In the form of silhouette shadows, Morbius and Orlando swiftly navigated to another corridor, solidifying their presence squarely before Headmaster Edgar's path when they encountered him.
"Are you honestly endorsing this to befall onto Victoria?" Morbius interrogated as the snap in his harsh tone stirred his vexation that ignited in his red eyes.
After the betrayal of his daughter from years ago had ended their friendship, Morbius regarded Edgar as worthless. In Morbius's eyes, he was nothing more than a nuisance that he could step on as if he were a pesky cockroach. For the time being, he had to put those disdainful feelings aside to speak with Edgar about this matter pertaining to Victoria.
"Don't you dare pester me!" Edgar retorted sharply. "I'm well aware of your nefarious plans with the girl! She'd be better off dead than falling into your hands!"
His words didn't represent a wish for Victoria's execution; however, he felt a stronger aversion to her being in Orlando's possession. Death would be far more merciful over her suffering an immortal life with those Mills, is the way Edgar saw it.
A sneer curved Morbius's lips as a baritone throaty chuckle resonated through his masculine voice.
"Did the Collins know about the meeting?" he asked, dismissing Edgar's previous statement.
Indeed, Morbius's concern for Victoria's survival is twisty and depraved to benefit his Coven. One way or another, he is determined to eradicate the Collin Coven, and he will ensure that Victoria marries Orlando. With the power she'll possess as a vampiress, Morbius's Coven will be unstoppable. Sometime after the votes, he intended to obtain her from underneath Kai's nose.
"Only the headmasters were informed," Edgar replied, his voice laced with a thinly veiled irritation as his gaze pierced through Morbius before he docked on Orlando's unwelcome presence to attend the conference. Yet, he couldn't complain about it since he accompanied his grandfather.
"Have you bothered to alert the Collins now that the conference is over?" Morbius questioned, as his eyes narrowed at Edgar with a mixture of distrust and disdain.
The friendly aura in the corridor couldn't suppress the palpable tension between them.
"I'm sworn by oath not to say anything to them. Since I am their ally, the Vampire Covenant made it so I can't intervene. If I do anything out of terms, then my wife and I are to be detained," Edgar informed him as the bitterness coating those words left a sour distaste on his tongue. Of course, he would tell Kai if he could, but he was forbidden to speak to them.
If only Vlad were awake, then he could have attended the conference, which would have provided him the opportunity to orchestrate a possible plan to prepare for these decisions the Vampire Covenant had voted on. Not that Vlad's presence would do much good since no one had any safe place to hide Victoria. Hence, she was doomed either way in his mind.
Morbius snickered, reading his defeat. "I can't believe you've allowed yourself to be whipped!" he mocked, and Edgar growled at those disheartened words of his.
"I'm coming up with a plan!" Edgar snarled. He didn't have a plan, but he was bound to come up with one in a matter of days.
"Well then, let's hear it?" Morbius questionably challenged him.
He could indisputably smell his bluff.
"It's none of your business, so get out of my way!" Edgar snarled as he walked through Orlando and Morbius, grazing his shoulders with theirs as he did.
"I never thought I'd see the day that the Vampire Covenant is starting to fall apart with their trust in each other," Morbius disparaged him, grabbing his attention, which worked all too well because Edgar veered back to him. His statement was true.
Trust within the Vampire Covenant has recently eroded amongst them. Without mutual trust, their influential power is poisoned to corrode, much like everyone else. Across twelve different planets, the Rebellion has laid waste to some of their Vampire Covenants into nothing more than ruins, leaving them uneasy and disheartened about it. The decision to execute Victoria appeared to be the only pragmatic solution to quell all the mayhem, but if they're mistaken, doom is inevitable. Is it more favorable to execute Victoria, or does her survival hold greater promise? These are the two weighty questions orbiting around the young woman's fate.
Edgar angrily hissed as he came nearly nose-to-nose with Morbius's face. "If you have a plan to stop this Rebellion, then I suggest you get on with it. Otherwise, Victoria is going to be executed without her votes!"
"The only way to get even with a Rebellion is by assembling an Allegiance," Morbius declared, and Edgar's eyes gaped, understanding the implication he implied.
"That could make it worse!" Edgar fumed with an urgency in his tone.
"Leave it to me," Morbius snickered before he disappeared with his grandson.
~~~
Their shadows reappeared at the front entry of the palace, where Orlando's advisors had already been waiting for him.
"Call Kai! We have no more time to waste," Morbius demanded, and Orlando complied promptly and retrieved his cell phone from out of the back pocket of his jeans.
He dialed Kai's number, but unsurprisingly, there was no answer, and the call disconnected.
"That idiot!" Orlando gruffed as he tried again, but this time, it was a dead tone, implying that he had shut his phone off.
"Forget about waiting on Kai. Find his allies. I'll stay here to keep a watchful eye on the Vampire Covenant. If they make any moves, I'll inform you. You know what to do," Morbius asserted with urgency.
After making a confirming head gesture, Orlando and his advisors shaped into shadowy figures, and then they quickly took off into the dark sky to get back to the United States.