VERMILLION: The fall of Zaleon

Chapter 5

Understanding Liem was harder than anyone had anticipated. Most of the time the man simply remained with his mouth closed. The various times he did open his mouth his words were filled with more mysteries and riddles than the man himself. It seemed odd to the pair to have to tail the man since he was utterly petrifying to begin with. 

‘Razaar, we simply do not have a plan, I don’t know how we’re supposed to extract information from Liem when we don’t even know where to find him’ she whispered to him, at a loss of thoughts. 

‘Then we look around the entire mansion Eliana, we can’t give up now. Liem is the most dangerous out of them all, we must-’ Razaar stopped halfway, noticing something funny occurring by the door behind him. As he squinted his eyes, he viewed the image properly: a bunch of particles scrunched up together, moving tremendously rapidly, more than normal. And that only meant one thing: Liem was in the room. Eliana -who had her back to the door- was just about to speak when the Alpha cut her off by placing his lips on hers. 

‘Liem’s here in disguise’ he whispered to her between kisses, and she got the memo, keeping silent and accepting kisses. 

‘Are you hungry? Do you want food?’ Asked Eliana, hinting for him to say yes so they could get away from him, and Razaar nodded in approval. 

‘Yeah, let’s go get some food’ he responded casually, as if it was the conversation they were having all this time. 

Turning around, they approached the door, and watched quickly how Liem moved from being the door to the wall within seconds, watching them go by him right outside. Once they arrived at the kitchen, they noticed the particles following along, and the pair had no choice but to fake being hungry and grabbing a meal to eat in the dining room. The dining room had been empty, though Liem had still decided to lurk around as they ate, both thinking of a casual conversation to have whilst Liem was watching to get rid of the suspicion. 

‘Have you checked with Enzo how the pack and community are doing?’ She asked him, faking her expressions as she looked at him, and he mirrored back, following through with the charade. 

‘I have, he says everything is in order. I might have to return to sign some of the pack finances but that’s about it’ he responded oh so casually, Liem had yet to disappear from the room, but for now the thought had been bothering the pair more than anything. Why was he still lurking around? Was he not bored? What was he trying to achieve or get from them? Was he put up to this by Elize or was this on his own will? Had he done this more than once? They remained with a pool of questions as they pretended to carry on with their life, utterly bothered by the fact that he was shadowing them discreetly. 

‘Would you like to watch another human film tonight on Netflix?’ Asked the woman next, and Razaar nodded, thinking of what else to say. 

‘Sounds great! We’ll find something to watch’ he responded, and decided to try another approach to get rid of Liem. Within seconds, he dropped his utensils down, and grabbed his mate by the face, bringing her closer to him and plastering his lips on her. 

He deepened the kiss within seconds, and grabbed the woman by the hips, placing her onto his lap. Eliana soon caught on to what was happening, and she followed, allowing him to take things even further by moving things out of the way on the table, and laying his mate flat on it, to mate her right then and there. Unfortunately for them, Liem had remained present in the room as he carried on, and Razaar prayed that Liem would disappear before they would have to mate before him. He kept his woman’s clothes on, though moved her close to him, getting more nervous by the minute as Liem remained put as the chair on the other side of the table.

Just before he could mate her, a noise stopped them both, and the doors flung open to reveal Elize and Stregov stride in, horrified at the sight ahead of them. Daraz, Amana and Dregov had followed closely behind, and had the same reaction of a gasp as everyone else. 

Straightening up, the pair released an awkward cough, not knowing what to say. 

‘I must apologise for that’ spoke Razaar shortly, and Elize and Stregov only laughed as the rest cringed behind. Surely they had already had enough of Stregov and Elize’s PDA, and the last thing they needed was another couple to cringe on. The other pair, however, seemed to understand.

‘Don’t worry, we know the feeling’ responded Stregov, winking at Elize and he pulled her closer by the waist. 

