Make Your Move Katherine

What Is She Hiding?

“Katherine,” Oscar passed his hands over his forehead and then around his outer face before he straightened to his full height, “I told you to be mindful of how you speak to me.”

“You can’t just walk around killing people.” Kat was more mad than afraid of Oscar at the moment and therefore her mouthpiece seemed to be loose.

Oscar released a long breathe and passed his hands through his hair,” If you can’t find it in yourself to show me respect as the head of this damn country, let me know.”

“Nobody owes their life to anyone or for anyone dear King,” she mocked folding her arms, taking her firm stand, just inside the door. “We are all born free- nobody should have a right over anyone’s lives.”

“Are you saying that criminals should walk free?”

“I never said- no- jail time. Spent behind bars!” she debated.

“Katherine, these are hard-core criminals- these people cannot dwell in society again. That is what a regular prison is for. Don’t you get it? These are animals! There is no correctional facility that can change them,” he hissed out. Clearly angry with her words but still not shouting.

“But that’s inhumane! Everyone needs justice and a fair trial. Guilty or not-”

“Why? So, they can get away with a free meal while they reminisce on their crimes?” Oscar sputtered out furiously, looking at his wife with scorn. "You don't know these animals like me- like us."

By us, Kat knew he meant his team hired here. He went on with his rant, "They live for the satisfaction of reliving each gory detail...replaying it over and over. Their joy is someone's else's horror-"

“No- a chance for justice-” she cut him off, for that thought upset her. Whether they lived the way they did or not Kat still strongly felt that they deserved to be put away for their crimes.

“F*ck justice! Do you think they deserve freedom behind bars? I despise people like them- there is no room for humans that behave like animals in my Kingdom! Death!”

“Think of their families and what they must feel- as a reporter-”

“What? You would report me? You dare to question my judgment yet again Katherine!”

“No-”

“You are! My word is last! As for their families, they should not have a care for those who inflict pain onto others! Family? I don’t know where you think you can get off speaking such bullsh*t Katherine! But here in Demkas, we don’t follow the laws of criminal with innocent until proven- one chance is all it takes for a person to be hurt. One slip. This is not Armedia and here you are guilty and a trial determines if you are innocent!”

He gritted his teeth as he spun on, “Think of the families that were hurt by the criminals- do you think they want to know that their loved one’s harmer would one day walk free? Or would they feel better knowing they are dead? Shut it, Katherine- keep your idiotic views to yourself!”

Kat wanted to indeed ‘shut it’ as he suggested for, she didn’t want to not be allowed in ‘white room’ again but something inside her snapped. Dead, dead, dead- that’s all she kept hearing.

“What about your guard Yeon? Why is he still alive if he broke the law? Huh? Aren’t I the law?” she screamed at him almost in hysteria.

“But you are not the law. I am,” he snarled and took the three steps he needed to stand before her, nostrils flared and teeth grinding.

‘Can someone really lose their life? Or am I just some joke?’

“So, anyone can insult me? You f*cking w***e has more say than me- your Queen!” Oscar’s snarl evaporated all the heated emotions she was feeling at that moment and fear took its place.

Three minutes later the King and the Queen came out of the room with her jacket against her neck looking white as if she’d seen a ghost. Only the queen’s eyes were closed and she was being held like a baby in the king’s arms.

But ghosts weren’t real and they probably won’t leave droplets of blood behind the king either.

Meanwhile

Eric

The assistant mage stared at the woman who looked as she did not want to be seen. She was supposed to be at the castle and not outside at this time of day- unless given authorization too. Only royals were allowed to come and go freely but even they were limited to places because of their statuses.

An un-royal, like him and Nuwa…basically all staff that dwelled at the castle had to agree to not leave its premises upon moving in. They were mostly confined within its walls, unless granted permission by the king. Even the other royals had to seek permission by Oscar when dwell-in staff was to accompany them on the outside.

Eric doubted Oscar had given the woman that consent.

So why was Nuwa, sneaking around and stupid enough to act as if she was too? See, even though she was in disguise, a pants suit, huge shades and a scarf around her head- the woman was still looking back as she walked hurriedly forward.

The woman had the marking of a vampire bank. See, only few could survive a vampire’s bite- oh yeah there were other vampires out there but Oscar is king. See most marked humans were mostly blood type O, positive or negative and they hadn’t figured out why yet. They only knew that the blood fought off the venom from the bite, within minutes, although the puncture wounds healed like an average wound. But they did not die- which is the important part.

