Chapter 122: Chapter 122

KAIST:

“How did it happen? Why did he take them,” I asked my father who was looking at me as if he had really lost his marbles.

“The vampire took my Merlissa and my baby! He took them,” was all he could say.

“Where did they go,” I asked once again.

My father could only point out at the direction of the grand portrait that was behind his bed.

I bit my lips in frustration. That woman who called herself our mother must have been hiding her minions all along at that secret passageway behind the blasted portrait. She must have planned this as her means of escape!

I stood up from the floor and ran towards the portrait. Bearing no weapons, I drew my father’s prized sword, Maximus, which was propped on the side with its scabbard before I opened the passage and peered inside the hole behind it.

“Kaist! Kaist, save them! Save my wife and my baby!”

I went back to my father’s side very quickly. “Father, snap out of this!” If only he were on his right mind, he could have protected them himself.

“I… I’m sorry,” he began weeping like a child. “I’m sorry, Kaist!”

I turned around from him, my heart embittered by the secrets he had kept away from me for so long.

I hated the Shadow Runes for taking my mother away. I hated them for inflicting Dahlia with a curse, but all along, I had been harboring hatred towards my own f*cking race!

For nineteen years, I had been kept in the dark about my past… Now, everything was coming back to haunt me.

I entered the hole behind the portrait. They couldn’t have gone far judging from the warm air that could have only been brought by burning torches.

“Lady Livia,” I called inside the passage. This secret hallway was built like a maze. Scents do not linger here too. One could be lost inside here for days if one was not careful.

“Livia,” I shouted again. If she would be able to hear me, perhaps she could make a noise.

I gritted my teeth. This won’t do. I have to transform into my wolf to find them fast!

‘Cruz,’ I called in my head. ‘Cruz… Where the hell are you?’

My gray wolf, Cruz, was missing. I could only hear the brown wolf with the spirit stone on his head chuckle as if to mock me.

‘Why don’t we join hands now? Aren’t you even remotely interested to learn what kind of powers you have, Shadow prince?’

I hated the fiery look in his eyes. He was a reminder that the things I heard earlier were true…

‘This passageway is protected by magic… You said you hated magic, but the very palace you sleep in was set under a pile of spirit stones - the stones that had been taken from your ancestors…’

‘Shut up,’ I told the brown wolf, gritting my teeth as I walk even further in the secret passageway. ‘I am not a Shadow wolf!’

‘You have a really hard head, young one. If you don’t like my help, so be it… The sooner you accept me, the better… Otherwise, you’d just be left in the dark, and your whole family will perish…’

I spat at him. ‘Stay away from me!’

I wasn’t a Shadow wolf! I would never be a Shadow wolf!

‘So be it, Kaist… So be it…’

As I utter these words, I saw the brown fox leave in my mind’s eye.

Now, I was left all alone in the dark passageway to fend for myself…

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SAMALAH:

When dusk settled in, only one of the rogue hunters returned, and he was not riding his dragon bones.

“Did you not find them,” I hissed. He shook his head vehemently.

“Fool! How can a lone wolf and a girl who can’t even transform escape you that easily? Were you not trained well?”

“Lady Samalah, that’s enough,” Lord Irvan said, coming closer towards us. I averted his eyes as he came closer towards me, trying to intimidate with his towering height and piercing gaze. “May I remind you that you are in as much trouble as we are to the king. If we do not find them soon, we’ll have nothing but our own heads to offer our master.”

His master… He was talking about the king of the Apricus Kingdom – Helion Cosco.

I flashed him an irritated look. “Lord Irvan, I was the one who informed you about the Shadow wolves! Do you think I did not come prepared?”

What he said was true though. I had miscalculated. I sent word to the Apricus Hunters, thinking of making a bargain for Dahlia and the baby in her belly.

It didn’t occur to me that Tristan would find us so soon and would succeed in taking that slutty she-wolf away…

Had I known that this would happen, I should have just executed my initial plan of killing her and peeling off that stone from her wolf’s head while she slept.

Now, I was pitted against these dangerous vampires and rogues.

They outnumber me. Aside from incurring the Apricus king’s wrath, these dangerous mercenaries here could really sink their teeth into me if they do not get the goods I have promised to deliver.

“Where did you last see the wolf and the woman,” I asked the rogue who returned.

“They went past the ruins.”

I knew these parts of the forest well. I have journeyed around here in my wolf form when I was crossing borders between Talandor and Linderon as I started planning my revenge.

I smiled. That foolish Tristan was still as predictable as ever. He was still a gullible wolf who listened to what I would suggest…

“I know where they are headed. I also have a plan which I think could work,” I told Lord Irvan.

“And what would that be?”

“You could use me, my lord,” I said as I sweetly smiled at him while I ran my hands seductively into his hardened muscles. “Use me as your bait, and we could get those Shadow Runes together.”

I have seen how this foolish vampire lord had looked at me when I first met him. I knew his disgusting desires.

“But I have a condition,” as I traced my fingers into his lips. “When we capture them, you must leave the male wolf alone. He is my slave, and therefore, he belongs to me.”

“Agreed. If you deliver us the red ruby, then you have my word that the King of Apricus will spare your life and honor you with soldiers to wage war at Talandor, as you requested.”

Vampires are loyal species, and the Apricus Hunters – the vampire king’s secret guild of assassins - are the most loyal of them all.

“Fair enough,” I said. I leaned closer to his lips as I pulled his beard down into mine. “Now, won’t you seal your agreement with me using your mouth?”

He gave in to my seduction and kissed me.

Good… Now, I have the Apricus Hunters at the palm of my hands.

Well, almost… If I could deliver Dahlia and her baby to them, I could really end up on the top of the world. My revenge would finally be set into motion...