‘Well, there goes my appetite’ began Amana, walking straight out the door with Dregov and Daraz on her trail. 

‘Don’t worry, they’ll get used to it, you guys enjoy, after all, this is also your house now’ responded Elize, and surprised the pair how nice she was being. They shortly left the scene, leaving the pair to it, though the pair could only stare at each other, noticing that Liem had yet to go. 

‘Well, that was embarrassing’ the Hybrid leader whispered, and Razaar faked a laugh, grabbing onto her hand as he led her out of the dining room, back into their room. 

Once inside, he noticed that Liem had yet to leave, and so he planned something else. 

‘Lie with me, will you?’ He asked, and she agreed, and the pair got into the bed, cuddling up and remaining still, as they waited for Liem to go as they pretended to take a nap. For the first 30 minutes Liem had remained put, until finally he made his way out of the room, and the pair could breathe again.

‘What an absolute creep’ whispered Eliana, terrified at the occurred incident. 

‘I agree. He definitely needs to be investigated. We need to follow him in our snake forms and find out what he’s up to. He’s dangerous.’ He stated, and she couldn’t agree more. 

‘Let’s go and find him’ stated Eliana before the immortal pair of Zaleon set off in their Snake forms to find the strange Vermoca. They had never seen his room before, nor knew where he stayed, nor did anyone around them, which means they were left with only one choice: scout the entire mansion till they found him. 

Liem had kept himself locked up in his room, next to which was his room of tortre. He had enjoyed his session of watching the pair of Ivory and admired the woman he found very fascinating, watching her in full on sensual mode. He truly had no shame as he watched her mate suck the life out of her and he still continued to watch, only her though, attentively with immense detail.

She would get flushed shortly after being kissed by her mate, and that look would drive Liem insane with jealousy, making him want her even more. No one on Crest had caught on to Liem’s creepy infatuation, and he had no intention of exposing himself to anyone until and unless he got what he wanted. 

His plans for Eliana had consisted mostly of following her around in disguise until he reached his breaking point, and after they would kill Razaar, he would take Eliana for himself, and betray his word to the rest of the strongest 6. No one would touch Eliana, let alone kill her if they did not have the permission of the Vermca. The man had been an actor from the beginning of time. He had seemed creepy, even to the rest of the Vermillion, though no one really knew the extent of crazy he actually was, which meant he was doing a great job for years keeping that under the covers. He needed only a final push before the truth would be revealed, though he was willing to do absolutely anything to get what he wanted: Eliana Genova.

His prior conversation with her had gotten to him in a way that no one would understand. For Eliana that conversation had been as odd as odd could get, but for Liem, on the other hand, it had been the most fascinating, seductive conversation in the world, which it was evidently not. 

He sat himself on his armchair, looking into nothingness as he imagined her and imagined her only. The smirk on his face had been replaced by a smile, and soon he decided it was time to bury himself in the chamber of torutre, and test his limits to see how well he was doing. All these years later he was still afraid of fire, but he was determined not to be afraid of absolutely anything. He wanted to be invincible in every way. Perhaps that’s why he was so obsessed with someone he couldn’t have, to be more powerful, to have what the immortal couple of Zaleon did. 

The pair had begun rummaging around the mansion for the most dangerous Vermillion of them all, but couldn’t seem to find him anywhere. Switching back in a dark passageway, they faced each other in complete frustration. 

‘He’s nowhere! Does he even live in this house?’ Exploded the Hybrid leader, and just as the Alpha was about to agree, the pair paused upon hearing a noise. 

They sensed fire, and heard a noise of grunts and pains coming from somewhere, though they couldn’t quite identify where it was coming from. Checking every room in the hallway, they began getting more and more frustrated, unable to locate the source of the sound. 

