Chapter 114

Aidan's POV

“How much do you trust him?” One of the elders asked and I shifted my gaze from Petrova to the elder on one of the tables. He seemed unusually calm and when he spoke, there was no sound of fear in his voice.

He sounded like Ryan and I wondered if all vampire royals or nobles were trained to speak and this way.

Now, they were seated in a U-shaped sitting arrangement with the most prominent members in the upper part, gauging the room like they could see down into every other person's mind.

They were about nine in the meeting of old, wicked looking monsters seeking who would take the fall for them.

Every seat was occupied, except one.

“Werewolves have always been tricky creatures from inception." Another elder spoke, only his voice was nothing like the first. His voice was a bit light, like every other normal man out there although he wasn't normal.

"Add that they're prone to betrayal." The first elder chirped in, relaxing on his chair and bringing a finger to touch his lips.

"Elders, elders, relax. You seem to forget that I have him wrapped around my fingers like a puppet." Petrova said, restoring quietness to the assembly.

The other elders listened, but some were somewhat unconvinced. There was a cloud of skepticism around them.

I had questions to ask. My mind was muddled with rhetorical questions and doubts. Was Ryan part of this? If he were, doesn't that mean he'd betrayed me and not me to him? But would he?

Ryan and I have lived together in harmony for months - except the first few months of arrival and he never feared that I could betray him neither did I. Again, except when he reported me to old Mr. Grump. I could understand that, he was only trying to help.

"What if he goes off the leash, like a dog?" Another asked.

"We'll do to him what we do to traitors." One of the most prominent elders spoke. I'd heard Petrova call him Kim.

I couldn't do anything. All I did was stand there and watch, listen to the bookers decide what happens to me if I go berserk.

The only functional organs were my brain, eyes and ears but the rest were movable on command and my real self loathed command. More than anything else, my wolf hated being trapped inside a coffin, but that was the story of my life at the moment.

"And what do we do to traitors?" Gregory quizzed, fiddling with his earlobes.

"We sent them on exile." Replied the first elder whom I thought sounded like Ryan. I heard his name was Carlton.

"Like the goblin?" Some numbskull asked.

"Most definitely." Petrova answered, chuckling. "Although I'd hate my young friend here to end up like that."

"He's too full of potential, that can't be his end." Kim chirped, smirking.

"What's the plan now?" Gregory asked and the others nodded.

"We'll need to bring our children, our sons to swear the oath of oneness....." Oath of oneness? I was puzzled, wondering what that was. "...We've fought alongside each other for decades and none of us has broken his rank, our sons need to learn the ropes." Elder Nani said and the rest nodded again.

"That leaves out Petrova." Carlton pointed out, more like accused.

"Ryan isn't ready," Ryan's father announced. Then, turning to me, he added, "Although now I have his friend, I think he'll have no choice. He has to lead someday."

"When is the ritual?" Carlton heaved, clasping his hands together and watching the others silently.

"Soon. Before the week runs out." Kim answered, looking down at a book in front of him.

"I hear that your son and our cute, little puppet here shared a room together, was that your plan?" Gregory quizzed.

Petrova shook his head with a smile on his face. He seemed quite different from the fierce man who'd threatened to tear the school down when we first met.

"Nope, but I figured Legrange must've had her plan." He replied.

Legrange? She knew? Of course she would, she turned me to begin with. It was my fault anywhere, I never should've trusted her.

"Why did you let them be? You know our kind doesn't blend with his." Nani said, playing with his fingers.

The meeting was a hive of boredom; old vampires that seemed to control the reins of leadership deliberating on the fate of the world. What was this about? A coup? Broligarchy?

"Ryan didn't want to."

"Did you ask why?" Nani resumed the interrogation.

"I figured he found this guy interesting. He was my ears at first, until he decided to go silent on me."

I wondered how much Petrova knew about me. Was he aware of the curse? Did Ryan also tell him that? What about Elly? What the fuck was going on here? Questions reeled in my head, but I couldn't ask any because I was locked up. My body was only a carriage, a deep fake image in case they needed a martyr. The real me was locked up, never to be found again.

"How much did it yield?" Kim asked, his hand under his chin.

"A lot, although not much as I'd intended. It was my fault. I should've groomed him before sending him to the academy. He did well, even without a manual." Petrova regretted.

"I still didn't get it when you decided to send Ryan to that school. What new thing did he learn that isn't in our curriculum?"

Petrova smiled satisfactorily like his time had come. "He had to learn the ways of the mutants. That way, he'll know their flaws. "Plus, you respond differently when an acquaintance speaks to you about broligarchy than a stranger. Now he's learned their strengths and weaknesses, I can trust him to make our kind prominent and restore our dignity."

What? Ryan is supposed to take over the world? What happens to humans? As if in response to my question, one of the elders spoke up.

"Vampires cannot be ostracised to some remote part of the earth, nor do we deserve to continue living in hiding. This world is us, and the sooner humans realize that, the better for them all."

So, that was the plan? Total control? But where do I come in? Why do I have to be the puppet?

I didn't think Legrange was head, and I was right. When the last man in a black suit walked in, my breath seized in my throat.

The man walked right to me, and gazed up at me. I didn't meet his eyes. Couldn't.

"It's a shame to see you here." He croaked, his eyes filled with hate.

Indeed, it was a shame and I cowered. I pretended that I was gone and couldn't recognise him.

"I knew he would be useful to the council, that was why I specifically trailed him. Now I can say I wasn't wrong, because I'm never wrong."

"You were right, the story about altering time worked, it birthed the Lycan's curse."

The newcomer smiled, "I'm always one step ahead." He bragged.

I gritted my teeth, clenched my fist and muttered "Myles."

As if he heard me, he turned his face to me then his face morphed into a dangerous, predatory grin.