Gentle Eyes of Evil

Chapter 20: The Wailing Wolf

 As Luna headed to check on his siblings about the pain he assumed each of them also experienced, he found Eclipse and Jace holding each other in Eclipse's room and trying to calm down from the pain.

"Hey, are you two doing alright?"
Luna asked them, a little panicked, as he peeked his head inside the room. Both Eclipse and Jace looked over to him.

"Yeah...what the hell was that about though? You felt it too, right?"
Jace asked him, Luna breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't the only one to feel it.

"Yes, yes I did. The amount of pain, and how it felt...I think we've lost someone. I'm just glad it's neither of you. Wait...Harriet and Josephine!"
All three of the siblings' eyes widened as they got up and ran to Harriet's room. Thankfully, laid there peacefully, was Harriet with Josephine held tightly in her arms. Both girls' ears were lowered and Harriet was stroking the back of Josephine's head as she noticed the three of them.

"Oh, thank Satan you three are alright. Did you all feel that pain too?"
She asked them, her eyes full of confusion and worry.

"Yeah, we did. But if it wasn't either of you two then...."
Luna had a lightbulb moment. He knew it couldn't have been Sophie as they spoke just moments ago.
"Leo..."
He muttered, feeling his stomach twist into a knot as he looked to the others.
"Search the palace for Leo. Get the staff to look as well!"
He told Jace and Eclipse, clearly panicked. Without Leo there, Luna knew he would be taking the brunt of Sophie's abuse now. He prayed his father was still alive just so that Sophie could use Leo rather than him.

Despite Luna's orders, neither Harriet nor Josephine moved. Veratine had been stored safely back under Harriet's bed and Josephine was none the wiser, the girl was peacefully asleep with her head in Harriet's chest after all. Harriet smiled softly as she watched Luna and the others begin a frantic search for their father. The crown rested under her bed with Veratine, and would remain there until Leo was confirmed to be dead or at least missing.

Of course, the staff had been made aware of Leo's death already due to his body needing to be sorted by one of them. Nova was the one to inform each of the siblings once they reached him.

"Woah...he's really dead?"
Eclipse asked Nova, her voice was surprisingly calm for once.

"I'm afraid so, princess. I was informed by the mortician just moments ago, his death was caused by blood loss from what appeared to be two blunt force wounds, as well as a blunt stab to the back of the head which made its way to the brain."
Nova informed them all, rather graphically. Each of the siblings' eyes widened and Luna tried not to throw up.

"Well...do we have any idea who did it?"
Jace asked desperately. Eclipse and Luna seemed more disgusted in how he was killed, and almost relieved that he was gone. Jace, however, seemed angry and upset.

"I'm afraid not, young master. Fingerprints have not been found on the body yet. My condolences to each of you."
Nova told them, before he bowed and then headed back to his office to help with handling the paperwork surrounding the death of royalty. As Leo had no will drafted or even thought out, sorting the assets amongst his wife and children would be a slight struggle.

"Someone tell Harriet and Josephine. I know who I need to inform."
Luna told Jace and Eclipse coldly, he clearly wasn't messing around.

"But Luna-"
Eclipse began, getting swiftly cut off.

"NOW."
Luna bellowed, sharply glaring to Eclipse with a deep seated hurt and almost fear. Jace grabbed Eclipse's wrist and the two quickly headed upstairs, running like children that had been yelled at by their parents.

Meanwhile, Luna knew what he had to do. He waited until the pair had gone upstairs and headed up there himself, making his way into Sophie and Leo's room where he figured Sophie would be.

"Sophie. We need to talk."
He began harshly, seeing her sat on the bed. She glanced over to him, slightly surprised.

"What about?"
She asked, with not much enthusiasm.

"Your husbands fucking dead."
He told her bluntly, not sugar coating it whatsoever.

"Really? Already?"
Sophie looked confused and snickered.
"What killed him? A light breeze?"
She laughed.

Luna growled deeply and grabbed Sophie hard by the chin, exactly like last time, he didn't care if he hurt her. His eyes were blind with rage and hurt, with a droplet of worry.

"You stupid woman. You stupid, stupid fucking woman!"
He yelled, watching the fear in her eyes grow filled him with a deep satisfaction. He tightened his grip, digging his sharp nails into her skin.
"He died of blood loss and a stab to the damn head!"

