller said simultaneously before glancing at each other in suprise.

Snow raised a brow, she hadn't played a game of cards before so she wasn't aware of what they meant.

All eyes turned to Mr. Miller. His brows furrowed a little, beneath his usual weathered complexion. He was staring at a ground in contemplation.

"How did you know that?" Adrian asked, he didn't know if playing cards were common in this world but if they were, that didn't answer the doctors strange actions up to this point.

"How did you know what the tattoo might look like? Do you… do you know who attacked her?" he questioned, hoping he was wrong. Snow frowned upon hearing him, her trusty in the doctor waining a little.

Mr. Miller didn't answer for a long time. As if he was thinking of what exactly to say.

Finally, the doctor let out a long, slow breath, a white cloud appearing in the cold air. He looked at Snow, his expression calm. "If your description is accurate," he said, his voice barely above a murmur, "then you didn't just have a random encounter. I am afraid it's highly likely you might have crossed paths with a member of the Fifty-Two Cards."

' 52 cards?' Thought Adrian, still amiss to what the man was talking about.

The name hung in the air, meaningless to Adrian, but still up for discussion since it was clear it had something to do with Snow, which to Adrian, was all that mattered.

" You were saying something about the Fifty-Two Cards." Adrian had grown impatient by the constant silence, he needed answers.

His eyes watched Mr. Miller's face, seeking for any hint of emotion that was currently making his own hands feel twitchy and angsty.

But he didn't find it. Instead, he saw the same steady, weathered expression the doctor always wore. It was the look of a man who had seen terrible things and wasn't surprised by them anymore. There was a grim respect in his eyes, the kind a veteran soldier shows a worthy opponent, but no trace of panic.

"Who are they?" Adrian asked again, this time a bit annoyed by the doctors lack of compliance.

Mr. Miller shifted his weight, his boots crunching in the snow. He looked from Adrian to the three supernatural girls and back again, as if deciding how much to reveal.

" There's not much to tell."

" To put it simply, they're a cult," he began, his voice calm and measured.

"But just because they're a cult doesn't mean you should picture raving fanatics in robes."

" They're group are more like a very old and disciplined guild."

" I should know since I've encountered their kind on a few occasions."

" They're a highly organized bunch and utterly committed to their cause." He said with a sigh. " The blasted fools won't take no for an answer and the lower ranking ones are even known to lay down their lives for their so called cause."

" And by cause you mean?" Adrian interrupted, looking curious.

" That's the thing, they wouldn't make a for a bad organisation if not for the fact that their stated goal is the eradication of humanity." Mr Miller massaged his forehead at this point.

' So basically, they're a bunch of fanatics after all...' Adrians lips pressed into a thin line, he seemed to share the doctors own emotions.

" The bunch of them see us humans as a disease, a parasitic species that consumes and corrupts the world." The doctor continued. " Or so they say."

He then turned his gaze to Snow and Emma, his look impartial. "But make no mistake, that doesn't make them friends to your kind. They are not champions of monsters. They are utilitarians." The doctor said but saw confused looks on their faces.

' They definitely don't know what utilitarians means' Adrian chuckled helplessly inwardly.

The doctor also noticed this and decided to explain further.

" It's not difficult to understand. When it comes to the fifty two cards. If a supernatural creature is useful to them, they will exploit it. If it is in their way, they will eliminate it."

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