Chapter 848: Following bread crumbs
After Fex had instructed his direct family members on how to create a soul weapon, Lee Sanguines was unsure what to do with that information for a while.
It certainly was something that could be used to improve the position of their entire family on the council, especially after what had happened. Due to past incidents, the Sanguines family had a reputation of being a bit unreliable, however, Lee didn’t care about that.
After considering what to do with it for a long time, he decided that the best course of action was to share this information with the King, or at least with Dwight who could pass it on. This way it would be up to the King what to do with it.
However, there was a problem with this method.
Lee and Silver felt like this wasn’t their information to share. Although Fex had allowed them to do so, this was a huge discovery that would forever change the vampires as a race.
It was guaranteed that the King would honour the responsible person with rewards and titles. Unfortunately, Fex was officially no longer a member of the thirteenth family, as such they wanted for him to personally deliver this news and receive his glory.
They hoped that his contribution might sway the King into overturning their decree, so that he might enjoy being part of the thirteenth family once again.
Still, Silver had disagreed with her father’s idea. She felt like even if the banishment from the thirteenth family would be reversed due to this discovery, Fex would likely remain with the tenth family with all his friends.
Nevertheless, she agreed that Fex should be the one to deliver the news and receive the reward. Heading over the tenth family castle, Silver had intended to inform Fex of their decision, as well as ask him a few questions herself.
She had been practicing the method in secret already, although not yet to the degree of managing to create a blood weapon. Since the information was eventually going to become public anyway, she saw no problem without getting a headstart over the others.
That’s when she had met Leo, in the tenth castle.
Leo was a bit dumbfounded upon her request. "I’m sorry, but did you just ask for Fex? I’m sure the last I spoke with Quinn, he informed me that the two of them had gone off to the thirteenth castle, but that was around a week ago."
"Please, I know you’re blind, but you don’t have to joke about not seeing him." Silver replied.
However, Leo’s face was dead serious.
"I assure you, I’m not joking. As you should be aware, a Vampire knight’s duty includes being aware of who is in and out of these castle walls. Ever since the day he had left, he had yet to return. Quinn mentioned that he might enjoy staying with his family for a while, so we’ve been under the impression he was with you, but it appears that’s not the case."
Silver’s heart started beating rapidly, as she started to have flashbacks to her brother’s position before.
’That’s impossible, he left on the same day he arrived and it was already over a week ago. If the tenth family doesn’t know where he is, and he hasn’t updated anyone on his position, just where could he be?’
Silver was usually composed in all circ.u.mstances, at least Leo had never seen her act out. Her aura was normally firm and strong, staying close to her body, yet he could ’see’ that it shifted like a wild beast, with her hands shaking, causing the sword in its sheath to rattle.
’"Fex is strong enough to take care of himself. Wherever he is, I believe he is safe. Nobody should have any reason to go after him unless they would want to go after Quinn. Together we have a good chance to find him. I can see what you can’t and you can see what I can’t. He must have gone missing at some point between your and our castle." Leo tried to talk her down.
"It’s okay." Silver replied, taking a deep breath. "You are a Vampire knight and you have your own duties to attend to. I will search for him by myself." Leo quickly placed his sword on the ground in front of her, before you could leave.
"It’s exactly BECAUSE I am a knight that I will accompany you. Have you forgotten that Fex is also a member of the tenth family? We have another Vampire knight now and he is doing a pretty good job. I would say he is more suited for doing paperwork, whereas a case like this is more of my speciality." Leo smiled.
Wanting to find out what had happened to her brother, she stopped refuting Leo’s willingness to help and the two of them rushed off. The tenth house and the thirteenth house weren’t very far apart, so there wasn’t much to search in terms of the vampire settlement. There were only two castles on the way between them.
It also wouldn’t make sense for Fex to deliberately take a roundabout route. Looking around, they both walked different paths that he might have taken several times. Silver was having a hard time, and she was just pulling anyone she could see around the areas questioning them.
"Have you seen a gelled black haired boy, the previous descendant of the thirteenth family?" Silver almost shouted, scaring those around.
"No, I haven’t, I don’t know." The scared man in front of her answered, making himself small, afraid he might get hit for being unable to help.
Her techniques weren’t the best and all it had accomplished was clear the area they were searching in, reducing the number of people they could ask if they had seen Fex.
She knew she was acting rashley but she just couldn’t help it.
’I thought he wouldn’t get targeted again! Why would they even attempt to use him? Even if they’re after Quinn, they could have used anyone else! No, I should have walked back with him, but I thought he wasn’t a child, he was a strong a.d.u.l.t. The only ones that could have made a move on him would be... one of the other leaders, or one of their Vampire knights!" She realised.
When the crowd dispersed, it actually allowed Leo to discover something. The Vampire settlement consisted of mostly a stoned floor area. There were houses spread throughout, and streets placed all over the place with shops and market stalls.
There weren’t any clear roads or places one could go to, overall it appeared as if they had been constructed without any prior planning to it. The two of them had chosen to look for Fex, between a path with several streets, that would go between the two castles.
With Leo’s special ability, he could see something on the stone pavement below. He hadn’t noticed it before because the aura had been too weak.
"What is this?’ Leo wondered, as it just looked like a Vampire’s aura, but for some reason it had remained on the floor.
Silver came over, bent down and took a closer look, the stone was slightly red and trying to place her finger on it, it had already dried out.
"It’s blood." She assessed.
"The blood still has an aura but is dry. Which means it must have come from someone with quite a lot of energy, to still have the energy last that long" Leo concluded. He began looking around and eventually found another spot with that aura on the ground. Following them like breadcrumbs, it eventually led the duo down a dark hallway, between several houses.
It was already dark, thanks to no sunlight, but the houses had covered every little light source with beast crystals and more.
"Your aura tells me that you want to immediately rush in, but it should be more fruitful if you allow me to go in first. In case they are in a special place." Leo advised, slowly walking inside.
Silver forced herself to fight her wish to rush in. She endured the wait for half a minute, before she slowly followed behind him.
The blood splatters and aura on the floor started getting larger and larger, until eventually Leo could sense where the aura was coming from. After turning a corner through the alleyway, he placed his sword away.
’Who would do this?’ Leo thought.
When Silver looked at who it was, she too couldn’t believe someone could do this. Up on one of the alleyway walls, pinned against the back of a house, was a body which had been spread around. Both hands and legs had been hammered in, to prevent it from falling.
The blood was dripping from each wound, and it looked like they were unable to heal.
"She’s still alive. Quick, get someone to help us heal her, while I help her down." Leo instructed, as he chopped the large head off the nail and then the two of them had no choice but to pull her off.
It must have hurt immensely, but there were no cries of pain due to how close to death the person already was. When Silver brushed the bloody hair away from her face, she recognised who it was.
"KAZZ?!!"
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