The other four vampires were shocked too, just like Arthur, who could not believe the family trying to infiltrate Coldharbour was Sybille's. He thought about telling it Hephas but decided not to, as that would only bring unnecessary problems.
"This is the only thing I know now, but I know many spies inside this castle, and I will find them! The meeting is over, and your task is to wander inside the castle, looking for anything suspicious,"
"You, Arthur, stay. I want to speak with you about your relationship with my daughter."
Four vampires left the secret meeting room, not wanting to stay around to hear their lord speak about his daughter's boyfriends. Arthur, too, could not understand why Hephas would say something like that in such hard times. People were invading his castle, yet he wished to speak about marriage?
"I said I will not marry Shyvana, not now, at least."
Hephas did not look at Arthur but closed his eyes, focusing on his hearing. "Hum, they are gone now. We can speak."
"Arthur, I did not tell you this in the letter because that way, you would act differently, and maybe they would know. Those four vampires I called? Yes, they are close friends, but one of them is a traitor, and I am sure of it,"
"What I said about the invaders is true, and that should force them to meet in secret to plan their next moves, and that's when we will get them."
Turned out Hephas had everything planned, and one of those four vampires was a traitor, and he called them there with the pretext of being 'trustworthy friends.' That was a brilliant move, even more when he used a relationship between Arthur and his daughter to make the four vampires disappear without suspecting their private conversation.
"Impressive, Hephas. I never saw you as this smart. Now, what's our next move?"
Hephas rolled his eyes at that joke and said, "you believe they meet during day time when most vampires are asleep, right? Well, we will check those four vampires tonight and the next day and follow them to their secret meeting spot, where we will end them."
"I see. But there are four vampires, and we are only two."
"Shyvana will help us with the following. She is good at hiding. But you or I will have to take care of two. It shouldn't be a problem considering they will not leave the castle, and we are rank three while they are not."
After the quick conversation, Hephas and Arthur left to meet with Shyvana. All the four vampires who took part in the meeting saw the trio, which made them believe even more about the conversation Hephas had with Arthur about marriage.
Even in these small details, Hephas thought about them, which was impressive. So, after the three were together, it was time to follow those four vampires.
Arthur went to his room beforehand and explained the situation, leaving the part where the family invading Coldharbour was the same family as Sybille, as that would only make her more curious about it, which could make their plan fail.
Then, Arthur was responsible for following a thin vampire with short black hair called Jhacksho.
"Where should I look first? And why do I feel strange?" thought Jhacksho, looking behind his back to see if someone was following him, looking for why he felt that way.
He was exploring the castle during the night, looking for anything suspicious, just like Hephas asked. He and the other three vampires were doing the same thing, so it was almost impossible to know who the traitor was based on that alone.
Jhacksho walked on the walls and roof of the castle, out of sight from the ordinary servants — the few who were still awake — and of the weaker vampires.
For some reason, he felt something strange, yet no matter where he looked, there was no one. Was his mind playing tricks on him? That was what he thought, but he was unsure if that was the case.
The four vampires wandered around in the castle during the night and found nothing. That was understandable, considering one of the four was the traitor, so they couldn't find anything even if they wanted.
Now, when the day came, things changed. Three of the four vampires returned to their room to sleep, and Jhacksho was one of them. But, the one Hephas was following did not, and instead, moved toward the kitchen area!
Arthur and Shyvana looked for Hephas when they saw their targets going to bed, and they found Hephas inside the castle's kitchen, looking toward the storage area.
"This is the place. I saw one of the four vampires coming here. Bastards act early in the morning when no servant is awake, so they avoid us, vampires, and the others."
"I also saw strange movements inside this kitchen before, so it must be here. Shall we go in before others appear and see us?" Arthur said.
Hephas agreed to that, and the three of them went into the storage area, where they saw many crates filled with food.
"There is nothing here," Shyvana said, but Hephas and Arthur knew more and kept searching.
A secret passage had to be there, and after a few minutes of search, Hephas found it beneath some crates.
"A trapdoor!"
One by one, they went in, going down an old wooden ladder until reaching a narrow tunnel that would presumably lead to the room they used for their meetings.
They kept going until arriving at a room that had nothing! Just an open area with no tables, chairs, or signs of life. The only thing inside that place was another tunnel leading to another secret passage in the castle.
Arthur remembered the time when he saw those strange people inside the kitchen, and they also went to the storage area. He could safely guess they used the same trapdoor, but nothing was inside!
"They went in, and left using the other passage, only to... fool me!"
He could not believe those people had figured that he was watching them, and if that was the case, they had fooled them too!
"Hephas, you were wrong. Not one of the four vampires is a traitor, but at least two! One lured us here while the other is doing the business."
Hephas was enraged, and the only reason he did not punch the walls of that room was to not destroy the foundation of his castle.
"Let's leave this place using the other passage."
The trio followed the other passage, leading to an empty room where the vampires lived.
"What should we do now?" Shyvana asked when a massive explosion echoed, and a giant flaming rock demolished one of the castle's towers!
"They are attacking us!"
Hephas looked at Arthur and said, "We failed, and I don't know what will happen in the future. You have one mission, Arthur. Grab Shyvana and leave this place. You have the journals; if Shyvana lives, then our family will still live,"
"Also, take this. This is a magical pouch with the treasures of our family."
Arthur wanted to say no, but the determination on Hephas face said it all, and if there was one thing Arthur could do to help him was to protect his daughter.
More and more screams echoed in all parts of the castle as two armies of vampires clashed, with Hephas leading the Coldharbour family.
On the other hand, Arthur went to look for his wives, leaving the area as quickly as possible.
"I cannot leave my father. If you and I go there, we can win the battle and,"
Arthur stopped her and said sadly, "I can sense from here they have a rank four mage just waiting to attack us if needed. No, unfortunately, we cannot win with our power..."
Hephas had been someone good to Arthur, and if he had the chance, he would help him, but it was impossible against a rank-four mage. Sure, Hephas could flee with them, but what would that say to all the people under his command? That he was a leader who ran at first sight of battle?
"I-I."
Shyvana was at a loss for words and did not want to leave her father to die in a meanless battle. But what could she do? She did not have the strength to help him...
Arthur left with her and went directly toward his room to see his wives, but only Jane and Wisa were there. "Where is Sybille?" He yelled, his heart beating faster and a bad feeling arousing within.
"T- There was nothing we could do. Someone powerful took her and left..."
"What? Who? The rank four mage is still here."
"Husband, you don't understand. They have more than one rank-four mage! One of them came, took Sybille, and flew away from this place. The other is there to make sure all of us die."
The situation was even worse than Arthur thought, and instead of one rank-four mage, there were two! He couldn't do anything but run away, which made everything worse.
"But Sybile... We have to rescue her," Arthur said, unwilling to let his wife suffer.
Jane and Wisa felt the same way but knew they couldn't act. "Husband, you need to reach rank four before doing anything, or else this is impossible..."
Arthur panted, trying to calm down and think about that situation. He could not win against rank four mages, and the one who took Sybille was farther away, and even if he tried to follow the mage, it would be impossible to catch up.
He tried to think positively, remembering that Sybille's family had locked her up before, so they were not looking to kill her.
"Alright, let's get out of here."
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