Chapter 28: narrow escape
When school was up, Sage tried looking for Clark; however, he was nowhere to be found. He did not attend any of his classes for that day, and it got Sage worried.
‘Did he eventually go home?’ Sage wondered as she walked to the area where her car was parked.
When she reached the car, she was surprised to see the twins waiting with their backs rested against the car. They didn’t say a word to her as she approached. Sage didn’t mind; she pulled the car door open and got in, waiting for her cousins to do the same.
****
Soren sat in his room, wearing a smile of accomplishment on his face. He had received news that the hybrid had been spotted. Soren had to stop himself from running out of his castle at full speed to the location of the hybrid.
Soren was on his way to dinner when he saw his son approaching from the opposite direction of the hallway. Zayn, his son, had complained about his rash decisions when it came to the search of the hybrid. He would be so excited to see the look on his son’s face when he announces the progress so far.
“Dear son, I bring great news,” Soren called out from his side of the hallway.
“It better be worth bringing me out of my room to have dinner with you,” Zayn responded casually as he stopped in front of the dining room’s door. Zayn, as a young vampire, hated associating with his father, who would always bring up talks of how he planned to attain power, conquer the world, and, most importantly, make his brothers cower in fear of him.
Zayn grew tired of hearing his father talk about the same thing over and over. He even feared that his father not having a companion to share his big dreams with was what brought about his obsession for finding the hybrid. However, Zayn didn’t care much; it was either his father’s obsession or his own mental health.
Zayn waited for his father to open the door since it was he who sent an invite for dinner. When they got in the room, Soren paused a bit; he scanned the room before walking to his seat on the other end of the long table. Zayn, on the other hand, sat on the seat closest to him. There were only two seats set up, and of course, his father’s was the largest one.
They both got seated and proceeded to eat the meal set before them. Zayn noticed his father’s gaze was on him while they ate. Knowing his father well, he knew Soren was waiting for him to ask what the update was concerning the hybrid.
“What was it you wanted to tell me? Something about the hybrid?” Zayn asked.
“Patience, son. Let's get done with our meal first.”
“This is going to be a long night,” Zayn sighed, regretting his decision to accept his father’s invite.
****
While Ericka was dropping the poisonous blood of the albino snake into Soren's jug, the door was pushed open. She realized it was too late for her to fully complete the process of poisoning. She ditched both halves of the albino snake into his jug, covered it, and quickly crawled under the long table.
Ericka knew she wouldn’t be able to conceal her presence for so long while underneath the table, with the vampire lord and his son in the same room she was. She tried to bring up images of places in the castle she had been to, but it was hard to pull up a specific image as she was moving really fast through the halls and hardly stopped to observe an area. If she didn’t teleport herself out of the room soon, she would be in trouble.
She had concealed her presence, but she didn’t use any materials; it was from pure mastery of her craft that she was able to do so. However, without any concealing agent, her presence would soon unravel.
Luckily, she could remember the details of the empty hall she first saw when trying to get into the castle from on top of the roof.
Time was ticking for her; she had to teleport herself as soon as possible because she could feel the masking spell wearing off.
Soren rose from his seat, feeling another presence in the room, specifically from under his table. He would recognize magic anywhere it was used. He went down on his knees and looked under the table; there was nothing there except for his son’s leg on the other side of the table.
“What is the problem, father?” Zayn asked as soon as he saw his father’s odd behavior.
“Nothing. I just thought I felt the use of magic,” Soren replied as he got back up and sat down on his seat.
“That must be from the coven below the mountain. Remember, you told Kashina to summon her conclave for a meeting at the coven below the mountain.”
“Oh yes, that had completely slipped my mind,” Soren said as he picked up his iron jug and poured some blood into his wine glass. He took a sip from it before he went on to eat the barely roasted ham on his table.
****
Ericka had narrowly escaped Soren. Just when she was about to dematerialize from her initial spot under the table, her masking spell wore off. This didn’t go unnoticed by Soren. He searched the area where he felt a presence and the use of magic; however, before he could confirm, Ericka was already in the hallway where she came in through.
After successfully leaving the hallway out of the window, Ericka rested herself against a wall. She had succeeded with her plans; the only thing left was to head back home and see what happens next.
****
Sage sat beside the single window in the attic and watched as rain drizzled. The sky was cloudy, indicating that it was going to fall heavier later on.
Sage held her flute between two fingers and twirled it a clockwise and anti-clockwise motion.
Outside, there was a black car approaching the building. Sage’s heart skipped a bit as she thought it was Xavier's. She hadn’t seen him at school today, and it had skipped her mind; she was completely worried about Clark that no one else had crossed her mind.
When the black car passed the high trees and came to a clear path, Sage could see it was Ericka’s car. She looked down at the flute in her hand.
“I think Ericka would love to hear a few melodies from this,” she said to herself. She felt she owed Ericka this at least, for misplacing the old one. Sage closed her window as the wind outside blew wildly and the rain threatened to pour heavily.