Chapter 39

Chapter 3:

Lucas’s P.O.V

The doors to the court room sprung open as soon as Damien and I came to stand in front of it. In true Royal fashion, the guards held up their swords and let us through the door. If I wasn’t seeing this right now, I would never have believed it if someone told me Damien Vandolff was an old fashioned man despite having all the latest technology at his fingertips.

The court room looked more like a throne room with a huge ass gold throne at the farthest corner and several other, smaller gold chairs arranged on either side of the throne in straight lines. There was a humongous chandelier hanging from the dome shaped ceiling that seemed to be the only source of electricity in the room. There were however, several candle stands spread all over the room with lit candles, providing the room with a medieval era vibe.

All the people who had been sitting on the gold chairs stood at once upon seeing Damien approach. Damien made his way over to the throne and those men bowed their heads to him until he had seated himself on the throne and waved at everyone else to do the same. I stood awkwardly in the middle of the courtroom, unsure as to what purpose Damien had brought me here for. Surely he wouldn’t be thinking about letting these me have a piece of me, would he?

“Alpha Lucas, please, have a seat,” Damien offhandedly pointed me towards an empty chair right in the middle of the row that was located on the right of Damien’s throne. But as soon as he spoke, several gasps were heard all around the room.

I guess I should’ve stopped and thought about what was going on, but I was having too much fun to question His Vampness’s decisions. I could already head several teeth grinding against each other, several bones cracking by the force of fisted hands. If Damien noticed the discomfort of his people, he either didn’t care or he was playing a bigger game. Because if there was one thing that I’ve learned about Damien Vandolff in the past year that I’ve had contact with him, was the fact that the man never jumped into any situation half assed.

There was always an agenda, a hidden plan or a secret skeleton ready to jump out of the closet. I wonder what secrets he’s hiding from me now. His search for Trisha didn’t seem as innocent as it had before. For someone who survived the Council and their death squad, he either knew they were coming or he got extremely lucky. I don’t think it was the later.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” the entire focus of the room shifted to Damien as he spoke. “I’ve called today’s session for a very important reason. Rebellion against the Vampires.”

“What?” Several voices were heard all across the room. But I wasn’t that surprised since I’d been the one to give him the news in the first place.

“Yes, you heard it right. Several covens of shifters and witches, even human are thinking about another uprising.”

“Then let them come!” A woman with dark glue hair and grey eyes stood from her chair, her black dress almost see-through. “We’ll crush them like bugs once more.”

“Violence isn’t always the answer, General Rhya.” Damien answered calmly. “We won during the Wipeout because the humans had panicked and were killing each other. This time, their focus are the vampires alone. We need to get to the root of the problem.”

Rhya sat down with a huff, but another man rose up from his seat. This man, however, I knew to be Demitri Ronan, one of Damien’s inner circle members.

“Sire, if I may?”

Upon Damien’s nod, he continued. “My spies have been able to gather the locations of some of the uprisings and I’m very sure we’ll have the location of the rest soon enough. How about we strike now as a warning? It’ll send a message to the rest of the groups and make them rethink their decision.”

I balled my hands into fists as I saw the approval in their eyes. Was this some sick joke? Damien wasn’t seriously thinking about attacking innocent people, was he? Yes, the uprisings was being formed by some idiots but those locations also held family members, women and innocent children!

But before I could voice my opinion, Damien sighed.

“We won a war to bring peace and freedom to our people, Demitri, not to ensure another war amongst ourselves.” Damien addressed everyone. “There will be no more wars. They only claim innocent lives and cause destruction.”

Another one of Damien’s inner circle members, Zoya Ahmed, stood from her seat. “Then pray tell, Sire, what are we to do? And what does the Werewolf Alpha have to do with any of this?”

Wouldn’t I want to know that?

“For the past two centuries after the Wipeout, all we’ve been doing is looking after our own race, trying to rebuild the damages caused by the bombings.” Damien said. “We’ve been so self-absorbed that we haven’t noticed the other races gain strength, multiplied in number, not until the threat of rebellion was standing at our doorsteps. And we have Alpha Lucas to thank for that warning.

