The ears behind the walls

The doors of the palace opened. The sages walked in dramatically, each dressed in a long dark sinister attire.

One by one, they approached the throne and bowed before him.

Daemon took pleasure in their sight. They were the ones he had been waiting for. The dark sages who would help him conquer the world. The dark sages who would help him to perform the ritual of power on the mortal humans. The ones who would harness the hidden supernatural powers hidden in the mortal humans. The ones who would give him the power to use all the claws the way he wanted.

The ones who would help him take over the world.

"Welcome, dark sages." He uttered, wearing a smile.

They were five in number, and they were arranged in two before the alpha. As four of them stood head bowed behind one who seemed to be their leader.

"We came as soon as your raven landed on the dark lands of sages." Their leader responded, his voice coated with evil. "We understand that you have uncovered a secret ancient power. The claws of dominance. The claws of chaos."

"My people call it the claws of power." Daemon chuckled, playing with the five claws fixed upon his fingers. "But I appreciate your name better."

"The ritual would need human sacrifices". The sages said. "Ten of them in number."

Daemon frowned a bit, he did not have what they wanted. "My human servants are all gone. Those things barely survive a year with me. But worry not, another group of human slaves is on its way here. They would arrive in a few days, by then I want everything prepared. We will perform the ritual right away."

The dark sages responded with their bows. And Daemon retreated to the comfort of his throne, smiling with evil encoded on his face.

********************

Meanwhile, deep within Demeatris's lair, the news got to him as fast as the winter wind would blow around its cold chilly air.

His female servant came up behind him where he sat, eyes closed in meditation, before the burning candle of light.

"What is it?" As soon as he perceived her presence, he spoke.

"Alpha Daemon is planning a ritual..."

Demeatris's eyes splitted open. "A ritual?"

"A ritual of humans. It would help to harness the power of the claws."

"He cannot harness the power of the claws yet?"

"No... He is unable to..."

Demeatris shook his head. "Does that not mean that he does not have the complete set of the claws of power? If he did, then he would be able to harness the strength of the claws regardless of whether he performed the ritual or not."

"Does this mean...?"

"Someone else has the rest of the claws."

His servant was taken aback with suprise. Who would dare trick someone like Daemon by taking some away from the real claws and replacing them with some fake ones.

"Who could have done this..." She pondered.

"Nathan." Demeatris responded. "He is destined to take Daemon's life. Maybe he will do it differently from the way he did in the other reality, but he will do it regardless. I tried to warn that moron, but he sure has a bigger ego than anyone I have ever met".

"Do we tell him?" The vampire lady asked, curious of what her master was planning to do next.

"No... We wait... We wait in the shadows and watch it all play out... Then when the right moment approaches, we shall take our much coveted chance."

******************

Frey was exhausted and exhilarated as he crashed onto the floor in Alorea's secret house. A wine was brought before him, it was one of the things that Cloris had gotten from the market. And the caption could not be more thankful, he was in a bitter state.

"My own alpha does not believe my words. He does not listen to me..." He took another shot, eyes red with anger and plotting for retribution.

Alorea sat before him, soathing his pains. "You are such a loyal man, captain. No one else can do the things you have done for your alpha, and he would not even give you an audience?"

"I know right..." Frey said, staring into the floor as though there was a chance for redemption hidden beneath the soil. "But he never listens... He never listens to me..."

"Maybe he would listen to me." She uttered, prompting the scarred leader of the fox wolves to raise his head in suprise, not sure if he heard that right.

"I just need to be in the palace." Alorea continued. "I will expose the princess Shereena and her plans. I will help you to regain the trust of your alpha, only if you allow me."

"That... Is going to be hard..." Frey muttered. "Keeping you here in secret is enough crime to lose my head for, then taking you before his majesty. That... I do not know what the right punishment should be for that sin."

"But you are captain Frey of the giant foxes. You are the bravest man in your kingdom, you do not fear death." She made sure to caress his ego and that worked pretty well.

"Maybe you are right. Maybe somethings just have to happen. But how will you be able to convince him. I have tried, and all I can say is that he does not believe there is a threat".

Alorea smiled. She had a plan, something she had no plan of disclosing to anyone just yet. By getting into the palace again, she would be able to confront Clingy again and get to interrogate his past.

Moreso, the response to her letter which she sent to the night wolves would soon arrive. That letter would provide all the answers she needed. It would provide the truth about everything. If there was something she trusted that her father would do, it was getting the truth out of every smoke of lies.

"He will soon believe that there is a threat. It is just a matter of time".

As Frey exited the secret house, Alorea noticed the secret messages passed between him and Cloris. They must be speaking with their eyes, but Alorea ignored. She was ready to play them into believing she had no idea what was going on. They might think that they were using her, but in reality, she was the one using them. After all the lessons she had learnt from trusting Clingy, and after the way he had mercilessly broken her heart and had never reached out since then, she knew she had to get back at him, at everyone.

As Frey and Cloris disappeared into the distance, under some dumb pretense, Alorea noticed someone walk up behind her.

She thought it was the old vampire. "You really should stop sneaking up on me..."

But when she turned around, she received the shock of her life.

"Secret house right within the gates of my city, in cahoots with our most trusted general, plotting against me without my slightest suspicion. I must say, Alorea, I underestimated you."

Shereena was standing right in front of her. How was she here right now? How did she find her? How did she know that she had not left yet? How did any of this happen?

"How did you find me?"

"It did not take so much of an effort. I knew someone was backing Frey up against me so I followed him, he led me straight here. To you. My father thinks that the princess of the night wolves was now back home, far away from his land. Little does he know..."

"Don't you think your father should worry less about me and more about you? You who plots to take his place and give it to your servant?"

"Woo... I thought Nathan was your special friend." Shereena smirked moving in circles around Alorea. "Didn't you catch feelings for him during your little journey together? Until he dumped you?"

"Nathan...?" The name pulled the strings in Alorea's heart. Was Clingy the same person as Nathan afterall...?

Mocking her, Shereena found joy in the confused look that spread over Alorea's face. She paced in circles around Alorea continuously, laughing.

"Who would have thought that the most beautiful werewolf princess, with all her beauty and grace, would be rejected by a slave? And not just any slave, the one that prays desperately for my simplest touch every night. My pet. That is the man who rejected you."

Alorea could feel herself building up in anger. Ever since she began this plan, she had always tried to maintain a cool head just so she would always make the right decisions. But with Shereena, it was almost impossible. She could feel deep anger building up within her, and she was ready to use it.