Chapter 42: The Plan

42: The Plan

Noah closed his eyes and sighed. "No." He shook his head.

Actually, wanted to find his mate the moment he enters Velhellah, but it seems that he had to go there looking for her in the capital.

"Everything's good. Is there something else I should know about?"

"No. That's pretty much it, actually. It was difficult for me to get those people to help us. Good thing I have something on their necks or else they wouldn't lend us a hand."

"Hmm." He droned and looked at the potion again. It's now or never...

Stefani watches as Noah closed his eyes. As soon as he opened his mouth, he poured the potion in one go and swallowed the whole thing.

"Ugh." Noah lurched when the liquid entered his system, but stopped himself from throwing it out.

"Is it working?" Stefani asked. Noah shook his head. He waiting for the potion to take effect, still nothing happened.

"Did you got scammed?" He asked, and that only irritated Stefani base from the glare she just threw his way.

"Give the potion some time to take effect. I know it's working. I know it is."

With that, Noah's body suddenly started throbbing from the inside. A burst of pain made him double down on his knees. His wolf howling inside as he also felt the same pain he was experiencing.

"Noah, talk to me! What's happening?" Stefani knelt beside him in panic. "Is the potion working?" She whispered to herself as she observed Noah's hurting state. "Sylvie told me this was going to hurt, but I didn't think it would actually hurt this much." Panic rose inside her chest, but she swallowed it down and watched patiently. She has to.

Sylvie told her that the potion will work without fail, and she trusts that.

Sylvie has never failed her before when it comes to making potions.

"Augh!" Noah felt the magic potion suppressing his wolf. The magic forced down his beast until it slowly fell asleep.

The next thing he knew, there was silence. His pain has ceased. And all he felt was weakness.

"Huh?" Noah stared at his hands as if he was staring at it for the first time. Every part of his body was heavy. And his wolf was quiet now. He couldn't summon his powers either. He was like a human now.

"How are you feeling?" He looked up and saw Stefani looking down on him with concern. "Is the pain gone?"

"Yes." Noah stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. Suddenly, he felt lonely. Losing his wolf had detached him from his senses. He felt weird…

Nothing changed from his physical appearance, though. But his eyes weren't blue anymore. They were just black. Not brown, just black, like a starless night sky.

"Hmm." Stefani considered his reflection as well and smile, appreciating his new eye color. "I didn't know you look good with black eyes. Should I ask Sylvie to make this permanent?" she joked, but that only earned her a scowl from Noah.

He has no plans on staying like this. In a week, he will return to his former state, and he will never attempt to silence his wolf again.

Noah walked past her and poured himself some whisky to calm his nerves. "What's next?" he asked.

Stefani grinned. "Oh, nothing serious. But for you to be shipped to Velhellah, I'll be tranquilizing you, of course."

***

Nothing…

Lara found absolutely nothing when she examined the corpse of the vampires in the morgue. Nothing. The smell of antiseptic and chlorine was making her nauseous, but she hang in there for the sake of pushing the investigation forward.

Lara rubbed her arms to warm herself for a bit before going back to work. She's in the basement, located below the crime and justice building. And to preserve the bodies, the morgue was slightly cold in temperature.

Cedric has been with her the entire time of her investigation. In fact, he helped in searching for clues on the dead bodies, but he found nothing, just like her.

There was nothing unusual or out of the ordinary from the corpses, just except the strange marking on their wrist, which looked like an emblem, and a couple of puncture marks on their arms which were already found by the coroners of the morgue.

"What do you think?" Lara asked, looking over another dead body since she found nothing new on the previous one.

Cedric continued to investigate his corpse. "I think these guys were test subjects." He stated, walking over to her to show her the autopsy report he's holding.

Lara took the report from his hands and nodded. "Do you recognize this marking on them?" She asked while Cedric took over her spot on examining her corpse.

Cedric squinted his eyes at the corpse's wrist and shook his head.

"No. I haven't seen the insignia before. No existing noble house uses that insignia."

"How about those fallen noble houses? Do you remember some of them?"

Cedric cupped his chin and mulled over. Between her and Cedric, Cedric had the greatest memory. He a really fast learner and he never forgets a thing, especially when it involves books of course.

When they were kids, Cedric like learning about their people's history. He must have read the royal records as well since it contains all the information regarding the existing noble houses, including those who have already fallen into ruin hundreds of years ago.

Cedric shook his head.

"No?" Lara asked.

"Yes, I haven't seen this symbol before."

"Hmm." Lara studied the mark again. It was circular in shape. However, there were mysterious lines over it, like veins on a human palm that looked random however, every mark on the corpse's hands was similar, that means the mark must mean something.

"It must be an organization of some kind..." Lara muttered.

Cedric nodded. "Maybe."

Lara sighed. Their investigation wasn't going anywhere at this point. There's still a lot of question marks that needed answers, especially the identity of the people who murdered her Uncle Val.

If things would just go her way, she would've found something that'll propel the investigation forward. However, looking at the time, it was already late.

Lara's father must be waiting for her... He said they were going to eat dinner together, so she had to stop their investigation for now...

"Let's end the investigation here."

Cedric nodded.

"Tell your men to search about the marks. Connect them to any scientific research or experimentation facilities in the kingdom."

"I will."

"Include the secret organizations sprouting in the kingdom, as well. Whoever these people are, I want you to find them, root them out." She instructed, her voice cold and unforgiving.

Cedric bowed his head, a smirk appearing on face since he knew Lara will not let the people responsible for Duke Valenti's death go unpunished.

"As you wish, your highness."

Satisfied, Lara removed her gloves and exited the morgue. The guards, as well as the department staff, greeted her as she walked by.

"Where are you going after this?" she asked, walking down the steps outside the department building's entrance.

"I have a dinner appointment with my dad tonight."

The both of them stopped at the end of the steps and Lara saw worn-out expression on his face; "You look tired."

Cedric looked at her gave her a humorless chuckle. "I feel like my father will give me an earful tonight."

"Oh."

"I'm really not looking forward to it."

Lara chuckled.

"It'll only make my ears bleed." He added.

Lara shook her head as she laughed some more. She already gets why he's going to be scolded by his father tonight. The news of the ambush must have reached the grand duke's ears.

"Well, the grand duke loves you very much. You're his only son, it's natural he'll give you the best sermon of your life. Do you remember when we were kids-…"

A painful groan came out of Cedric's throat. "Don't remind me."

Seeing his reaction, Lara couldn't hide her smile. "Okay, I'll stop. But I have to say, though… knowing you got ambushed and almost died, I can relate to what your father must have felt when I heard that explosion on my phone. So, when you meet your father tonight, can please you understand and consider his feelings?"

Cedric stared at her for a moment. "Okay…"

"Good!" Lara smiled. "Because if you let your temper win at the dinner tonight, you'll have more bruises from your father than what you have today. Coz remember when you talked back to your father when we were little, you almost didn't get out of your room for a week!"

Cedric scowled at her. "Don't rub salt on my wounds, pumpkin. And correction, I didn't almost die. I survived. And when my dad talks-"

Lara finished his sentence and laughed. "He will never stop until your ears bleed. I know, I know… Anyway, please give my regards to the grand duke."

Cedric scoffed, "I will." He said, opening the car door for her. Lara chuckled. His expression was telling her to get a move on and leave him alone already. Oh well. Lara let him off the hook and got inside.

Cedric closed the door for her and stood there, watching her leave as the car drove away. Passing by the city streets where people- vampires are leisurely walking and enjoying themselves made Lara feel wistful suddenly.