Part I - 04

Alpha Luca would have that a week after, the news around Lord Romeo's disappearance would die down, but it had only gotten bigger. It annoyed him every day, and he was tempted to travel to Earth, just to find the reporters who are spreading this. He wanted to punish them so badly, but he had enough on his plates already, worrying about Lord Romeo. He even had to go through a possible list of people Lord Romeo had wronged in the past, but half of them were dead and he considered them weaklings. He didn't think they would even dare come after Romeo.

Ryan was watching from across the table and you could tell from the look on her face that she was not pleased with what was troubling him. Alpha Luca had invited her to dine with him that afternoon, but he hadn't even said a single word to her. She couldn't eat either because she didn't have the appetite, and his food was also untouched. Tired of it, she decided to speak up. "You know, maybe he just ran away?" She told him with a shrug. "You know him well right? He must have probably gone to some succubus realm for a month of sexual pleasure." She rolled her eyes and blew at her fingers. "Typical of him and-"

"Now is not the time Ryan," Alpha Luca said sternly, he had a lot on his mind and wasn't ready for another round of Ryan's maliciousness towards the vampire realm. "You know what, since you aren't busy, I have an errand for you." This brought a frown to her face immediately. "Oh please wipe that look off. I need you to go to the human world." She relaxed a little at that. Alpha Luca knew she would. Ryan liked visiting Earth, she said even with all the violence and aggression which goes on there between 'stupid humans' there was still some peaceful, non-threatening vibe that overs around the air sometimes. "I need you to put a stop to this," he continued, waving the papers in his hands.

"What?" She asked, getting up from her seat and walking over to him, her eyes curiously trying to grab the content of the paper although she was still really far away. "I should have guessed," she murmured when she saw Romeo's picture on the front page.

"Help me take care of this. Let them know Romeo isn't dead before they try any nonsense."

"Fine." She snatched the papers from his hands with a grunt. "But after that, I deserve a week's week break!" She shouted storming out of the room. Lord Valentine walked in a few minutes after Ryan left.

"I met your sexy Beta on my way here-" He got shut off immediately by the warning look in Alpha Luca's eye. "Fine, I'll back off. But I'm here for an important reason, one I think you will be interested in."

Alpha Luca sat up when he heard that. "What are you talking about?"

"A possible message from our abductor?" He brought out a scrunched-up note from his pocket. "I got here hours earlier, but I caught the scent of your Beta in the room with you. I wanted her to leave first before I showed you this."

"You know you can trust Ryan, right? She would never betray me."

Lord Valentine rolled his eyes. "That's not the point. Just take a look at this." He said, handing Alpha the paper. "The grave of Romeo's first victim" Lord Valentine read the content of the paper out loud before Alpha Luca even got the chance to read it. "That's what it says."

"You know if you were just going to read it to me, then no need to hand the paper to me in the first place." He sighed and threw the paper into a dark corner of the room. "He's referring to Cassie."

"Cassie," Lord Valentine repeated.

Cassie was the first woman Romeo Martakis had truly fallen in love with three hundred years ago. She was also the first woman he had turned to one drunken night of passion. Cassie hated Romeo the minute she found out what he was and when she realized that the bite he gave her had sent her into the transition to becoming a vampire, she hated him even more. Romeo had searched the whole realms and had finally found the cure which would prevent Cassie from the turn. A drink, from the ashes of his own heart. But when he had returned, willing to give all that to her, Cassie had been stoned to death by the people of the village, who accused her of being a witch when they noticed the transition in her body.

"What does Cassie have to do with any of this? She died centuries ago."

"I know she did. Maybe this psycho is...trying to punish Romeo for his wrongs?" Alpha Luca kept quiet, in deep thought. "You do know where Cassie's grave is, right?"

"I do," Alpha Luca answered. "He goes to visit her resting place every year." The two were quiet for a while. After Cassie's death, Romeo had lived quite a careless life. He had gone on a rampage, slaughtering everyone. The most famous story of his movement was what happened in a small village in London, in 1789, the night Cassie was found dead. Hundreds of bodies were found dead, most with their heart ripped out, the rest drained. It was one of the most famous stories told, though no one knew the backstory. They just believed Romeo was mad and had been killed without a reason.

"Let's go over to her grave. I doubt we will find Romeo there though." Alpha Luca nodded. "I hope your sister isn't coming with us?" Lord Valentine asked looking around to make sure there was no sign of Hera.

"No, she isn't. I think she's still with Advika in the faeries realm." Alpha Luca said as they walked out.

"Good."

~~~

The ride to Cassie's grave was silent as all Alpha Luca could keep thinking about is where exactly whoever was behind what was going on, had in mind. I bet it could be nothing too smart though. Probably someone who had been lucky enough to catch Romeo in his time of weakness.

Cassie's grave, even three hundred years old, was still looking fresh, and that's because Romeo always had someone taking care of the grave every week. By raking dried up leaves that had run with the breeze and found their resting place around her grave, and replacing the flowers every week. This action surprises Luca every time, who had never known till he heard the story of Cassie, that Romeo was capable of loving.

The place was quiet—the only sound was the rustles of the leaves as the wind blew through them and the steps and breaths from the men who had just arrived. No one was around except for them, no one was allowed to be as it was a private graveyard. A land Romeo had, especially for Cassie. It was where they had planned to build their home when they got married one day. Luca looked around the garden, nothing seemed out of the ordinary and there was no sign of Romeo. He looked over at Valentine when he heard him hiss. Alpha Luca followed his eyes to Cassie's grave.

"Fuck," the words escaped his lips even before he thought of them. Someone had messed around Cassie's grave. It looked like it had been digging up earlier. There were also blood splatters around. "Who would do this? What the hell happened here?"

"Don't ask me, we walked in here together." Lord Valentine looked around to see if he could spot someone who could have done that, although he suspected the person would still be around. "Romeo is not going to like this."

"Let's look around. The blood I see over there. I can tell it's fresh, not more than two days old. Someone was murdered here. But who was it?" A beep came as a reply. It was from his pocket. Alpha Luca was about to ignore it, but since he wasn't exactly busy, he decided to go through it. It was a message from Ryan.

Have you seen the news?

The text read. Another message came in, but this time it was a picture. The front page of today's paper. It read that Billionaire musician, Ehlene was missing and feared dead. Now, this is something Alpha Luca wouldn't care about if it was just any random person. But Elena wasn't just his ex-girlfriend, but the leader of the witch's realm.

"What's wrong?" Lord Valentine asked when he noticed the look on the Alpha's said. "Is it that bad?"

"I think Ehlen has been taken also."

"What?" He exclaimed. "Well, that just sucks-"

A growl came from the bushes and running out was the old woman Lord Romeo hired to take care of Cassie's grave. Her skin looked white and dry, so dry that it stretched over her bones. One of her eyeballs had been gouged out, leaving a bloodstained hole in her right eye. Her—what looked to have once been a white dress—was stained with blood. Her arms were outstretched, running straight to Alpha Luca who was the closest to her.

"Zombie!" Lord Valentine shouted.