As her flight landed, Velda headed for Terminal 3, quite surprised that a man like that could exist in real life. An old man with a shiny bald head and a beard so long that it was draping against the ground turned his head left and right looking for someone. Spotting her, he waved at her joyfully, gesturing to her to come along with him.
Velda followed him into the cab, with all her luggage on the seat beside her. The taxi driver, who was paid the fees, dropped her off at a hotel Lisa booked her. Stunned by the delicate patterns laying along the hotel's grandiose wooden doors, Velda wondered if she made her dear friend spend money unnecessarily.
Thinking to make full use of this chance to experience the life of the rich, Velda stepped into the hotel, easily carrying all her light luggage inside. After passing through the entrance, there was a reception counter, set 20 long steps away, in front of her. Reaching the desk, the receptionist was shown an online transcript with the reservation of a single room on her phone. He took it, asking for her passport or a copy of it to confirm some details. After he checked everything, he returned both her phone and passport, instantly changing his stern attitude.
"Dear guest, I wasn't aware you were a VIP. You are eligible to stay here for 5 days." He bowed politely. "Please go this way." He signaled for a guide to show her to the room and about the free services offered to her. Velda received her key card, placing it safe inside her bag so that she didn't lose it. Stepping into the elevator, the guide tapped his ID card onto the card reader.
She had seen lots of elevator card readers in her life, but still retained her curiosity about how they worked, probably because she didn't study IT as a degree, rather she took up the double bachelor degree of art and bachelor of medicine and surgery (MBBS). Fortunately, 2 months ago before now, she was able to obtain her master degree of business administration lest Callisto would have wasted all that money for nothing.
Ding! The elevator stopped at floor 25, opening its doors to other wealthy patrons, covered with expensive jewelry all round their body. Velda was dumbfounded by the untidy mess that just passed by her. Almost pointing at them, the guide, who introduced himself as Patrick, muttered. "Those two are a couple, making trouble in our territory. Their rank is of a viscount's." If he was mentioning ranks, then, this hotel should be exclusively for vampire's use.
"Then if you are a vampire, you should know I am a normal human." In a sense, she wasn't lying. The drug, which she used to prove her powers weakening, would last for many days because the substances she made it from were potent, therefore, the duration of the effect was enhanced.
"I do. I just wanted someone to vent to." Patrick apologized. "Since you are a customer, I thought you would be able to give them some kind of warning."
"Well, I can ask a friend for help," he perked up, but then drooped in spirits, "if they did something worthy of a harsh punishment."
Patrick instantly lightened up, animatedly grumbling. "Then.....!" Velda looked around before placing a finger on his lips.
"Shush!" Velda lowered her voice. "Let's talk in my room first." He briefed her about the location of the swimming pool, gym, restaurants and the lounge room. He complied, rambling on enthusiastically as though they never had a conversation about the viscount.
Once they got to the room, they locked the door. Not sure if the room was soundproof, they stifled their volume. Patrick picked up where he left off about the viscount couple who seem to owe too much wealth, not befitting their small rank and the land they had to manage over. Lisa informed Velda that to stay in this hotel, one must possess the wealth of a billionaire or even more. It was certainly suspicious.
"The viscount couple is investing in a land due to recurrent advice of some partners around them. They were doubtful of these words because they were ones not to trust people's words easily, worried about the money they would lose if they invested fully into this. But then, news of the land development and customers' desire to live in the apartments built there reached their ears, compelling them to think it was the right time to invest."
"By your words, did their investment fail causing them to lose money?"
"No, actually, it thrived so successfully that things were going smoothly until the duke swooped in and declared this land invalid because it was illegally being sold without his permission. Their profits were all confiscated. Many fallen nobles, who were deceived, didn't manage to uncover the mastermind, plus, they received lots of damage to their business, which unfortunately directed their hatred towards the duke."
