The Vampire Queen and the Mortal Pauper

Chapter Ten

International Manhunt

The manner in which the woman's head turned towards Sharael in shock, one could've feared she would snap her own neck.

"W-what did you say...?" she asked with a stutter.

"Ah, so it's true." Sharael sized her with a lopsided grin.

"H-how do y-you know...?" Her words were faltering and heart thumping violently. "Who... are you...?"

Sharael's grin stretched but remained silent. Then, without warning, she drew out a pistol and shouted, "Hey, I'm speaking to you! Who the hell are you and how do you know the Red Lotus Society?"

The other two men were caught by surprise as they gawked at their now hysterical female accomplice. What did he say to push her marbles?

Sharael tilted his head to one side with a raised brow. "I am quite perplexed you're asking about my identity. Didn't you look me up before abducting me?"

The woman's dark eyes turned deadly cold when she cocked the gun. "How do you know I belong to the Red Lotus Society? Who do you work for? Speak this instant!"

"Actually, if I'm being honest, I had no idea you're with the Society." Sharael shrugged innocently. "I just sprout some nonsense and your hysteria just gave it all away. On that thought by the way, I thought you guys are highly skilled in the emotions control department. Yours, I have to say, are splattered all over the place like an amateur."

"Enough!" the woman growled and placed the cold nozzle of the pistol on his temple. "I will ask one last time. Who the fuck are you? And who do you work for?"

She wasn't joking around. One wrong answer from Sharael and he was getting a bullet in the head.

However, the young man sighed and calmly recited, "I am the shadow and I am the light. I am the yin and yang of life. I am the frost and the blaze. My undying loyalty till my last living days. I am the pledged knight defending the Order. None is above the Order. Even the gods and demons have to obey the Order. Long live the Red Lotus!"

Without warning, the woman's entire body trembled and staggered a few steps back. Her face was completely white with utter disbelief. Her mouth kept opening and closing like a fish removed from the sea.

"T-this... H-how d-do you know our dictum...?" she stammered.

What Sharael had recited was the Red Lotus Society's dictum. A secret dictum that only the brethren members would know. Anyone joining the Society would be forced to take a blood oath to prove their undying loyalty, and then made to memorize the dictum. So, if Sharael knew it then that meant...

"You're one of us?" she slowly asked with a complex expression.

Sharael gawked at her with raised eyebrows, then suddenly threw his head back and bellowed with laughter. "What? Oh no, no, my dear. That I am not. Why would I even join such a second-rate cult of orthodox, hoity-toity and ignorant believers?"

His uncouth reply caused her eyes to immediately bulge in anger, but Sharael acted oblivious and continued saying, "I mean even your not-so-much secret dictum is a bit too arrogant for you guys. The gods and demons have to obey the Order? Psht! You must be joking if you truly believe that."

However, the woman was too infuriated to think much about his words and coldly said, "If you're not friendly to the Society then you're a foe."

The Red Lotus Society was a secret group made up of very deadly assassins. They were infamous for carrying out illegal overseas assassinations. Anyone who threatens their 'believed' World Order would be immediately eliminated; be it influential figures like politicians, celebrities, religious leaders, company CEOs or tycoons. They were what some of the common superstitious folks believed them to be the illuminati.