HUNTED-Chapter 306: The Mastermind

As the car pulled up to the castle, the lights a backdrop to the otherwise navy-dark sky, Cassius didn’t bother to wait to order Davian or Harry to take Aila back to her room. They would do it anyway. They were sickeningly loyal to her, and controlling Davian with the master-childe bond had been increasingly harder. He would hand it to Aila, though.

She was smart enough not to trust Davian but stupid enough to think her little moments with Damon and speaking with Esme on the sly would miss his notice.

He had no intention of killing Aila’s friends. As long as they didn’t get in his way, then there was no need to kill those around her. Besides, when he passed off as Gabriel, he became slightly fond of them. But threatening Kane was the only way he could stop Aila from killing herself.

She may have been lost in the feeling of healing her mate, but Cassius was fully aware of the damage to her body, not just from Damon’s injuries but the impact it had on her from using such a damned power.

Bringing his phone to his ear, Cassius walked away from the hybrid and lycan in search of one of his sports cars, hidden away under car covers around the back. It was past midnight now, but the night was still young for him; he probably wouldn’t sleep for another two days.

The call connected as he yanked the cover away from his newest addition of cars, the Lambo Sian, in its sleek gold-green contours. "How is he?" Cassius asked the warlock as he ripped his bloodied shirt off and replaced it with another he had left in the car before climbing inside.

"He is offering to pay me double the amount you are to set him free.. I must say, your highness, I am tempted.." Zeph replied slyly with a grin in his voice like he knew already Cassius would pay him. The vampire grinned at his audacity; of course, Cassius expected nothing less from his brother or from the warlock whose loyalty could be bought.

But it didn’t mean Zeph would be spending any of his money. Once he had what he wanted from the warlock, the only other person to know of Gabriel’s location, he would simply get rid of him.

The money didn’t concern him. Come on, how could it? He had multiple estates and castles and drove the latest Lambo without blinking. "Hmm, how about I pay quadruple the amount, and you walk away with both hands intact?" He replied in a purr, enjoying this kid’s attempt at bargaining more money out of him.

Cassius could hear the man swallowing hard and the slight intake of breath. That’s right, don’t mess with the first vampire to walk the earth. "Sounds good. We are waiting at-"

"No need to say over the phone. You never know who might be eavesdropping. We already agreed on the location." He hung up and sped off down a hidden path enchanted by magic so that only he could see it. It was a new instalment, one Gabriel was not aware of.

It was simply put there as a second exit route and for his snazzy cars not to get mucky on country roads or stones to hit and ruin the paintwork. It was also in case his plans fell through, and he needed to escape.

To others, if anyone was watching, which they weren’t, it would look as though his car simply disappeared into the hedge, but on the other side, it was a well-lit creamy paved road, one that even past the stylish black gates, would continue until he was on the main roads.

Easing into the speed of the car, within seconds, Cassius was driving at 200mph in the fast lane of the motorway. It wouldn’t take long to get to Gabriel. The vampire kept checking his mirrors, ignoring the police cars that tried and failed to keep up with him on his speeding; he looked for any shifters flying in the sky or for any of Esme’s friends.

The girl knew many people in nefarious places, many humans, vampires and werewolves, mainly rogues. But there were none, and if there were any, he’d have lost them by now. Nobody knew what rich prick drove the Lambo.

After another hour of driving, he parked the car on the side of the road, clicking his tongue when he saw the puddles of a recent downpour on the hiking trail, making the mud incredibly slippery. He glanced at his polished shoes and sighed but persisted, using his vampiric speed to get to the location swiftly and with as minor dirt on his shoes as possible.

Cassius stopped after the trees opened up to a large lake, the warlock sitting comfortably on a pier as he lit a cigarette.

"Let me see him," Cassius demanded. With a few words muttered beneath his breath, the warlock waved his hand, and a mirage of his brother appeared before him.

Gabriel blinked and frowned when he saw Cassius through this hole that suddenly appeared in front of him. Everything was dark beside this image. It was like a live video call but all done using magic.

