Chapter 16: Lions in Sheep Clothings

" You shamed me in front of every Siren!" King Ayata shouted at prince Obi in anger

"I am not ready to get married your majesty. I think the gods are on my side" Prince Obi said to him with his head bowed to his father

" The gods aren't the one you should be worried about you idiot, It's the queen who derives joy in the pains of the weak!" king Ayata shouted looking at him

" I could have died in that stupid duel; I don't think you would have been worried about the queen if I did, she would probably just apologize to you pretending she cares and then let Prince Luca marry his daughter. I don't want to have anything to do with the sister of Vashi" Prince Obi told his father

" If you have seen what I have seen; you will not have the audacity to put your selfish self before the kingdom of Marco!" The king shouted at him which triggered cough that moment

" Although am the selfish and crazy bastard son you never liked, I did try my best again to win something and I failed again" he said silently to king Ayata who continued coughing more and more.

(Prince Luca and his papa)

Prince Luca bowed to his father, his father happily pats his head

" You have done so well my son; celebration is still ongoing for you. I am proud of you" king George said

" I couldn't have done it without your support papa" he said as he moaned silently from the sharp pain on his stomach

" It's going to heal son. This is the mark of a hero you are today" king George said to him

" Well, this mark is going to last longer because it's draining my soul" he said in total weakness as he silently sat down to relieve himself.

(2pm somewhere at Bellaire city)

" You have been following me, I saw you twice at my place" Erica said referring to kelvin whom she had intentionally lure to a quiet place when she saw him driving and following her secretly.

He had parked his car somewhere closer before continuing to tail her. She turned forward to face him

" You mean the place you are hiding to cover up whoever you are?" Kelvin asked her

" Does that make you a bad human too because you are also hiding something too?" Erica asked her

" What do you mean?" He asked her

" Who are you working for because you are definitely not working for Mr. Hansel?" She asked him

"I don't know what you are talking about right now" Kelvin respondee

" I think Mr. Hansel might be aware of this and is just playing dumb" Erica told him

" Are you sort of an undercover detective or what? Is there anyone hiding here waiting to catch and lock me up?" Kelvin curiously asked her laughing

" I don't actually need anybody to help me kill you right now. That would save a lot of lives" she told him

" Okay, am scared; seeing the fact that you are a nobody, I can kill you faster and make it easier for everyone and nobody will fucking care about you" kelvin told her

" You know I don't like getting involved with the humans except if they get involved in my business first; I came here only to stop something and then I realized that it couldn't be stopped because it's common here to eat and take care of sea creatures in this world just like what Mr. Hansel is doing. If I am going to stop it; then I have to kill a lot of innocent people to get what I want.

But then I found out that there are people like you who just don't want the good of anything" she said as kelvin burst out laughing

" You keep calling us human as if you are not, and what is all this gibberish you are saying?' he asked

" Why did you put piranhas inside the fish tank? and you also deleted the evidence of your actions, judging from the camera footage I saw you in; you are probably the one who killed Mr. Hansel's business partner which came as a rumor" she told him

" You know I underestimated you; no wonder Mr. Hansel seems to be really interested in you; but the thing is that you know too much and you won't be meeting him. your last day on earth is today" he said silently to her

" You better kill me, if you miss; you will be regretting it" she told him.

Kelvin quickly rushed to strangle her to death, he had forced Erica to the ground still strangling her with every of his strength as he watch Erica choke. Suddenly; a sharp object hit his throat hard, he released his hand from her throat as he tries to catch his breath. Erica coughed hard before getting up from the ground, she removed the knife from his throat causing blood to gush out more from it as he struggles to hold his breath.

Erica searched his pocket and collected his wallet; she left his dead body laying down there in a pool of blood.

***

(Rivera)

King Ayata's body was burning up from the coughs he had earlier as Prince Obi stood by his side looking scared

" Don't look at me like that, I will be fine" he said

" No, you are not papa, no Siren gets sick like this; we are water bodies, we don't burn up. I should call for help" Prince Obi said really scared

" I don't want the queen to find out about this. We will be leaving Riveria in two days' time, I can manage " king Ayata told him

" Stop worrying about the queen papa, you have been in her shadow even while you were a mere merman of Marco. It's time to worry about yourself first" Prince Obi angrily said

" It must be an allergy from one of the things I ate, give it some time, it will stop" king Ayata silently said

" It's already an hour father, what exactly did you eat apart from the nutritious fishes meant for eating?" He asked him