It was the same method the vampires used to manipulate the lower ranks vampire, deprived of thirst and freedom, to despise the duke and lose faith in him by spreading rumors about the duke consuming hunter's blood. She had a feeling the mastermind may be the same person, stirring the inside dispute between vampires as a facade for orchestration of the external, larger conflicts. "Due to their social status, they can't do anything to ruin the duke on the surface so they probably hired a lot of secret assassins who wouldn't reveal personal information."
"The duke actually wasn't affected because no assassin guild dared to assassinate him with the cost of being tortured brutally before returning back alive in separate pieces. Though vampires can regenerate, the pain that came with it will be brutally ingrained in their mind. So those nobles thought they should take the law into their own hands, burning the land and injuring the human construction workers doing their job."
"Did the viscount couple also take part?"
"No, they were overly cautious. As a result, they weren't caught red handed."
"Did the duke not suspect them?" Velda inquired.
"He did, but he didn't have enough evidence to put them in a trial and decide on a legitimate punishment in compliance with the weight of their sins."
Suddenly, Velda was reminded of the vampire's punishment system which, unlike the human's system of justice, was fair and equal to all. After determining their crimes, their executor would arrange a stronger person than the criminal's estimated strength to torture them slowly before judging if they should be existing in the world. Just taking a look at the introduction to the vampire's laws was a headache. She was amazed at how Callisto could memorize such intricate and unique regulations that didn't make sense.
"I wonder if everyone in the vampire society learnt all those rules by heart." Patrick replied that since young, vampires had to study the necessities in life, such as hunting a prey, training the body, and finally the norms of vampire, werewolves, and humans. "Your parents probably taught you those norms to blend in with the other species in their territory and not cause conflict."
"Yep. They also wanted us to use this in case we had to defend ourselves from the enemy." Velda understood that though the peace may be lasting, the three races were still of different species, not able to trust each other, therefore, someone can easily sow discord between them. "As a servant obeying the orders of the viscount, I could no longer stand his oppression against us fledglings." Fledglings? Hardly. When Velda tested out her illusion spell against him, he wasn't affected at all, which meant he was definitely not a low ranking vampire.
Let's hear his side of the story first. "Tell me more about it. I may be able to help you."
"During my days working as a guard to their castle, I have always been suspicious of why the people living in their lands were suffering while the viscount and his wife were still able to prosper. One day, I stumbled upon a secret passage that led from the viscount's bed chambers to an underground basement where dusty shelves of books were fixed there, similar to a smaller version of a library. I searched around for signs of bribery, illegal businesses. I found out that they were raising taxes. But, high taxes wouldn't accumulate this much savings, especially with how much their family spends money daily on exorbitant objects."
"How were the ledgers and the contents recorded within?"
"The ledgers were perfectly clean. I suspect they had someone cover it up with legal means."
"It's a good thing you were financially literate."
Patrick glared at her, asking her if she was looking down on him. "I am both figuratively and financially literate."
"I didn't mean that. I was just glad you could read the ledgers because if you couldn't, you would have to ask for an accomplice whose lips are sealed. It increases the risk, so I said it's lucky you didn't have to do that." Patrick was genuinely astounded.
"You thought of all that?" He stroked his chin in deep thought, as he muttered. "As expected, humans are meticulous."
"I am not. It's just a worry that popped up while I was listening to your perilous story. Since you have seen that ledger, what do you want me to do, servant of the Silencers? Do you want my friend to retrieve it as an important evidence?" Patrick was alarmed that she knew of his identity. "Don't pretend. You should have known who I was since the start."
"Ha.....I couldn't fool you. This is a stain in my 20 years of working at the guild." He scratched his head, sighing in dismay. Patrick's freckled face, and his fluffy golden brown hair was replaced by a handsome man in his 20s with long blonde hair and purple eyes, similar to a supernova galaxy with dazzling stars. This meant he had at least the rank of a marquis.
"Is it your habit to divulge your real appearance after someone notices your identity, Marquis Alexis de Montreal?"
"You're an exception, particularly since you aren't my client. You can't harm me even if you described my appearance to another guild because nobody had seen my real face."
