Chapter 67: Who is the culprit
Kaelric’s POV
The night of the abduction, she didn’t only linger in the shadows. She followed closely, too closely, as though she was ensuring every step of the plan unfolded just the way she wanted. She watched Aria being led away. She didn’t step in, didn’t stop it. She simply ensured the chaos was in motion, then retreated into the crowd, her hands apparently clean.
My stomach clenched. That explained her frantic denial earlier. She hadn’t dragged Aria herself, but she had orchestrated the stage.
The mastermind doesn’t always wield the knife; they only need to place it in the right hand.
I released her head, finally pulling away. Her body slumped forward, drenched in sweat, trembling like a leaf.
She was unconscious by now, unable to say any words; her eyes were wide open.
The Headmistress stepped closer, visibly unsettled. "What did you see?"
I straightened, rolling my shoulders, trying to shake off the lingering tension in my own chest. "I saw enough. Larissa is guilty," I paused and exhaled carefully, then turned to face the council.
"Not directly of the abduction, but of setting the stage and ensuring the right pawns were moved into place. She is as dangerous as the ones who laid hands on Aria, maybe even more so. She is the orchestrator; now it’s time to find those she used to carry out the abduction process."
The Headmistress flinched, staring at Larissa with disbelief. "She... she seemed so... harmless."
"Harmless?" I scoffed under my breath. "Again, I say, no one who deals with vampires is harmless. The words you are saying are shocking me."
Luna Ashley, a white-blonde woman who serves as the assistant headmistress, has been observing the dialogue between me and the headmistress and has decided to speak up for the first time.
"You talked about a spell. We need to find it, and if she is under a spell, I need to step in for her. What do you all think?" She looked at me and then turned her face from left to right to ensure the other council members heard her.
For a long moment, the room was heavy with silence, save for Larissa’s faint groans. I turned my gaze back to the Headmistress. Her expression was conflicted, torn between her instinct to protect her students and the undeniable truth she had just heard.
"She’ll be put in containment for now, before she is thrown into the underworld with her fellow culprits."
I declared, not asking for permission, trying to change the topic to replace the headmistress brought to the council by her obvious rival, just because she is under a spell that can be removed.
"And as for Tracy, her candidacy ends today. I’ll not have a vampire spell deciding the leadership of this academy."
The Headmistress parted her lips, as though to protest again, but one look from me silenced her. She turned away, pressing a trembling hand to her temple.
I called the guards in, motioning toward Larissa. "Take her to the detention wing. Keep her under close watch; she is more dangerous than she looks. No visitors without my clearance."
I was now taking the upper hand, as the headmistress and some of the council members were hypnotized, and I was doing it under the authority of the Alpha King, who is my uncle.
They obeyed swiftly, lifting her weak form and dragging her out, together with Wayne and Lucas’s bodies.
I turned again to the council. "We have identified the orchestrator; now we need to locate the other students she used to carry out the plan. We also have to find the spell and destroy it before Election Day." I paused to make sure they were with me.
"Because we can’t even disclose Tracy’s removal from the election contest with them now, it will result in a big protest, knowing that she already bought their mind with her compelling spell."
"Then you just don’t announce it at all, in fact, you don’t disqualify her at all, to avoid an uproar," Prof. Garrich spoke up mindlessly for the first time.
"Listen to yourself when you speak. I hope the spell isn’t affecting your reasoning or ability to comprehend your words?" I snapped at him.
A deafening silence overtook the room, and every council member looked tense, I decided it was time for everyone of us to have a break, "I think we will have to adjourn this meeting, since we have found what we came to find, I will handle the rest of the matter and I will like you," I said pointing at Lunar Ashley, "To join me in handling the rest."
The Headmistress finally turned back to look at me, her face pale. "Kaelric... what if the vampires are already inside the school?"
Well, that was the first time she said something very reasonable since the spell overtook her. "They might be, I would trace every one of them I find on school grounds," I replied flatly. "And more so, that’s exactly why we can’t afford weakness. Not from Tracy, not from Larissa, and certainly not from us."
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard. I could see the fear creeping into her eyes, but fear was a good thing. Fear would keep her alert.
I left the council hall; every council member did too. Luna Ashley followed briskly behind me to my office.
I walked over to my desk, the surveillance footage still paused on the screen. Aria’s image lingered there, her walking into that dark path, the student at her side, the casino looming in the background. My jaw tightened.
"I must find the other two culprits responsible for abducting Aria and her friend Becca," I muttered to myself.
"Is everything alright?" Lunar Ashley asked in a seductive soft tone, gradually moving forward to feel my chest.
She was married, yet she always tries to steal glances my way.
"I suggest you stick to business, I’m fine by the way, but I’m more concerned about finding the traitors in this academy, because somehow, they are still answering to the vampires, because they are under their hypnosis," I shot at her, causing her to flinch and move back.
"Sorry. Didn’t mean to upset the Alpha prince, so why did you choose me to assist you on this case? I don’t have any special ability like you do?" she said, casually walking to the couch by the side and slumping on it in a slow, lazy and somehow seductive manner.
"Look at the footage, I’m guessing you haven’t looked at any of them before, but you are smart, and I know you have almost the mental fortitude as I do," I told her.
I knew she was half Dravari, but she disguises herself so well, you wouldn’t even notice, except of course you are a Dravari.
"What do you mean, I have almost the same mental fortitude as you? I’m not a Dravari or even close," she denied, twisting the corners of her mouth.
"And that is exactly my point. How did you know I was a Dravari?, I wasn’t carrying some spell that helps me read people’s minds, if you aren’t a Dravari," I retorted.
I knew that most of the council members didn’t think I was a Dravari; they only knew what I had filled in my application, which was that I had special abilities that aid investigations and a keen sense of tracing irregular activities in the academy.
But for her to know that I was a Dravari, she must be a Dravari.
"Ok, you got me there," she said, raising her hands in the air in fake surrender. Now let’s skip to the good part," she paused and then continued a few seconds later.
"I’ll help in finding the students who carried out the plan. I’ll be sending out spies tonight into the male wolves’ dormitories, and I’m guessing you have to deal with the spell part, right?"
She stood up from the couch, where she had been seated, and headed towards the desk where the laptop with the footage was located.
"Yes, we are on the same page now. This should be carried out fast, because we don’t really know what the vampires have up their sleeves. We need to be fast, and..." I said, pacing around, "Let’s hope they haven’t done a lot of damage yet."
"I hope so. But I have a plea, don’t you think Larissa is too young to face such consequences for her actions?" Ashley asked, her tone laced with sarcasm.
"Too young but scheming. She knows the rule very well, but she didn’t fear the consequences of her actions when she carried it out." I inhaled and exhaled, placing both my hands at the sides of my waist.
"Moreover, she has met her wolf, and she’s passed the accountability age; therefore, she is answerable to her actions," I finished off, before settling on my desk.
"I guess I’ll be leaving now that we have gotten to a conclusion," she said while walking towards the door, twisting the doorknob in a slow, sensual manner, winking at me and then exiting.
I shook my head at her weak attempts to either flirt with me or seduce me.
I stood up from my desk, pacing around a bit. I needed to find a way to end that spell, and who else can carry out that job better than...