Then, all at once, they stopped and Eliana put her hand out to sense where the sound was coming from. She looked right left and center, and even looked below her, before her gaze moved upwards, and she found herself gasping as she realised where Liem Vermoca was residing. Razaar’s eyes trailed upwards as well, and he too, found that the insane man had been cagin himself through a trapdoor upstairs. It was great that they had found the entry to his den, the only issue was: how were they supposed to get into his den to begin with. All the noises they had been hearing had made them more than curious, but they had no idea how to get the answers they sought to get. 

‘He probably took the shape of the trap door and let himself inside. The only question is: how are we supposed to get inside?’ whisper yelled Razaar, looking around him for solutions. 

‘It’s a trap door, it needs to have some sort of stick or something to open it’ she mentioned, and suddenly Razaar had an idea. 

‘Step back’ he mentioned, and the confused woman did as she was told, waiting to see what the brilliant man had in mind.

Using his new found abilities, he conjured his powers of water and pushed the door open with that strength, looking back contently at Eliana once the job was done. The woman gleamed with excitement, and used her new powers of fire to dry up the mess the water had created. Once that was over, they only had one thing left to think about: how to get up there. They found no ladder whatsoever, and so both decided to use themselves to hoist each other up. Razaar held the woman up, and she leaped up and crept into the den she couldn’t believe she made it to. She soon reached down and helped her mate up, using all her strength to allow him up, until the both were on the ground, panting of exhaustion from just figuring out how to make it up. They would need a short cut for the next time, though they would figure it out eventually. 

Closing the trap door, they looked around, finally taking note of where they were: Liem’s den. They trekked around for a bit, finding the Vermoca’s chambers, that was, to their surprise, in complete order. Perhaps a bit too much order. They switched to their snake forms, deciding to investigate slyly, and noticing that everything in Liem’s room was so neat it was psychopathic. His clothes in his walk-in wardrobe aligned perfectly with each other, and every hanger was exactly the same amount of space away from the next. Nothing was out of place, nowhere, and the couple wondered what really swam in the head of the man.

His table was mostly empty, except the one blank piece of parchment on the table, with a pen neatly laying on top. Every window and surface had been spotless, and his towels were folded neatly and placed in order like it was in fancy human hotels. All in all, Liem Vermoca was the tidiest person they had ever met, and it made the pair wonder what he was really up to. His bedsheets were crisp straight, as if they were unused, and it caused the pair to wonder if perhaps the man even slept or crept around all night. 

The noises and grunts of pain emerged from the walls, and that was when the pair began to wonder where Liem Vermoca was. If he wasn’t here, then who was making those noises, and where was it coming from?

Ensuring that Liem was nowhere near, they switched back to their human forms to try and locate him. Sounds were becoming louder and louder as they neared the walls, and Eliana had thought that perhaps there had been another trap door in the wall. She dragged her hand across the dark wallpapers, finding a gap that most would not be able to see through. Pushing it slightly, she noticed the door spinning slightly and the sounds become more than prominent now. She did not, however, push the door all the way, knowing that someone was on the other side and they would probably get caught. Keeping the door mostly closed, only leaving a slight gap for them to see through, the pair peeked in, and what they saw next blew their minds. 

Liem Vermoca had been sitting shirtless in front of a fire, his hand attempting to touch it as he yelled and wailed in pain, begging for it to stop. 

‘I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!’ He yelled, and reached his hand out, placing it into the fire, screaming even more. Eliana and Razaar glanced at each other, absolutely stunned and disgusted by what they were seeing. The freak was truly a freak, and the pair closed the door abruptly, making their way out of his room, and back out through the trapdoor. The hallway they had come from was empty, and they began exploding with things to say before even reaching their chambers. 

‘He’s a masochist?’ Asked Razaar, and Eliana shook her head. 

‘I don’t think he’s a masochist, per say, I think he’s just a lunatic. He seemed to be afraid of the fire, but then why was he sitting in front of it and burning his hand in the process? I just can’t understand what he was trying to achieve’ she responded, replaying the image in her head, again and again. They began travelling back to their chambers as they tried to process what they had just witnessed, but nothing seemed to strike them to give them answers to what they had just seen. What was wrong with Liem? What had happened in his life to make him this insane? Was it the fact that he was the last one of his kind? 

