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Luc

I left the capital and headed south, far south.

I wanted to get out of the Capital and didn’t feel safe at the Castle. I wasn’t sure who to trust anymore.

Before I left, I gave an order to call up the underwater diving squad that we used to have in the army. For some reason, it had been disbanded. They used to provide security at the energy plants. We called them the Sharks. They were highly efficient and excellent warriors underwater. I called Captain Dennington and gave him the order to organize them into teams. The Sharks were to patrol the remaining plants and search for any insurgents or vessels and destroy them on sight. I didn’t get approval for my plan from any of the war generals.

I acted on my own as I no longer knew who was pulling the strings or in charge.

My loyalty lay to my kind, though, and our assets needed protecting.

Before I left, I had Tick check on the king. She said the word at the Castle was that he had fallen ill but he was all right.

Then I turned my attention to Ruby.

I couldn’t ignore the effect her disappearance was having on me.

I felt an almost physical pain at my core. She was clearly in mortal danger and being threatened physically. It frustrated me that I couldn’t find her. I arrived in Buzzard Creek in the early morning and approached her house. She wasn’t there, I could tell right away. I had a quick look around and saw that she had probably left the place in a hurry. There were unwashed plates in the sink, food in the fridge.

I had someone at the Castle trace her phone calls and map her location. I saw that the last location her phone had been active in was a place called Wellington, best known as a correctional facility for Section 2 criminals. It didn’t take me long to find out that her father was being held there and that he was currently being treated in the medical ward after he had been seriously injured following an attack.

I travelled to Wellington and did a quick survey of the facility and the guards. Then I waited for the guard in her father’s ward to come off duty. I followed him back home and as he got out of his car, pulled him aside and did a number on him.

I showed him Ruby’s picture and asked about her father.

In the typical monotone, he said. “We were asked to look out for her and call if we see her.”

So they were waiting for Ruby. They knew she would come to see her father.

“Call who?”

“I don’t know, I wasn’t given the number.”

“Who has the number?”

“Alphonse.”

I asked where I could get hold of Alphonse and was told he was working the night shift. I headed back to the prison and waited for the man matching that description.

I thought about what the guard had told me.

Why were the shifters looking for Ruby?

What did she know?

I had a sneaky suspicion that it had something to do with me but she didn’t have any information about me. She could give them my mobile number at best, but I had replaced my mobile after the attempt on my life the day before.

They could have killed her as punishment for the death of the shifter. The only reason they were keeping her alive was because she had value to them somehow.

It made me sick, thinking of what they could be doing to her and that I was unable to help her.

Finally, Alphonse came through the gates with some friends of his. I called out to him and he came towards me.

When he was close enough, I dropped my voice and fixed my stare on him.

“What is the number you called when you saw Ruby Winton?”

He listed the number in a monotone.

His friends called out to him that they were leaving and I quickly released him, making sure he remembered nothing about our conversation.

Then I called it in to my team at the Castle.

“Find me a name and an address,” I said, holding the line.

“It’s a burner,” I was told, “not registered to anyone.”

Shit.

“But I can tell you this,” my tech friend said. “A call was made to this number, which bounced off towers close to Sunside Swamp.”

There it was again.

Sunny the Snake kept popping up in my life.

I asked for an update about what was happening and was transferred to Tick.

She sounded excited. “The Sharks scored a massive victory last night! They spotted a couple of missiles and eliminated them, going after the vessels from which they were fired and blowing them up.”

“Excellent.” I was pleased my plan had worked.

Her voice dropped. “I hear there was some confusion last night in the War Room when the news came. Nobody knew who had given the order.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear that.

I didn’t care either.

“How is the king?”

Tick’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“I’m not sure, I will keep you posted.”

I asked for precise co-ordinates of Sunny the Snake’s compound.

Tick sent it to my phone. “You can’t go in there alone,” she warned. “We know that he has an army of guards there and they are all armed. There is some underground activity too but we can’t get any information on how extensive it is. You won’t be able to move around freely and will be unable to use many of your powers. Let me find out more first.”

I knew she was right.

I wouldn’t be able to defend myself properly in that kind of a setting.

It was incredibly frustrating, as I knew this was where Ruby was probably held but according to our initial mapping, the underground network could span thousands of square kilometers. I couldn’t go in there without knowing exactly where she was.

I could get lost and I most certainly could be killed.

I spent the afternoon in the forest bordering the swamp. There were thick pockets of trees behind Buzzard Creek, stretching all the way towards the mangrove swamps. It was hot and humid here and uncomfortable for me.

Planning my next move was complicated.

I needed to get back to the capital but I couldn’t leave Ruby.

Not now, when I knew she needed me and that I was probably the reason why she had gotten into trouble in the first place.

I was thinking of asking for help from Alexandra when my phone rang.

It was a number from the Castle.

“Yes?”

“Luc?”

“What do you want?” I had already recognized Harris’s voice.

“Did you organize the Sharks attack on the underwater enemy movement?”

“So what if I did?”

There was a moment of silence.

“That was good thinking on your part,” he finally said. “Did you discuss the plan with anyone?”

“Why would I?” I remarked drily. “Last time I was at the Castle someone tried to kill me.”

“I don’t know anything about that,” he said.

I gave a snort of derision. “Please. I’m putting the phone down.”

“Wait!” he said quickly. “Okay, I knew about the attempt but it wasn’t me.”

“I don’t believe you,” I said flatly.

“I know,” he sounded tired all of a sudden. “I understand that.”

“You lied to me the last time we spoke,” I said.

“Yes,” Harris says. “I did, I admit it but I didn’t know if I could trust you. I didn’t know whose side you were on.”

“That’s rich coming from you! I have always been loyal to the king!”

“Yes, but what does that mean exactly? Does that loyalty extend to the queen?”

I didn’t know what he was asking me.

Then he said, “You were close to her once, I believe?”

“That was a long time ago,” I finally said.

I didn’t know that he knew about that. Harris was even more connected and better informed than I’d realized. Years before Vlas was crowned our king, Taheera and I had spent one night together. I was younger then, more of a party animal and a player. She was an attractive woman and she had come on to me. I went with it, turned on by the way she was pursuing me but the experience became unpleasant. She liked to dominate and became quite violent with me. I played along to a point but when she started hitting me, inflicting pain, I told her to stop. She then promised to tone it down but her fangs were out and she wanted my blood. I had pushed her away and she’d never forgiven me for that. I had avoided her since then.

When I heard Vlas was thinking of marrying her, I had tried to warn him, but she was from one of the oldest vampire families and their union solidified Vlas’s power. She was ambitious, though, and I didn’t like that.

I had tried to talk to Matteo about it, but he had changed the subject. “She’s our queen,” he had said stiffly and I didn’t push it. He was extremely loyal to the royal house.

Whenever I met her after that, she pretended not to know me.

It was like she’d never seen me before.

But I knew better.