Elijah stood at the rooftop of one of the many Palace towers, looking below as he observed the guards that patrolled in and out of the building. Getting rid of them wasn’t his problem, but alerting the whole palace of his presence was his main concern.
After his first fail on the sick King, Alaric had tightened the security, and any slight mistake could reveal his presence to everyone. His younger brother wasn’t a moron, he had to admit, Alaric was doing a good job concerning the kingdom. He has no issues with Alaric in the slightest, but that old man on the bed, he needed to have a word with him before sending him to the afterlife.
He has to think of another way to get in without--
"Damn it!"
Lifting his gaze up, he caught sight of Elian standing at the top of the main palace tower, watching him with his arms crossed. Of course, why would he be surprised? Unfortunately, the fool never wants to stay away.
More annoyingly, he seemed to be everywhere these days.
With a scoff, Elijah turned his back on him and jumped down from the Tower, disappearing from Elian’s sight. He quietly snuck out from the Palace walls, entering the darkness of the alleyway and avoiding his brother’s monitoring gaze, but to Elijah’s disappointment, Elian was already waiting for him in the alleyway.
"How did you--"
"You always follow the darkest of alleys. They’ve been your source of companionship." Elian answered before he could complete his question, and since they were alone, Elijah took off his cloak, revealing his beady eyes that narrowed intently at Elian.
Unlike Elian who could take the form of a human and Vampire, Elijah could not, and that makes him a pure-blood.
"I warned you to stay away from me." Elijah growled in displeasure.
"Yeah, you did, but I never listened." Came Elian’s curt response.
"What do you want?"
"I want to help you." Elian stated simply.
He took a few steps forward till he was standing just two steps away from Elijah. "You’ve suffered enough already, admit your mistakes and let me help you get you out of this mess."
"I don’t need it."
"There’s always a way Elijah, you told me this, remember?"
"I’m sorry, who are you again?" He tilted his head slightly to the side, and his phlegmatic gaze only got on the nerves of Elian.
How is he so good at hiding his dilemma? He was going through so much but.... Why won’t he just admit it??
"Elijah..."
"Save yourself first, I have eyes everywhere Elian." He took one step closer, his tone turning deep and dark. "Cassian and his wife are no longer in Carmarthen, if I’m not mistaken. They’ve journeyed to Whitebrige city, and I’m sure you know what that means for all of us, am I right?"
"She can save you if you give her the chance."
"Killing her sounds more fun. I’ll be saved too." He chuckled deeply before placing a hand on Elian’s shoulder, giving him a pat. "You’re still a fool, Elian. What makes you think the Mastermind is in Carmarthen? If his enemy is no longer in Carmarthen, what makes you think he’d still be here when she isn’t? Getting rid of her is the only way I can be saved, we all can be saved."
"You’re wrong."
"Once she creates that barrier, the Mastermind won’t be the only one knocked out. I’ll die too, and every other thing relating with the Mastermind goes poof, like we never existed, and that leaves everything I’ve done till this day, all my hardwork would be in vain, and no brother, that is not what I want."
"The Mastermind is in Whitebridge?" Elian asked again, and his brother only smiled before walking past him. "Does it matter? You’re too focused on me to pay attention to that information, aren’t you?"
He stopped walking and turned to look at his brother. "It doesn’t matter, you can’t stop either of them from dying. Now that I think about it, I should pay that capital a little visit, aah... I’ve missed that confused Vampire of mine, I should taunt him a little before he meets his end. He needs to remember the one person that turned him into what he is, shouldn’t he?"
He looked at Elian, "I’m not in the mood to pick another fight with you, but if you keep coming in my way, I can’t guarantee how long I can tolerate your intrusion."
"Listen to me." Elian’s tone was audibly serious, "how can you take everything as some kind of game? You pretend it doesn’t matter but you know it does! He’s only using you!!! Snap out from his chains and think about my offer, give it some deep thoughts, and if you aren’t scared, I should expect a ’Yes’ answer from you."
Finishing what he had to say, Elian turned to take his leave without glancing at his brother.
Elijah just stood there, speechless as he watched him go till he was out of sight, and once again, he felt loneliness return to the place. Running a hand through his hair, he gnashed his teeth and kicked a trash can out of the way.
"No one tells me what to do."
Meanwhile, Elian took a stroll in the afternoon crowd, and Inna joined him from nowhere.
"How did it go?"
"It’s fifty-fifty. He told me the Mastermind’s location on purpose." Elian held back a scoff, knowing his brother had deliberately helped him back there.
"Perfect, so when do we begin thy journey?" Inna asked, fixing her fancy hat in place, and a smile curved Elian’s lips.
"Bring that human friend of yours."
"His name is Orson, and I don’t need you telling me the obvious. Remember, I’m the one in charge, if I hadn’t told you to meet with your brother, you wouldn’t have gotten this information. In conclusion, you both will need me as I am smarter."
Tilting her head up and squaring her shoulders, she gracefully walked ahead with the red-haired vampire trailing behind.
She had him questioning who was more dominant between the two of them, cause presently, he felt challenged.