" Nothing new apart from the sticky sweet drink the queen offered me" he said

" The queen offered you a drink?" Prince Obi asked to be sure of what he just heard

" Yes, it's not the first time we offer each other something. Maybe it's just an allergy from it" king Ayata said as he coughed hard again, this time, it came out with blood

" I can see the skin poison is spreading faster than I thought" comes queen Riveria's voice

" You poisoned my father?" Prince Obi curiously asked in shock

" Yes, it is a warning to him not to ever never fail me again; it could have been you" she told him

" This is treason to the kingdom of Marco" Prince Obi said and his father hit him silently on his hand

" Shut up merman, you don't talk back to the great queen" king Ayata said

" I heard that you had a mental breakdown when your little sister died? Yet; I still thought highly of you" the queen said as Prince Obi clenched his fist

" Forgive him my Queen, he is still in pain of her loss" the king apologized

The queen looked at Prince Obi for some minutes before turning back to King Ayata

" The skin poison will wear off in twenty minutes time. As you rest; think about how to repay me for saving your life again" the queen said and king Ayata nodded his head.

Queen Riveria swims out of the room and Prince Obi angrily pushed down the things he could lay his hands on.

When the queen had come outside, Olga came closer to her when no one was watching

" Your majesty" she said

" Remove Vashi from the dungeon and lock her at the fallen temple of Riveria. Princess Adunni might be doing something fishy when today's final celebration is over" she told her

" Yes, your majesty" Olga said. She makes her way out of the palace secretly

(Bellaire 3:pm)

Oma watched the news on the tv which was all about an unknown man who had been stabbed and left in an abandoned area with his wallet missing. He was identified as kelvin Bosh a thirty years old bachelor as the newscaster had announced.

" Oh my God, murder? Are these new motives for thieves?" She asked herself.

Her heart almost stopped beating when she saw the reflection of someone on her window

" Jesus! Erica! This got to stop; why not use the damn door?" She asked placing her hand on her chest

" Your mum will be coming back tonight "she told her while getting inside

" Shit, I totally forgot!" She shouted, she quickly got up and ran downstairs to tidy up everywhere.

Erica removed her black hood and threw them on the dirty laundry basket, she also removed her dress and threw them inside too, she reached for the tv remote and switched off the Tv in other to have her brain rest.

Oma's phone beeped; she quickly took it out of her pocket to check the message which she saw had come from Lava

" My dad's worker was murdered today and they couldn't identify who his killer was, there was no CCTV camera, no witness or evidence. The prints found on his body couldn't identify anyone nor a human in particular"

She drops her mouth wide open after reading the message

" Oh my God" she said

Another message came again on her phone " Call you later, am with my dad"

" Dad, shouldn't we find out who did this instead of closing the case?" Lava curiously asked after sending those messages to Oma

" It's a robbery, they don't need to go further" Mr. Hansel told him

" He is your worker for goodness's sake dad, even though he has no one, shouldn't you find justice for him?" Lava curiously asked

" This is not the moment of justice. I am running for mayor and this will delay me; You heard it yourself from the Police, there is no evidence" Mr. Hansel said

" Isn't that the more reason for you to find things out? Someone has been hunting you and now someone close to you is murdered with only his wallet stolen and his expensive car worth millions left behind the crime scene; does it make sense?" Lava curiously asked

" Don't you have exam tomorrow young man?" Mr. Hansel asked getting up from his chair

" Dad! I need to know you are safe; Same thing for me, a serial killer is on the loose " Lava angrily said

" You shouldn't focus on this because it will only slow you down in learning. This is my fight and you have nothing to worry about" Mr. Hansel told him as he picks up his briefcase

" You know something dad, you are hiding something from me" lava said getting up but his dad walked out on him.

Mr. Hansel reached for his phone and scroll down the numbers, he called the number and waited for the person to pick

" Good evening Mr. Hansel" came the masculine voice

" I need you and your men to track down a lady, she is d1" he said

" Danger one! A serial killer" The voice came through again

" Yes, her identity is unknown and she is a bigger lottery" Mr. Hansel told him

" Now I get why you didn't want us to handle kelvin after finding out he was working for Mr. Charles; You were using him as a bait" the man said seeming happy about Mr. Hansel smartness

" I will be sending you her picture and address, leave Mr. Charles for now, it's not yet his time of punishment. Remember; No bloody business " Mr. Hansel warned him and quickly ended the call.

His bodyguards opened the car door for him, he gave them his briefcase before taking a seat inside his car.