Dorian and Nik bolted out of the cell, going over to the maids. Kneeling down, Dorian gave a closer inspection. Noting the blue lips and blood shot eyes, a red stain ran down from the inner corner of her right eye and across the bridge of her nose. She was no longer breathing.
He sighed, reaching his hand down to gently shut her eyes. Lora's eyes. He glanced over at the other two, both in the same state. Nik was leaning down, closing their eyes as well. They were Lora's sisters, Farrah (her twin) and Kinsely. They had been made here for about 30 years. Well, Lora and Farrah was. Kinsley was the youngest of the group, was only three when they first arrived here. The older sisters raised her here. They were wolfless, cast out from their pack and sought refuge within his walls. Dorian had accepted them without a second thought.
"Damn it." He growled, smacking at the ground. "What the hell is this?!" His temper was rising, he was fuming. The beast growled. He was seeing red, rage trying to consume in.
"C'mon man." Nik broke through, putting a hand on dorian's shoulder and urging him to stand and distance himself from the girls bodies. "Let's g-"
"The poison... Its a mixture of multiple, deadly ingredients. The Nerium Oleander was the first scent I caught, but take another breath of the scent..." Nemia paused, both Nik and Dorian turning their attention to her. "Nightshade, wolfsbane.. even castor beans.. It was meant to attack the multiple kinds of creatures that was going to be here today." Nemia walked closer then to look down over the bodies.
"There's no telling how many people has been affected. Now with how strong the scent is, I think it's safe to say the blast we heard held the mixture. Whoever was closest, and those with weakened immunities will be the most affected but... Some could have went airborne." Nemia stared blankly at the girls for a moment before looking back to the guys and Julia, who was just then popping around the left side of Nik. A sorrowed look in her eyes.
"Can you let me go now?"
The call came from Veera's cell, left open. Now was not the time. Nik, Dorian, and Nemia all growled simultaneously and Julia scoffed with an eye roll. Nemia moved first, in a blink of an eye, she was standing in the doorway of the cell. "Consider this your lucky day, siren. Most Dead or alive contracts I take comes back dead." The corners of her lips curved to a twisted smile before she barred her teeth and with a growl, she reached over and slammed the heavy iron door shut. Shaking her head, she kicked the door causing it to rattle loudly. Immediately her toes broke on impact, forgetting yet again that she was still barefoot. Not a single sound out of pain was produced from her however, she just glanced down and shrugged.
Dorian and the others rushed her though. "God's Nemia, your foot." Dorian was kneeling down, reaching for her foot but stopped just a brush away. "It's already healed?" He questioned, though it sounded more like a question to himself then her. She responded anyway though.
"Yeah, I heal faster than most of my species." She blinked. "I suppose that's from this." She motioned to the mark she barred. Remembering again what she had just found out maybe half an hour ago, give or take a few minutes.
She took a deep breath. 'Gods this was all happening so fast. So much. Too much. It all just needs to stop.' She thought to herself. Glancing down, she notices Dorian is still kneel down from when he was reaching for her no longer broken appendage. He was staring up at her with a look of awe and wonder. There was something else, deep in that look. Something her wolf recognized. Need.
"How am I supposed to take care of Malcolm or anything else when I have him staring at me like that." She said, out loud. Though she hadn't noticed that last thought was spoken for the others ears to hear. Not until Dorian cracked a smile.
"Like what, Nemia?" Dorian chuckled, rising up to stand straight causing her to have to tilt her head up to keep eye contact as he towered over her.
She licked her lips. "What?"
"How am I looking at you?" His eye brows rose slightly, curiously. A smile playing on his lips.
Realization dawned and her eyes widened, a blush crept up onto her cheeks leaving them lightly pink. Nemia took a step back to breathe. "That was supposed to be a thought. Not a conversation." She bit her lip and cast her eyes down to not look at him from embarrassment.
Dorian chuckled again, "Not a conversation?" He questioned jokingly.
Nemia took another breath and shook her head. "No." She quipped shortly then side stepped around him. "I think we need to go see what the damage is in the ballroom and check on the guests. I'd hate to see many more wind up with the same fate as those maids." She sighed. "Though there's probably already quite a few that has joined these girls." She mumbled.
She didn't give the others a time to respond once she finished, taking off with the speed given by her vampire side. Faster than the others, she got there first.