“As the ruler of the lands, I had sworn to protect everyone on the land, to listen and not make the mistakes of my ancestors. Which is why I’ve come to the decision to start a United World Council, a place where every race can have a voice and a platform for an united front.”

Another round of gasps and whimpers circulated the room. For a race that considered themselves all high and mighty, they sure loved melodrama. But to say that I wasn’t shocked would be an understatement.

“Everyone should be allowed to have a voice,” Damien continued. “And I firmly believe that the rebellions are being caused because the other races feel left out, not included in our circle. So we give them exactly what they want, along with certain limitations. Demitri?”

“Yes, Sire?” He stood up from his chair and bowed.

“Go to the groups that you have acquired the location of, but with a peace treaty.” Damien ordered. “Tell them that I’ll need to see their representatives exactly two months from now. Alpha Lucas being the Supreme Alpha will represent all the werewolves and lead the United World’s Council that will report directly to me. The minority races will have their own space, their own territory and as long as they do not bother us with thoughts of rebellion, they can do whatever they want in their own lands. Draft the contracts and let Jonathan know when you are done. He will inform me.”

I smirked. Son of a bitch. So he wasn’t actually giving us freedom, just a longer leash. But that’s still more than I could’ve imagined a year ago. Right now, I’ll take whatever is offered on the table.

Damien stood up then, followed by the entire room, but I preferred to stick to my seat just a little bit longer. It did earn me a few glares and hisses, but hey, which werewolf in their right minds would miss a chance to piss off a couple high ranking vampires?

“Thank you for attending this session. The court is now adjourned.”

As soon as Damien had said the words, one by one, all the members of the court left through the door. The only people remaining after the entire hall had cleared out was me, Damien and his four inner circle members, Demitri, Zoya, Keenan Shaw and Tempest Moore. Trisha had been the fifth member.

“Sire, why did you ask us to stay behind?” Tempest asked; a black haired, dark skinned beauty who could mesmerize anyone with her face.

Damien waited for the doors to be shut again before he answered. “I will be gone for the next two months. I have certain things to take care of.”

“Does this have to do with your attack last night?” Demitri, I was learning, was the most trusted member within the group and Damien’s right hand. I’d heard rumors that they had been friends since they were kids, which means that Demitri just might be over eight hundred years old.

“Yes.” Damien confirmed. “But I don’t want any of you involved in this fight.”

“Any orders for us, Sire?” Keenan spoke for the first time. The man looked frail at best with a lanky figure and sandy blonde hair, but I knew for a fact that he was over fifteen hundred years old. A vampire that old was too powerful for anyone to handle, no matter how fragile looking.

“Take care of my kingdom while I’m gone.”

“Sire!”

All four of his men bowed deeply and Damien motioned for them to rise before he began to walk towards me. I was astounded at how he acted with his most trusted men. Would no one ask any further questions? Except for Jonathan, no one had even asked how their King was doing or were his injuries healed?

If it were my pack, Dylan or Mark wouldn’t have let me out of bed until I was fine. Not to mention the constant nagging from the rest of the pack and everyone dropping by to check on my health. Pack was family, pack was blood. But here, everything felt distant…cold. Like they didn’t even care if Damien lived or died?

No…that wasn’t right. Damien’s people were just as fiercely loyal to him as any other race were to their leader. They just weren’t as expressive. Maybe it was a vampire thing or maybe it was just the inner circle members, but no one seemed to question Damien’s decisions and orders. They just did what he said.

“Come now, Alpha Lucas.” He motioned for me to follow. “We have lots to take care of before we set off.”

I growled deep in my throat but it didn’t rattle him one bit. Damn that son of a bitch! He keeps treating me like a puppy on a leash!

But I followed behind him anyway, because it was his damn castle and I was surrounded by the enemy. And I needed to see if Trisha and Neema were safe…before I stole them from right under his nose.