Alpha Luca would have that a week after, the news around Lord Romeo's disappearance would die down, but it had only gotten bigger. It annoyed him every day, and he was tempted to travel to Earth, just to find the reporters who are spreading this. He wanted to punish them so badly, but he had enough on his plates already, worrying about Lord Romeo. He even had to go through a possible list of people Lord Romeo had wronged in the past, but half of them were dead and he considered them weaklings. He didn't think they would even dare come after Romeo.
Ryan was watching from across the table and you could tell from the look on her face that she was not pleased with what was troubling him. Alpha Luca had invited her to dine with him that afternoon, but he hadn't even said a single word to her. She couldn't eat either because she didn't have the appetite, and his food was also untouched. Tired of it, she decided to speak up. "You know, maybe he just ran away?" She told him with a shrug. "You know him well right? He must have probably gone to some succubus realm for a month of sexual pleasure." She rolled her eyes and blew at her fingers. "Typical of him and-"
"Now is not the time Ryan," Alpha Luca said sternly, he had a lot on his mind and wasn't ready for another round of Ryan's maliciousness towards the vampire realm. "You know what, since you aren't busy, I have an errand for you." This brought a frown to her face immediately. "Oh please wipe that look off. I need you to go to the human world." She relaxed a little at that. Alpha Luca knew she would. Ryan liked visiting Earth, she said even with all the violence and aggression which goes on there between 'stupid humans' there was still some peaceful, non-threatening vibe that overs around the air sometimes. "I need you to put a stop to this," he continued, waving the papers in his hands.
"What?" She asked, getting up from her seat and walking over to him, her eyes curiously trying to grab the content of the paper although she was still really far away. "I should have guessed," she murmured when she saw Romeo's picture on the front page.
"Help me take care of this. Let them know Romeo isn't dead before they try any nonsense."
"Fine." She snatched the papers from his hands with a grunt. "But after that, I deserve a week's week break!" She shouted storming out of the room. Lord Valentine walked in a few minutes after Ryan left.
"I met your sexy Beta on my way here-" He got shut off immediately by the warning look in Alpha Luca's eye. "Fine, I'll back off. But I'm here for an important reason, one I think you will be interested in."
Alpha Luca sat up when he heard that. "What are you talking about?"
"A possible message from our abductor?" He brought out a scrunched-up note from his pocket. "I got here hours earlier, but I caught the scent of your Beta in the room with you. I wanted her to leave first before I showed you this."
"You know you can trust Ryan, right? She would never betray me."
Lord Valentine rolled his eyes. "That's not the point. Just take a look at this." He said, handing Alpha the paper. "The grave of Romeo's first victim" Lord Valentine read the content of the paper out loud before Alpha Luca even got the chance to read it. "That's what it says."
"You know if you were just going to read it to me, then no need to hand the paper to me in the first place." He sighed and threw the paper into a dark corner of the room. "He's referring to Cassie."
"Cassie," Lord Valentine repeated.
Cassie was the first woman Romeo Martakis had truly fallen in love with three hundred years ago. She was also the first woman he had turned to one drunken night of passion. Cassie hated Romeo the minute she found out what he was and when she realized that the bite he gave her had sent her into the transition to becoming a vampire, she hated him even more. Romeo had searched the whole realms and had finally found the cure which would prevent Cassie from the turn. A drink, from the ashes of his own heart. But when he had returned, willing to give all that to her, Cassie had been stoned to death by the people of the village, who accused her of being a witch when they noticed the transition in her body.
"What does Cassie have to do with any of this? She died centuries ago."
"I know she did. Maybe this psycho is...trying to punish Romeo for his wrongs?" Alpha Luca kept quiet, in deep thought. "You do know where Cassie's grave is, right?"
"I do," Alpha Luca answered. "He goes to visit her resting place every year." The two were quiet for a while. After Cassie's death, Romeo had lived quite a careless life. He had gone on a rampage, slaughtering everyone. The most famous story of his movement was what happened in a small village in London, in 1789, the night Cassie was found dead. Hundreds of bodies were found dead, most with their heart ripped out, the rest drained. It was one of the most famous stories told, though no one knew the backstory. They just believed Romeo was mad and had been killed without a reason.
"Let's go over to her grave. I doubt we will find Romeo there though." Alpha Luca nodded. "I hope your sister isn't coming with us?" Lord Valentine asked looking around to make sure there was no sign of Hera.
"No, she isn't. I think she's still with Advika in the faeries realm." Alpha Luca said as they walked out.
"Good."
