Reuben, the head and the current in charge of the council didn’t wait for the coachman to open the door, he turned the handle from the inside of the carriage and stepped out to look at the tall mansion that stood in front of him. Being born as a natural half-vampire to a human mother and a vampire father, he had served as the head council for a few decades now. After the recent war that broke in the South empire between the witches and the vampires where few humans of the higher rank had joined them, it had given him the impression that matters would settle down before a new one would arise but he had been so wrong to think about it.

  Removing the hat which he wore on top of his head, he tucked it under his arm and walked into the mansion to hand his staff and hat to the maid who stood at the entrance. He noticed that it wasn’t the butler who usually attended the guests who arrived at the mansion.

  “Master is in the drawing room.”


  Reuben noted another thing here when the maid led him towards the drawing room. The servants who worked in the Rune mansion always referred Nicholas Rune as ‘master’ and not by the title. It wasn’t uncommon to call the owner but it wasn’t common either. It just was rare, especially when it came to the lords and he wondered if it was because of the previous lord. His already creased forehead turned deeper when he remembered the man. Lord Wilhelhum Perone. He wasn’t fond of the man and honestly if it could be dug further, the man was similar to the recently deceased lord of the South; maybe even worse.

  Though the truth had never been stated in the headlines of the newsletters, plenty amount of rumours had been spread about the Perone’s family once Wilhelhum had passed away. On how the man had raped his niece. There was speculation if Lord Nicholas was his child from another mistress or from his niece but the truth was never found and was lost within the Perone family which no one spoke about. After all, when gossips mixed itself with the rumours, it only ended up with the fact being lost. But Reuben didn’t need to know about it as he had gauged the man well during the short time of Wilhelhum’s serving. He had only been posted as the head council back then before the previous lord of Bonelake died after the wolves had attacked him in his chambers. It was unexpected and unheard of for a pure blooded vampire to die like that and even if some of them in the council had their doubts on if he was really killed by a pack of wolves, it was hard to identify and prove anything due to the gruesome death that took place.

  Coming to the drawing room, the maid stood outside with her head held down and he stepped in to see Lord Nicholas standing by the large window that almost reached the ceiling of the room with his hands in his pocket.

  The boy he had seen when the previous lord had passed away had turned to a fine lord. There had been a debate before he had taken up the position as well as the title of the lord of Bonelake. Due to the unforeseen death, the title that had to be passed had caused quite a hustle in the council rooms but in the end, it went to the son, Nicholas Rune. With no single doubt, he had exceeded the expectation of the council and out of all the four lords, he was the most approachable and friendly one to talk to.

  Lord Nicholas turned around to greet him, “Good afternoon, Reuben. I hope I didn’t cause you any inconvenience. Would you like something to drink? Tea or……” he asked, spreading his hand towards the bottle of whiskeys that adorned at the corner of the table.

  “Tea will be fine,” the maid who was standing at the door bowed her head when the lord threw her a fraction of glance before leaving them alone, “I presume there’s a pressing matter if you have called me so suddenly. Is everything alright, Nicholas?” the councilman asked taking a seat on the plush looking couch where the lord joined him to sit on the spare seat in front of the couch

  “I believe it is for now. It is about the half-vampires being created in Woville,” hearing this the councilman frowned, “Do you know a man named Duke Scathlok? If I’m not wrong he’s the one who brought the proposal of the Curtis family to you.”


  “That he did,” the man agreed before a frown settled back on his face, “Are you saying he’s the one who is behind it?” he asked.

  “You would be rather surprised to hear this that Lord Norman was funding the man along with another witch who resides in and around Woville. Together they have been creating half vampires for the sole purpose of winning a war. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as expected for the Normans and the black witches were burnt after being outnumbered by our men.”


  “You do know that without any solid evidence we cannot catch hold of the man except put him under inquiry.”


  “Don’t worry about that. I have caught hold of a wonderful evidence,” the lord smiled, “Like many other humans and vampires, the feud isn’t over yet and they wanted to stir trouble to have a clean land for vampires and humans. That way there would be no cohabitation,” he ran his hand over his hair, it touched the cuff rings on his ear along the way before dropping it down on his lap, “But you already know that is not why I called you here.”


  “I have something to ask from you, more of a request,” the councilman nodded his head for the lord to go on, “I want you to bring the man here once he’s done with the trial in the court of the council.”


  “You want to punish him? Why?” Reuben’s brows rose slightly upwards in question.