Kings of Awakening Vampires and Purebloods (64 page)

              “That was a clever plan of yours, Aleister. Killing some of the queen’s most powerful men and replacing them with ours. Taking over her kingdom from the inside will be child’s play!”

              Henry ordered Philip to prepare his army. In less than two days, he marched into Conalian and took over the land. His Kingdom had expanded quickly. The queen’s old army had agreed to join him; they saw the opportunity to be more powerful and took it. With the help of a High King, they can restore the land back to what it was. None of them had a clue of Henry and Aleister’s alliance; they wanted more supremacy, and supremacy they had. King Henry’s men marched into the cities, killing all the wanted men. The King had marched with an iron fist, and brought back fear to the wicked eyes once again. His ruling was twice as fearful as the queen. He ruled with absolute order, and now he was one step closer to become the most powerful King in Nacune.

Henry
now sat alone in his new throne in Conalian pondering after an easier victory. This castle was much smaller, and older than his kingdom. He wasn’t planning on staying here for long, but it’s been so long since he last came into Conalian. He was glad the queen was dead, when he had met her, her damn ability to read lies was aggravating to him. Henry was a master of deception, but she had read all his lies that he had tried to feed her. He came to her after a long battle for her to have a meeting with him. At the meeting he had tried to come to an agreement with the queen. But of course, she would not heed to him, instead she forced him to bring upon a fog that crippled her kingdom and drove away one of the most powerful noble families in Nacune.
Taking over her kingdom was not part of my plan, all I wanted was…

King Henry stopped pondering when Philip came to see him with a half smile on his face.  He was shouting that this was a time for them to celebrate. The King was however a bit disappointed, and wasn’t in a celebrating mood. Conquering a new land always brought excitement to him, but this was no war, not even a sweep. Thanks to Aleister planting some of his men to the seat of power, taking over this kingdom that was already dying was too simple. He loved war. There was something about being a general that thrilled him, marching his army into enemies’ territory and take what is
“his”. This kingdom was a giving, nothing more. There was no way he could add this victory to his book, this was nothing but a gift.

“My lord, is something on your mind? You look tense,” asked Philip.

“Do not worry Philip, today we celebrate our victory. It may have taken longer than anticipated for the fog to drive the noble family out of this land, but it was well worth it.”
I’m
o
ne step closer on becoming stronger than you Victor.

“Yes my lord, and now thanks to that, the noble families dwell in our kingdom.”

Philip handed the King a new wanted picture.

“What is this?” he asked curiously.

“It’s from Aleister’s request.” Philip sighed, “I don’t trust that Aleister. How come he has us doing his dirty work, if he wants to find his comrade then he should do it himself, not use us as his tool.”

“So, there relationship swayed away huh? I wondered what prompted that.”
Why are you after him Aleister, I thought he was your partner? What’s on your mind, what is it that you’re scheming?

A bounty was now on Dmitri’s head, and was distributed throughout Conalian and Odeon. The wanted poster had a picture of Dmitri, and a generous sum of gold for anyone who captures him.

{The man who brings him alive, or kills him, will be rich beyond his wildest dream. This man, if I may remind you, is partnered with none other than Aleister. He is wanted for helping Aleister kill the Queen.
}

A little lie won’t hurt.

“Rich beyond recognition” Those words prompted every bounty hunter to be on the lookout. Thousands of men were now after him, hoping to receive the reward. The bounty was ordered by King Henry, which of course came from Aleister.

                                                             ***

“Di
d
you guys hear the news? Henry has taken over Conalian,” said Dante.

They were in the throne room with the King, including Sonia
, Angelione, Axil and Jarvis.

“We all knew it was a matter of time before one of the Kings took the land,” replied Angelione. “When Dante and I were investigating, I spotted several of Henry’s men posing as the queen’s own men. Their plan was to take over the land from the inside, avoiding a long battle.”

“Hmm… this is not like Henry to infiltrate a kingdom like this. I fought him many times, and so did my father.” The King was pondering; something about the way he took over the land wasn’t sitting right. “That’s exceedingly unorthodox of him to do.” The King had puffy eyes, not much sleep or blood lately. “Aleister killed the queen, making it easier for Henry to take her place.” He remembered when Sonia once told him that something was fishy about Henry, the time he had given the Black Reapers permission to search for Aleister in his kingdom. Was he hoping that Aleister would dispose of them for him? The Black Reapers had posed a problem to him, trying to take over Atnius in the past. Dragan and Cecelia, former Black Reapers, had made it difficult for him to do so, so it was clear that he had a deep hatred for this organization.

“Now, to the matters at hand, the reason I summoned you all here.”

Jarvis closed his eyes, he knew what the King was about to say.

“So, I came to a difficult decision,” silence. “One week from today, I will have Albedo executed.”

Silent dwelled once more as everyone around the room looked at each other in astonishment. 

Sonia’s heart stopped,
how could he come up with a decision like this?

“But my lord, you said it yourself, he’s different from all the others,” said Dante.

The King shook his head, “No Dante, I was wrong; he’s just as dangerous as the rest.”

Dante and Axil had no words
to say, their best friend was going to be killed.

“You all saw what they’re capable of. Aleister is
becoming too powerful to be stopped, if we allow him to continue we will all die!” said the King.

Sonia said nothing; she left with anger on her face.
How could he, he’s truly going to kill you Albedo, please come back to us.

“Master Jarvis, say something,” said Dante.

Jarvis had nothing to say, he respected his King’s decision, whatever orders he was given; he would abide by them, just as he did with the King’s father.

