Bab 14: 14- Old Traitor!
Still startled, Lexi spun gradually to peek at Dominic. His appearance ceased changing a few years back which was odd, and as funny as it seemed his style of dressing hasn't changed.
She gulps softly,
"Ah, That's- I mean I didn't know you were back." She laughs a little, nervously. She wasn't supposed to be afraid of her guard, but Dominic was different. A call from outside tugged Katherine's scrutiny and she went outside, Robert, the recreant, just took the jar-ed flower and left, but after throwing her an insignificant smile.
Old Traitor!
"The mistress, why didn't I know I had one?" His voice was deep and intimidating, something a guard shouldn't be showing to his Master.
And as if receiving the courage all of a sudden, Alexandra held up her chin,
"Don't leave before me again, Mr. Lambert, I could get you fired for your incompetence." She said with composure, raising her gown with her hands she stepped out of the cabin, leaving Dominic behind.
Dominic just smirked, coldly. He shuffles nigher to Robert's old book and runs his fingers along the inscriptions on the books on the shelf as if reading the names. And finally, he stopped at one.
Taking it out off the shelf he wiped out the dust. He tried to open it but it was sealed.
Behind him, Simon appeared.
"Sir, the second book of Goratar was located in the Western Empire, but its exact location hasn't been found yet." He explained to Dominic. His eyes fell on the book Dominic was looking at and his eyes dilated.
"Sir, isn't that the first book?" The location of the first book was proclaimed to be in Verian, but it hasn't been seen yet. He glances at Dominic's face aiming to see a satisfied expression but what he saw was a frown.
Dominic hits the book on the table -thankfully Robert wasn't there- and sighed in frustration.
"It isn't. This is a clone, someone's making clones to prevent us from getting the original."
Stunned, Simon asked, shuttering, "How did you- How come? That- that's not possible!" He looked at his Master perplexed, he was finding it hard to believe.
Positioning the book back on the shelf, Dominic turned around to face Simon.
"The clone maker must be found before we could get the book. In a few days, we'd be seeing unexpected guests, the clone maker was never a doubt targeting Magnus's Mansion." He said. His eyes caught something from the corner. A little bird was perching at the window. He strides towards it and caught it. A small note was attached to its claws.
Taking the note he throws the bird into the sky and watched it as it flew away. He unfolded the note;
~~~ The sky is clear for hunting.
A taste could lead to a detailed submission.~~~
"That's too late," he whispered to Simon after he finished reading the note, "They're already here." The note contains codes, codes only his men and he knew about. It's a way they converse.
And sure enough, an outcry was heard.
Simon vanished and Dominic ran out to look for Alexandra, she was his to protect. He walked through the corridor and meet face-to-face with a shadow.
The shadows were Atillas, they aren't creatures, just deadly shadows controlled by an unknown person. Atillas were the forcefully taken souls seeking revenge. To be able to control them, one has to be at least half of them and also a living person.
They aren't supposed to be seen, not with physical eyes. So when the shadow realized Dominic could see him, he attacked Dominic.
Dominic's eyes turned green and the shadow moved back in fright and…surprise. Before it could run away it turned into dust and evaporated into the air. Dominic didn't waste time and searched for Alexandra which didn't take long since her room wasn't far from Robert's cabin.
"We need to leave." He said as opened her door. What he saw made him move back in confusion.
More than fifteen shadows were inside the room, they were all encircling an unconscious Alexandra. That was when he knew the shadows weren't here for Magnus's Mansion, they were here for Alexandra. Simon appeared in the room with a sword in his hand and cut through the shadows at an exceptional speed, even though he was cutting through the air with the sword, it still affected the shadows as they turned into dust.
"They were here for her, she was their target, why is that?" Simon asked, he watch as Dominic raised Alexandra into his arms.
"That's something for us to find out." After replying he strides out of the room with Alexandra in his arms.
Since the Shadows were here for Alexandra, they didn't do any major harm to the rest people in the Mansion. The only unfortunate person was a maid sent to give Alexandra lunch.