No, she had seen it in her reports. The only reason why she remembered Patrick was because of how striking his real countenance was. His actual name was Alexis de Montreal, the runaway son of a marquis, who was kidnapped by the werewolves because he was a vampire
The backstory associated with why he revealed his appearance was truly tragic. Sylvia Lunar, a werewolf shaman with blue hair and golden amber eyes, played quite an important part in the wolf pack because she possessed strong healing powers. When Alexis was younger, she was the only one who saved him while he was being chased off by other werewolves when he was running away from the territory. After healing him, she freed him from their clutches.
Because they lost a valuable specimen to experiment on, the elders were infuriated, enforcing a harsh punishment on her, locking her in the jail without food, only plain water, for a few days. The little boy, who was saved by her, heard of the terrible news, came back to repay her favor by secretly sending her some berries he found in the forest. Although the food he picked was deadly, she still ate them as she could heal herself and believed that a young boy wouldn't have much knowledge of poison.
In fact, the young Alexis brought the berries to test whether she was truly beneficial in his goal to take revenge against the elders who brought harm upon for 8 years straight. He observed her for days. She was naive, a white lotus, unquestionably a breeze to exploit as a pawn to his plans. After being released, the elders warned her to lay low and not be conspicuous or else she would end up worse than this.
To Sylvia, she would remember that moment of saving a boy she never knew because this was her first free decision she had made in her whole life. Alexis, who never knew of her appreciation towards him, proceeded with his plans. Two months later, they reunited in the ballroom when the vampires were invited to an annual friendly ball with werewolves and the hunters. Uncomfortable around the adults, she was taken away to a private lounge by Alexis, who she didn't recognize.
After he revealed his identity, she started to warm up to him and chattered on. Time passed by quickly whenever they were together. Alexis promised her to send letters with a fake name called Helix. Upon making her first friend, she concurred. Unbeknownst to the elders, she was leaking important information to Alexis about how the situation on her side was going while Alexis made up fake circumstances to keep her interested and not to be found out by the elders if they ever read the letters and discovered the place. This went on for 2 years.
Hearing the elder's voice from the room, Sylvia hid impulsively behind the door. Holding her breath, she eavesdropped on their conversation regarding experiments involving vampires. Now realizing that her race had harmed Alexis deeply, she no longer contacted Alexis, hoping he wouldn't seek vengeance on all of her clan. Fortunately, after sending several dozens of consecutive letters questioning her why she stopped writing to him, he ceased his endeavors.
Sylvia was sad she had to lose her first friend like this, therefore, kept all the letters they exchanged safe in her drawer. Eventually, realizing she was in love with Alexis from the way she regarded every moment they spent together as precious to her, she held lots of remorse. She regretted being so carefree with him although he was an enemy. She regretted the past where she wasn't able to stop the elders. Most of all, she regretted meeting him. If not for him, she would have never known this suffocating as well as fluffy feeling in her chest to be love.
1 year later, her parents persuaded her to be in a political marriage with someone other than Alexis. She refused them strongly, asking them for more time to accept this. She was absolutely abhorred by her marriage partner, who was an old gentleman. In parties, she could always feel his lustful gaze on her whenever no one was looking. Her parents, who were greedy for the dowry offered by the old man, accepted the proposal in her stead. Without her consent, they knocked her out and sent her in a carriage to his castle that night.
Meanwhile, a sudden raid on the Ash clan was occurring, rising flames burning bright in the night sky, with guards frantically rushing into the place to warn the werewolves to run for safety. The elders were definitely not pleased by the arrival of the Montreal clan. While the spies were taking care of the beta and warrior werewolves inside the castle, to achieve their goal, the commander of Montreal knights must distract the elders and the shamans guarding the entrance for a while. Those two groups must be hindered from returning inside because, despite the numbers, the spies will have some difficulties handling an alpha.
"What is your business here, Montreal?" At the entrance of the castle, an elderly woman stepped up in a confident posture with her hands on a cane in front of her.