“Forgive me.
I know this is hard and shocking to all of you, but you must understand, if he’s allowed to live he will grow more powerful. I fear master Jarvis’ seal is too weak to sustain the Reawakening,” said the King.

“We all know he’s nothing like Aleister, so why!?” asked Axil. He had a tone that indicated that he wanted to shout at the King, but his tone was only reflecting his emotion. 

“Axil,” said Dante as he put a hand on his shoulder, making sure he knows his limit when talking to the King. He admired the passion in Axil’s eyes.

Axil left
the room.

Sonia and Axil are right, the right thing to do is to protect and help Albedo, but I made a promise to my brother, to protect and obey the King no matter what. I must not let my emotions cloud my thoughts.  Regardless of the situation, a King must be obeyed at all costs.
He raised his head up and looked at the King. “I understand my lord, I will support any decision you make.”
Forgive me Albedo, but my loyalty to my King and the promise to my brother will not permit me follow you. A true Black Reaper must be willing to put his King before his needs.

Angelione looked at Dante in surprise. He had thought he had come to the same verdict as Axil and Sonia. Albedo meant a lot to them, and he understood the reason they were against this idea. In fact he himself was skeptical about this idea; it was an idea that daunted him in their last mission after Aleister.
So Dante, you too have also decided to follow orders instead of your heart? Last time I followed my heart and let Albedo live, but now it’s out of my hands.
“I too, my lord, will follow your order.” 

***

Soni
a
looked back to see Axil calling out for her. She was angry and felt a deep hate towards the King. How could he kill the only man she ever loved?

“Sonia, are you all right?” asked Axil as he caught up to her.

“How could he, Axil? Albedo is our friend, our teammate. I know who he was in the past, but he’s not like that anymore.”

              “I wish I knew what to do,” said Axil. He looked at Sonia who looked as if she wanted to be alone; he too wanted to be alone to truly grasp this decision. “Go get some rest alright.”

***

Soni
a
left her bed in the middle of the night after shifting side to side. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep thinking about Albedo all night. She put on her black cloak and her red mask and headed to the dungeon. She went to the lower level, where Albedo was being held. She didn’t even bother sneaking in as she came down the stairs, she showed her permission slip she had taken from the guard and presented it. After she was clear she walked up to Albedo’s cell.

              “What do you think you’re doing, Sonia? I know it’s you behind that mask.”

She recognized that voice, Alan. She took off her mask, “I’m here to set him free,” she replied.

“Why would you want to do that? You know what will happen if he’s out,” said Alan. He looked at her with an adamant look. The girl was in love with him. “Foolish girl, you know what love is, but you have no idea what death is.” This was a warning from him to her. Albedo’s power could not be controlled. “You will never turn the trap off, if his power level rises, he will be electrocuted?”

“So master Jarvis placed a seal in your body too huh. Preventing you from trying to hurt Albed
o, can’t say I blame him really,” said Sonia.

“That old fool is as blind as the King!”
Damn this seal, not only does it diminish my abilities, it also diminishes my physical strength. I never imagined that his seal was this strong
.

Sonia stopped paying mind to Alan and started hitting the steel cell with her pawn, nothing she couldn’t handle. The steel cell was no match for
her as it fell apart.

“Miss, you can’t do that!”

The guards rushed in to try and stop her. These royal guards were mere vampires, nothing she couldn’t handle. There were about ten of them, they were not dead, she simply put them to sleep with a powerful blow. One of the guards had sounded the alarm. More guards would be coming.

“Albedo, I’m here to get you out.”

He said nothing.

“Me and you are going to leave this place. We are going far away, where no one can find us, just the two of us.”

Breaking the chains that bound Albedo’s hands and legs was going to be tricky. These weren’t steel, but instead titanium metal, much stronger. There were four chains coming from the wall, two on Albedo’s arms and two on his legs. Another problem she was facing was that her fire wasn’t hot enough to melt titanium, it was too dense. Not even her strength could break it, so she had to resolve to her last idea, pick the lock. It’s been so long since Sonia had picked a lock. She had learned it from Angelione himself. For a Pureblood, lock-picking skills were not really essential. “We have the strength to break almost anything, this skill is useless,” quoting Angelione to Sonia. Angelione explained to her, they may one day have to face titanium metal, and as always, he was right. She took a pin from her hair and started working on the first chain on Albedo’s hand.
Now let’s see if I can remember this
, she yanked the pin diligently, being careful not to activate the electric. Click! The first one unlocked and she quickly went to work on the second one. Click! His hands were now free and she needed to hurry on the third one.

It was only a matter of time before the King knows of her betrayal. Once he finds out what’s going on, his rage and fury will know no mercy for her. As soon as she inserted the pin inside the
next lock, she knew something was wrong. Electricity coursed up her body angrily; trapping her in a stage of numbness. She felt the pain quickening inside of her, touching and grinding against each bone and making them sore. She had only once felt this much agony before, when Aleister deflected Angelione’s lightning towards her. Thousands of volts of pain shocked her body, her hands began to bleed. She screamed along side with Albedo. But Sonia was determined not to stop as she fought the pain and unlocked one of the chains to his leg. At last the pain stopped and her hands began to bleed, her heart racing faster. She breathed heavily.

Albedo, hang on, just bare the pain with me a little longer
.
I must finish the last one, but I’m so weak.
Sonia started working on the last one; the electricity was back once more to torture her body. Her hands were shaking as she twisted the pin inside the lock.
Move
,
move!
Her hands found the strength that she needed to unlock the last one
.