The Five Liars

Mr. Pawn scoffed at the huge men who demanded to see Seraphine, he had been expecting them to come since the rumour started; word had been going round on the impolite way they were behaving while searching for the eyes.

"You don't need to enter and disrupt my business, stay outside" pointing to the doorway, "I'll call her for you"

"Hurry up old man, unless you want me to send one of us to drag her out" the very huge one spoke, looking down at the scrawny old man, he held the door wider.

"Take your filthy hands off my door, you miscreants. You have the time to search for one useless eyes instead looking for a job" Mr. Pawn in annoyance tried to yank his hand off the knob but it didn't bulge.

"Get out of my sight old man and call the girl here" he pushed him off, causing a loud crash as he landed on the edge of the chair. Mr. Pawn fell while the chair hit the glass.

Seraphine ran down the stairs after hearing the loud crash, she had been changing into her daily work cloth when she heard voices, suspecting it to be the eyes seekers, she was just coming to see them when the crash was heard.

"What is wrong with you?" Shouting as she squatted near the old man, with the assistance of the only customer in the shop, they helped him lay on the makeshift bed by the corner.

"Do you have to resort to violence all in the name of looking for a rumoured eyes?" She frowned at the three men in the shop. Making her eyes wider than usual as she stood right in front of the one who seemed to be the leader. She had deliberately left the spectacle upstairs so everyone can see to their satisfaction.

Most of their customers today would be the curious ones who wanted to see her eyes, rather than their actual customers, so to save everyone, especially her who had a lot of things to do ahead, she would spend the day without the spectacle so they can satisfy their curiousity while she go about her business.

"He should have just followed our order when we told him to call you" the leader replied, "now that we've seen your eyes, we can be on our way"

Blocking the entrance with her hands folded under her bossom,  "so you're going to walk out of here after the mess you made?" She angled her head towards the broken glass, "you're responsible for the broken glass. You either pay for the damage or you'll find yourself at the station" she declared, even though she had no idea how they would get there.

Series of laughter erupted from the men, onlookers had gathered around the shop.

"I'm wondering how we will find ourselves at the station? You'll drag us? Will your old man assist or just you?" The leader mocked, causing more laughter from the other two.

"Don't worry your big head over that, repair the glass or you'll find out"

"You seem to have a smart mouth, why don't I shut it for you"

Seraphine stepped back as the angry leader moved closer with his hand raised, the stench coming from him was enough to make her move away in addition to avoiding her cheek from meeting his palm.

"Step away from the lady" the shrill of the whistle stopped the leader from moving, after hearing the loud voice of Officer Appleberrry.

He was not her favourite officer but Seraphine was glad a man in uniform was present.

"I thought I told you to put a stop to your search or get a permit if you want to do a proper one?" Officer Appleberrry questioned. Furrowing his eyebrows at the gang, he surveyed the surrounding, "did you do this?" Pointing at Mr. Pawn who was still recovering from his fall, he groaned in pain even louder for more effect.

"Not really, it was an accident. It wouldn't have happened if he had followed our order" the leader scratched behind his ears in hesitation, unable to look at the officer straight in the eyes.

"Ma'am, I'll send someone to repair the glass as soon as I take this buffoons into the cell"

Seraphine couldn't hide her surprised, wondering what change this particular officer's attitude; she found out soon after.

"You shouldn't have made a mess, now you'll have master Xavier to deal with" he scolded them.

Nodding to bid the officer goodbye as he and his men rounded the gang up. Now she understood the humble demeanour Appleberrry exhibited. Sighing with pleasure at Xavier's thoughtfulness.

As she was sweeping the broken glass, she made a mental note to ask Annaliese when she could take Phoenix to visit the other dogs. She had totally forgotten about her blue-eyed furball until she she stepped into her room and found her. It appeared the old man had been taking good care of her.

Jolted by the loud yell of her chatty friend as she burst in, "where in the four corners of the world have you been hiding?" Felicity questioned.

**********

"Are you sure that really belongs to Damien?" Alpha Weinroff asked. The same expression on the Alpha's face was worn by the rest of the Upper House members as five heads nodded. The alpha narrowed her eyes at her family member which was among them, trying to detect if Francis was saying the truth.

Xavier held the broken horn high enough for them to see, "this is what was left of the horn of the demon king. He had been visiting our territory by transporting between portals, Annaliese believed he is being aided by a witch."

Nickolai and Alpha Weinroff glanced at Lord Witcharoft who nodded. The creation of portal wasn't something that can be done alone. There was no way a witch of some kind wasn't involved.

"Who exactly broke the horn?" Nickolai asked, he knew it can't be his son, since Xavier would rather be occupied at the time they claimed the incident happened.

"Annaliese did" Daniel spoke.

"You alone fought with the demon king and his men, and you broke his horn?" Alpha Weinroff snorted in disbelief.

"No, Daniel was with me" Annaliese supplied, earning a nod from the twin. Eric Manchester whom they didn't expect to be present spoke up while listening in on their heartbeat, "wasn't he at home that night?"

Diane looked down, pretending to be remorseful for lying to her father, "I lied. He told me he wished to see Annaliese that night. You know how anxious he had been acting, hoping she would accept his love confession"

Daniel coughed to clear his throat for the sudden awkward moment while Annaliese stared at her fingers.

Eric remembered his wife had dropped it in one of her conversations on how lovestruck their son had become.

"You can leave, we will handle it" Nickolai dismissed them.

*********

"Do you think they believed us?" 

Diane asked the moment they were back in Xavier's office. They had agreed to disclose Damien's broken horn, knowing the news would spread faster and if they can trace the source to the Upper House, it would be even more credible.

Xavier had been smart enough to slightly reveal the horn before entering the room, Diane and Annaliese had made it slip whom the horn belonged to, right by some group of people loitering in the Upper House compound. By the time the news reached the demon kingdom, Damien's rival would want to fight for the throne.

That was the only thing they could think of in handling Damien at that moment. He was bound to slip which could lead to his downfall since he had enough going on for him. While trying to keep an eye on his prize -Seraphine, he would also be fighting off his enemies who would be coming for both his throat and his throne, and also be dealing with the Upper Members who would want him to pay for the consequence of violating the rules for entering their kingdom without permission.

"I'm sorry you haven't had enough rest before summoning you again to show up in front of the elders" Xavier apologised to Annaliese.

Waving him off, "I understand. They needed to see the wound for credibility, it needed to be done."

"I don't remember agreeing to add the love confession part while we were discussing our plan" Daniel glared at his twin for bringing his love interest.

Diane sighed, "how else do you want father and the others to believe us if I didn't remind him of _"

Daniel cut her off, "_ enough, I understand"

"Now we wait for the members to act. I'm sure the rumour is already halfway to the demon kingdom" Francis supplied, "it's going to be a chaotic day in the demon kingdom"

"We might be lucky to hear news about his demise while he was trying to defend his throne" Xavier smiled with a clenched jaw.

"What do we do about Damien's men, the one spying on Seraphine" Annaliese asked.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it" Francis volunteered, "it's been long I hunt" rubbing his palms together in excitement.

"I'll help" Diane copied his action, "I've never tasted a spy blood, I'm curious to know how it tastes" grinning in exhilaration.

"Since we've temporarily taken care of things for now, I believe Annaliese needs a very long rest" Daniel moved closer to the witch who had given up in trying to evade him.

"Absolutely" they all nodded.

Xavier read the brief note that was brought to him, "I also need to to be on my way" Knowing he would have to make a quick visit to the station before meeting Seraphine to inform her of what they did.