NIGHTS OF HALLOW

”Take me to her house, there are important questions she will have to answer,” Theodore ordered.

”Right away, churchman Theodore.” Mr. Humphrey bowed his head and replied. He had great respect for this vampire church member who was the only one who believed what he said. This was how a true church member should behave. And not discarding what is presented to them as proof and choosing to hold on to the false and measly report they had.

When Theodore suddenly announced that he had important questions that the wife of Mr. Perkin was going to answer, Mr. Welsh and Martha turned surprised. Donovan was the least surprised because he knew that this Mr. Persin that was reported missing is Mr. Perkin. But why would the person who gave his report give a fake name? He questioned himself.

Martha couldn’t hold back and voiced out her thoughts, ”Fellow churchman Theodore, why the sudden change of plans? You are deviating from what we came here for.”

”Churchwoman Martha is right, churchman Theodore. You are going against what we came here for. We are clearly looking for Mr. Persin so we can clarify the report and move on with the next agenda we came to this for.”

’Stupid’ Theodore muttered under his breath and remarked, ”Do you think I came here for games, churchman Welsh and churchwoman Martha? If you don’t want to proceed with what we came here for, you can stay back while I go to question the wife of Mr. Perkin.”

”But he is not even the man who is missing. We came to clarify the report brought to us but you are going to question some woman whose husband ran away because she was caught whoring around.” Said Martha in her annoyed voice. This was what she hated about this man, he did things without seeking approval from his fellow church members.

”I did not stop you from searching for the non-existent Mr. Persin. So you can stay back here or you two can go back to the church house. It will do us good.” Theodore snapped and without looking back, he walked out of the office followed by Donovan and Mr. Humphrey.

Reluctantly and unwillingly, Mr. Welsh and Martha followed behind Donovan and Theodore who together with Mr. Humphrey boarded the carriage to go to the house of Mr. Perkin.

In the castle and away from the local constabulary building of Woodbridge, walked the king and Daemon who was speaking in hushed tones.

Daemon was doing the talking as he walked a step behind Sthena. He said something to which Sthena nodded his head in approval before he replied,

”I knew they would fall for the trap, stupid church members,” Sthena said and clicked his tongue.

Daemon took a deep breath and continued with his talk. ”According to what I found out today, the person who filed the report is not from the village of Woodbridge.”

”I knew it all along,” Sthena replied. He asked, ”Did you find out who the person is?”

Daemon nodded his head and answered, ”Yes, I did find out. His name is John and he is usually seen in the town of Cuckooland but he is not from there.”

A hum from Sthena signaled Daemon to continue with his narration of what he found out.

Daemon adjusted his coat as his red eyes scanned the area when he heard a sound behind the door. He stayed quiet and waited till he and Sthena crossed the door and walked a considerable amount away from it before he continued,

”I also found out that this John is one of the colleagues of Clayton. They are working for the same master, the pureblooded vampire you have been looking for.”

”Hmmm,” Sthena hummed again and shrugged his shoulders making his red long hair bounce on his back. He commented on what Daemon said, ”I am not surprised at all, Daemon. I knew the person doing the snoopy and stupid job of filing a report to the church was him. I asked you to do the investigation for another reason which you will soon find out.” Sthena grinned widely and gleefully at what he said. He couldn’t wait for this game to start fully so he could snap some heads.

The day before when the church members came to the castle with their so-called report of a human who is missing and was adopted by a vampire, the king, Sthena knew that was someone out there playing the cards.

What the person didn’t know was that he, Sthena Acheron was the king in the card of games. That was the reason why he told the church members to go back to Woodbridge and clarify the report.

Going there will make them know that there are no vampires and that no man went missing because of vampires. Also, if the church members were intelligent enough, they would find out that the report filed to them was from a fake nameless someone who was trying to cause chaos again.

With the discovery, the church will then know that this someone was seriously cooking a deadly portion for the kingdom again. When the church got a sniff of it, he, Sthena, will sit back and watch as the church dealt with the stupid pureblooded vampire who was keen and intent on breaking the little peace that reigned among vampires and humans.

Well, all this could be put to an end if the church members did their work and stop annoying him with their stupid complaints of how he was not good to the people when there was a big trouble that will soon hit the kingdom.

The king stopped walking when they neared the hallway before the entrance of the castle and Daemon stopped in his tracks too waiting for Sthena to speak and probably give another order.

Sthena turned his head to the side, enough to see Daemon who was diligently waiting for him with his head slightly bowed. He placed his hand on the Daemon’s shoulder and said,

”Still proceed with the plans, Dae. Make it look like they have the upper hand while we attack them slowly from the back.”

”Will the exorcism still take place in Woodbridge village?” Daemon asked to clear his doubts to which Sthena nodded his head to a yes.

”It will. I’ll have to renege with my first plan of stopping the exorcism and approve it now that the plan has changed.” Sthena replied with an evil excitement glint in his dark red eyes.

Daemon furrowed his eyebrows with a small frown on his face. He stared at the king for a while before voicing his concerns. He asked, ”What about the green-eyed lady and her brother? Won’t they be discovered if the exorcism took place?”

Sthena’s lips pulled up as a dangerous smile stretched on his lips. He replied to Daemon, ”Do not worry about the Siblings. Besides, it’s also part of the training to them on how to survive in a cruel and dangerous world if they want to forever hide that they are vampires.”

”But...”

’But, with the church involved, won’t they be discovered?’ Daemon had wanted to ask but quickly refrained from saying it out loud. Since the king said he shouldn’t worry about the siblings, he believed the king had something mischievous up his sleeves.

Sthena caught what Daemon wanted to say even before he could voice it out. He knew Daemon more than anyone in this kingdom even before he became king to know what he was going to say even before he opened his mouth. His every expression he knew, because the relationship they had was more than that of a king and a chief advisor. He was more like a family to him.

Sthena gave a friendly pat on Daemon’s shoulder before saying, ”I know all about that, and that’s why I asked you to sit back and watch the game being displayed.”

”Now I know the pureblooded vampire is truly after them, whether they like it or not, they have unknowingly picked a card from the shuffle of his game when they started taking those pills. So it is either they win or lose. But don’t worry, I am here to be the king in glittering armor who will always save his subjects from harm.”

”I now understand, Milord.” Daemon bowed his head.

They started walking again towards the entrance of the castle which was covered by snow and a carriage was parked there waiting for the king.

The coachman was quick to open the carriage door with his head deeply bowed at the king. Daemon bowed at Sthena when climbed and entered the carriage.

When Daemon raised his head, he heard the king say,

”Also, about the sibling, you should call the lady by her given name and not the green eyes you’ve been referring to her to.”

Daemon couldn’t stop his eyelids from blinking because of what Sthena said. What was wrong with addressing her that way, unless...

Daemon stared at Sthena who sat comfortably inside the carriage with widened eyes which he was quick to avert when he met the challenging and smug look on the king’s face.

Soon the carriage left the castle leaving Daemon in his stupefied state. He gradually regained his composure before he made his way back inside the castle.