A Heart For The Heartless

Santiago wasn’t the only one.

There was also one under Mikhail’s wing, a stiff but logical female vampire named Tereza. She was known in the entire company to be calm at all times, even when she was on the offensive. She would strike at her opponents swiftly and efficiently, without any additional unnecessary movements. She was rarely seen as panicked or emotional, which was why many vampires looked up to her and regarded her as one of the best instructors.

However, she was one of the vampires that Mikhail sent two months ago. Like Santiago, she was normal when she returned to Azallea a week later, and she did not act suspiciously at all.

But three days later, she suddenly went berserk and lost all sense of reason. She attacked the human she was protecting and killed two more. It took three Guards to subdue and then apprehend her, not killing her on the spot due to the Councils’ orders to capture rogue vampires instead of eliminating them.

But once she was captured, Tereza suddenly committed suicide by grabbing a wooden stake from the inside of her coat and then plunging it straight into her heart. Her body then disintegrated into ashes, leaving no traces in her wake.

Nobody knew why Tereza had a wooden stake with her. Vampires never carried stakes with them since it was one of the weapons that could kill them.

Santiago and Tereza weren’t the only ones that acted this way for the past year. Mikhail was starting to become more and more furious at the fact that something fishy was going on here, and it was making him and the company look very suspicious to the public as well as the Councils.

‘There’s a pattern going on here. Either this is truly a clue, or someone is using this detail to throw us off the tracks,’ Mikhail surmised in his head. ‘All of the vampires are those that I sent on secret missions. However, they do not become rogues right after returning, and that’s the confusing part.’

Perhaps there were different response times for each vampire?

And where was the source of all this? Inside the city, or outside?

‘Maybe I should start with the nearest approximate location,’ Mikhail thought to himself. ‘Which means inside these city walls. There has to be some sort of clue.’

Since the suspicions fell on Mikhail and Ivanov Securities, he had to take a step back and evaluate the situation carefully from another angle. He could not afford to trust anybody so easily.

It came to the point where Mikhail was starting to doubt the newcomers in the company, specifically the new trainees. Perhaps he could figure something out by focusing on them instead, hence why he had pressured Erik that night.

Erik Vigre had been working at the company for two years now. Mikhail didn’t have any particular opinions about him, but as long as Erik did his job right, then there weren’t any problems.

However, Erik had been acting strangely as of late, which only further deepened the doubts in Mikhail’s head. There was a good possibility that he had something to do with Case RV-13400.

Mikhail decided that he would start confronting Erik tomorrow. The deadline had already arrived.

***

The next evening, Mikhail was preparing to go to the company.

However, before he could leave, he suddenly spotted Cassy sitting in the living room, staring out into space again. Her long brown hair looked silky and tempting to touch as it fell across her back. Her posture was straight and stiff, a testament to her discomfort.

Mikhail couldn’t help but pause in his tracks.

From what he gathered, the servants told him that she had started behaving like this only recently.

Maybe she was homesick?

Mikhail shook his head. Humans and their fragile emotions.

In accordance with the law, he sent a letter to the Human Council and the Supernatural Council, informing them of his arrangement with Cassy. After all, he would be keeping a human in his abode for a few months, which meant that it would be a hassle if her boss or co-workers found out that she was missing from her home or something like that.

It was highly possible that he would be expecting a summons very soon. He would be called on to the official headquarters to explain himself.

It was, after all, a bad idea for an Elite to have a human mate. It spelled a definite weakness, one that their enemies would definitely use to their advantage.

If The Gauntlet ever caught wind of this…

It would be Cassy Lenoir who would be in the most danger in this kind of situation, and Mikhail couldn’t let that happen.

***

The days went by slowly for Cassy.

Mikhail Ivanov’s home was huge. There were several rooms for various purposes, like the coffee or tea room, the chess room, the library, the gym, and many more. It also had several guest rooms and bathrooms.

‘What a lavish house,’ Cassy thought to herself absently. ‘With many useless rooms, too.’

It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard about Mikhail’s mansion before. In fact, it was a popular place that humans would often admire from afar. As expected, Mikhail’s house was always heavily guarded, all of them skilled vampires that intimidated every human that ever tried to go near.

