A Heart For The Heartless

“Any news with Sye?” Mikhail asked.

“We still have no leads on her whereabouts, sire,” Josef responded. There was a hint of confusion and frustration in his tone, which was understandable because they had been waiting for important information from Sye now, but there was zero contact from her even until now.

Sye Lomanne was one of Mikhail’s best Warriors. These ‘Warriors’ were Mikhail’s personal guards, and they were almost on level with Josef and Sarim.

Josef and Sarim were exceptional Warriors and were also very loyal to Mikhail. Mikhail would even go so far as to trust them with his life.

But if they were ever to betray him, he would make sure that they regret the day they were even born.

Sye, on the other hand, was a vampire whom he met 40 years ago, back when she was still newly turned. She had been 24 years old when she became a vampire, and she was pretty much uncontrollable back then. She couldn’t control her urges, and she killed both humans and vampires. Anyone that stood in her way.

If a human was turned into a vampire, there were several things that could happen. The former humans would either reject the transition, have difficulties in adjusting to being a vampire, or accept the transformation. There were many more possible reactions, and it included shock and rage.

Which was exactly what Sye Lomanne experienced when she was forcibly turned by the very vampire that murdered her own family.

The fury overwhelmed Sye and made her lose all rationality, making her a shell of her former innocent self.

The Councils almost sentenced her to death at that time, but in the end, Mikhail stepped in and tamed her.

As an Elite, his mind control was not only effective on humans, but on vampires as well. He subdued Sye easily within seconds and helped her adjust to being newly turned. Because of it, she was eternally grateful to him.

He did not give her fake sympathy or pretty words. He made her realize reality as well as the fact that she didn’t really want to die. It was a long process, but Sye eventually tamed her anger and started to live life her own way. The Councils still kept a close eye on her, but after about 40 years of good behavior and no more signs of aggressiveness, they left her alone and focused on the other worrying criminals instead.

As thanks, Sye devoted herself to Mikhail’s side and obeyed his every order. She was indebted to him, and she made sure to pay him back in every way she could.

Mikhail also grew to trust Sye through time and could also depend on her with completing important missions, like scouting outside of the city and taking care of issues outside the jurisdiction.

The Councils didn’t only make Mikhail in charge of Azallea’s protection. They also gave the Elites the responsibility of eliminating all hostile vampire threats.

It meant that Mikhail, along with the two other Elites, needed to take care of the wicked organizations that brought danger to the entire world.

There were three major vampire factions or organizations throughout the world that abused humans and aimed to take over multiple countries. These three were called ‘The Gauntlet’, a powerful alliance of the vampire rebels whose goals were unacceptable in regards to having a peaceful coexistence with the humans.

The Gauntlet was known for their ruthless and greedy ways. Their leaders were indeed powerful, but they were not a match for the Elites. However, they had numbers as their advantage, which added to their overall power and influence.

These organizations had specific goals of their own, ranging from world domination, the subjugation of humans, the destruction of other supernatural races, or possibly something else entirely. They were very crafty, with secret bases around the world and even planting spies in human organizations, using their mind control abilities to the fullest.

The Elites’ job was to eliminate these organizations completely in order to restore peace to the world. It was not by any means an easy task, and it could possibly take decades to finish, considering the number of vampires there were in the entire world.

Sye Lomanne was one of the Warriors that Mikhail trusted with investigating one of The Gauntlet’s biggest organizations, Nightshade. Nightshade was becoming more and more of a nuisance for the Councils, so Mikhail needed to snuff them out as soon as possible. But first, he needed to find out where their main secret base was.

Sye went to inspect the clues they had gathered over the years. Mikhail also suspected that they might have something to do with the strange rogues, so he wanted to speed up the investigation.

However, Sye had been gone for two months now without any communication on her end. It was odd because she usually followed her duties and responsibilities well despite having a short temper.

Her anger issues were why Josef and Sarim didn’t trust her that much. They considered her a ticking time bomb because she could be quite unpredictable at times.

Sye never blew a fuse at Mikhail, however. She was loyal to him, and him only. Also, she never did like the Councils. She didn’t like the feeling of being used in any way. After all, she wasn’t exactly fond of most humans and vampires because of what she had gone through.

“Shall I send someone to go after her trail?” Josef asked.

“That is not necessary,” Mikhail said thoughtfully. “Perhaps she is in a tight spot right now. If she’s doing a deep cover investigation, then the lack of communication is understandable. However, I would’ve appreciated it if she informed me first that she would be doing this kind of investigation. That is, if that were the case. Aside from that, I can think of no other reason why she has suddenly gone off the grid.”

A deep cover investigation was a type of undercover work where one would take on a false identity and pretend to be a criminal or a member of a criminal organization. The task was to gather information and evidence that would solve a crime or stop criminal activity.

However, in order to do so, one needed to immerse themselves in the criminal world and gain their trust to obtain information that would otherwise be difficult to access through traditional investigation methods.

In some cases, a deep cover investigation may only last a few months, while in others it may go on for years. With a case as complex as this one, it would very well be the latter.

“I must admit, that is quite unusual of her,” Josef said, looking thoughtful for a moment. “Perhaps she was put on the spot or something.”

“Perhaps,” Mikhail agreed. “I will give her one more month before I send someone to go to the place where I last ordered her to go. We can only gather clues there instead. I am sure that she is capable enough of defending herself if something ever happens.”

“Deep cover…” Josef muttered. “Is she even prepared to do something like that? That wasn’t in the discussion we had.”

“However, we considered the option,” Mikhail said. “As a last resort in case all else fails. This mission cannot fail, Josef. If Sye is indeed doing deep cover work, we cannot make her seem suspicious by going over there in a rush.”

Josef nodded. “I understand, sire.”

“You’re dismissed.”

Josef bowed to him respectfully before leaving the room without another word.

Mikhail leaned back against the couch, a thoughtful expression coming over his face. Since company business was suspended at the moment, it seemed that he had more time to investigate The Gauntlet.

The vampire hunters were in charge of the city now, and as long as they didn’t attack his men, there would be no new conflict rising in Azallea. Perhaps there was a silver lining to this kind of development.

However, they were also running out of time each day, so Mikhail could not possibly relax just yet.

As for his new human back at home…

The corner of Mikhail’s lips curved slightly upwards. An interesting thing, that one. Perhaps this was his opportunity to get to know her more.