"This was the least torturous yet pleasing way to keep you alive, brother. You see, I do not wish to kill you, but I can’t simply let you roam around free. Not while I’m just at the very beginning of everything we’d planned. You’d ruin it all, and I cannot have that," Cassius stated simply as he raked his fingers through his white locks that had grown much longer than before.

Now others could tell them apart more, though, with Gabriel’s disappearance, it wouldn’t matter.

Instead of asking his dearest brother to set him free and stop all this nonsense, he knew not to waste his breath. Especially when breathing was challenging right now. It was like a ton of bricks weighed against his chest, and instead of air in his lungs, it was like he breathed sand, scratching and burning his insides, throat, eyes and nostrils.

"Who is we?" Gabriel asked through clenched teeth, trying and failing to hide his pain.

Cassius grinned like he enjoyed seeing him that way, or maybe he was smiling because he was engaging with him. "Ah, it is not like my brother to plead for his life though I did expect you to ask me to stay away from Nyx.. Surely, she will find that offensive. You know as much as I that today was not the last I’d see of that little firecracker," Cassius replied smoothly, not answering his question.

Gabriel stared at him blankly, done with the conversation. He wouldn’t waste his energy on him. He needed his strength to keep convincing that warlock to set him free. If it wasn’t money, then maybe protection from Cassius would be enough?

Cassius sighed, "So moody! You’re no fun at all. Fine.. I’m talking about dear old pa." His eyes looked down, pointing to the ground. Gabriel blinked as understanding widened his eyes. "Yes..

He didn’t send us to earth to simply make more of our kind. He wants to rule over everyone, humans, werewolves, witches-"

"He wouldn’t," Gabriel hissed at him, sickened that this plan of their father’s was planned from before they were thrust onto the earth. He didn’t want that. He couldn’t.

Hades, god of the underworld, may be well known as an evil villain in most books, films, and histories, but his father was anything but. He followed his duty in the underworld and was irrevocably in love with his mother, Persephone, so much that it was sometimes too sickening to be around them.

That was until he’d met his own love to understand how they didn’t care about displaying their affection to the worlds.

"Oh, but he did. He ordered me to-"

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"So, you’d just give up this throne to father? Just like that?" Gabriel snapped and frowned at the bubbles floating in front of his eyes, blurring his vision for a moment.

Cassius smirked, "He doesn’t want it anymore. But his idea.. it left a sweet taste in my mouth. What better way to rule than with Aila by my side."

Gabriel snorted. "You think she’d do that? She is mated to another, and the more you tighten that leash around her neck, the more you will find her claws in your back and fangs in your throat. She was with us only for a week at the hunters’ compound, and I saw the fire in her eyes the whole time. You think she would give in to you?"

Cassius drew closer to the image, tilting his head to the side with all the arrogance of the world lighting up his eyes. "That is what leverage is for."

Gabriel clicked his tongue, again watching bubbles float from his lips, but he ignored it and Cassius as he speculated what could be done. "Why did Hades change his mind?" He asked instead, as flashes of a certain dinner party flickered across his mind. One with his parents, brothers and fiancée ate and spoke merrily before everything went to shit.

"It probably had something to do with losing his mind for a few years. Our dear old friend, Erebus, was probably the cause. Though, he was not the real issue now, was he, hmm?" Cassius raised his brow at Gabriel, trying to bait him into believing it was his fault.

Maybe it was, and though he felt guilty for his father going through such an ordeal because of him, he still wouldn’t change it for the world.*

"Anyway, as much as I’d love to stay here and chat.. I have a throne to take, a world to rule over. Pretty mundane stuff, really. I’ll see you in a few centuries." Cassius waved his hand nonchalantly, and the image dissolved, and darkness swallowed his sight.

Gabriel didn’t need his sight, though, to know he was continuously drowning inside a coffin, most likely in a lake. The sound of waves or the movement of a current would tell him otherwise besides the taste of the water coating his face and hair. But even as he heard his brother’s footsteps fade, Gabriel knew it wouldn’t be long until he saw Cassius again.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆_ Authors Note _⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

To those wanting to learn more about Esme and Gabriel, they have their own story. ’THE FUGITIVE’, completed on Webnovel. Check it out ;)