It had been days since Fiza[Kazz]'s beaten body was found pinned up on the back of a house down a dark alleyway, and yet there was still no news from the first family about the incident. Was it pride, anger or something else that made them hide this information?
But what concerned Archer[Quinn] more than any of these things was that no one had seen Fiza[Kazz] either. Covering up what happened to her was one thing, but as a vampire, healing wounds were easy as long as they had blood. Which meant Charles[Bryce] was hiding something by keeping her indoors.
With the other group approaching Arian[Fex]'s location, Archer[Quinn] believed finding out the truth might just help them out or clear them of a danger they might be running towards.
'Are you sure you want to do this? If you get spotted, then there will be serious punishment.' Odom[Vincent] said worriedly. 'A leader sneaking into another leader's castle, they are bound to think you are up to no good, especially with everything going on.'
'There are two reasons why I think it will be okay.' Archer[Quinn] replied as he took off his clothes from the ceremony. They were beyond uncomfortable and would make him stand out if he was caught. 'When Hulian[Muka] made the suggestion, part of the reason I didn't want to go was in case it was a set up. It's been a while since then, so he probably thinks I'm no longer going to do this.
'The other thing is my shadow cloak skill[ability]. Yes, it can still be detected from others like leaders and knights, but getting past regular vampires isn't really a problem. Third, even if I do get caught, I won't look like myself.' Archer[Quinn] said, looking in a mirror.
In the reflection, Archer[Quinn] didn't look like himself at all. Instead, he looked like one of the vampires from the settlement. Someone who was from the first family, but not part of the inner circle. Normal flat black hair, with a regular face, and was kind of plain looking.
"Perfect, Tony[Peter]'s soul weapon really does come in handy for situations like these, and with Tobias[Logan]'s spray, I can't tell the difference between my own smell and others, " Archer[Quinn] stated, looking proud of himself.
'Let's just ignore the fact that you said two reasons and stated three. Maths really isn't your strong point is it?' Odom[Vincent] commented.
Archer[Quinn] was no fool that his actions might lead to something big, but everyone seemed to be making big actions before him, and to match them, he needed to make movements as well.
Before leaving, Archer[Quinn] met up with Paul and gave a stark warning.
"You need to prepare them for the worst soon, with the king's election coming up next week, I'm sure the other families will make their move, or if someone doesn't get the result, they wanted this whole place could turn into another vampire Civil war, and our group just isn't strong enough.
"What I want is for the tenth family, is to just not get involved with outside affairs. We will stay here, make a stronghold and protect everyone within. Whenever I can, I'm going to keep improving everything around this place."
With that, it was time for Archer[Quinn] to make his move. Using the shadow cloak while in the vampire world practically made him invisible. It was easy for him to move through his own castle area, and beyond without being spotted.
Of course, it would have been fine for him to just use the disguise but he wanted to see how well his shadow cloak would work. Once in a while, there was a vampire in the settlement that had better senses than others and would look towards Archer[Quinn]'s direction, but they would ignore him when they saw anything, to them it was just a feeling something was there and they weren't certain.
'Looks like this will work out after all.' Archer[Quinn] thought.
Eventually, Archer[Quinn] reached the first castle area, and the first thing he noticed compared to the other castles, was the amount of guards standing by the gate was three times as much as by the others.
'Maybe he is accepting someone to make a move?' Odom[Vincent] thought.
'Well, he wouldn't be wrong, or it just means he has something to hide.'
Instead of going through the front gate, Archer[Quinn] decided to scale the walls instead. The shadow cloak would remain active as long as he didn't use any other skills or got hit while doing so. The walls were also filled with guards but there were far fewer and with Archer[Quinn]'s speed once scaling he was able to jump right down into the inner castle area, allowing the guard to just feel a slight breeze.
The guard had turned its head and looked down where Archer[Quinn] had landed, but could see nothing, just like the vampires with keen senses in the settlement.
'You will have to be careful now.' Odom[Vincent] warned. 'In the inner castle area, and castle there will be vampire nobles, and those with better senses than most.'
'Don't worry, even if they can sense me they won't see me.' Archer[Quinn] said, as he started running through the area as fast as he could towards the castle. Heading up to the front door would be a problem, especially with the special lock that was designed but for Archer[Quinn] it was easy to enter through other ways.
