348 Side Story: The Masters Of Shadows & Secrets 1 : Sinful Murder

QIRSART

NORTH OF THE PRIDE CITY

1ST CITY STATE

GOVERNOR MANUEL RIVERBERRY

Governor Manuel loved his evening snacks, especially when he was having them in his evening garden, during the evening time. It was the only time he could actually kick it back and relax with his pretty daughter, the only place private enough where her screams would not be heard by her mother, elder brother and the rest of the household.

The one place where his darkness had free reign to wreak whatever havoc it wanted to, and of course the victim was his daughter, his sweet wonderful Victoria. It has always been her, ever since she clocked 13, his lovely girl had taken up all the space in his heart,she was his pride and joy, his lover, his release and escaped from a life than no longer had anything to offer him. But recently his darkness seemed to have died down a bit, maybe it was because he was getting old, far be it for him to admit that he was scared of Kael Cor.

He had to admit the bloodbath and the banquet yesterday had him terrified. It was a level of ruthlessness he has never seen or experienced before in his sixty years of life. And yes it left him really shaken, especially when there was the very real threat of all his side activities being found out. Manuel has always been a careful man; it was why he has been able to live as long as he has while his comrades were all rotten somewhere completely forgotten by the world.

Kael Cor was a dangerous game he had no intention of playing, he was going to be very careful. And before anything could be pinned on him, he rather wash his hands away from everything that would leave a stain on his reputation and have Kael Cor and his infernal monsters coming after him. So today was going to be the last day, the last day that he would get to touch his precious Victoria, the very last time to show her than no other man could lover her as much as her papa.

His evening garden was built in a secluded part of the house, it was surrounded by thick walls, and you would have to go through a veritable maze of secret tunnels to find the place. Apart from the already preplanned route that he had his daughter memorize from the very day he started showing her his love, the only other way in was the open sky light above the garden. The garden itself was located two floors up, and right in the middle of the governor's estate. It was well hidden.

"Father" a silky smooth voice called out to him.

Manuel raised his head up with a melancholic smile on his face. By the gods she was the most beautiful thing he has ever created, twenty five years and the very picture of perfection. His sweet baby girl, he stretched out his hands to her as she came towards him. He grabbed her and placed her on his lap, just enough that she could feel how excited he was that she was here, sixty years old or not, he was more than ready to rise to the challenge of pleasing such a young girl, he was virile and his sweet little girl made it so.

"There's no time to talk today my sunflower. For this would be the last time your Papa would be able to show you how much he loves you, so today just show papa that you love him too, and he's the only man you would ever love"

Victoria knew the drill; they have both been doing this for years. Was this wrong, was this bad? She had no idea. Her father did not give her the chance to grow up enough and find out. She was used to this; she grew to crave it, to depend on him, on her Papa. Why wouldn't she, he has showed pleasures untold for more than ten years, he turned her into a woman, and he promised that someday he would make her a mother, just like her mama, and at that point there would be no need to hide anymore from her brother and her mama, especially since her brother and mama has been showing her the same kind of love her Papa has been showing her all these years. They can finally be one big happy family with no secrets between them.

Victoria took of her cream colored dress she had on off, exposing her entire body to the hungry gaze of her father. She shivered in anticipation at that gaze, she was not going to let the anticipation of her papa fall to the ground, and she loved him very much. She took off his trousers and took a deep breath as his penis was exposed to her, all ready and stiff, stimulated by the power of her body and the love her Papa had for her.

She mounted him with a gasp, loving the feeling of completeness he gave her. And so she moved forward, bounced and grinded, moving at a tempo that was frenzied and full of need. He matched her enthusiasm with one that did not seem to match his age, and she loved that he was so good at this, he was not like her brother, who could only go for a while before he gets tired. But he was practically super human, and they were close, drawing closer and closer to the edge.

And as soon as she knew he was close, she reached for the dagger she had hidden beside his seat, and then she plunged it down into his chest, laughter on her lips and tears in her eyes. She felt him come, felt his seed inside of her as his blood began to spill out of his body and onto her fair skin. But she didn't stop; she brought down the knife again and again, her eyes going darker as the life faded from her father's. But with every stab of that knife, she felt her insides quiver as she came over and over again.

She didn't know why she did this, or why it felt so good or why she was crying. But she never stopped riding him, even when he was cold, limp and very much dead. And that was how her brother found her three days later, broken, naked, bloody and still riding the smelling corpse of a father she murdered,and written in bright red bloody letters the words;

THE FELLOWSHIP SAYS HI

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"Gus don't you think we might have gone overboard, that chick is messed up, I don't she would ever be able to recover from that." Teluna said to Gus as they both stood on top of a bell tower, watching and listening to the commotion happening at the now deceased governor's estate.

"That whole family is messed up Teluna, even if we didn't interfere and sped up their destruction, they were a ticking time bomb. Eventually the Riverberry family would have broken themselves and maybe in an even worse way than we did. This gives them a chance to point fingers and gather what's left of their dignity and live the right way. As for the girl, whether she remains a broken mess or not is completely up to her."

