2. The Vampire Clan and Meeting with the First Mate

-------------------- Orleans (Vampire Clan) --------------------

--- The Main Palace (Dungeon), A day before ---

The dungeon was filled with the groan of a man. In one of the cells, a man was brutally beaten by the two officers of the vampire clan, his body was hung to the ceiling with his hands tied above his hand, and his back was completely whipped by a hunter, with red marks were all over his body. Blood was dripping from his hair which was covering his face, only his red eyes were seen. The two officers were still beating him.

The groan of that man was covered by the sound of shoes when a man entered the Dungeon. He was wearing a three-piece Navy Blue suit, embroidered with gold on half its side. His face was completely pale, and his gorgeous red eyes were like gems.

He is Spike Athanasia the prince of The Vampire Clan, the First in the line for the throne. The vampire clan is ruled by the Queen now, who is the elder sister of Spike, Pandora Athanasia.

He entered the cell with his subordinate. The subordinate was one of the close to both the Queen and Prince and was from one of the trusted families in the Vampire Clan, the Celeste Family, and his name was Lestat Celeste.

Both the officers saluted them as they entered the Dungeon cell.

"Any information, under whose order he was spreading the rumors about the previous king's Death?", Lestat asked the two officers.

After the sudden death of the previous king, Pandora took the throne in no time. Some officials and other prestigious families, who want to take over the throne, were against Pandora and wanted her to either bring a king by marrying one of the official's family members who didn't find his mate yet or let Spike rule the kingdom.

Pandora doesn't want to marry someone who isn't her mate and Spike doesn't want to take the throne, he wants her sister to be on the throne and thus supported her to win the throne. The Vampire clan was in an unstable position, then Pandora took the step to take the throne and asked Spike to eliminate all those people who didn't accept her as Queen.

After some time when the condition became stable, a rumor started to spread of the Queen being involved in the death of the previous king. The man tied was the one found to be the first to start the rumor.

One of the officers hit the man again.

"His face was covered, he has the smell of humans on him, but he wasn't a human, I only met him once in the Monde Humain, and someone left the money in a box as he told me, I don't know anything else", the tied man said almost mumbling, in a low voice, it seems that he doesn't have enough energy to speak.

"What about the money he received?", Spike said looking at the tied man, he doesn't have any expression all this time and was still keeping a stoic face.

"We have confiscated the money already", One of the officers said.

"I have already asked a wizard to find out from where the money came, he will be giving a report by today", Lestat Said, standing behind the Prince.

"Your Highness, please show some mercy, on this peasant", the tied man pleaded to the Prine before he turned to left the cell.

Spike ignored his words and left the Dungeon, once again the dungeon got filled with the cries of the man.

-------------------- Monde Humain, Same day --------------------

Natalia was now on a busy street in Quebec. The painting was a teleportation portal to this street, other paintings in the doorway were also teleportation ports to other places. The sun was about to set, the sky has a tint of orange, Natalia was walking down the street, keeping her hands in her pockets, she untied her hair and set them free, she wasn't wearing her cap. She uses her cap only when she has to follow someone or on some mission or on her hunt.

--- Same Time, Same Place(around) ---

Spike was sitting at a table in a restaurant wearing a casual outfit, beside him was Lestat who was talking on the microphone. As the man from the dungeon received the money in Monde Humain and Wizards sent a report on the money owners it was the manager in that restaurant. It was odd for a human to have the currency of their kingdom. So, Spike and Lestat were here to find that man themselves.

"The Manager is here", Lestat whispered to Spike.

The Manager came out of his cabin and stand in front of them.

"How may I help you, sir? Is the food not to your liking?", the Manager asked as per his job.

"You have given some money a few days ago to this man.", Lestat said showing the photo of that man to him.

"Sorry, I don't know what you are talking about, I didn't ever give money to this man", he said taking a glance at the picture shown to him.

All this time Spike was looking into that Manager's eyes.

"You are lyi....", Lestat was stopped midword by Spike, when Spike gave him a glance.

"We must have mistaken someone else with you, you can go", Spike said turning his gaze away from both of them.

"I will be going then, please enjoy your meal", the manager left from there.

Lestat was confused about why Spike let the manager go, without asking anything further, the reports given by Wizards clearly state that this manager had this money before, then he must be the one who gave that money.

Lestat turned toward Spike before he can ask Spike said, "That man wasn't lying, he didn't know anything, someone must have controlled him"

"That means that person had planned it thoroughly", Lestat said.

"Ask the wizard if they can find something else"

"That man said he was covered with the human smell but wasn't human, Lestat find out where the two of them met and find that person as soon as possible", Spike said standing up and leaving from there.

"Yes, Your Highness"

They both left in a car.

Spike's car was passing through the same street where Natalia was passing through.

The street was crowded with people and vehicles, and Spike's car was slowly moving.

Spike was in the back and Lestat was in the passenger seat in front. He pulls down the window to look around, and his eyes stop on a girl. As his eyes fell on that girl, a weird feeling came to his heart, he never felt like that before. The girl stopped in her way and turned her face to him, his heart started beating fast as both their eyes met, he has never seen that girl before. His heart never gets excited or sad over anything, he didn't feel anything when he killed people, and even when his father died he didn't cry. But why suddenly his heart was beating so fast. He suddenly put his hand on his chest.

Lestat noticed his Prince staring outside, he saw a girl looking at Spike. As he took a glance at the girl, he knows that she is a Vampire but he found some part of her soul to be of a werewolf too. He has the ability to tell whether someone is Vampire, Werewolf, or something else.

The car drove off from there, Spike closed the window and looked forward, still keeping his hand on his chest.

Spike saw him through the rear view mirror and told her that she was a vampire, he didn't tell him about the werewolf part as he thought he must be mistaken.

"Do you want me to find out her whereabouts?"

"No Need"

That girl was Natalia.

While Natalia was walking the street, she felt a strong gaze on her, which was making her feel weird. She turned in that direction and found a man looking at her, her heart too started jumping in her ribcage. She also got to know that he was a Vampire as she possesses this same power.