Some people were still scurrying about frantically, others wailed in pain. Whether the pain was coming from them actually being in pain from crushed bones and such, or it it was wails coming from those that had already lost a loved one in the mess.
An initial quick scan of the ballroom told her there was at least fourteen deceased and twice that hurt in some kind of way. There was a large handful that she could tell had ingested some of the poison but not enough to be as lethal as some others. They weren't out of the woods yet, however.
Nemia immediately got to work, noticing I woman trapped under a one of the large columns the braced the high ceilings. There was a small, old man trying to lift the column of her by himself. An elder wolf by the scent, one who had started losing the strength of his wolf. Rushing over Nemia helped free her with one, easy push.
"Ooh, thank you." The woman said with relief.
Nemia just smiled politely and kept moving through the ballroom. Helping any one that she could and warning those that appeared to have signs of the poison. All the while searching for any pieces of the item that caused the initial explosion.
Being in the C.J.L.S.'s, she was used to seeing things like this. None of the blood or scent of burning flesh bothered her. At least there was no children allowed to these.
"There she is." She heard from behind her, turning around she seen the three she had left behind. Nik and Dorian looked bemused but Julia has her arms crossed and was shaking her head. Starting to step towards her, Julia stopped. Her eyes landing on the mangled corpse Nemia was standing beside. Whoever this was, must've been right next to the detonation.
She fell back a few steps, beginning to visibly shake. Nemia was in front of her instantly. "Go wait in one of the offices away from here. You don't need to see any of this Jules." Nemia urged, blocking Julia's view of the rest of the room.
Julia shook her head furiously. "I'm not leaving you here to go anywhere, especially myself." She spoke firmly, but there was still an audible tremble.
"Who said you'd be going alone?" Nemia asked, reaching over and grabbing a caught off guard Nik. "He'll go with you." She looked over at Nik who had raised a brow.
"Excuse me? I didn't agree to babysitting." He glanced over a Julia quickly. "No offense."
"Offense still a bit taken." She crossed her arms, tapping one finger gently on her arm.
"I'll go with her." Dorian offered suddenly. "Nik, stay here and help assess the situation at hand. Meet us back in my office once you both get done here. We'll discuss what to do from there."
Nemia shrugged her shoulders. "That works. You okay with that Jules?"
Julia looked between all of them for a moment before nodding her head slowly. She reached up and pulled Nemia in for a tight hug. "I'll go, but please be careful Nemia. Like you said, the poison could be airborne now." She mumbled with worry.
"I don't think it's airborne anymore, I think we'll be safe from that now." Nemia lied to give her a peace of mind and patted Julia's back lightly before pulling herself away from the embrace. She looked over to Dorian. "Get her away from her now, please."
Dorian nodded slowly and gently grabbed Julia's shoulder, leading her away and out of the room.
After they were gone, Nik turned to Nemia. "Why do you think it's not airborne?" He questioned.
Nemia stared after the exit Julia and Dorian used for a moment longer then sighed, turning now to look at Nik. "I don't, but she wasn't going to leave if I said that." She glanced back to the exit. "Let's try and find the capsule that held its contents and then I can tell you in confidence." She continued.
*********
"It's been almost an hour now, where are they. They should be here by now." Julia was pacing Dorian's office, had been the last twenty minutes. "We should go check on them."
Dorian shook his head, "They will be here any minute now, I'm sure of it." He responded with the exact same sentence he has spoken the past five times now that she's suggested. Every five minutes since it hit thirty minutes after they entered the room. Though neither one of them believed it anymore. Not for the lack of trying though.
He was tense, hadn't moved an inch from his chair sense he'd sat down. Every bit of him yearned to be back in that ballroom, investigating.
'No, our mate is without us and could be in danger.' The beast growled.
'We've known her for at most two hours and she has already proved numerous times that she does not need us.' He growled back. He was proud his mate was so strong but, that strength came with its own cost. He felt useless when it came to her. He was a King, powerful and feared. But this woman who showed up so suddenly in his life has seemed to knock him down a couple of pedestals.
"Julia?"
She glanced over, pacing in front of the door with her arms crossed. "Yes, My King?"
He waved his hand. "No need for such formalities in these dire circumstances, please just call me Dorian." He responded firstly and waited for her to respond with a nod before continuing with what he truly wanted to ask. "Is there anything you'd be willing to to share about Nemia? I'd like to know more about her, maybe find some common ground to get a foot on before.." He trailed off at the end, not wanting to say it but not having to.