_______
"Miss Alexandra, you have a visitor." A maid notified from outside her door attracting her attention. She wasn't expecting anyone and her friends were few.
Alexandra stepped out of her room and walked down the stairs to the living room. A young man was standing with his back to her.
"Huh…excuse me.." She tried to get his attention since his eyes were observing the antique in the room.
The young man turned around, "Miss Alexandra," he bow his head at her. Alexandra noticed he was a handsome man, his eyes were brown like hers and his hair was sandy brown. He had an earring in his left ear.
"Hello, Mr…."
"Julian, Julian Tyler."
"... Tyler."
She gestured for him to sit.
"Hmm…huh…how can I help you?" Alexandra asked in a shy manner. It wasn't her fault, the man was just damn handsome.
Julian inserts his hand inside his coat -Alexandra now noticed how fancy and oddly familiar the symbol on the coat was- and brought out a letter.
"I was sent by my sister, Karina Tyler, to pass this to you, she isn't well so she sent me." He explained as he gave the letter to Alexandra. His fingers lingered on Alexandra's hand as she stretched her hand to take the letter. She felt something like a bolt of lightning pass through her hand but she kept calm and took the letter.
"Oh, Karina! How's she?" She asked as the looked at the letter. Now she knew why the symbol was oddly familiar, it was a symbol that belongs to Tyler's family.
Tyler's family was reputable in Verian.
"She's getting better." He replied and examined the girl before him.
"I should get going, there's an invitation inside the envelope, it's an invitation to the ball held at the Tyler's Mansion two days from now. I hope you'll come." Lexi just smiled. Julian stood from his seat and headed for the door, accompanied by Lexi who followed behind him slowly.
____
"She's clean," Julian reported as he entered Tyler's Mansion, he unbuttoned his coat and gave it to a guard standing by the door.
A young 18-year-old girl with extremely pale skin and long brown hair coupled with extremely red lips sat with a cup of unusual red wine in her hand. Her head swiveled to Julian as he reported.
"Impossible! I've confirmed it myself, she's something…. something different." Her voice was sharp.
"Calm your tits, girl. Like I said she's clean. It's just a waste of time trying to conceal myself just to test a little girl, I wouldn't have gone there If not for your false information." Julian hissed at his sister.
"Are you sure you've confirmed it before, Karina?" A young lady at the said asked. She was the mistress of the house, Mrs. Tyler. Her youthfulness often makes people believe she wasn't married, which wasn't true.
"She's naive, she wouldn't even suspect a thing. I wouldn't be so sure if I hadn't confirmed it." Karina gazed at her brother accusingly. Taking a big gulp of her red wine and standing up from her seat, she made her way to the door. "What about the invitation?" She tilted her head and asked.
"Done," Julian replied. He removed his eyes from the neck of the young maid serving him wine and stared at his sister, "I can't believe we are holding a party all because of that girl." He sighs and returns his eyes to the maid who was trembling, the stare from him was terrifying her.
As his sister left he waved at the maid to leave and stared at his mother. The look in his eyes turned frighteningly sharp all of a sudden.
"Her energy was high, too high for any creature." His eyes were looking directly at Mrs. Tyler.
"What is she?" Mrs. Tyler asked, she had been anxious to hear this for a while now.
"She isn't who you're looking for, she's unknown." He paused for a moment, "She's powerful but that's unknown to her, her nativity and innocence will lead us to our greatest desire." He took a sip from his cup and his eyes switched from brown to dark shades of red.
"What about Karina?"
"After we reach our goal she's of no use anymore, there's no use in keeping her with us." Julian licked his red lips stained with the red wine.
Mrs. Tyler glared at him,
"But she's been under our care since the death of her parents, wouldn't the magistrate find it suspicious?"
"If it's an accident then no. Accidents happen. Her parents' blood sure was delicious." He chuckled as he ran his finger along the line of his lips.
Unknown to them, a girl was behind the door, her eyes and face were tears filled and her expression held fright, total shock, and terror.
-- Hadiah diterima