"I am Theo Cress. I have come with a message from my young master." Contrary to the way, the knights barged in without authorization, the commander bowed, politely apologizing. "My young master, Alexis de Montreal, stated it was the right time for their promised marriage."
"We were never informed of this matter!" The woman frowned at the word 'marriage'. The elders and the shamans behind her doubted whether they were hearing this right. She hollered, bewildered as to who in her clan would take on the risk of marrying a vampire? "What is the name of his bride?!"
"His bride is Sylvia Lunar." The commander, in spite of having less power than the elders, stood before them confidently. His eyes certainly seemed sincere. The woman whispered to a young girl behind her, ordering her to investigate where Sylvia was. Someone, who could have the authority to command a pack when alphas and betas were absent, is a Gamma. Learning of such an enormous gap in abilities between them, the commander gulped in fear and excitement.
"How did your young master say she became his bride?"
"Oh," Theo snapped out his intrusive thoughts, "he said through a childhood promise, letters with her consent on it and an heirloom as a symbol of accepting her position as his wife."
"Where's your young master?"
"I am sorry but we can't disclose this information." The commander remained firm despite the doubtful looks around him.
"Why not?" The elderly woman asked curiously.
"Sorry. All I can tell you is that he went on an important mission assigned by the clan head as punishment for sending the heirloom without hesitation to our lady. But, it's okay. Please don't fret. Young master Alexis will have returned by the time our young mistress has arrived at his mansion." The commander explained it vaguely, lying through a smile. Alexis wasn't completing a mission, instead, on a horse that was galloping swiftly, he was catching up to the carriage, whose driver was sending Sylvia to another castle.
"Who are you calling a young mistress!? She's not the lady of your house yet!" A young girl came in to report about the situation to the Gamma woman. She turned to the commander, reluctantly making an apology for the bride's absence.
"What happened?" She definitely couldn't tell Theo that the bride the Montreal young master promised to get engaged to was on her way to complete a political marriage. The missing bride will definitely be a catalyst to kindle the war between the two clans. How should she...?
As a matter of fact, Alexis already knew she was on her way to be sold off as an old man's bride, which was one of the reasons he sped up his plans. The commander was also aware of it. The reason they didn't say the bride was abducted was so that the gamma werewolf would try to stall as much time as she could. If Theo tried to impede her time when there was no particular reason to do so, she would surely not give him the benefit of the doubt. Besides, he couldn't afford to be suspected when they were put at risk being in the middle of an enemy territory.
"These are the dowries my young master sent." Theo gestured to 10 carriages that trailed behind them. "All of them are filled with valuables from the marquis to show our utmost sincerity."
This excuse she came up with didn't make sense, however, the woman went along with it. "Are you trying to bribe the family into giving up their daughter?"
"Oh no! Please don't misunderstand our young master's intentions! We only wanted the family to know that we will take care of our mistress like these valuable jewels because that's how precious she is to the young master." Theo certainly was a sweet talker. "On another note, would you like to see some of them?"
"Can we?" The elderly woman was definitely not interested in the jewels, however, she had to do her best to delay the time until they could recover the bride.
"Of course!" Theo rejoiced, thinking this should pass some time. Their plan was meticulous, letting a fragrant scent to cover the smell of blood but the wolf shamans probably would notice it soon due to their sensitivity. He hoped the young lord would finish his part as soon as possible.
As some shamans went down the stairs out of curiosity about the contents inside the carriage, an eagle swooped down, landing onto Theo's arms. It dropped off a message that Alexis successfully retrieved his bride and he was on his way back to the marquis. He solved the encrypted note, and whistled as a cue to all the knights present. From the hidden carriages, all the knights leaped out, thus, signaling the start of their invasion against the Ash clan.