Wouldn't it be great if co-incidentally their entire army had been blood type O? The king would have had such an easy task of converting them to be his elite vampire team.

Venom is what made the vampires Ju had discovered after years of research and testing. But after Oscar had tried to create a team of vampire knights to protect Demkas despite his father warning him that he too had tried and failed. King Drago had warned both him and Ju about the suffering they would bring to families that lost their loved ones.

“Use the prisoners as testing,” King Drago had suggested but a newly formed vampire, the Crowned Prince Oscar had haughtily stated that he wanted no evil persons to reap the benefits of his power. Needless to say, two men almost died- one had lost the ability to move and was still paralyzed.

See there are ancient texts that indicated that the first vampire was a cursed angel or demon- aren’t they one and the same? And whatever he did was so maddening that he was cursed upon the earth with his children. He could only survive if he drank their blood. Yea pretty horrific to eat your own kids.

So, they kind of figure the human banks were related to each other- so gross for Oscar and Nuwa.

Of course, all blood work had proved them wrong however just as everyone in the world came from two persons. But if that was true, weren't we all related? Technically?

Nuwa darted into a run-down looking street- very much so not her at all, and still looked about her as she ran into an even dirtier looking tall but narrow building. Dilapidated. He made a mental note to look into this building and see what could be done about its condition or if they should make the decision to tear it down completely. Eric disliked lonely spaces- buildings, that should or could be used properly and instead just occupied space and made a good playground for criminal activity.

His father’s body was found in a place similar to this just two years ago, since then, he has been determined to rid the country of criminal elements that slipped everyone’s mind.

‘Why is she in a place like this?’

Way passed curious now, Eric rushed in behind her in stealth mode too. The abandoned building smelled musky and the air was stench. She was nowhere to be seen. He looked around the wide hall that was lit by the earth’s natural light but the woman was not in sight. Suddenly he heard a car door slam, coming from the other side of the small building and he ran the short distance to the back entrance just as a black car pulled away.

It was as if Nuwa knew he had been behind her. Or maybe she was just being extra vigilant as her ‘meeting’ was somewhere else and she was ensuring that she was not being followed.

Ju

Ju looked at her phone as it beeped, half expecting to see some stupid meme from Eric, as he was always sending her the silly things- no matter how much she begged him to stop. Even threats to block the silly boy did not halt them from coming in and she was crossed between really blocking him and work-related calls and messages.

It was the Royal Guard- Anthony!

Her heart almost leaped out of her chest when his name flashed across the screen. ‘Queen’s chambers now.’

She waited another minute for the other part of the message to come in- nothing. Why did he always do that? Always with just a plain come over to wherever…details would be good, you know?

One time, the King- before he was crowned king, had a seizure and she had received a text from him, ‘CP chambers ASAP’. CP was short for ‘Crowned Prince as Oscar Julian was back then. A little more detail would have had Ju knowing which pishogue book to take along with her- had she even known she would have needed it in the first place. Instead, she had rushed over only to see the prince in embers while his bed burned. He was still the Crowned Prince back then.

See, he had refused to marry the queen. Well back then she wasn’t the queen Katherine either. Ju had to do a beyond quick rush back to get her book in order to quell the king’s fiery body. She succeeded- although later they had discovered that being on fire was part of his new mutation and he would not be harmed by the flames. King Drago however, paid the price for his son’s defiance. The Gods deemed it so- one king dies before the other rules- it has always been so- according to the ancient manuscripts anyway. Except Oscar was king now and Drago was still alive which proves the old text as wrong- a bit.

Another time Anthony messaged her, ‘throne room now’ and she had to treat one of the princesses for a cough for the doctor and the three nurses were sick too. This was not where her skills lie, she had thought back then. The King had since hired another doctor to be on call.

Just less than a month ago Anthony had texted her to come to the garden- upon reaching, she had seen an almost lifeless Drago. She had to call the doctor after her magic was weak on the former king but she did save his life. Details were what she expected in a situation like that- it would save them time- she dialed his number and heard it ringing.

‘Ugh. The crap you have to put up with when you want to have a flourishing career- okay maybe that was a bit over the top.’

But still, a simple text is all she was asking for.