Arriving back at their chambers, they only saw fit to do one last thing: and that was write to Paulina about their experiences. Grabbing onto a blank piece of parchment and a pen, she began scripting once again. 

Dear Paulina,

As you well know, Razaar and I decided that our target for the day would be Liem, and so we decided to spy on him like we did the rest, though this target was certainly the worst of them all. To begin with, Liem disguised himself as our door and decided to creep in on us himself as we were in the privacy of our chambers. We had to exit the room and go to the dining room discreetly, and he followed. We began getting intimate and the man still did not leave. The Vermillion walked in on Razaar and I almost mating, and even then the shameless man did not leave. We returned to our chambers and pretended to sleep, and for a good half an hour the man remained by our side, creeping in on us. After he left, we began tailing him, and found that he resides in a room beyond a trap door in the ceiling at the very back of the mansion. Somehow we made our way up there, and we found that his room was neat to perfection. Not just that, the man had yet another trap door in his bedroom, beyond which he had lit a massive fire, and he sat in front of it, shirtless and yelling “I hate you!” and then reaching out to place his hand in the fire. We can’t seem to fathom what’s going on? Is that normal? What is he doing? Help us understand what we have witnessed because we are traumatised. 

The conclusion is that Liem Vermoca is certainly the most dangerous out of them all, but that is mainly because he is a complete psychopath. When he talks he makes no sense and other than that he just sits with a smirk on his face all day. Killing him will be harder than we thought, perhaps we’ll need Team Vienna after all to take him out. He is insanely dangerous. 

Hope everything is ok back there. 

Razaar and Elina.

The woman set out to deliver the note, and brought back a note in return in response to their previous letter about Dregov and Amana. Together, the couple read on. 

Eliana and Razaar, 

From what you’re telling me there’s not much of a decision I can make. You will need to spend more time analysing these two siblings in particular. If you feel by the end of it that there is absolutely no chance of getting them on our side then you must finish them off, for the wellbeing of Zaleon. In the meantime I suggest you focus on Daraz the most, he seems the easiest target to take out. After Daraz has been taken care of, we must analyse who to take out next. 

Liem Stregov and Elize have to be left for last, and depending on if they join us or not, we will have to see what to do with Amana and Dregov. 

Drop subtle hints about taking down the hierarchy to both of them in private and see how they react. Ask them how their brother would take it, and observe their thoughts on Stregov. Get them to open up to you about their brother, that will help tremendously. 

From what you’ve told me it seems Amana truly does want the best, and Dregov just wants to support his sister. I know I said that we shouldn’t risk it, but if you can break their shells and get them to join us, that’s two Vermillion less that we need to kill or worry about. The freedom of this planet could be near, but make sure they are on the same page about getting rid of the barriers of the hierarchy. 

That’s all the advice I can give you for now. Keep me posted on your progress and I will advise you further. Let me know if you need any other help. Team Vienna is at your disposal always, and so are my spies. 

I have been sending out a couple of recruits to train the armies of all others on Zaleon, and progress is being made, whether or not this war happens, the planet will be ready to face any threats that come their way. I feel empowered after doing this, and now understand our greater purpose has been this all along. I don’t understand why I didn’t do this before. We have been solely focused on training the Warmecks when we should have been training everyone on this planet, if after all, that is our job as Warmecks, to look after the wellbeing of our planet.

I look forward to seeing you two again, and will organise the War summit very soon to have you over. In the meantime, good luck and keep me notified. 

Your commander,

Paulina Stem. 

Reading the note gave them the power and encouragement they needed, and they knew that their next target would be Amana, the woman they would desperately try to recruit onto their side, for she was the key to everything.