Chapter 132: The news of Zant's death

Outside town.

In a mansion where Makena Cairin was held, at first, it looked to be empty as there were no sounds of the living could be heard until Rehan suddenly appeared at the entrance.

Without using his hands, the front door opened by itself and he was greeted by a burly large man, bowing down to him in respect. If one remembers, this man was the very same man who 'takes care' of Makena in her prison-like basement. Apparently, in that whole mansion, there were only the two of them living there. There weren't any other souls appearing in the mansion, other than Makena and the man, despite its massive structure.

"Where is she?" Rehan asked as he walked past the man. It seems like he knows his way to the basement, seeing how he just walked without waiting for the man to show him the way. It was probably not his first time here as well.

"She's outside, having her run, Lord Rehan," the man answered respectfully as he followed Rehan from behind.

Inside the living room, Rehan stood outside the secret door to the basement. "Leave. I will go inside alone," he ordered, without looking behind. The door in front of him remained shut.

The man bowed politely before leaving Rehan alone.

Once the man had left, the door to the basement slowly opened, producing a creaking sound. After Rehan had entered, the door shut behind him and he continued his way down the darkened pathway. There wasn't much light inside but it seems the darkness does not bother him at all.

Moving past Makena's room, he resumed walking until he reached a staircase which led outside. Opening the door, he was greeted by cool wind and the smell of damp vegetation. The land before him was sparse, other than the trees and other greenery. There was no sight of the young woman at all.

Just as he was about to use his powers to summon the young woman, a shifter suddenly appeared in front of him. Rehan took a step back with his hands behind his back as he cooly watched the shifter slammed her clenched paw to the ground. If Rehan was a step late, he might have been hit by the strong punch. Alas, there was only a small crack on the ground where Rehan last stood.

Dust and little pebbles flew in the air due to the impact. But before the shifter could make another move, she suddenly jolted up, her paws frantically trying to grip the collar around her neck. She fell to the ground, squirming in pain as she tried to break the collar off.

With a cold face, Rehan just looked down at the twitching shifter before he lifted his leg and stomped the shifter's underbelly.

Spurting out blood, the shifter's eyes widened as pain escalated throughout her body and mind. The shifter snarled at Rehan, baring her fangs, looking at him with her bloodshot eyes.

After a few minutes, the pain finally stopped and the shifter weakly laid down on the ground, still twitching from the ache.

Rehan continued to look down at the shifter with a stone-faced expression on his face. He then opened his mouth and said, "Don't you ever learn, Rae? Must you hurt yourself like this everytime I come to visit you?"

Rae just growled back. But because she was hurt, her powers slowly weakened and she reverted back to her human counterpart.

Makena now lies down on the ground where Rae was earlier, naked. She curled herself in a fetus form, her arms hugging her knees to her chest as she wrinkled her brows, trying to withstand the pain.

Rehan immediately threw her clothes on top of her, implying that she needs to get dressed. He then wiped his hands with a handkerchief as if the touch of a shifter sickens him. Once he was done wiping, the handkerchief he used was burned to ashes.

After the young woman dressed herself up, Rehan lifted her up with a finger, without touching her. He then studied her from bottom to top.

Shortly after, the burly man from earlier, who was Makena's jailer, appeared beside Rehan, his head bowed a little in respect. ���Your orders, Lord Rehan?"

Rehan flicked his finger and Makena was suddenly thrown to the ground, in front of the other man. "Continue on draining more of her blood. We need it for our experiment."

"Yes, Lord Rehan."

The man then clipped a chain on Makena's collar and with the other end, he pulled her towards the door, dragging the weak young woman.

Rehan stood outside for a few minutes before entering the mansion again.

In the living room, Rehan stood alone with his hands behind his back as he looked out the window. Just then, several men popped up behind him. As if he knew they had arrived, Rehan said, without turning his back, "Have you dealt with Zant?"

"Yes, Lord Rehan."

"Make sure to leave no trace nor evidence that would lead to us," Rehan ordered.

"It has been done, Lord Rehan."

After he was done giving them orders, Rehan continued to look out the window. 'Zant, Zant…' he thought. 'If only you did not mess up. You could have worked as a good chess piece for my lord. You just have to fail numerous times.'

-----

Lachlan was reading the reports given to him by his subordinates when there was a knock on his office door.

*Knock knock*

Lachlan looked up and then back down at the reports before saying, "Come in."

Fergus entered with a grave look on his face. He shut the door behind him and then he greeted Lachlan with respect.

Lachlan raised his head and frowned when he saw the sombre look on Fergus' face. "What happened?"

"We received news that Zant is dead. I've just left the crime scene."

Lachlan blinked his eyes in surprise. He was quiet at first and then he asked with a calm voice, "When and how did this happen?"

"His people said that he was working in his office that morning and he hasn't come out from there ever since. Even for lunch. It was early afternoon when they thought that they heard noises from his office. Like there was someone else in there. But as they say earlier, there was no one else in there but him. There wasn't even any sign of forced entry.

At first, they knocked on his door, asking him whether he was alright. There was no answer. They thought that he needed privacy. It was when they knocked on the door for the third time that they realized that there must be something wrong. And when they broke into the room, they found him on the floor.

The weird thing was that there were no wounds or visible marks to show how he died. It was as if he just died all of the sudden," Fergus reported.

"Is the body still there?"

Fergus shook his head. "They already brought the body in for autopsy."

"Were there any clues?" Lachlan asked again, his full attention now on Fergus.

In answer, Fergus placed a small glass bottle filled with black powder. "We found this near the body. We grabbed these before the forensic investigators came. Other than that, there was none. Every item inside was still intact; no sign of disturbance."

"Good work. Send it over to Paccia for further investigation. I will head over to Zant's house to inspect further."

Fergus took the bottle back and bowed his head before leaving the room.

Alone in his office, Lachlan linked his fingers together, bridging them together as he put his chin on top of his linked fingers. He narrowed his eyes as he recalled what Fergus had reported. With this, he was quite sure that Zant was working on someone's orders. And because of the failures he had achieved, it seems like he was no longer useful.

But who and what could it be?