Chapter 236 - To Punish Or Not

Julie walked with Melanie and Conner in the front while the other vampires walked a few steps behind them. Conner, being curious, asked Julie, "Do you use magic by using your touch or is it through the spells?" 

"It is mostly through spells. I am still learning from the book that Cillian found," replied Julie, and Conner raised his eyebrows. 

"Cillian?" he asked her. 

"Cillian is someone who protects Julie. He is someone we two met in the time travel thing and just a detail, he's a little bit different than most of the people you would have come across until now," explained Melanie, wanting to let him know most of the things. Not for his knowledge, but so that he wouldn't misunderstand anything and wouldn't be easily manipulated by their parents against the vampires who were in Veteris. 

"That must be really cool," Conner murmured in a thoughtful manner while he turned to look at the vampires over his shoulders, who walked behind them. The vampires' eyes were quick to meet his eyes, and Conner turned back to look ahead of him. 

Victoria, who caught this little action, asked Roman, "Are you sure that he will keep his mouth shut? He seems more like a trouble magnet." 

"Give him some time. Worse case the Elders will put some sense into him," Roman responded with a grim look on his face. Though Roman personally hoped that Conner wouldn't say or do something that would irk the Elders, only a little one could help a person who was constantly looking for trouble. 

"Where is Max and Liv?" questioned Simon, as he hadn't seen the couple around. 

"They decided to abandon you, considering how you have the habit of doing things without obeying the orders and rules set by the Elders," Victoria retorted with a straight face. Simon stared at her for a moment before a grin cracked on his lips.

"Did you think I abandoned you, Tori? Next time I will be sure to drag you along with me to hell so that you don't feel lonely. What a cute little thing you are—"

"Fuck off," Victoria muttered under her breath. She slightly glared at him, "Don't think you won't be punished for what you tried, unless you have a plan to get out of the mess that you are in."

Though Julie and Melanie had explained to Conner, trying to make him understand that all vampires weren't bad, it still didn't remove the fact of how Conner and Melanie were related to the hunters. And how Simon was part of it when escaping from Veteris. 

"There is nothing I haven't been able to wiggle out from. Even from death itself," boasted Simon in a proud voice before he turned to look at Roman and asked him, "What took you so long to find us?" 

"Griffin caused some trouble and it had everyone gathering in one place," replied Victoria, and Simon raised his eyebrows. 

"What did the little rat do this time?" he asked her. 

"He almost killed Julie. Luciano gave him the permission to use his ability," said Roman, and Simon's head snapped to look in Roman's direction. 

"Yes, so much that Roman was going to burn the entire Veteris with him," sighed Victoria. 

"Dammit, I missed a good fight," cursed Simon before a wide grin appeared on his lips. 

In the front, Julie kept making sure that her friends were alright. Not only physically but also when it came to their relationship. She apologized, "I am sorry I didn't tell you about these things sooner. I thought I could protect you guys from this side of life, and you would never have to know about it." She somewhere felt guilty for hiding something known for so long, but it was only kept hidden with best interests of others in her mind. 

"Tough luck huh," remarked Conner, with a dry smile on his lips. 

Once they reached the Elder's mansion, the Elders stared hard at the younger vampires and also at the humans, who had returned after their little escape. Ms. Dante didn't utter a word, waiting for one of the Elders to speak up first, while she could interfere if the situation required it. 

"That was quite a quick capture of the humans," Luciano was the first one to speak, his nose up in the air. "Take them to the dungeon, or better if cast our votes right now so that we can get rid of them."

Melanie's face hardened, and Conner turned slightly alert, his hands ready to reach the wooden stake that he had kept in the back of his pants. 

Julie stepped forward and said, "Conner isn't going to inform any of the hunters about the vampires or what goes on in here. He is one of us." 

"Are you sure about it?" questioned Luciano, his eyes trained on Conner, with whom he had earlier spoken, "I don't think it is easy. Especially knowing that the love of your life was killed by one of our kind. By someone who is right here," he turned to look at Donovan. 

Conner's line of sight followed Luciano, and it fell upon a vampire with black hair and eyes red as blood, who stared right back at him. Donovan nonchalantly said, "Sorry about what happened to your girlfriend. It was nothing personal." And though the Elder vampire apologized, anyone could tell that his words were empty with not a pinch of regret in them. 

Conner's blood started to boil, his hands clenched in anger. Julie said, "Conner is not a threat, Elder Luciano." 

"I have no faith in humanity," harrumphed Luciano. He turned to look at the human boy, and asked him, "How does it feel knowing that one of us killed that innocent girl. And we erased any possible witnesses?"

Julie and Melanie turned and looked at Conner, whose eyes held a hardened look in them as if he was trying to control his emotions. He said, "It isn't uncommon to feel hatred towards the kind who kill for no reason but only out of pure joy. But that doesn't mean I am not willing to realize that I have friends who are either a witch or a vampire." 

And during the discussion that went on, Griffin stared hard between Roman and Donovan. The young vampire still had a hard time wrapping his head around the truth: they were related to each other by blood. Two arrogant vampires, whom both he and his master disliked the most, turned out to be father and son. He gritted his teeth, as that was all he could do right now. Knowing he couldn't harm Roman anymore the way he had planned to do before. 

