Not Human Bodies

Sitting on a chair near the window at Everston manor, Vincent looked at the busy lord in front of the mirror. It was half an hour before the wedding and Alec was preparing to leave.

"You know what, Princess Lauren actually piqued my interest. It's such a shame you are marrying her."

Alec didn't say anything. He knew Vincent was the kind who saw women as toys he could play with. One might catch his interest but who knew how long it would stay like that. After all, throwing flowers was as easy as plucking them.

"It seems that I wouldn't be able to attend your wedding. A little problem in Acheron requires my noble presence," Vincent shook his head, thinking he could hardly have peaceful vacations these days.

"You should. Your presence at my wedding is not necessary," said Alec which made Vincent grin.

A knock interrupted the two. With Alec's permission, a woman entered the room and greeted Vincent before going to Alec. She was Edith, Alec's third in command who was also a vampire.

"My lord, Chief Councilman Lionel asked for your presence in the inspection office. He found something strange with the bodies of the massacred family in the west village. As it is a confidential matter, he didn't give full details and wants to speak with you in private."

"Your master is about to attend his wedding, Edith. Can't that old man give him a break?" spoke Vincent to which Edith answered politely.

"I believe it is something urgent, Lord Vincent. It is still unknown who are behind the massacre, what their motives are, and when they will strike again. It is better to have a clue as soon as possible to prevent them from slaughtering more innocent lives."

Alec had been waiting for news about the massacre in the west village that could lead him to the butterfly mark, so instead of going straight to the palace where his presence was awaited, he went to meet the chief councilman first. His wedding could wait.

"What did you find?" Alec asked Lionel.

The older man led him to the room where the bodies of the massacred family were laid. All of them had been reduced to dry corpses as if their souls had been sucked out until they were unrecognizable.

"Dr. Bentley conducted several tests and found out that these bodies don't belong to humans but to black mages."

Tilting his head, Alec stared at the bodies seriously, surprised by what he just heard. "But it doesn't make sense. When a black mage is killed, one would turn into nothing but ashes."

"That is also what makes me wonder. If these are black mages, why were they not reduced to ashes and instead turned into dry corpses like everything in them was sucked out? It is similar to a black mage's ways of consuming one's energy. But Dr. Bentley's tests had proven they are not humans. After all, a black mage's bone structure is different from humans and normal mages. They also don't have a teeth structure similar to a vampire's."

"They must be black mages then. The question is, how they were killed. This way of killing black mages is beyond my knowledge," said Alec while putting on laboratory gloves.

Mages were categorized into four except the black mages. Half human half mages and those unfortunate ones born with little to no ability to cast spells belonged to inferior or lower mages. The pureblooded ones who were mostly members of the upper class were called Arch mages. They could manipulate some earth elements but with limitations. Either they inherited their powers or learned them through years of training.

Elder mages who gained power and mastered the art of spells through decades of practice were the most respected, they were called Senior mages. But due to the amount of time and perseverance needed to master all the art of spells, only a few managed to acquire the title.

Vampire mages on the other hand were pureblooded vampires whose ancestors managed to learn the mage's art of spells and passed it from generation to generation, evolving through time which made them dominate most lands together with the powerful mages, leaving the humans at the lowest in the hierarchy.

However, despite the knowledge he had acquired about different kinds through the years of solving cases, Alec had never seen a thing like this. There were many means to kill a black mage, but this didn't seem to be something he had encountered before.

"I found this in the house where the bodies were found," Alec showed the silver with the butterfly mark to Lionel.

"Isn't this the same mark found in the bodies of Lord Dauncey and Lord Merriweather?"

"It is. When I was informed about the state of the murdered bodies, I thought it was the black mages who did it. But now I don't think it's the case. Why would the black mages kill one of their kind when everyone else is hunting them? They lack manpower so it won't be their priority. So it can't be black mages who did this."

"Whoever they are, do you think they are helping us eradicate the black mages?" asked Lionel, unsure of his own assumption.

"Possible, but why would they?"

Anything was possible at this point, but one thing Alec was sure of, whoever was behind this wanted them to know it was his doings through the mark and he must be carefully treading his next moves for his plan, which Alec was determined to uncover.