Three days after the Ash clan was thoroughly destroyed, Sylvia woke up in an unfamiliar room. She looked outside, knowing she was at the place Helix, no, Alexis, described. The view was exactly as described in the letters - trees with golden brown leaves and a garden full of marigolds. She didn't see any signs of Alexis until a week later when he had taken care of all the consequences by taking the raid into his own hands.
Sylvia was quite reluctant to marry him due to the guilt of her family hurting him. She also couldn't forget the fact that he destroyed her whole clan. Though there were plenty of people who didn't deserve to live, there were also people she cherished. Alexis, perceiving her dilemma, notified her of her family's freedom. They were free to visit her anytime she wanted. Sylvia, moved by the fact that he spared the innocent families, agreed to his proposal. Though they faced some difficulties from the noble society, they lived happily ever after....
That was what Alexis wished every year until one night he chanced upon his wife suiciding. "Alexis?" Choking from the rope wrapped around her neck and no chair to support her, she scratched at the rope, trying to get it off. Alexis immediately slashed off the rope.
Sylvia coughed harshly, breathing in the air she couldn't get while she hung on the rope. "Sylvia, why were you.....?"
Sylvia squished his cheeks in between her two hands. Knowing her body's limits, she smiled. "Sorry, I tried my best." Just as Alexis was about to ask her what she meant, her hands plopped down the ground, the heat evaporating from her body, which was rapidly growing cold. He knew what this was. It was the same heart sinking feeling he had when his mother died. The window flashed lightning, feeling the same sentiment of his dreadful loss. In a mixture of several emotions, he cried out, while hugging his wife's corpse.
He only realized what he knew of his wife may be fake just like how his true self was. Though he seemed to be strong, he actually wanted to be a clingy guy who spares no expense for his wife. Now that he couldn't do that for her anymore, he only lived for the sake of avenging her death. Her room contained the smell of those illegal drugs, scattered around. From the investigation, there was no specific mastermind uncovered because the cloaked figure, handing over the drug to Sylvia, managed to outwit the guards, who were tasked to follow suspicious individuals.
In the end, he waited until his father declared one of his other sons as heir to leave the house. Chancing upon the Silencer guild, he worked his way up as an executive level assassin to gather information about the drugs. In a way, he was quite pitiful to live only for vengeance.
"You gave yourself away by asking a normal human like me for help. Next time, learn to hide your emotions and don't rush with the task. Gradually, take the time to ease their guard and make them trust you to an extent. Never reveal your weakness in front of your foes."
"I got it." He nodded his head, genuinely listening to her advice like a child. "I think I was too rushed this time because I thought of the safety of the kids."
"Since the duke wouldn't believe the words of an assassin, who worked in the viscount family, giving away information, what do you need my help with?"
Patrick was astounded. "You believe me?"
"Yeah." She nodded.
"An assassin like me who deceives others for money?"
"I didn't trust you because of your character. I am not that naive." Her mind was ingrained with the personal information of all noteworthy vampires. Therefore, she had a clear idea of who to shun and who to befriend. Among them, Alexis's powers lay in the top 50 regardless of his origins. He worked hard to earn money for the sake of donating to poor orphans and only accepted requests to slay those who were evil. This kind of character was rare to find in this world, where everything is judged in the standard of materialistic value. "Besides, even if your information was inaccurate, I have nothing to lose because I will not be the one sending help."
"Is that so?" Alexis smiled in relief.
"Would it be fine if I conveyed the information you obtained to the duke's sister? I think she would make use of this opportunity to catch them all in one swoop."
"What about the ledgers? It was spotless!"
"My dear friend has experts around her who can uncover this in a few days." Velda noticed his uneasy expression. "Don't worry! I know that you are no longer the son of marquis, Alexis de Montreal. I won't implicate you in this matter. Trust me."
Alexis was reminded of his knight Theo through how similar their straightforward personalities and looks of resolve were. He, who learnt not to depend on anyone else, probably thought it was best for Velda to handle this. If he failed this mission, he won't be able to go through the secret documents the guild held, some of which contained the trade of drugs. "Thank you. Whenever you need help in this hotel, please call me."