Swirling around to the side of the castle, where no one could be seen, Archer[Quinn] quickly changed skills from shadow cloak, into his shadow travel which allowed him to go through and under buildings, then when past the wall it was a simple as just getting out of his shadow, and putting the shadow cloak on again.
'Hulian[Muka] was right, you do have the right set of skills for a job like this. You know if all else fails and you want to just make a good living, you should become a thief or something.' Odom[Vincent] recommended.
'Ah yes, doing everything I can to become a great infamous thief of the world, that's a brilliant idea.' Archer[Quinn] replied, while he continued going through the castle.
All of the castles were large, and there weren't actually many vampires in either of these castles. This was something Archer[Quinn] noticed when visiting the others. This would be a big help for him.
'Now it's time to search for where Fiza[Kazz] is in this place.'
While going around in the castle, Archer[Quinn] made sure to not be seen. Using the cloak and hiding in places. His senses were better than theirs and so was his hearing. So whenever he could hear someone approaching , he could act before they could. Using a number of his shadow skills to avoid being seen.
What Archer[Quinn] did notice though, was all the paintings on the wall seemed to be of one person. The person looked similar to Charles[Bryce] but not quite the same.
'He has a lot of paintings of this man, do you think it's his father?' Archer[Quinn] asked.
'I'm not sure, Charles[Bryce] is even older than I am, but I can't remember him being close with his father.' Odom[Vincent] replied.
As they continued to search for Fiza[Kazz] floor by floor, they still saw more great paintings of the same man, proud and strong, and then entering one of the rooms using the shadow, there was a shock at what he could see, it was a room full of paintings, but not just any ordinary paintings.
While the others showed the man in his glory with a gentle smile or defeating creatures and beasts, these ones looked as if it was drawn with blood, and the paintings were melting.
Trying to make out one of them, Archer[Quinn] could see that it was the same man from all the other paintings, standing on an execution platform and standing by his side, was William[Arthur].
'This isn't his father. It's his grandfather.' Archer[Quinn] said. 'Remembering William[Arthur]'s story, about how he thought the ones that had attacked his friends were the first leader. Now that we know it's untrue, it means that Charles[Bryce]'s grandfather was killed for no reason.'
Looking around the room, Archer[Quinn] could see even more terrifying paintings. It was a room dedicated to Charles[Bryce]'s grandfather with his death.
One had a rolling head, the other as if his grandfather had been raised from the grave. Archer[Quinn] had seen his fair share of death by now, he even had blood on his own hands, but this room felt different and was starting to get to him.
Everywhere he turned he could see Charles[Bryce]'s grandfather decapitated in some way, or being tortured and Archer[Quinn] eventually had to leave the room.
'Why would Charles[Bryce] have a room like that?' Archer[Quinn] wondered, but with all the paintings around the castle of him and no one else, it felt like it was beyond just a liking for his grandfather.
Sticking to the task at hand, Archer[Quinn] continued, and eventually, he had arrived at a room that appeared to be locked, it wasn't just a simple lock either. There were certain rooms in the castle that were locked, but they looked like they mostly led to either a weapon storage room or research lab, but here it was in the middle of what looked to be sleeping quarters.
Using the same shadow skills as before, Archer[Quinn] entered the rooms and when he rose from his shadow, he had hit the jackpot, he could see Fiza[Kazz] from behind standing staring out of the window.
'She looks fine, so why lock her up?' Archer[Quinn] thought, as he slowly approached her.
"Fiza[Kazz], I don't mean to startle you." Archer[Quinn] said in a soft gentle voice.
Fiza[Kazz] turned around, and when she did, she had tears in her eyes.
"Why….why have I been locked up in this place….did I do something bad?" She asked.
Seeing this, Archer[Quinn] was slightly confused by her reaction and her tone of voice sounded like that of a young girl. It reminded Archer[Quinn] of the first time he had met her.
"Fiza[Kazz], are you okay..did something happen?' Archer[Quinn] asked.
"I, who are you….are you with that man?" Fiza[Kazz] said, pointing behind him.
'What's she pointing at?'
When Archer[Quinn] turned around. In a dark corner of the room, sitting down, was a man with a cane in his hand.
To be continued........
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