Kairo was slowly becoming frustrated with every passing second. He had been researching and trying to find out as much information as he could about the King all night but every search was proving to be unsuccessful. Unlike his past investigations, this one had no information about him except his birthday.
The Royal Secret Information(RSI) had done a perfect job at keeping as many details about him a secret. Which was understandable since he probably had a lot of enemies, enemies who could try to use any small bit of information they could find against him.
Enemies like Kairo, one might say.
However, Kairo was unsure whether or not he was an enemy yet because he knew so little about the man. How could he make such an important decision about someone he knew nothing about? It simply wasn't possible.
Despite contrary belief, he always made sure his victims deserved death and always checked his facts and their crimes before doing anything. He did not just wake up and decide to take a life.
"Well he seems innocent, leave him be." Hayes spoke, he had been watching the human search for hours and had become rather tired. By this time they would've found something despicable, so the King had to be innocent.
"Why do you say that he is innocent?" Kairo questioned, he grabbed the energy drink on his bedside table and chugged it down in one gulp. The fizzy liquid burning his throat.
"Because there is nothing that implies that he has committed a crime, let alone any proof of it." Hayes explained and quite passionately at that. He was not about to take part in the murder of an innocent man who also happened to be the King of his People.
Kairo's brows drew together as he listened closely to his wolf's reasoning, although he had made a good point there was something he had missed completely.
"Just as there is nothing implying that he is guilty, there is also nothing proving that he is innocent."
Upon hearing this, Hayes emerged from the darkness of Kairo's mind and sat on his hind legs. His ears were sharp and listening as he studied everything. This conversation was now worth his full attention.
"Do you really need evidence to prove that someone isn't guilty of something when you don't even know what that something is?" He inquired, his voice was curious and filled with disagreement.
Kairo then asked with a frown, "Do you remember Beta Hill?"
How could Hayes forget? She was the young Beta who would force male wolves to shift and then proceed to kill them and cook them. Afterwards, she would serve them to the rest of her pack. There was absolutely no evidence that pointed to her about the mysterious disappearances of the men from different packs all around the many states. But she was quite responsible for it all.
Kairo had decided to take this case on because someone had called anonymously and raised their suspicions that Alpha Tobin was behind disappearances.
Just like now, whilst they were going through the possible suspects, Hayes pushed against Kairo and ordered that they skip over Hill because none of the evidence pointed towards her at all. That was a fatal mistake that costed the Alpha Tobin of the Crescent Moon pack his life.
"What did you learn from that case, Hayes?"
"I learned that being perfect is just as suspicious." He answered, his once sharp ears now flopped down.
"And why is that?" Kairo pressed even more, he wanted his friend to realise this for his own self.
"Because perfection is inhumane and unattainable."
"Exactly, perfection is the absence of mortality." He stated and went back to researching the Alpha.
Kairo believed with all his heart that perfection was the absence of mortality. He himself was living proof of it. For him to have been able to perfectly get away with such grim murders he had to switch off his humanity. Revenge had costed him his sanity and mortality, he knew that better than anyone. That was why it had been that much easier for him to catch Beta Hill when every one had failed. Because it took a monster to know one.
Just when he was about to give up, Kairo saw an ad that caught his attention.
"Immortals wanted, sign up now."
[...]
Today was the 2 year anniversary for the capture of the notorious Crescent Ripper. Alexandra Hill had killed over a 100 men and fed them to her pack. This day marked the day that her dead body was left on the doorstep of the pack house of the Crescent Moon pack with some seasonings and proof of her crimes beside her corpse.
And a single, neatly-typed out note that read, "I believe the only way to reform people is to kill them, K.O"
Dissimilar to the other packs that K.O had paid a visit to, the Crescent Moon pack was grateful for his visit because it meant that they had finally found closure on what had happened and could move on with their lives knowing that their sons, mates and fathers were safe. They appreciated K.O's solving of the case so much that they had a festival to celebrate him.
It was called the Festival of Flames. Surprisingly, many packs celebrated this festival on different days because K.O had helped them uncover the cancers of their community at different times. They would all burn something rotten or already dead, whether it was an animal or just plants, and would wait until the fire naturally blew out. This signified that they had burned all the rotten people in their society.
Kairo was, of course, completely unaware of these festivals.
Marcellus knew that the Crescent Moon pack had their festival today but he did not attend. Even though quite a lot of packs were thankful for K.O, they were not the majority. Many packs still felt hatred towards him for many different reasons and if they were to find out that the King had gone to a festival, they would rebel without hesitation.
This would result in the end of his reign. Or at least a bumpy reign, which was not what he wanted.
"Another reason why you don't go is because we don't celebrate fucking murderers." Kristian pointed out, his voice dripping with irritation.
"You've killed people Kristian. And so have I." Marcellus scoffed, "Yet millions of people celebrate our birth every year."
"I am sick and tired of you defending this-"
Just before Kristian could finish his sentence, Theo barged into the King's study with a huge grin on his face.
Marcellus watched him, he was slightly astonished by his best friend's elation. Theo's brown eyes were bright with excitement and happiness clouded his face.
"We have finally received a recruit who wants to sign up." He revealed, his smile never wavering.
Completely uninterested, Marcellus responded, "Okay, why are you so excited?"
"You'll never guess who it is." He marvelled before he pulled out his phone and put it on the King's table for him to read it.
Immortals Sign Up
Name: Kairo Keres
Marcellus did not even bother reading the rest because what he had just seen was enough to make the colour drain out of his face. Shock overtook his face.
The legendary Kairo Keres wanted to be a part of the Immortals. Not only was Kairo the only Lycan in the whole of the US but he was also incomparably strong. In his prime, Kairo was able to take out the whole of the Immortals by himself, that was how strong of a Lycan he was.
His Lycanthrope, Hayes was so exceptional that Kristian believed that Hayes was his only equal in the entirety of the world. Both Kairo and Hayes were God-like.
The assassination of the Red Moon Pack had been such a shock to the world because they were the strongest pack in the world, even stronger than the King's. This was because of their incredible strength, their genetics and training. Lycanthropes were naturally formidable creatures as they were stronger, bigger and smarter than the average wolf. However, adding on the Red Moon pack's vigorous training and studying, they were beyond just Lycanthropes, they were right beneath the Moon Goddess. They were her direct descendants.
Or at least that was what Marcellus' mother used to say.
Their assassination led to the isolation of Kairo and the near extinction of Lycanthropes in the United States.
For Marcellus to see that Kairo had come out of his shell and had signed up to be an Immortal was a sight that he never thought he would see, he was beyond honoured. The King quickly told Theo which date to set for Kairo's assessment on whether or not he was capable of becoming an Immortal.
Marcellus completely overlooked the timing of Kairo's sign up, which was a lethal mistake that could've prevented his death.