Raven's Ascent by Ben Blackwell

Author:Ben Blackwell [Blackwell, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-20T22:00:00+00:00

12

“How could this happen?” the old witch asked angrily.

“And why did we even let the vampires be involved in our investigation?” said one of the shamans.

“Calm down, everyone,” Allard said, raising his hands. “We don’t know what happened yet, we shouldn’t be throwing accusations around.”

I was in the second of two vans currently driving to the castle of Clan Dulaire, together with a few members of the Ring of Elders and some more witches and shamans. About a dozen people in total. And the mood in the car was not exactly the best.

“The vault is in full lockdown, right, Allard?” the old witch asked again.

“Yes, it is, Mannfred.” Allard sighed. “And yes, I’ve already called for a meeting of the covens and families, including the well-connected elementalists. So whatever we find out today, we can let everyone know what’s going on tomorrow.”

“Good. We can tell everyone to hide their kids and start preparing,” he grumbled angrily.

“Would you knock it off, Mannfred?” a younger female shaman, replied, annoyed. “This is just a diplomatic situation, not the start of the next war.”

“That’s what the Winterbloom coven thought four generations ago, and look how they ended up,” he mumbled. “Dead, that’s how.”

I kept my thoughts to myself. I was only tagging along as a bodyguard and didn’t really know enough about the political situation in Darkhaven to weigh in on the argument, anyway.

“I agree, though,” the woman added. “Why did we let that vampire in on everything regarding the investigation, Allard? This didn’t concern them.”

“It did when one of their own was possessed by an evil spirit,” he responded. “He was sent by the clan to deal with what was happening. After that, well… He was there, and he was helping. And he never got access to the vault, so I don’t think we need to be focusing on him.”

My instinct was to tell them they were wrong, that Octavian had nothing to do with it. That he couldn’t possibly have been a spy all along. But I couldn’t. A voice in my head kept telling me that I just didn’t want to believe it, that it actually made perfect sense.

I thought we had a real connection, that I could trust him. But what if it was all a lie? He had just pretended to like me, acted all nice and gentleman like so he could stay on the in, be right at the center of the investigation. How I got there myself, I didn’t know. I would have been the last person to follow if someone wanted to be in the midst of things, but somehow, that was where I ended up. I wasn’t ready to damn him just yet. I hadn’t given up on him.

“All right, people, we’re almost there,” Allard said, turning around in his front-row seat to look at us in the other two rows. “This is a diplomatic mission, so let’s just talk it through and listen. Let’s hope it’s all a big misunderstanding, so please, keep the accusations to yourselves for now.

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