"I still think we should go ahead with the execution," Luciano said with a firm tone. 

"You know with the way you keep jumping into wanting to execute people, it makes me think that you had something to do with the Willow Creek," commented Donovan, his shrewd eyes looking at the blonde Elder vampire. 

A huff escaped from Luciano's nose, and he said, "If I had something to do with it, I wouldn't be stuck here with you." 

Before the two Elders could continue their bickering, which had stopped a few minutes ago, Ms. Dante said, "I think Luciano is right. Let us take a majority of the vote on the decision to take with the escape that took place." She turned to look at Conner and said, "Vampires and hunters have never got along, and we don't know if you have already informed your people or not."

Julie, Melanie and Conner's faces paled on hearing this. Melanie shook her head and said, "Conner hasn't contacted any of the hunters. Simon and I were with him all this time." 

Hearing Simon's name, Ms. Dante's eyes fell on the red-headed vampire, who slightly raised his eyebrows. Innocently, he said, "I was indeed with them. Making sure they didn't do anything that would harm Veteris," he said in a solemn voice. 

The headmistress lightly glared at him as if indirectly letting him know that she would talk to him later. She then stretched her hand forward and said, "We'll have to go through your phone and make sure you didn't do something just to be thorough."

Conner gingerly pulled his phone from his trouser pocket and handed it to Ms. Dante, who in turn handed it to Mr. Borrell, who started going through the phone. 

"We shall now take a count of vote if the hunter's children should be killed or not," said Ms. Dante, and Julie shook her head. 

"But you haven't even checked the phone to see if Conner made a mistake," Julie defended her friend. 

The vampiress scowled, "The question here isn't if Conner made a mistake or not, but he is someone whose mind cannot be compelled anymore. And it leaves us vampires at risk, if we don't solve this little bump. Trust me on this, Julianne." 

Julie believed Ms. Dante wanted to save lives, but this situation was tricky. 

"I vote for it," came the quick reply from Luciano with a smug expression on his face. 

"I vote for it," came Castiel's response, something Julie had not expected from him. With Castiel, who still had feelings for Dante, Julie was sure that Castiel would choose something that would favour their headmistress. Believing he was someone who would overlook such trivial things, but then she remembered he was an Elder vampire and not some ordinary vampire. 

Mr. Borrell raised his hand, "Against it." Mr. Evans went in the same direction as Mr. Borrell, and Ms. Dante said, "Against the kill."

Donovan, who stood at the side, stared hard at Conner and said, "Vote for it." And it made the votes even. Everyone turned to look at the last remaining vote, which was yet to be given by Elder vampire, Remy' Remington' Oscar. 

"I guess, you both will continue to live," murmured Simon to the two humans, who stood in front of them, but Roman shook his head,

"Not so fast." 

Though Remy was the quietest one out of them all, who looked reasonable, there was no telling when he would flip things upside down. After all, every Elder just wanted to keep this place safe from being harmed by others. 

When Elder Remy parted his lips to speak, everyone held their breath, half hoping and half wondering what he was going to choose, until he said, 

"I think there are other pressing matters like securing the property of Veteris where the CCTV's have been changed to look in the other direction. The two humans so far don't show any threat." 

"This should rest the case," said Ms. Dante, knowing this was bound to happen. 

Luciano didn't look pleased and said, "I will keep a close eye, so it would be best to watch your backs." He pushed his coat behind as he turned and walked away from there, with Griffin closely following him. 

Griffin quickly caught up to Luciano's footsteps and asked, "Elder Luciano, is it true what Elder Donovan spoke about him and Roman?" 

"It seems it is," responded Luciano, "I myself wonder when he found that he had a child, and turned him in time as a vampire. You knew Roman before he turned into a vampire, didn't you?" 

Griffin nodded his head, "I did. And so did my brother, but they were humans that time. Just like me. And Roman was Malcolm Moltenore's illegitimate son, everyone was aware of it."

Luciano clicked his tongue in distaste, "Come, we need to take a look at this security system and see which cameras have created blindspots. Also the guards need replacement"

The younger vampire wanted to ask more, to clear his doubts, but he could tell that at the moment, Luciano was in no mood to talk about Donovan or Roman. 

Back in front of the Elder's mansion, Ms. Dante said to the students, "It was a long night. You all should go and rest. Conner," she called the human boy. 

Conner turned alert.

The headmistress then said, "You should first go and visit the infirmary. Get something for your face." Conner touched his face, and he winced. He had received it from Elder Luciano, and he ran his tongue on the inside of his cheek. He politely refused, "It's fine. Melanie will tend to my wound." Just because he believed Melanie and Julie, it didn't mean he blindly believed the others. 

Ms. Dante didn't oppose his idea, and she gave him a nod, "Sure. Julie I would like to talk to you about something."

Julie offered her friends a smile, and watched them leave first. When Simon and Victoria started to leave, Donovan stopped the red-headed vampire, "Not yet, Mr. Wallace. A word with me. Actually a whole sentence." 

Simon turned around and he offered a bright smile to the Elder vampire before it faltered. 

"All the best. I hope you survive," whispered Victoria, before joining the two humans. 

Ms. Dante turned and stepped back inside the mansion, while being followed by Castiel first and then Donovan and Remy.. Julie, Roman and Simon were the last ones to follow them, moving to the living room.