255

~Zegulf~

I watch as the blood flows into the tubing, then into a small vial. Brody isn’t taking much, just enough to look under the microscope that Adrian brought in.  

When he leaves the room, I slump back down. Even though most of the people here are werewolves, a reasonable chunk of us are knowledgeable about Vampires, and none of us have ever heard of a turning taking more than half a day.

Today is the second day of Carmen’s turning.

Twenty-nine hours later, and my brain is fucking melting from the inside out.

Clifton comes into the room and shakes me from my stupor. “Alpha.”

“What?” I rasp.

He looks to Carmen, then back to me. “We need to talk.” He says quietly.

Outside, I found another one of my men now guarding the entrance to my room. I follow Clifton as he leads me to a little room I never noticed before, where maps have been laid out on the table.

Looking at the maps, I ask, “What’s going on?”

“We’ve been doing a shit ton of snooping around,” Declan says as he looks up from a laptop in the corner of the room.

“What kind of snooping around?” I ask.

“Mostly breaking into the city’s treasury offices and hacking a couple of bank files. Dion might have helped with most of that.” He adds. “Also, Xavier and Adrian,” he points to them, “have been sneaking around some of the Sect’s office buildings.”

“So?” I say with a long breath afterward. “Just say it and stop beating around. I don’t need dramatics.”

“The Sect has been buying a shit ton of property up, over the last two years. Homes, apartments, and businesses.” Declan grumbles. “They have Golem Warsunng intervene and sign off a few places to them when they encounter difficulty with the homeowner.”

“So, this city is filled with members of the Sect?”

That doesn’t surprise me, given what I saw around Carmen’s house.

“Do we have any information on where the Sect is hiding other soul-fateds?” I ask them. “Aside from taking this city from Golem Warsunng and every other city he has a stronghold on, I want to close down the Sect and save all the poor, homeless girls they’ve been taking advantage of. I want to know who the fuck is funding the Sect.” I tell him.

“From what we got from Alaric, the Sect has cleared out most of their homes within this city,” Brody says, standing up from the chair he’s been sitting in. “But he says rumors are flying that they gathered all the Soul-fateds to a safe house.”

“No rumored location, yet?”

He shakes their head.

“Dargo Warsunng might have two of those with him, though.” Clifton's voice booms in the room as he shows me an image on his phone. “This was sent by Dion earlier. Dargo was spotted within the city, dragging two lonely, scared girls. Dion ran their faces through the Sect’s database, and their names came up as classified. It took him a couple of hours to gain access. And now, he's forwarded several images of all the soul-fateds in the Sect’s system.”

As if prompted, my cell phone's notifications start blaring nonstop.

I pull it out, and there are too many images that would require time to actually count and get the exact figures of the girls we need to rescue.

Well shit.

“I want those innocent girls here with us as soon as possible,” I say.

Having them here will not only keep them safe but dismantle the Sect and whatever they're planning. It will also get us a step toward a legitimate claim to the city with the WVW Council, at least. And evidence that shows how the Warsunngs have been running the show, backing the Sect behind everyone's back for so long.

“Already on it,” Xavier says. “I’m calling around to a couple of people to see what I can find. But it won’t come cheap. We’re going to need to pay out for this.”

Declan frowns at Xavier, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you talking about money like it can measure human life?”

“Get it done,” I chuckle as Xavier eyes Declan rudely.

“I’m talking to my Alpha, not you, Asshole.”

Turning to Clifton, I’m ready to ask if he’s made any progress on what

I assigned him.

“Don’t ask me yet.” Clifton raises his hand at me. “I’ve put feelers out. I’m waiting on calls and fucking emails that seem to be taking ages to get to me; I'm so close to losing my patience. I don't know what made you trust me with such a task, but I promise you, I’m trying my damn best, if you can believe it.”

I smile at how calm and dedicated he seems towards his task. Who knew Clifton Howling could actually turn this calm while taking orders? Whatever Gaston promised his brothers to turn them into these humble lots must be huge.

“You’re keeping this on the down-low, though, right?” I ask.

“Of course,” Clifton says. “I don’t want the WVW Council getting wind of any of this right now. They’d suspect we’re here for something else, and when they find out, well, as usual, the witches will come together to support their own, and we’ll be forced to face a blown war.”

It’s good that he understands the importance of keeping any word of the Sect working with the witches quiet.

Witches are a nasty fucking breed of monster. The good ones among them are very few, while the evil ones are everywhere; evil, vile, and seek the destruction of all.

Thank the goddesses they are truly rare, and that they cannot reproduce like others do.

“Alright,” I say.

“My turn,” Brody says with a strange little smile on his face. “I have interesting news, I suppose.”

I round on him. “Which is?”

"Carmen's blood," Brody says