Chapter 217: Chapter 217

"It’s okay, Suzie. You can ask."

Suzie bit her bit and then closing her eyes, she asked,

"How did they do that? I mean, is there some sort of technology that could make them appear and disappear like that? I have seen Currey with computers and he is the best.... Maybe there is an advanced technology-"

Suzie’s chatter was more like she was trying to rationalize with herself than ask a question. Never once did she look in Ian’s direction. It was as if she was trying to tell herself that he did not exit.

"Suzie?" Shelby sighed and called out to her.

"I think you already know but are only trying to find an explanation that makes sense."

"Miss...." Suzie’s eyes seemed to well up with tears.

"Yes, they are not human but most importantly, they mean you no harm. On the contrary, they are here to offer protection. You are the person by my side always, and you would have stumbled on this info sometime in the future. I am sorry you had to be shocked this way-"

"Miss, please do not apologize to me for this!"

Shelby smiled at her.

"You have a choice. If you’d rather not be in, I can let Currey or Murray take care of your memory so that it’ll be like a big bad dream when you wake up. Would you like that?"

Suzie hesitated for a bit and then asked,

"Are the children too?"

Ian stepped in, then said, "If your memory is going to be erased, why do you want to know more?"

Suzie flinched and then clenched her hands tightly.

’I promised to follow Miss, and therefore, I will do it to my utmost best!’

"Miss, I don’t want that. I will keep the secret."

Ian’s brow went up in surprise.

’This handmaiden of my wife keeps giving me surprises.’

"Murray will bring you up to speed if that’s the case. My wife is tired."

Before this word came out, Shelby and Ian were no longer in the room. Suzie blinked and sagged down, feeling her strength leave the room with them.

A little later, after Ian had guided her out of Ingrid’s room, she followed him into the cold room.

Ian pulled her onto his lap and settled his chin on her head. After Shelby had left the kid’s room, she realized that Ian was trying to find any opportunity to hold her and keep her close, and at that moment, she also wanted that. Even without him saying why, she was sure it was because of the second attempt on her life. She also liked it because a sense of calmness washed over her every time, he did that.

Frankly, Shelby herself did not understand how she had become someone’s target. She had never done anything to harm anyone, nor did she owe someone a big enough amount for someone to target her. Exactly what was going on?

’Isn’t it a little strange that I am being targeted everywhere?’ Shelby wanted to ask this but could not bring herself to say. In fact, she even made sure that her mind was blank so that Ian could not read her.

Ian noticed immediately that she had done that. He had made it his mission to always try to gauge her state of mind and, therefore, realized when she made the effort to keep herself unreadable. Instead of asking her why she was doing that, Ian did not try to read her mind and stepped out of that place.

"What is it, my Elfin?"

"Was Aliya ...." Shelby hesitated a bit and decided not to ask her question. "... never mind." Shelby decided not to ask the question that was on the tip of her tongue, but Ian knew, and he had the same thoughts.

This time, Ian did not need Shelby to complete her words. Just by mentioning the name Aliya, Ian knew what she wanted to say.

"Aliya was human! Definitely!"

"Ok," Shelby whispered, turning to get a comfortable position in Ian’s arms just as he added.

"I never got any indication that she was not." Then Ian turned to Currey and Murray, who stood just to one corner of the room, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Both of them were looking everywhere except at the couple in front of them. They were listening in, though, because Currey immediately added without being asked.

"I would have known if she was not!"

Ian casually glanced at him. Despite this small action, he totally agreed with Currey. Nothing about the Aliya he knew showed that she was anything but fully human, but Murray had second thoughts. He decided not to share thoughts because he had no evidence and was not even fully sure himself.

Murray only hesitated a moment before he decided to punch a hole in Currey’s statement.

"We can’t trust your judgment, brother. You did not even realize that Gabriel was a Fae. How would you...." Murray’s words attacked Currey, but he did not dare say anything to Ian.

"Gabriel is a child. His characteristics are just starting to manifest, and it’s not unusual that we did not detect him. For children like that, we can only infer from his parents.... But ..."

"Show me the footage."

Currey did not need a second invite as with a few punches of a few keys, the many monitors covering the whole wall turned into a giant screen showing when the children had entered the pool house.

After the first run-through, all of them were quiet, each with their own thoughts.

"So, they tried to use that child to target my wife?" Ian spoke quietly, but there was nothing calm about how he spoke. It was more like a bellow! The cold room got somehow colder however, he had noticed something with this said child, so he instructed,

"Rerun it and then slow down the part when they were in the water."

Even though it was a difficult angle, Currey blew up the picture and slowed it down into almost a frame by frame so that they all saw clearly what had happened. It happened just as Ingrid had seen, but the only thing that stood out was Sara! The two full-blooded Fae’s noticed the anomaly at the same time.

Currey and Murray stated these at the same time, their eyes glued to Sara in the water.

"What do you mean that she is no child? Doesn’t she look like-" Shelby stopped in her tracks.

In the world of the world of the supernatural, nothing is always what is seemed like. She looked at the glowing ring on her finger that had supposedly been there since her first meeting with Ian. That was a classic example. She looked closer and saw the red tinge in Sara’s eyes. It was a bit disturbing, but she could see the bloodthirstiness in the little child.

"She is a witch helper."

"A witch helper. They are children who have lived for centuries and trained to do the bidding of witches."

"That doesn’t make sense."

"Milady, think of her as a witch who chose to remain in her child form using any means possible, but they are deadly as hell!"

Shelby frowned. "I am not sure you even saw that just from this video, but I guess you know best about these things. If they are as you say, then how did-"

"How did Ingrid kill her in one swipe?"

Shelby nodded as Ian completed her sentence.

"That is the next thing we need to find out. But first, this tells us that whoever is after you is hidden in the shadows. If this is a helper, then the main master is watching. We must be extra careful."

Turning to the brothers, Ian asked,

"Did you get the presence of any other being there?"

"No!" They both echoed.

"Ok, that means we can assume that whoever it was does not know Ingrid’s part in this. They must have been absolutely sure that the job could be done by that thing, and that they did not need to be there to see with their own eyes."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

"We thank them for their trust in that disgusting thing then," Ian added and then,

"Good! Let’s keep it at that.... And Murray, keep a closer eye on the two children. We must make sure that they are not found out. They are too young to control things and how those abilities manifest in them, so Murray, help train Suzie as well so that the two are always with someone trustworthy at all times."

Shelby sighed, vocalizing her thoughts for the benefit of all of them in the room,

"First Gabriel and now Ingrid. Why are they all.... Wait, do you think Samantha is too?"

"No, I don’t think so!" Currey chipped in immediately.

"Ian, what did you unearth about Gabriel’s parents?"

"We have nothing on them. Ruby’s file shows that Gabriel was left in the small woods behind the orphanage when he was just a baby. She has no info on his parents or who may have left him there."

"Does that mean that it’s a dead end?"

"Leave that to Currey. He will find all the info we need in no time." Ian caressed Shelby’s hair and then turned back to the brothers, who seemed to be whispering among themselves.

"What do we know of her fiancé?" Ian interrupted them and asked.

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