Chapter 12 CHAPTER 12
CAEL'S POV
I was in class, longer than I should have been, I had a mission from the Council that I should have been en route to but I wanted one more sniff.
It led to several and I don't care that I'm developing a harmful addiction.
But suddenly, another scent mixes with hers, neither her friend's nor any of her cousins'.
Someone who sits with her for long, someone who she smiles at.
I can't see her, but I can smell her excitement; I can hear her laughter, and I move back from the table, which I nearly broke in half.
“Mr Valkori?”
Oh my goodness, does she have a death wish?
This is hardly the time to be disturbing me, not when someone else is playing with my food.
“What do you want?” I snarl and then turn to look at her, forcing a smile on my face.
If I want to stay here longer, I must keep playing nice.
Even though that irritates my soul right now.
“I wanted to know if you've changed your mind?”
She didn't sound as scared as the last time. She must have taken powdery courage before coming to speak to me.
“About what dear?”
“Hanging out? All the other teachers are going to Ann's this evening. I thought to invite you.”
No, I'll be murdering an ancient Vampire tonight Fiona, that's what I'll be doing.
“I have a family meeting scheduled, I'm sorry,” I tell her inside, packing my bags.
“Oh,” she said, crestfallen. “Maybe next time then.”
I nodded absent-mindedly and headed out after her, not walking too fast though.
I wanted to know who this boy was, from his scent, I already knew he was one of them.
Not wanting her to think I was stalking her, I walk to the window and pause, get a view of his stupid, grinning face and then turn around.
The Alpha's son.
Surely he knew better than to try to be with someone who's not his mate?
I guess since she's still giving off a human scent, he's just trying to warm his stick before he meets his mate.
It's what these wolf boys do in their leisure time and when I have the time for it, I allow it to irritate me.
Now I wanted to walk in there and squash his face to the ground for thinking about her like that.
Like a quick fuck.
Who in their right mind would look at those blue orbs, framed by raven black hair and a fiery personality behind it and think, oh, let me just dip and run?
What makes him think he can taste the power she radiates and be able to leave?
These wolves think she's only capable of destroying vampires, but she's a double-edged sword.
Take from her and you'll have to pay in ways you didn't know you could.
That's why I have to kill her, as much as it pains me to even think about it.
But it's my responsibility, one that I'm beginning to hate as I walk into my bedroom.
I wasn't supposed to come back here but I forgot my special knife. Well, forgot isn't the right word for it, I just couldn't take it to a school environment.
Or around too many people.
If it gets lost…
My apartment was trashed, ransacked, and tussled from top to bottom.
A scoff escaped me.
What was this, a warning?
To me?
How ridiculous.
The first instinct was to find the knife, I hid it in plain sight, in between four other swords that they'd pushed down and considered useless.
Who still uses swords in this modern day?
Me, when I need to kill an ancient who has outgrown every reach of nature.
I checked and thankfully, the green coloured sword, sheathed in silver deceptive glamour was right there on the ground along with everything else.
My books, Sera's hair lock, my kill lists, the devises Marcus keeps trying to introduce me to…
Everything was strewn across the large one-room I'd taken for the term of this mission.
Nashville was the perfect place to stay for the three months I'd booked the room, its proximity to most of my current jobs was a plus to the main work and I loved the view of the mountains from here.
And someone dared to walk in here and make a mess of things I'd taken time to arrange.
Even my paintings weren't spared, works I'd spent frustrating moments pouring over and the ones I'd brought…
Despite the irritation, I wondered who could have done this.
I go into the bathroom to get cleaning supplies and that's when I see it.
The little mirror in front of the washing hand basin, written in blood is a warning.
“A life for a life. Yours or his, one shall fall.”
“Terrible handwriting,” I rolled my eyes and wiped it clean.
It's only a coward that'll leave such warnings. If they were worth shit, they'd have come and faced me head-on, not leaving warning signs like little kids playing hide and seek.
I was in the middle of cleaning the mess when I heard my phone ring.
“Where did you keep your phone? I've been calling you for the last two days!”
“Hello to you too Marcus,” I sighed, looking around the messed-up room
“Uh oh. They already got to you?”
“You know about this?”
“The bastard you killed the other night?”
I nodded, then remembered he can't see me.
“Yes, Dorian was it?”
“Yes, well he's the son of one of the vampires trying to bring down Lord Fabian.”
“Wait a minute, he's not even the one behind the plan?” I scoffed.
“As though Dorian can use his brain for anything other than drinking and women. I'm sure his father thought he'd have changed after two hundred years.”
“He should be grateful I rid him of such an incompetent stain on his lineage. What does he want now? What does trashing my apartment accomplish?”
“They're planning to take you out Cael.”
“That's quite clear, Marcus. How does trashing my apartment accomplish that? I'm struggling to connect the stupid dots because all they did was give me extra stress knowing I can't get a house cleaner to do this,” I bit out, irritated.
“Don’t worry, I'll take care of it.”
“Take care of what?”
“I didn't get any response from you so I came down to Nashville.”
“Marcus.”
“Yes dear best friend, don't tell me you're not excited to see me after five years?”
“I thought I still had another five without you bugging me.”
“You ungrateful prick. But I'm an amazing friend so I'll forget you said all that. Go and deal with your mission, I'll be in your place soon. When you get back, I'd have cleaned it up. You'd better come back with dinner.”
“I'm not bringing any of the locals in here, there's blood in the fridge if you're incapable of clean hunting. Don't leave any mess for me to deal with, okay?”
“Yes sir.”
I put the phone in my pocket, then remembered I'd not cut the call and picked it out again and did that.
I sighed, looked around the messy room and then picked the sword from the table, made it shorter, stuffed it in a holster in my jeans and walked out of the messy apartment.
Lord Turan has stayed alive for too long.