Damian
I put the phone in my pocket and moved my car towards the gate. Weiss lived in solitude. In the suburbs of Seattle town, away from all the madness that seemed to encroach of the mind of the average citizen.
Not that we would even call ourselves citizens, anyway.
We had been around long before any of them knew to name the place what it was. Long before America even got its Independence.
The guards at the entrance asked for my face through a speaker and I popped my head out of my window so that the camera would recognize me.
The gate opened on its own afterwards.
Now, how had Weiss gotten to where he was? The man portrayed himself as some kind of savior with a spirit. Someone who was a philanthropist and who wanted to help the lowest of the lowest.
That was the kind of people pious people always went for. And I wasn't sure if there was some other reason why they chose him, but he seemed to be doing just fine.
His father before him was in the council for the previous Alpha, who had died at the hands of a witch. Well, he never noticed she waa one. And by the time he did, it was too late as his lungs were already filled with wolfsbane and a silver sword so close to his neck, that his men had to let the witch go or see their Alpha leader burn before their very eyes.
Afterwards, war with the witches was made official. No one wanted a war with them. They were very cunning and sly, even though we were stronger and faster. But we couldn't be in two places at once.
They could.
Weiss probably came with a plan that the elders accepted and that was the reason he was made Alpha leader of the whole clans. I just wondered what the hell the man had sold them.
I stopped right after the fountain, and a guard stepped forward to open my car door. I handed my keys to him and walked through the front door.
For me, I was no stranger to the Stone Manor.
Weiss was having a meeting with some of his council men. They were mostly older than he was, and I wondered why they hadn't seized lower already. They didn't even look happy to be serving him.
I counted three of them. Iglesias, David, and Conan. All dressed in black, looking like they came to seize his soul.
Weiss looked up at me. His hair was red. He had a lithe structure, and didn't lift weights. I knew he was one hell of a Casanova but he was trying to hide it as best as he could.
Keep trying, Weiss.
"Ah, Damian. What a surprise. If you had told me that you were coming, I'd have made arrangements. Seems we have good news, then."
I said nothing.
The elders looked at me with curious eyes.
"Do you have good news?" Iglesias asked, his accent biting.
"I have news for Weiss," I said, as curt as I could.
"News for me is news for all," Weiss declared.
"I hope not," I said.
"Have a seat, Damian," Weiss offered.
The Alpha leader looked less formidable than any of us seated there. I wondered how he was so highly respected and feared. Well, those who were scared of him were those who feared his name.
Weiss.
Our host waved his hand and a pretty servant brought some strawberries on a tray and a bottle of Dussie. I hoped the elders would not feel jealous.
Weiss was trying to make me feel like I was important because I was the only one who could do what I could. And that was finding things. There were others. They charged cheaper but they didn't have my inventory. And the problem was that they worked in groups. Working alone made you one feel almost invisible. Weiss understood that.
But I wondered what would happen if his patience finally ran out.
"How's the job going, Damon?" Weiss asked.
I didn't feel like drinking, so I picked one strawberry and popped it into my mouth.
"I found one of the spies the witches use," I said.
"Where is he?" Iglesias asked.
"I killed him," I said.
"Why?" Weiss asked.
"He revealed to much. Knew too much already. I think he's been inside it too much. Had to put him down and dump his body in a river."
Weiss nodded once. "What did he know?"
I looked at the rest of the elders, wondering if they knew about what I was going to ask. Weiss didn't seem to mind that they were there. Or maybe I came at the wrong time and he didn't want to make them feel left out.
"How long have you been giving the female sentries blood documents?"
There was silence in the room for some moments.
"A couple of weeks," Weiss answered. "Why?"
And I didn't even know about it.
"Spies have been stealing the information inside of them," I said.
Wiess nodded his head. "I see."
"What's inside of them?"
"You don't need to know," Conan said.
I looked at him. So they all knew about it. "Why?"
"Because it is confidential," Conan explained. But that was vague.
I turned to look at Wiess. "Is that true?"
"Yes, it is."
"That means I'm working blindly."
"Didn't he tell you anything about what the information was about?" Iglesias asked.
"If he had, I wouldn't be asking, would I?"
"What else do you have for us?" Weiss asked.
I popped another strawberry into my mouth. "Well, if the witches had confidential information they are using against us, I thought to wise to tell you that it's been compromised. So you do the needful." I got to my feet.
"Damian, do you know why we give the female sentries the blood document?"
"It's supposed to stop them from getting hexed," I said.
"Correct. And what blood do we use?"
"A witch's."
"And if a witch is stealing whatever they can find in there, should we take that serious?" Weiss asked.
They were all smiling at me. As if I had missed something. But I knew I hadn't. The witches were looking for something with those documents. We couldn't see it but they could.
I just hoped it wouldn't be too late for us when we realized the truth.