Before Alexis went away, she held onto his arm. In a whisper, she asked him a favor to find a condo for her male friend whom she was fetching from the airport. "He wants a sophisticated modern apartment that has two bedrooms, one kitchen, and a moderate space. His maximum budget for rent is 2500 euros. Negotiate with the owner if you can about the price. You can take 1 week to find all the appropriate places before he arrives into the country." They exchanged contacts in order to look through the photos Alexis sent her for each apartment he deemed worthy along with the details like monthly rent and area of space.
She lied to Alexis in order to find out her place to rent. As a single woman living alone with vampire nobles chasing her, it was too dangerous to be attacked. It was better to be prepared than standing and doing nothing at all. She texted Lisa about all of this excluding that the eye witness was an assassin disguised as a servant of that mansion. Velda recounted Alexis' description of the passageway and how the ledgers looked like. She advised Lisa to take a minimum of one individual but less than 5 people to keep their actions under the rug.
As luck would have it, Lisa had plenty of use for that information, appreciating her help for the ledger and other documents they would find in the depths of their castle could be the breakthrough of their investigations. Although she trusted Alexis for now, he could have misinformed her for the guild he was working for.
The Silencers were well known in the vampire world for their spotless assassinations that came with a high price. Orphans were kidnapped to be violently trained and were implanted the twisted way to survive - killing each other - thus, capable assassins were developed. Regardless of their species, all the guild master cared about was the abilities he could make use of. Discarding the weak, the guild master and its founders treated customers like god, especially those with higher rank. The higher the monetary reward a request offered, the more irresistible the demand was to the guild master, who abused those that disobeyed him.
She knew what Alexis wanted to do but this bastard's guild would probably be better not existing. By the time Callisto finished the preparations - which wouldn't take that long - to catch them all, Alexis would have gotten his hands on the documents regarding the drugs already. Velda warned her best friend that this information came from an unreliable source and it would be best to approach this matter with caution for fear that there were traps along the way, lurking stealthily to snare upon them. Velda suggested Lisa to recruit Alexis to work as a double undercover spy after she destroyed the guild for the Silencers were one of the guilds on their list to take down the 'filth' - as Lisa called it - in the country.
During the week, while Alexis constantly sent her photos of apartments that suited the requirements her male friend had, Velda looked for books on shapeshifting, self defense and read the daily newspaper in the library. Finally, on Sunday morning, Velda arrived at the chosen apartment to reach a deal with the owner. Going into the washroom, she shape shifted into a handsome, young man in his 20s. Her luggage was waiting for her in the hotel the day before checking out of the hotel to reach an appropriate deal after looking around the room.
The apartment was fairly commodious, with two big bedrooms, each equipped with study desks and unique shelves, also had their own balconies which provided ventilation into the rooms. The spacious bathroom adjoined with the toilet was located at the far left corner of the room, next to a small kitchen. The living room had ample space with a TCL television in between the two bedrooms facing each other and the kitchen, which was nearer to the door, along with the washroom. The price of renting this apartment was 2100 euros which was reasonable.
In the end, by afternoon, all the details were worked out with the owner. By Monday, she checked out of the hotel, where she parted with Alexis, and moved all her luggages to her room. She ordered new furniture under her fake name. With the illusion spell engulfing her name in the degree certificate, she applied for plenty of high paying jobs with a fake name. Fortunately, her use of spells weren't discovered, and she was hired as a general surgeon in a well-known hospital in France with plenty of patients available.
Along with the monthly alimony, as a single mother, she was glad she could provide her kids a comfortable lifestyle. Debating on whether she should show her true appearance to her kids or just keep it as a secret until they grow up to understand, she was genuinely hesitant on deciding this matter as each had their advantages. Regardless, she truly looked forward to their moments together, buying a camera so that they could store all those precious memories in an album.
Patting her stomach, she sighed gleefully. "The twin's names shall be Raul and Rune. Raul for my baby boy and Rune for my cute daughter."