~~~
The ride to Cassie's grave was silent as all Alpha Luca could keep thinking about is where exactly whoever was behind what was going on, had in mind. I bet it could be nothing too smart though. Probably someone who had been lucky enough to catch Romeo in his time of weakness.
Cassie's grave, even three hundred years old, was still looking fresh, and that's because Romeo always had someone taking care of the grave every week. By raking dried up leaves that had run with the breeze and found their resting place around her grave, and replacing the flowers every week. This action surprises Luca every time, who had never known till he heard the story of Cassie, that Romeo was capable of loving.
The place was quiet—the only sound was the rustles of the leaves as the wind blew through them and the steps and breaths from the men who had just arrived. No one was around except for them, no one was allowed to be as it was a private graveyard. A land Romeo had, especially for Cassie. It was where they had planned to build their home when they got married one day. Luca looked around the garden, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and there was no sign of Romeo. He looked over at Valentine when he heard him hiss. Alpha Luca followed his eyes to Cassie's grave.
"Fuck," the words escaped his lips even before he thought of them. Someone had messed around Cassie's grave. It looked like it had been digging up earlier. There were also blood splatters around. "Who would do this? What the hell happened here?"
"Don't ask me, we walked in here together." Lord Valentine looked around to see if he could spot someone who could have done that, although he suspected the person would still be around. "Romeo is not going to like this."
"Let's look around. The blood I see over there. I can tell it's fresh, not more than two days old. Someone was murdered here. But who was it?" A beep came as a reply. It was from his pocket. Alpha Luca was about to ignore it, but since he wasn't exactly busy, he decided to go through it. It was a message from Ryan.
Have you seen the news?
The text read. Another message came in, but this time it was a picture. The front page of today's paper. It read that Billionaire musician, Ehlene was missing and feared dead. Now, this is something Alpha Luca wouldn't care about if it was just any random person. But Elena wasn't just his ex-girlfriend, but the leader of the witch's realm.
"What's wrong?" Lord Valentine asked when he noticed the look on the Alpha's said. "Is it that bad?"
"I think Ehlen has been taken also."
"What?" He exclaimed. "Well, that just sucks-"
A growl came from the bushes and running out was the old woman Lord Romeo hired to take care of Cassie's grave. Her skin looked white and dry, so dry that it stretched over her bones. One of her eyeballs had been gouged out, leaving a bloodstained hole in her right eye. Her—what looked to have once been a white dress—was stained with blood. Her arms were outstretched, running straight to Alpha Luca who was the closest to her.
"Zombie!" Lord Valentine shouted.
As soon as the zombie jumped toward Alpha Luca who was much closer to her, he immediately aimed for his shotgun which was in his right pocket. He had taken that with him in case he was to meet anything that needed to be defeated. He was right after all. The shotgun makes things easier for him, rather than his gun. He knew that if he had taken his knife instead, he'd first have to maybe struggle with whatever and whoever he was fighting with before he defeated it. Immediately, he aimed the shotgun at the zombie's head and fired about four bullets consisting of small metal balls from the cartridge consecutively at its head. The zombie's head shattered into pieces immediately, flaunting across the environment, and the rest of her body went down to the floor. Seeing that he had defeated the zombie, he returns his shotgun to his pocket, where he had taken it from earlier. "That was a close call," Lord Valentine said as he watched Aloha Luca defeat the zombie. "But how did she turn into
"What is going on here? where am I?" He asked rhetorically, stumbling and trying hard to move against the wind. He kept struggling against the wind but it kept dragging him back into the chamber making him yell out in frustration. He woke up in a strange realm and nothing seemed familiar at all, he was confused and was almost losing his mind. He tried moving into the vacuum again and was pushed back forcefully by the wind yet again and so he stopped trying and sat back down on the floor when he woke up. "What's wrong?" He muttered looking around once again, he saw he was in the middle of a vacuum and yet it felt like he was inside of a cabin with no encasement. There was no door, no window; it was just like being in a vast space. He propped his head with his hands and concluded he was most probably drunk, but then he wasn't hungover. So what was wrong, he thought, pulling his hair in frustration. He pulled himself off the floor and tried walking in another direction with the h