If there was a safest place in Azallea, it would be Mikhail’s big mansion.

However, due to the intimidating spaciousness of the place, she could only bring herself to stay in three places each day. Her bedroom, the bathroom adjoined to it, and the living room that was right across from her room.

Her bedroom was located on the first floor, and it was a few doors away from Mikhail’s. It was convenient since he was always in and out of the house each day, and her being near would be beneficial.

It was a little lonely, though. Not that she craved his company or anything. Just that she didn’t have anyone she knew here, and she was all alone in an unfamiliar place.

And there was no way that she would be exploring around the house. She might run into some vampires on the way, and she didn’t really feel like having fun in this kind of place. It felt too wrong.

Fortunately, there was one servant in this mansion that she came to like. Her name was Deidre, a kind old woman who appeared to be in her early fifties. It seemed that she had gotten unlucky and was turned at that age.

Despite being a vampire, Cassy felt strangely comforted by Deidre’s company. Even though Deidre was a vampire, Cassy could feel that Deidre’s powers and strength were much weaker than the others. It seemed that Deidre wasn’t a trained vampire, just a servant who preferred to live and work quietly.

One of those extremely rare, peaceful vampires.

But Cassy knew all too well that she shouldn’t let down her guard completely just yet. She was in enemy territory, and it would be careless of her to feel relaxed around here.

No matter how kind Deidre was towards her, she should not give her trust in any way. She shouldn’t get attached.

‘If only she’s a human…’ Cassy couldn’t help but think.

“So, other vampires live here as well, right?” Cassy asked while Deidre was busy cleaning the living room. Not that there was anything to clean anyway, since all inhabitants here seemingly weren’t messy people.

Deidre must like it, though. It gave her something to do.

“Yes,” Deidre said with a smile. “Master Mikhail’s clan lives here. But they don’t come home often. They are… carefree vampires, so to speak.”

Cassy had heard of them. It was hard not to thanks to Mikhail’s fame.

Like other vampires, Mikhail also belonged to a clan. The clan was once called Blood Legion, and it was one that consisted of a group of vampires that shared a common sire.

But that sire apparently already died a century ago.

From what Cassy knew so far, there were six of them in the clan, and one of them was Mikhail’s blood-related sister.

“I see,” Cassy said. She wasn’t really looking forward to meeting those vampires in person, especially if they lived under the same roof. Even though she knew that they wouldn’t harm her, who was to say that they suddenly wouldn’t turn rogue on her?

“Don’t you worry, dear,” Deidre said softly. “They visit here very rarely. Perhaps twice a month?”

‘Then I’ll see them here at least once during my stay,’ Cassy thought. ‘Not something that I’m looking forward to exactly…’

“Though I doubt Lady Madeline will come…” Deidre couldn’t help but mutter.

Cassy glanced at her, but said nothing.

Just like Mikhail, everyone in Azallea knew who Madeline was.

Madeline Ivanov, Mikhail’s younger sister.

It wasn’t a secret that Madeline loathed her brother. The rumors said that Madeline hated him for turning her into a vampire a hundred years ago, which Madeline subtly confirmed back then. She never did hide her feelings about Mikhail.

However, Madeline still kept visiting the mansion from time to time even though it meant being under the same roof as Mikhail. The citizens guessed that it was because she wanted to visit her parents’ graves there. Some speculated that it was because she had no other permanent home to go back to, and it was too dangerous to be alone for too long outside of the city walls.

Nevertheless, almost everyone knew that they should get out of Madeline Ivanov’s way.

Cassy was really not looking forward to meeting her in person one day.

Even though Madeline wasn’t one of the Elites, she was still a force to be reckoned with. Back when Azallea was on the brink of destruction more than 50 years ago, she was the one who led the vampires to defeat their enemies and even destroyed one of the rebel vampires’ biggest organizations at that time.

Needless to say, if Madeline found out that Mikhail had a human mate, who knew what she would do to Cassy afterwards?

Cassy shook her head, not wanting to think about that further. For now, she only needed to think about living on and not leading herself into an early, gruesome death.