"How is that even possible!" Velmore crushed the official report he had received half an hour ago under his palms and threw it on the ground with force. "How could he survive after the attack?" his teeth gritted hard enough to break one as his rage burnt his chest.
"He is just a pathetic human who should not have survived the assasination but now he was still living even when…" he did not dare to take the next word. But worried had clawed his chest hard. "What should we do now, Cladria. This man is stronger than we thought."
Cladria's face darkened further. she paced near the window with her arms folded. Her sharp eyes scanned the horizon though she wasn't really looking. Her mind churned restlessly.
"They should have been back by now even if they have lost somehow. But I could not reach them as if they had disappeared completely. I… it had taken me a great deal to hire them. If they do not return, I have to pay the price." The rogue vampires she had hired weren't just any mercenaries. They were powerful, ruthless, known for leaving no trace of their prey. And yet..
"But how could they just vanish, Cladria? Humans were not a match for them and not to forget that Elias is a weak being. He is not even a knight." she had whispered in disbelief the night before when the last contact with them had gone cold. But now that she heard her father, she felt like she should go and kill Elias herself. Her face twisted with hatred and rage.
Lord Velmore, seated with one leg crossed over the other, stared silently at the floor. The weight of the situation hung thick in the air. He too was disturbed deeply, but he wouldn't allow it to show, not in front of his daughter.
"He couldn't have survived," Cladria muttered again, more to herself than anyone. "Not without… help."
At that moment, the steward entered swiftly and bowed as he extended a small bundle of parchment. "The letters had come from the secret channel, my lord."
Velmore's fingers moved fast, breaking the wax seals with impatience.
"I hope it is useful or I am going to burn those spies' family and feed their meat to my hounds." His eyes scanned the words greedily and then slowed, then froze. A spark of cruel satisfaction flared in his gaze. His lips curled into a thin, victorious smirk.
"Well?" Cladria demanded, stepping closer when she noticed the change on the face of her father, "did they finally bring a clue or a weakness of that pest?"
He turned to her with a gleam in his eyes. "We were right to wait. Elias didn't defeat them alone. He has been meeting with sorcerers."
Cladria's breath caught. "Sorcerers? Are you certain? It had been decades since the last one was found. They would never accept a sorcerer to make roots in their area."
Velmore waved the letter in front of his daughter so that she could read it while his voice rose with a triumphant pitch. "That is what the letter says. They saw him meeting with one and discussing a ritual to gain powers." the man laughed viciously.
"Cladria, oh Cladria.. If he is practicing something forbidden, he is doomed! No one would spare him. This is much better than killing him silently. He would not only lose his life, but I would take everything he had snatched from me and much more in exchange for this information." he laughed again as if he could already feel the gold and mines returning to him.
Cladria's face was twisted but it was still hard to believe that a sorcerer had come so close to their lands and they were unaware. Something was off about it. But if that was the case, she would get rewarded for the news too. "We need to test the news first, father. What if we are wrong."
His father waved a hand as if she was being too cautious. "I always knew there was something off about him. No normal man can survive three rogue vampires."
"But why?" Cladria murmured with her brow furrowing deeply. "Why does it feel like I know him? I have never met Elias in my life, but there is something."
Her voice trailed off. Her thoughts, tangled and restless but her confusion gave her no answers, only the steady hum of unease that Elias was more than he appeared.
Velmore dismissed her question with a scoff. "It doesn't matter what he is. What matters is the mistake he has made. He has practically handed us his own noose."
He stood, invigorated now and moved to the desk to pull out ink and parchment. "If the royal court hears that he is consorting with black magic users, it won't matter what power he holds. He will be dead before the month is over."
Cladria watched him write with quick, sharp strokes but it only mounted her unease. "And if he gains more power before that? What if we are too slow? We do not even know how much power has been taken from those sorcerer if they exist."
Velmore didn't even glance up. "We can always get more information. We have got eyes inside. And now," he said with a dark chuckle, "we give them a reason to do more. Cladria, this time I will show you how we, Velmore's, deal with our enemies."
He sealed the reply with the family crest twice for urgency and then handed it back to the steward.
"Send it through the pigeons immediately. Tell Taron that if he brings us proof. Anything, a sigil, an artifact, anything linking Elias to black magic, we will not only free his family but we will pay him thrice over. That would be enough to start a new life in the capital."
Cladria leaned against the edge of the desk. her voice fell low. "Do you trust him enough?."
Velmore nodded with his eyes glittering. "Yes. Toran loves his daughter too much to betray me. As long as we have his family, he would do anything for us. Elias thinks he has risen from the dead. Let's see how long he lasts in the light."