The Spoils of War (COMPLETED)

Snakes of The Court

*Violence and gore ahead*

Alaric was livid. His Jasmine deserved the world and yet someone had tried to kill her for something she had no part in. In his mind a plan was forming, a plan to bring both families to heel. If he had his way, they would beg at her feet before joining William Montague in the afterlife.

"If you keep pacing the floor like that, the rug will need to be replaced." Alaric whipped around to see Morgianna casually reclining/floating above his favorite chair. "You already know what needs to be done, yet you stall for time. Should I give you a little push? Maybe tell you that the Wrights are about to flee..." Her voice trailed off as before she could even finish her sentence he had grabbed his coat and flew from the room at his full speed.

Morgianna gave her signature smirk before fading out of the room. This world was a play and this set of actors were about to reach the climax. She could not force anyone to do anything, but she would try to steer them in the direction that would bring them happiness. For each of her friends and family that is all she wished for.

...
Within the hour, Alaric had his guards surrounding the Wrights mansion. He could reinterrogate the Montagues later and even the Wrights after they were in his possession, but if they escaped now Jasmine would not feel safe.

"Team 5, come from the southeast. Team 3, have your archers set the west if they try to flee towards the forest, maim but do not kill. Teams 1 and 4 storm the front. Remember we are not here to kill, especially the servants, we are only to capture every person within the residence.  Team 2, you guard the front after we go in. On me." Alaric raised his fist and everyone prepared to move forward. He waited until the shouts started from the southern part of the mansion before he led his two teams into the mansion.

It was chaos within the mansion as servants tried to flee and guards tried to fight back. Alaric bypassed it all, heading straight for the private areas upstairs. One by one he kicked open doors, looking for any sight of the Wrights. Moving like a predator on the trail of his prey. The further he moved down the corridor a scent started to become heavier, it wreaked of death and Iron.

Leaving the rooms closest to him alone he started towards where the scent was strongest, his gut telling him he needed to hurry. As he drew closer to the end of the hall a shrill scream echoed from within a door on the left, followed by pleas. "We wouldn't have said anything, why! Why would you do this to us?!"

A man's voice answered a man whom Alaric recognized as Mr. Wright himself. "Even if you told them nothing of what we do, it would still result in your torture. I'm killing you out of mercy." His voice was cold, devoid of all emotion.

Alaric pushed his body to go faster, but the stronger scent of blood told him he was too late. As he busted through the door he saw Mr. Wright standing over the bodies of his wife and daughter. Blood dripping from his sword and a frown on his face. He looked...disgusted. Not at all like a man who had just killed his family.

Mr. Wright clicked his tongue and slowly wiped his blade on his deceased wife's dress. "You got here much quicker than I thought. Pity, you weren't at least a few minutes slower." After checking that all the blood had been wiped clean Mr. Wright turned his lifeless eyes on Alaric. "As my last wish could I tell you a story?"

Shock and disbelief coursed through Alaric at warp speed. "You want to buy time for you to escape, I won't allow you to hurt anyone else. We know about your underhanded methods and dastardly deeds." Alaric rose his weapon, ready for Mr. Wright to attack, but instead, the man in question put his sword down on a nearby table and then casually sat in a chair. He crossed his legs and steepled his fingers becoming the embodiment of how Alaric envisioned a villain would look before telling his plan.

Moving forward Alaric picked up Mr. Wright's sword and sheathed it, all while keeping his own blade pointed at his enemy. "Fine, you can tell me your story, but it won't change anything. If you don't get the death penalty ill bury you beneath the prison."

Mr. Wright smiled a chilling smile. "I figured as much, but we digress. First I should start at the beginning. You see, I once had 3 brothers and 2 sisters, the keyword being once. The fight to become the head of the house should have been cut and dry. The eldest becoming the next head, and those younger marrying out and having their own branches of the family or for our sisters joining another family, hopefully, one that would give our family an advantage."

He closed his eyes and smiled gently as if he was imagining how his life was back them before he opened his eyes and his facial expression hardened. "Mother had her favorites though. Parents aren't supposed to, but they always do. One child will always be smarter, stronger, have a better appearance." He sneered before continuing. "My brothers were opposites, one was strong and would have made a great knight and the other was smarter than all of us put together. Then there was me, slightly good at both, but not better than them in either. Father wanted Mer to take over because he was proficient in the sword, or really any weapon he picked up, but mother was convinced that Jerimiah, with his book smarts, would lead the family into a new age. I watched my brothers fight for something that should have been mine from the very beginning, dragging our innocent sisters into it and costing them all their lives. Mother in her grief killed herself and father drank himself to uncaring until he died a ripe old bastard."

"I did not want my children to fight so truthfully I only had the one, hoping to stop the past from repeating itself, at least in my own family." Alaric's face must have shown his question because Mr. Wright chuckled before continuing. "That daughter of mine was not actually mine. I had a procedure done in secret after my son was born. I would not be fathering any more children, so imagine my surprise when my dear wife told me she was expecting. The hurt was palatable, yet I did not say anything, waiting to see the child that was innocent of my wife's deceit. If it had been a boy, I would have told my wife I knew of her betrayal and cut the child from my will but still raised him to become something, but as a girl, she could marry..."

Mr. Wright turned his cold eyes onto Alaric, staring so deeply that the hair on the back of Alaric's neck stood up. "With our prestige, I hoped to even have a Queen in our family, but it seems that was a pipe dream...Anyway to the real reason you began to listen t my sordid tale. I'm sure you want to know about the illegal activity and not the fight for a title that had nothing to do with you."

Alaric nodded, a sour taste in his mouth. He wanted to hurry up and arrest him so he could get back to the palace and assure Jasmine that everything was taken care of, but he couldn't leave just yet. "You see, after the girl was born I started to drink just like my father. I was a lousy drunk who liked to gamble, but the kicker was, I was actually good at it. I could take very little money with me and come back with sometimes ten times the amount I started with."

Mr. Wright uncrossed his legs and sat forward a serious look on his face.  "My luck on the cards got me noticed by some bad men. They offered me a deal, to basically join them and make more money or, die. It was simple jobs at first, just hustling money out of others on certain nights. Then from there, it was all uphill within the organization, but downhill for my moral standards. We were not poor by any standards...but the money I earned was addicting. Soon I was blackmailing smaller families and carrying out hits on businesses that did not align with our own. I worked at it for almost my children's entire lives until one day I became boss. People owed me money and I liked it, I like the power I had over people."

His voice became quiet as the creepy smile once again graced his face. "That should be enough time. Farewell, my prince." Before Alaric could even blink a hidden dagger had appeared in Mr. Wright's hand. Alaric prepared to block any advances that the older man may take but instead Mr. Wright turned the blade on himself sinking its sharp tip into his throat.

Alaric calmly stood up and walked to the door. He was not even surprised to see the guards standing outside awaiting his orders. "Mr. and Mrs. Wright as well as the daughter have passed. Where is the son?"

"He escaped." Those two words proved his bad feeling to be right. When Mr. Wright had said it was enough time he had already guessed to what he was referring to. He wanted to curse and scream, but as a prince, he needed to stay calm and think of things objectively. He would find him, and when he did he would drag him to hell to meet up with his family.