To Be King

Part 7 - Another Bit Harder

When Jade was leaving the house come morning, there was a sort of atmosphere as if someone had died. Vampires were whispering to each other and were standing out of the way while some vampires were marching around, popping in and out of rooms resolutely. She was about to ignore the odd events and walk out of the house, but one of the vampires marching around blocked her path.

"No one is to leave until they've been inspected." He looked down at her over his nose in contempt and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Why? What happened?" Jade asked.

"Grandmaster's chamber was broken into through an unknown secret entrance." The vampire stated coldly. "Know anything about this secret door?"

With an accusing glare the vampire smirked seeing Jade panic a bit, thinking she was suspected. But she soon calmed down because Ash had clearly lied. Jade had come in through the unlocked door, Ash was the one who came through a secret door. If they all thought the culprit broke in through the secret passage, then Jade seriously overestimated their intelligence. When she broke out, the impact onto the brick wall was clearly from the inside. The bricks would have fallen outward and yet these vampires just believed it when Ash gave this excuse that someone broke in? She had no need to worry, especially because Ash did not see her face at all. The only issue was the identifiability of the colour of her authority, but no one else had seen the colour so she was still safe.

"Ah...guard, sir...respectable sir," A syrupy voice came from beside Jade and she turned to find Mr. Stechner walking up with his 'sucking up' smile. "This girl is absolutely not the culprit. She is just a donor and cannot even use authority. She's incredibly weak and is only used for her blood so there is no need to retain her."

Mr. Stechner was protecting her not for her sake, but for his own. If one of his subjects, a donor, was questioned, he feared he would get unwanted trouble and attention.

The guard stared at Jade for a bit longer before nodding and standing aside. It seemed he really did deem Jade weak in his eyes because he even jerked the door of the mansion open for her while she headed out.

——

"You're saying you snuck into his chamber and saw all of this?"

Jade nodded at Solomon who was rubbing his hands on his face, stressed. As soon as she had left the house and gotten to the cafe, she had pulled the two men into the side room and told them exactly what happened the night before. Namely the fact that Nora was still with Ash, but was completely emaciated and weak. She needed help.

"How did you get away?" Italo asked.

"Broke through the secret door Ash came in. I threw heated stones at him and ran." A bit shocked, Italo nodded. "And...." Jade added, drawing the gaze of both men again.

"I've been practicing a spell." Jade raised up her arm and quickly used her authority to turn it completely black and then diluted it so her arm looked like a pale shadow. "He doesn't know how I look, but he knows my authority now."

"Indeed." Italo sighed. "This spell is a difficult one, I'm surprised you can even fully place it with your arm."

"I can only shroud my whole body. The second phase is too difficult."

Italo smiled, clearly pleased with her ability.

"Can you draw whatever symbols you remember from those red markings on Nora?" Solomon butted in. He handed her a sheet of paper and Jade drew three characters she remembered. When she handed the paper to him, Solomon studied it for a bit and then nodded.

"It might be a restraining spell or something to tame authority. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it's a strong spell and I suspect Ash would need assistance casting it."