Everything that Gus had said would come off as totally and completely ruthless in the eyes of a lot of people, but it was also the truth. Of course Gus could never have been sure of what the future might hold, after Manuel was preparing to turn a new leaf due to his fear of Kael Cor and the power he held. Gus didn't know that, and even if he did, he wouldn't have changed his plans.

There was a need to be as ruthless as possible; the only way Spero and the humans about to join them would survive would be to have everyone on the same page. And right now the only thing the humans would respond to was fear and then a savior to get rid of that fear. They needed an enemy that would absolutely stoop to any level without a care for lives or even a smidge of remorse. The fellowship happily offered their selves to be that enemy, and it was easier to point fingers at the boogie man anyway.

Gus knew that to truly achieve that peace, a lot of blood would be spilt, both innocent and guilty alike. But this was the price to pay to be powerful and to protect the people you care about. Kael has realized that he had to do anything within his power to make sure that his family and his people were safe and that unfortunately included the humans on this continent.

Gus had to admit he felt a little jealous, Kael had to grow into his role as a protector for the vampires, but for the humans here he was born into that role from the moment he was born. They were his people and even though he would be staining his hands with their blood, it was all to keep them safe. There was no moral line when it comes to being a king, he knows this, it was quite unfortunate it had to take his wife getting a bullet to her head for him to realize it, but better late than never. It was hard for a good man to be king.

"So where are we going next? Oh great master of secrets" Teluna asked with a mocking smile on his face.

Gus gave him an annoyed look as he answered.

"Oh great master of shadows we're heading west, straight for the port city Drija. There's a massive underground fighting ring there, I hear their patrons are not just international but interplanetary. So let's go raise some hell over there."

"You mean it's the fellowship that's going to raise some hell over there." Teluna corrected.

"Is that so, then we better make is as loud as possible, so that the whole universe will know how barbaric and evil the fellowship really is" Gus replied, with a darkness in his eyes that could only be matched by master of shadows beside him.

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THE ATAMION SEA

30,000 FEET IN THE AIR

42 KILOMETERS FROM CURJIO ISLAND

KAEL COR

Kodak was here, and that was fine with me, after all I invited him here. But I don't get why Xaseah was so adamant about coming along with us, sure she could would be a very huge help, but there was no need for her to be here, at least I didn't think skin anyway. But whether I like it or not, she was here, carrying g out this rescue operation with the rest of us.

Tiberius looked nervous, and his five most trusted aids/generals were trying their best to calm him down. This was a risky move, and he would not have agreed to it if he didn't have a personal stake in this, because if we get caught, and it becomes known that the people responsible for a prions break was actually the head of the Cor family, it could be taken simply to mean that I was waging war against the Nix noble family. And while that might be bad in the long shot, I don't think anyone would know that it was us. That's what the masks are for.

"Tiberius break it down for us, tell me what we're up against." I asked the nervous man, hoping to keep his mind off what's about to happen and the fact that his wife's life is on the line.

"Curjio islandis a volcanic island, the volcano is still very much active, but the Nix family has been able to harness the power of the volcano. That's old technology so there's no danger of it being hacked. Due to that it's defenses are more magical than technology, in fact every mechanical engine on that island is manual and runs from the energy siphoned from the volcano by a magical array.

The entire island itself is the estates, housing hundreds of thousands of members of the family, along with their servants and maybe tourists. The main family house is right in the middle of the volcano, since the volcano's energy is being siphoned and all it's eruption are monitored, the middle of the volcano is a paradise with lush verdant forests, and very fertile and arable land. Due to how strong the power of nature is there, magic and runes are strengthened two fold, so it's going to take a considerable amount of power to break through, and there's almost no way we can do it undetected, unless we can directly teleport into the estate grounds, bypassing the protection runes and wards.

But there are also runes in place to prevent spatial displacement, but there's a method that was not accounted for. And that'svampire's shadow walk ability. You literally travel through a different dimension, and fast enough that the runes and wards won't register any dimensional disturbances either, plus you can travel through shadows. So I believe we should be able to get through by relying on your abilities.

But after that we would have to deal with the various traps and guards placed at strategic points all over the mansion. Our destination should be the east wing, that's where my brother would keep my wife, and not because it's where the cells are, but rather where he stays, so he can be closer to her should his urges get the best of him.

It's going to be heavily guarded, and it has alarms rigged to register the elevated heartbeats of the guards and if their heart stops also. We can't kill them, which means we have to sneak past without them noticing us. Those guards are rather peculiar, they're not really human as they've been biologically and magically engineered right from birth.

Finally we would have to deal with the guards placed around my wife's room, they won't be easy to beat as most of them are seventh to eight circle mages or 18th to 20th circle swordsmen. They're a powerful as a Shadower individually, and stronger than most elders as a pair or group. Though I'm not really sure about the strength of an elder so my estimation might not be really accurate.

But all in all we have to go through all these obstacles to get my wife, and then get through them to escape. I would say this is a suicide mission if I didn'tthree very powerful vampires accompanying me, but even then I'm still a little skeptical. Do you have a plan your Majesty that can help us get through all the obstacles?" Tiberius asked with a hopeful gaze ad he looked at me.

"I do actually. We get in, you, Kodak and your team cause as much havoc and destruction ad possible, while me and Xaseah go get your wife and castrate your brother in the process. Any questions?"