“Do you even have any idea what you are speaking? Do you know of the Anarchy which was prevalent amongst our kind before the Council came into being? How much loss of life had occurred due to all these misgivings? There was no control over the vampires, they killed and drained humans just for fun,” said Gabriel in heated voice.
“Actually Brother I never knew you to be a coward,” smirked Petrov.
“How dare you even make such a statement Petrov? And you of all people and after everything are saying this?” Gabriel asked.
“Of course Brother. I am saying this. Is it that you are afraid to rule or you are blind to each and everything that has happened beforehand? Have you not heard stories about Grandma and what she had done? Have you forgotten how she was labeled as a w***e and not allowed to become the Czarina? How can you remain oblivious to the fact that you are the royal Prince and it is you who deserves to rule, not those utter worthless creatures who patronize themselves as saints,” said Petrov in an equally heated voice.
“Where from did you get all these marvelous ideas? Are these the reproduction of your own brain or you have heard it from somewhere, or maybe these are the fruits of your fertile imaginations. Which one Petrov?”enquired Gabriel.
“Neither Brother. Grandma had told me this before we were sure of even coming of here. In pressure of all other things happening I had absolutely forgotten to tell you this. You need to remember what is your birthright and then take what is yours,” said Petrov.
“With power comes great responsibility Petrov. Have you forgotten the story of Damocles? The sword hanging over his jester’s head by the length of just one hair? Why do you think that I by own wish am going to take this responsibility?”
“I have not forgotten the story Brother. You have. Actually the story said that the responsibility had to weigh on responsible shoulders which was the king and not the court jester. Right now the power lies with jesters and not the king which you are but you don’t want to be,” reminded Petrov.” Also Brother, one more thing, Power is never given freely, it always has to be taken.”
“What is the purpose of unnecessary bloodshed and all these nonsense? Do you know how difficult again my existence would become if I had innocent blood on my hands?”
“Right, as if you now don’t consider your responsibility over the murder of the teenager girls? I know this that it is your habit Brother but make one thing very clear. Take responsibility for those actions through which you can bring some change not for those which are not your fault.”
“How do you even know me so well?” asked a smiling Gabriel.
“You are my Brother after all, but I think we are close to finding the rogue one. Don’t you think?”
“If he is in the school then today is his last day, that much I can promise.”
“I don’t think that what you are going to do is going to be proper, because you can’t tell the culprit to be the culprit until you catch them or him at the scene of the crime red-handed,” said Petrov.
“What do you want to say? That I put other girls in danger in order to catch these bastards?” asked Gabriel.
“We will be there to protect them, won’t we be Brother? Yes it might be endangering them in some way but without baiting the tiger with a goat bound up the tiger cannot be caught in the trap. So we can’t be the aggressor here, we need to be tactful.”
“I absolutely don’t understand what the need here is. Why do all these things when we know that they are guilty of five murders already. Moreover right now we have the authority to be the judge, jury and the Executioner. Why do you then say that we need to be tactful?”
“Because the moment you make a wrong move you are going to make them aware of your presence and your intentions which if happens they are going to get more severe in their ways but of course more careful. We don’t want that, do we brother?”
“Hmmmm, good thinking brother. But still we need to know who are those bastards and how they have been able to live amongst humans without being hurt or getting caught. In order to bait them also we need to be pretty careful and know who they are,” said Gabriel.
“ I know that Brother, you are absolutely correct in that sense,” said Petrov.
Until this time they were roaming in the corridors sniffing out who was the perpetrator of these crimes and currently they were in the top floor. By the vision of the floor it looked absolutely deserted and it smelled a bit odd. Humans would think it to be a bad smell but for vampires it was too strong and within a few seconds both the brothers were clutching their noses and their throats were burning like anything. It was an acidic and sulphuric odour. Petrov had heard last day that this floor was deserted and haunted from those blonde girls whose names he couldn’t remember but he had laughed it off absolutely thinking it to be a common rumour that goes on around in schools. But now he understood that there was some fire behind the smoke that had arisen.
And Gabriel thought that this was the smell that he had gotten at Regina’s room this morning, but this smell was far more stronger and more foul than he could ever imagine. Petrov’s eyes were watering and he was sprawling on the floor trying to breathe. Gabriel was almost in the same condition but he could not leave his brother in such a condition. He took Petrov’s hand and started pulling him towards the stairs. The moment the corridor ended the smell was gone along with its effects. Petrov stood up immediately and Gabriel turned back and looked at the corridor and he heard someone laughing in a very sinister voice and no doubt he understood that it was directed at them absolutely mocking them.
