“Your father? Carl texted you?” Lilia says in shock.
“Yeah. A min ago.”
“How does he even have your number?” Tasha asks.
“No idea. He is resourceful.”
“What does he want?” Asks Lilia.
“He wants to meet me tomorrow.”
“But why?”
“The message doesn’t say, but I think we can say it's because of the ritual. Has to be. There’s no other reason he would reach out to a son he has not seen for a decade. He knows now that only I can give him the third ingredient.”
“Don’t go!” S
The waiter comes back with the coffees while Damion just stares at Carl with a blank expression and then when the waiter leaves, he says, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”“Do not lie to me,” says Carl through gritted teeth.“I am not. I have no idea what The Valkyrie Opus is. I have never heard of it before.”Carl thinks that if Damion is lying, he has to be an excellent liar because it is hard to fool him and to him, it doesn’t look like he is lying.“Is that all you wanted to know?” Damion asks as he sips his coffee with a supremely unconcerned expression.“If you are telling the truth then, yes.”
Damion does not say yes immediately because something is bothering him. He does not want to commit to something before thinking it through. Also, there are certain things he wishes to clarify.“But how do you know I can get to it? What if my father has it?” Damion asks.“You mean Carl?” says Evarius.Damion is surprised that Evarius knows who his father is.Evarius notices the surprised look on Damion’s face. He smiles and says, “I have done my research well. I know Carl wants the book, but if he could get to it, he would have it by now. The fact that he doesn’t mean that you have it.”“I don’t have it.”“But
Everyone is silent for a few seconds then Lilia says, “I think you should. Unless anyone has a good reason for you not to do so.”“I agree,” says Esther, “and anyway, who is to say Evarius won’t start threatening us if we don’t do what he says?”“Right,” says Brent, “also, for now, it isn’t harming anyone. So, I think we are good to go for now.”“Okay, then. I’ll go and get it.”“Yes,” all of them say together.“Where is it anyway?” Lilia asks.“On an island. Would take over two hours to reach the shore and then some more to reach the Island. I have never b
Tasha and Damion meet at 6:15 in the morning the next day.“Uh- there’s an addition in the plan,” says Tasha.“What addition?”“Evarius is coming with us.”“What? Why? Did you invite him?”“Why would I invite him?”“You seem to like him.”“I don’t like him,” says Tasha, annoyed, “and he invited himself. What was I supposed to say? No? It’s not like we really have a choice where he is concerned.”“Very well. One more pair of eyes would do and anyway, it’s because of him that we are going there at all.”“Yeah.”A few minutes later, Evarius joins them, and all three drive out of the city where Tyrus joins them too. Finally, the four of them start their journey to the shore. It takes them about two and a half hours to reach there. Then, they compel a boatman to lend them his boat and set sail for the island.*After breakfast, Adeline leaves the house. She walks to the old auditorium where she had met Nadia for the first time in decades. She is going to meet her again. The anxiety about l
As Evarius and Tasha are walking and looking for trapdoors, Evarius chances a glance at Tasha now and then when she is not looking. They might think that the reason he has come with them is to keep an eye on them, but the truth is that he has come so he can spend some time with Tasha. He doesn’t need to keep an eye on them, he knows that they will get the book. To that point, there is no issue. The issues will begin only after that. He sees Tasha sitting on her feet and clearing leaves, twigs, and dust from a spot on the ground.“Anything there,” he asks her.“Uh... no... I thought there might be.”She gets back up and says, “How are we going to find a trapdoor that has obviously been built to remain hidden in such a huge place? I know when compared to other islands, it’s a small place, but it’s still huge.”“We’ll just have to keep looking, I guess.”“That desperate to die, are you?” Tasha says, raising her eyebrows.“You have no idea,” says Evarius smiling, “come on, let’s look that
Everything happened so quickly that Carl barely had time to register anything. When he gains some sight, he finds himself pinned to the ground by a vampire he does not recognize. But he seems much stronger than any vampire he had ever encountered in his life. Carl tries to push him off but fails. The vampire punches him in the face and Carl feels his nose break and hot blood pour out onto his face.The vampire gets off him and pulls him straight up with him. Then, in a barely audible whisper, he says, “Push me and run as fast as you can. I’ll pretend that you slipped out of my hands.” Carl has no idea why he is helping him but does as he is told.*Damion had got up and was looking around for Tyrus. Finally, he spots him coming towards them. He looks ruffled but otherwise uninjured.“He scarpered,” Tyrus says.Damion turns around in time to look at Carl, push Evarius and run off.“Stop him!” Damion shouts.“It’s okay,” says Evarius. “Pick up the book. Close the door and let’s leave.”
Damion, Tasha, and Evarius go back to the University while Tyrus takes his car that he had parked outside the city and leaves for Byfall County.Damion and Tasha go to her hostel to meet Lilia and Evarius goes back to wherever he lives. He had told Tasha to read through the book and see what she finds. As he had lived for two millennia, he knows Latin and is willing to help her whenever she needs it. Although, there are a lot of terms and the ways sentences have been written that he cannot decipher because it requires knowledge of magic which has somewhat different terminology. Tasha has been learning that through Anastasia’s books.They meet Lilia and tell her everything that had happened.“Oh my God!” Says Lilia “I am so glad none of you got fatally injured or worse...”“Looks like it was good that Evarius came with us after all,” says Damion.“Yes, it was. Have all your injuries healed?”“Yep. I am all fit now. I think a nice sleep would bring everything back to normal for me. I’ll
Tasha looks over at Lilia and sees that she is smiling.“What?” She asks her.“Nothing,” says Lilia, quickly composing her face into a more serious expression.Tasha narrows her eyes at her, and then Lilia says hastily, “Well, I was just wondering when are you going to ask Evarius about all this?”“When I see him next.”“On your next coffee date?” Lilia says, suppressing a smile.“They are not dates! I told you he just wants to keep an eye on me.”“Did he tell you that?”“No, but it’s obvious, isn’t it?”“Or maybe, he just likes you...”“Oh please,” Tasha says, rolling her eyes, but she can pretend in front of Lilia, not herself. She likes to hear that other people think he likes her. But she diverts attention from that and says, “Instead of cooking up stories for other people, why don’t you focus on your feelings for Damion.”This wipes the smile from Lilia’s face, and she says, “He won’t even talk to me properly. We haven’t had a one-on-one conversation since I asked Tyrus to the ba