Music Recommendation: Respite- Fredrik Jonasson

When the two men of the Council came to carry Katherina's body, Vincent glared at them. It was because the last man who had touched her had disrespectfully dragged her by her hair.

"They don't mean any harm. Your mother's body will be taken to the council morgue for inspection before her wounds will be sewn and sent back to you and your family," spoke Clayton, who had been observing the young vampire with keen interest. The boy had been standing like a hawk, guarding his mother's body.

Young Vincent stared at the person who spoke just now, not knowing who he was as he appeared to be of his own age. The person wore clothes similar to how adults wore. He asked,

"Who are you?"

Clayton stretched his hand forward, "Clayton Turner. The Head of the Inner Circle in the Council." Seeing the boy not attempt to grab his hand, he said, "What happened here is unfortunate. There are times when the offender doesn't cough up information quickly and it delays things."

"You should have tortured the offenders," Vincent's reply was blunt, and Clayton's eyes subtly widened.

Vincent's eyes shifted from the council person to his mother, who looked like she was asleep and not in pain anymore.

"Even if you don't feel like shaking hands with people, sometimes you need to. After all, I will need to check with what happened here and pass a judgement. You did create quite a bit of mess here," Clayton stated in a friendly tone.

"My hands are bloody," the boy reminded him, with his words lacking any emotions as if he was nothing but an empty shell.

"It doesn't matter," replied Clayton.

Young Vincent finally extended his hand forward and shook Clayton's hand. But the head of the Inner Circle didn't shake his hand to make any peace but because he had the ability to sense a person's inner emotions.

But the astonishing thing was that Clayton felt nothing. Seeing the earlier glare, he was sure he would find anger or sorrow.

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Clayton was well aware that the boy hadn't killed his mother and hadn't touched a single drop of her blood to drink, but the same couldn't be said when it came to the humans who had abducted him. A vampire who killed even one person would have the emotion of rage, but this boy appeared calm. As if he had just woken up from a deep slumber.

Soon the parents of the abducted children were led by the council guards to the forest where the group of humans had held their children.

While most of the parents reunited with their children, who looked relieved, the same couldn't be said about three other parents. Maxwell's parents had been directly called to the Council along with the parents of the young vampiress, who had been the first victim of Hellion. Viscount Moriarty was called to the forest to pick up his children.

Eduard Moriarty, who had just finished seeing his wife's body and speaking to the Head in charge, came to where young Vincent and Marceline sat next to each other. There was a shadow underneath his eyes as he hadn't slept and had been looking for his wife and children the entire time they were missing.

Marceline jumped from where she had been sitting, into her father's arms and cried.

Eduard gently stroked the back of his daughter's head, "Forgive me for not being able to be here soon."

"I was so scared!" Marceline cried with tears falling from her face, wetting the front of his coat. "What took you so long? Please don't leave me alone!" Her body trembled.

"I am so sorry, my dear. Believe me, I did everything I could to find all of you as soon as possible," Eduard tried to calm his daughter. "You are safe now. No one is going to hurt you again."

While Eduard rubbed his daughter's back to soothe her, his eyes fell on his son. His young son's clothes and face was splattered with blood, and his hands were inked in red. Letting go of Marceline for a moment, he hugged Vincent who didn't say anything.

When Clayton appeared next to the mourning family. Eduard let go of Vincent to turn to the council person, who said, "The humans were angry at the people of the high society and wanted to 'reform' the society the way they wanted. It was a random kidnapping and your wife by chance got caught up in it along with your children."

Eduard clenched his jaw and asked, "When will I be able to bring her home?"

"I will tell my men to work faster so that she can return to you at the earliest. Maybe midnight, Viscount Moriarty," Clayton's words didn't rise or fall and stayed the same.

Eduard nodded while keeping a straight face, but his eyes held sorrow that no one could fathom. He spoke bitterly, "How strange that it is always the ones with a good heart who suffer. My wife never hurt anyone, by words or actions and was always considerate and mindful over the slightest things."

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"I am sorry for your family's loss," said Clayton, watching the two children, where the vampiress hugged her father's leg, and the other didn't respond. He asked, "Not to bring doubt in your mind... Why didn't you turn her?"

It was because the pureblooded vampires could turn humans into vampires easily, while the average vampire's successful transformation rate was low. And it was rare for a pureblooded vampire to marry a human, even if the person came from a wealthy family as the vampires preferred their own kind, thought Clayton in his mind.

Eduard Moriarty pursed his lips and replied,

"It was her wish to stay human." Turning her would only be going against her wish, and Eduard had loved his wife. They had met by chance in one of the balls, and like many, he had been taken by her beautiful silver hair before he came to know her.

One of the council members arrived at where they were and informed Clayton,

"Sire, we are unable to find this person, whom the humans described to be the leader. We'll need to get the dogs to sniff the place. We'll also need the boy to come with us to Darthmore, so that we can get a report from him."

Eduard frowned. He asked, "Can't it be done here? They have been here since last evening without food or rest. You don't expect a twelve-year-old to sit through it."

"It is just your son, Viscount Moriarty. He was the only one out of the other children who was free from chains and his hands are covered in blood," the council member stated with little to no hesitation.

"We want to see whose blood is on his hand. The men here and your wife--"

"It would be best that you don't complete that sentence," Eduard glared at the councilman for even thinking that. "Not only did you fail in keeping the humans from doing something like this, but you have the nerve to insinuate that my son killed his mother."

The councilman bowed and said, "We are only following protocols and making sure that your son is not going to be a threat in the future. You know how these cases wo--"

"You will not be taking my children anywhere." Eduard stood between Vincent and the councilman and said, "Vincent didn't kill his mother and I can tell that with confidence. You should focus on those humans who brutally left my family out here in the cold. Those humans from the lower-class hurt and left my wife to die...."

The young vampiress heard the words spoken by her father about the lower-class humans, the people who were responsible for all of this. Humans were the worst.

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Clayton raised his hand at the councilman to stop, "Franklin."

"Sire?" the councilman responded.

"You can leave the boy from the questions and make the final report of this case. The entire operation was done by some humans, and the others are only victims," Clayton stated before his eyes went back to the boy, meeting his eyes. He said, "I believe Vincent Moriarty was being attacked by the humans and acted in defence?"

The young boy stared at Clayton. Everyone believed the boy would nod to agree with Clayton's words to get away from the situation. But instead, Vincent replied,

"I killed them all as they deserved it."

Clayton brought his hand to brush the bridge of his nose, and the other councilman's mouth fell open on hearing the boy's answer. H-how could the boy say that confidently as if he had achieved something?! The councilman questioned.

Clayton sighed and turned to give a look at his man, who fixed the look of shock on his face and nodded. He said, "I will go and look into other things then," and left the place

After having a few more words exchanged between the Head of the Inner circle and the Viscount, Eduard said,

"My children are tired and there are a lot of things to attend to. Excuse me."

Clayton gave a slight nod, "I will see you tomorrow at the Council."

Eduard caught hold of his daughter's hand in one hand. He offered his other hand to take it but didn't push him. His son had always been independent and having lost his mother, the man didn't push him.

Before the Moriarty family left the place, the young vampire turned to Clayton and said,

"You will find the body of the human on the south side of the hut."

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The young boy walked away with his father and sister, while Clayton stood there watching the back of the silver-haired boy with slightly narrowed eyes.