It was absolutely clear to Gabriel that something greater was brewing behind them and the murders were just a façade to hide the real crime---- not even a crime. This was something dark that was being brewed. And the vampires who were behind these were getting these dark powers which meant that they had the support of someone more powerful and they were just pawns. They needed a witch very soon otherwise they were going to lose out this whole mission because this was going out of their hands in a speed of a shooting star and Gabriel could not risk a failure. There was much at stake attached to this whole ruckus which had been created.
“We need to get through this s**t of a corridor Petrov. We need to get to the bottom of this,” said Gabriel with a hint of steel in his voice.
“I know that Brother. But right now for us it is a death-trap,” said Petrov who was still suffering from the pain of burning in his throat and nasal channel.
Petrov suddenly looked at Gabriel as if a thousand-watt bulb had lit up and said,” This is the same smell that we were finding in Regina’s room Brother.”
“Yeah I know that, I understood that the moment I entered the corridor,” replied Gabriel.
“I think there is some connection between the house in which we are staying currently and the thing that is being summoned here. If we can’t go through here, then obviously we can try through the house,” said Petrov.
Gabriel had not thought of the possibility before, but on the other hand when Petrov said this immediately what came to his mind was that Regina was linked to all of this. But again, she would not have been tortured like this then.
“Our darling mother has played the oldest card trick in the history of mankind, playing of a victim where she is not, hahahahhh, Brother we have been played very carefully and cleverly,” said Petrov roaring with laughter, albeit it was a sarcastic one.
“Let’s go home,” said Gabriel. At the moment he was thinking how could he be so dumb to not see Regina’s game before. But something he admitted freely.
“I have to say, or I must say that she is a damn good and convincing actress. If she is launched in Broadway as an actress then she will sweep off all the heroines away from their livelihoods you know,” was Gabriel’s candid admission on their way back home.
“She was a rising star, not in acting but in opera. So it is full well that she would be a great actress,” acceded Petrov.
“I can’t believe Petrov that I got played by that absolute b***h. I feel like strangling her at this moment,” fumed Gabriel.
“Come on Brother. You can’t be that knave. You might be aged but you have always run away from women like plague. So isn’t it pretty obvious that you will get played by a woman who has got centuries of experience in manipulation and manipulation only. Why do you think our father has given her this much of power and authority?” asked Petrov.
Gabriel’s face was blank. Looking at him Petrov said, ”Don’t, don’t tell me brother that you don’t know that Regina is the official w***e of our father?”
“Petrov you are fully aware of the circumstances in which I stay in the castle. I avoided women like plague because apart from my mother and Grandma I never had any good female experience. The women with whom I have been always tried to be set up or get matched they were so artificial. And trust me I had absolutely no interest in knowing what are my father’s back end dealings, so I don’t know that my father had been whoring out his bedmate for centuries,” said Gabriel.
“You know what Brother, what you need at the moment is that green eyed girl with dark hair like a halo on her head. She is going to be a pretty good influence on you and you would learn to be practical,” said Petrov with a mischievous smile playing at the corner of his lips.
“Regina is a priority at this moment and thinking about Isis will make me more vulnerable Brother. I don’t want that when I face that woman,” said Gabriel. But with the mention of her name his mind started replaying the conversation they had the previous day. His mate. A burning desire blew up in his mind once more.
“What are you exactly planning to do when you reach home will you please care to mention that once?” asked Petrov full well knowing that Gabriel was going to dig his own grave.
“Confront of course,” said Gabriel in a way as if nothing else could be more right in the world.
“That is exactly what I feared about. See Brother, in reality you have made a full-proof plan to get us murdered,” said Petrov sagely.
“Elaborate, you don’t have a lot of time,” said Gabriel.
“When you are getting played, go on with the flow that you being played. Act like nothing has happened, rather you know nothing. But our steps have to be very careful. We are going to be treading on a dangerous line here, now Regina needs to be played without her knowledge. And we have to use that as our advantage,” informed Petrov.
“Do you think Petrov that it would be better to call upon Grandma here once? What you are saying makes absolute sense and it would be better if we have an ally who is far more knowledgeable and experienced than us,” proposed Gabriel.
“It is not the right time Brother. When the time is right know this that Grandma will be here and we won’t be needing to say anything to her,” said Petrov driving into the garage.
Now it was the time for the game to begin…