Sophie growled at Luna and grabbed hold of his wrist, trying to remove his hand from her chin as his nails were beginning to make her skin ache.
"Good! At least now I'll get everything he owned!"
She commented without a single care. Luna harshly dug his nails in, drawing blood from her chin. He softened his eyes and looked at his mother calmly, speaking with a smile. As he spoke, his grip on her remained tight as he watched the blood run down her chin and onto his hands.

"I want you to know, Sophie, the only reason why I haven't brutally scattered your last three remaining brain cells across every marble surface in this palace and then ditched your headless body in the woods for the depraved sinners to do whatever they please with is for the sake of that child. As soon as that precious little abomination comes out of you..."
Luna pressed his forehead against Sophie's.
"You'll be joining your darling husband. Do you understand me?"

Sophie listened to every word that left her son's mouth, the pain from his nails caused her to tear up. She finally looked at Luna the same way Leo looked at her for all those years, afraid.

"Your fate is sealed, Sophie. You will die at my hand personally, on the third night after that child's birth. We'll take all we need from you, and you will have as little contact with the child as is possible. They won't know your name, won't know what you looked like, and will hopefully barely remember you. I don't want it getting attached to you. If you try and do something to yourself to rid me of this child, then your death will be executed in the single slowest manner possible." Sophie just nodded to him, her eyes wide as her body shook profusely. She was terrified for her life.

"Funny."
Luna smiled.
"I didn't think you could feel fear."

He quickly spread out his hand, dragging his nails out of her chin as he left the blood to run. Luna didn't utter another word to her before he left the room and returned to his siblings. Harriet was still with Josephine, the two of them were still cuddled up close and had barely moved, whereas Jace was now in search of Leo's body to try and see if he could help identify fingerprints or help in any way. Eclipse was smoking a cigarette on the balcony of her room, seeming rather nonchalaunt about the whole situation.

Harriet kept Josephine's head in her chest and stroked the back of the girl's head slowly.


"Shhh...it's alright darling"
She whispered in a calm voice
"He wasn't good to you anyway...He wasn't good to any of us. We don't need bad people in our lives, do we now?"
Harriet asked, gently taking Josephine's chin in her hand and looking the girl in the eye. Josephine shook her head slowly and used her white sleeves to wipe away her tears. Jo wasn't upset that it was her father that had died, she just hated the concept of death as a whole, it scared her.

"Good girl"
Harriet slid her hand away from Josephine's chin and placed it back on the back of her head.
"Now, rest my dear. You've been through a lot today"
Josephine listened to what her sister said, she closed her eyes and snuggled up to Harriet before she tried to sleep. Harriet smiled down at Josephine and kissed her head. The girl was right where she was wanted, right where she was safe.

After hours of searching every room in the palace, Jace located the morgue. It was a separate building from the main palace and was about a five minute drive away. The building itself was made of brick, and tile, rather standard. Jace glanced down to his middle finger, noticing the small heart symbol on it. Leo was inside that building. The prince pushed the doors open and made his way to the embalming room, and what he saw shocked him. In front of Jace was the body of his father, who was being prepped for his autopsy, the doctor who was working on him, and a single police officer. Jace stood in stunned silence before he spoke up.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Were the first words that left his mouth. The pathologist and the officer turned to face him, their faces both turned pale as they saw the prince.

"Young prince...my deepest condolences. We were just about to begin the autopsy to figure out what exactly caused the death of your father."
The pathologist informed him. Jace's anger only seemed to grow.

"We've already been told what killed him, and isn't it obvious from the wounds?"
He snapped back, clearly not in any right mind for conversation.
"Of course, your highness. However this will give us an accurate reading as to what exactly caused the death, we still don't know if it was the blood loss, brute force, or the arrow to the head."
The pathologist replied. Jace facepalmed and growled lowly.

"There isn't a need for this! It was likely the fucking arrow into his damn head!"
The prince yelled, clutching his fists in anger. The police officer stepped in.

"Your highness, if I may, why have you come here? On what business?"
He asked as his eyes were fixed on Jace.

"I originally came here to help you identify who could've done this. But after seeing just how little this ring cares about my father, I don't see any point in helping those who don't value him."
Jace scowled as he took one last look at Leo's body. His eyes filled with tears of both sadness and anger as he turned and fled the morgue, covering his eyes with his sleeve.