บท 25: Heirarchy

"My name is Hal" he told her

"My name is Valerie" She told him as she sat up and began to put on her clothes

Hal dispersed of the pheromone dome and watched her showing no inclination of wanting to put something on

"Thank you for helping me but..." She paused, took a deep breath and said "you should forget about me"

Hal chuckled at how serious she looked "If so then why tell me your name"

"It would have been rude not to. And don't search for me after today. It should be as though we had never met"

Hal smiled "Are you sure about that?"

Valerie allowed a sigh "I have a fiancé and if his or my family knows about this, you could lose your life"

"Is that so" Hal sighed

Valerie nodded

"Well then we have a problem. I want you for myself and I don't give a damn about your fiance"

Valerie became outraged, who did he think he was? Even daring to covet her, he really did not know what was good for him.

She stood up in a huff and made to walk away, Hal pointed towards the east

"You'll find them faster if you go that way. Do remember though that from now on you're my woman"

Hal could not explain it. He had never been possessive, on the contrary, he had never been interested in making a woman his. If they wanted to leave, they could. Eventually another will come by, but ever since his bloodline had awakened he felt an urge to have any woman he wanted for himself and only himself.

'Mine mine mine' kept ringing in his head

Valerie thought she noticed a darkness in his blue hues but it passed so quickly that she decided it was a trick of the light. She took one last look at the man she would never be able to forget before running towards the direction he had pointed out.

When she was gone, Hal withdrew fresh clothes from his inventory and put it on.

'You should have tried to find out where she was from? How could you possibly find her now?' Grimiore asked

'I'll find her. She now carries my scent. As long as I am close enough, I will find her' Hal replied

'What's the range'

'Same city'

Hal was able to understand things pertaining to his bloodline instinctively. His 'scent' would cling to every woman he had sex with but was only perceivable by him. Right now he could sense that Melinda was in salmon city.

"That was fun. But it is time to continue the hunt"

...

The closer Hal got to the lair the more demon beasts he faced or escaped from and the more it proved his suspicions.

Somehow the salmon had become able to control the demon beasts. He had discovered from grimiore that it was not natural for an astral beast to control demon beasts. It should not even be possible and the fact that it was happening now did not put Hal at ease.

He had to resort to a lot of trickery and used up most of his prepared runes to make it through. None of the beasts were as strong as the four that had fought Jon and the other 'mercenaries' but they were still a problem. And then he found it. The Salmon's lair.

***

"You did what?" Lillian asked her son.

"You heard me mother. I had to do something" Rad held his ground

"Your father was going to take care of it"

"Well now he doesn't need to anymore. He should be thanking me. And i planned i planned it well, making use of a local gang that would do anything for money, made sure to promise them payment after the job was done and, I also made sure they were stronger than him, he couldn't possibly survive.

"As for Master Swanson, he would never really know who is responsible. Suspicions don't mean anything. Father was just being paranoid"

Listening to him Lillian felt he did seem to have thought things through and she so desperately hoped things worked out accordingly or it could affect her husband's chance of becoming mayor.

Unlike the way it was done on earth, The Mayor title in in the Haron Continent was always held by the strongest family in the city, the reason for this was none other than the fact that that the position gave a certain level of authority and control over law enforcement and as such it was very coveted. A weak family would be unable to keep such power.

For a few centuries the Edgar family had held that title and ruled salmon city according to the rules of the Barony they fell under, and the rules of the Barony were the rules of the county it fell under and the rules of the county were the rules of the Duchy and the rules of the Duchy were the rules of the crown.

The crown however had no interest in preserving mayoral lines and keeping it in a particular family, heck it was barely interested in the barony being kept in a single family and as such the mayoral title was up for grabs. The mayor of salmon city, Hector Edgar was nearing the end of his lifespan and if he failed to advance to the next realm, war would break out to determine who would hold the authority of salmon city.

"Don't worry mother, everything will be alright, and even if they fail, there will be no evidence implicating me" Rad assured her

A beautiful curvy maid walked in and served them tea. The instant Rad saw her his heart rate picked up. The maid served the tea and backed out of the room

"Excuse me mother, I'll be right back"

Rad left the room and caught up with the maid

"Rita, I need to speak with you" and so Rad pours out his heart to the maid. He was hoping his honesty and forthright nature would earn him favors. He had long decided to seek her heart the right way and besides how could she say no to a great family heir.

Rita listened with rapt attention and when he was done she opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Rad who said

"Think about it. As soon as Father is mayor I would love to say to the world how much I love you" He placed a gold ring with the Payne family crest in her hands before closing her fingers around it

"consider this as a betrothal gift" he told her before returning into the room

However as soon as he was turned Rita squeezed the ring tightly and sneered.

If only Rad knew how this moment set up the domino effect that would eventually bring about his doom.