"She decides to reject you?" She finished his thought on her own. She paced back and forth a few more times before sighing, rolling her shoulders and dropping her arms to her side she sat down in the chair in front of Dorian across from his desk. "I don't know how much I can help really. We met almost ten years ago. You know about what happened to her family." She paused. "Well, her adoptive family. And her real family I suppose." She laughed lightly.
"She was a mess, very untrusting which was understandable. For the first two years she was depressed and learning her wolf, given she had gotten her wolf about a month after she came to me." She laughed again, her eyes distant as she seemed to be replaying some memories. "She was so clumsy in wolf form that first month, clambering around. Not quite used to the quadrupedal legs and given her larger than average size." Her eyes seemed to distance more. "As their trail on Malcolm grew colder, you could see the change in her. That's when she started to get really quiet. She would look through you, rather than at you. She has went to an even darker place than before. That boss of hers started sending her on jobs more then. Every time she came back, that darkness had only deepened. I don't know what he had her doing, she refused to talk about it."
She stood back up and started to pace again, just much slower than earlier. "The last three years, I've only seen her once every four to five months. She'd never stay though. Just come grab a few things, say hello and show me she wasn't broken." She scoffed. "She always makes it a joke. Twirling around, she'd say 'See, not broken. No worries.' But I could see her spirit was just constantly bending and cracking."
Julia sat back down. "That all I really know of her. She doesn't really speak on her personal things. I don't really even know her interests other than he obsession with drawing Malcolm's scarred wolven face. Though she is good at it. Just don't tell her I told you." She grinned a bit sheepishly. "I may have snooped in her room once or twice and seen the sketches in her desk." She shrugged. "She likes coffee?" Julia was stretching for information at this point and Dorian could tell, but he was still confused.
"She's been partially residing in your home for ten years and all you have is depression, dark place, drawings, and coffee... with a question mark?" He reiterated in a shorter, clipped version.
Another sheepish grin crossed Julia's face. "She really likes her solitude."
"And solitude.. got it.." He shook his head a bit and let out a bit of anguished laughter. "God's I hope the God's help me with Nemia." He laughed again.
Julia giggled. "You'll definitely need all the help you can get." She relaxed back into the chair with a soft sigh. "But honestly, Ki-.." She cleared her throat. "Dorian... I think you should just let the strength of the bond reel her in."
She paused for a moment and Dorian looked at her quizzically. "I know you heard her claim you as her mate with absolute ease to that siren.. surely that must mean something?"
Dorian sat back, his heart swelling inside his chest. He replayed that moment in his head again, his lips twitching. "Maybe your..." He stopped suddenly.
And as if on cue, Nik and Nemia burst through the office doors. He sat up straighter suddenly and Julia jumped slightly.
Both Nik and Nemia was covered in soot and crumbles of stone, fresh blood was smeared across Nik's right forearm. But they were smiling. Nemia raised up a small, black busted up item. "Finally found it under a bunch of rubble." She set the trashed item on his desk. "This was our bomb. Well, what's left of it anyways. It was full of a powdered formula of several poisonous plants. It is only deadly if entered directly into the bloodstream through fragmented pieces containing the concoction of ingredients making up the paste. Which means.."
"The only ones in danger were the ones close inough to the initial blast and came out of it with an open wound." Dorian finished. At least partly relieved in the moment. He glanced between the three of them. His eyes consistently falling back on Nemia. 'Mate.' "Okay, I'm sure there is plenty of people helping sift through the damage in the ballroom and tending the wounded. I suppose all that's left is figuring out where the hell Malcolm took off with Kyth too.. Oh, and to find where that pansy ass Donovan slipped off to. I seen him slip away during the initial attack as we came running back to the ballroom. I already had suspicions of him for other things but for him to slip away like that right after something so perilous... He has some explaining to do." Dorian bitterly spit out the last part.
"Considering how much he has halted my case and giving me dead ends on Malcolm, in sure he knows something." Nemia curled her fists. "And I got two things I'd like to say to him about it." She raised and shook her fists in a light hearted, yet somehow serious manner.
Dorian chuckled and threw his hands up. "I'd definitely hate to be on the other end of those." He retorted in a jesterly manner....