"Are you sure about this?" demanded Alpha Luca while fondling the tip of the TV remote he was holding. His pleading tone was aimed at persuading Romeo to reconsider his decision. Alpha Luca, Lord Valentine, and Romeo were in Luca's mansion seated in his living room. Romeo had already made up his mind but Lord Valentine was hesitant yet he wouldn't want to let his friends down. They were like brothers after all and backing out at that moment would seem like cowering in the face of danger. "You know you've got history with them right?" Alpha Luca pointed out after switching on the TV and Lord Valentine nodded in agreement. Romeo was silent and his bloodshot eyes were fixed on the TV even though he was looking at nothing in particular. Lord Valentine's indecision was justified. He would confidently wander across different realms but a shape-shifting realm is a place he wouldn't want to toy with especially after his last gruesome encounter. A century ago, Lord Valentine embar
"Who the hell are you?" He asked, grabbing the shapeshifter by his collar. "I'm Romeo." The shapeshifter replied as if stating the obvious. "You aren't Romeo so shut the fuck up." Alpha Luca said, pulling him out of the driver's seat. "I'm Romeo wolfie, don't you recognize me," The shapeshifter said, still pretending, which further infuriated Luca into punching his head against the dashboard of the car. "Who the hell are you?" He screamed at the imposter. "I'm Romeo." The shale shifter kept insisting. "You aren't Romeo." Alpha Luca started and got a laugh in return. "You're wiser than they say you are a big bad wolf." The shapeshifter commended realizing his cover had been blown off by the Alpha. "What the hell are you doing here?" Alpha Luca asked, pissed at the fact that he was almost fooled. "Pretending to be Romeo I presume." The shapeshifter teased wiping off the blood on his head which has now spilled over the dashboard of the car. "What the hell." Alpha Luca growled,
Ryan stormed out of the cell and headed for the main quarters where Alpha Luca's study is located. Nothing pissed her as much as how Alpha Luca reacted to the situation at hand. She was used to Romeo being how he is, but she didn't expect Alpha Luca to vent his anger on her that way. "What did I expect though?" She muttered to herself and chuckled. "Not like I am anything special to him, so why would he care about how I felt?"She sighed and a hiss came out of her mouth before she could even think it through. She had had feelings for Alpha Luca way before anyone could think about it. It's been years and she still does. That was why aside from being his Beta, she was always ready to defend him and to stick to his side in case of anything. Her feelings for him had grown through the years, and it was only hurtful for her when after all those years, the feelings still haven't been reciprocated by him. "All he does is shout at me and order me around." She muttered again and hissed. As she
In a room barely illuminated except for the burning candles around, was a group of seven people: men and women dressed alike. They were all dressed in black gowns with capes and were gathered around a table.The cabin was near a lake and was covered by a thick forest. The niche was as silent as a tomb except for the rustling of the leaves and the sound of the cold breeze romancing the lake.A young man of about twenty-five years of age walked into the room with his face slightly covered by a hat. He was wearing the same black gown as the members of the group. "The witch is here but she wouldn't step in.'' he announced, clearing out his gray hat. The people around the table greeted one another with congratulatory smiles upon the announcement of the witch's arrival."Bring her in." directed the man seating in their middle in an authoritative tone. On both sides were three people each. Both his hands were stretched forth on the table. About forty years of age, he is the leader of the cu
"I need that witch back here at all cost. She couldn't have gone far." growled the cult leader. "Not in her state" he added with a smirk. He knew she must be running out of blood and the herbs were possibly taking effect in her system."Look for her. She hasn't gone far." he confidently stated and moved towards Cassie.The men he had earlier sent to seek the witch nodded in understanding and made their way back to the forest.After the witch ran out of the cabin earlier, she managed to cast an illusion spell that lasted for a few minutes. When the men assigned to recapture her stormed the forest, they saw a space even though she was within their reach, covered by her magic. They assumed she had escaped and they went back to report to their leader. After noticing that the men had turned around, the witch stood up and continued running for her life. She ran for about two minutes and fell to her knees. She was very weak. She crawled to a tree and hid behind it.She held her bleeding l
Alpha Lucas sat wondering if he should take Fredrick's words for it or not. He knew how cunning these shapeshifters were and how easy it was for them to deceive people, he also knew he could be telling the truth and at the same time, he could be receiving them."We caught a shapeshifter the last time we were in your realm, I do not know whatever his name is, but he told us Mario sent him to Lord Romeo's realm to steal something of importance." Alpha Lucas said, staring Straight at Fredricks's eyes trying to detect even the slightest wave or flick of emotion indicating if he was telling the truth or not, but there was none."Mario sent this shapeshifter to steal the coffin of a loved one to Lord Romeo." He added hoping that Fredrick would finally see the severity of the act of the said Mario and extend a helping hand in finding him.Frederick looked deep in thought as if trying to understand what Alpha Lucas just said.Mario had already been banished from the shape shifters' realm havi