Chapter 9

Arriving at the Pedrosa family residence, where Bianca lived, she immediately got out of the car before Karl opened the door. She ran, intercepting one of the maids who stood beside the entrance to the house, asking the sad-eyed maid to lead her to Bianca's room. The maid looked doubtful when she saw it, but as soon as Karl, who had caught up with her, stood behind her, the maid finally willing to escort her to Bianca's room.

The place where they were now looked magnificent, although not as large as Karl's mansion. Since she arrived at the Pedrosa residence, she saw many people walking in and out. Their condition was terrible. Her eyes caught two people holding a stretcher, carrying the body of a man who was no longer moving into the house. The man's wounds were so severe, they were bleeding profusely (she had thought that vampire blood was dark black or green, but it turned out to be normal like human blood) that she could not bear to see it. The man's body was destroyed, burned in such a horrific way until no one could recognize the man anymore. Only his hands and clothes he was wearing before he died made her believe that the body had been a man.

She was so frightened that she felt her whole body tremble before Karl, who had been walking behind her all this time, moved to her right side, embracing her tightly.

"I'm here."

Karl's words managed to calm her down. She nodded, letting Karl continue to hug her until they reached Bianca's room.

"Excuse me, Mr Smith."

The maid bowed for a moment, leaving the two of them. A little hesitant, she touched the doorknob in front of her.

"Oh, Karl?"

A light-toned man voice greeted Karl, causing her to turn her body automatically towards the owner of the voice. An athletic, Asian man came over to them. To be more precise, Karl. The man's face looked exhausted but did not stop him from smiling at them. For a moment, the man seemed to question her existence in this place, then the man's face brightened.

"You are Vero, aren't you?" the man asked after it seemed that the man had managed to remember it. Even though she did not know who was the man standing in front of them. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. Bianca often talks a lot about you."

She did not know how to respond to what the man said, so all she could do was keep quiet and showing a polite smile at him. The man glanced at Karl with a finger pointing at her.

"She … is it okay to be brought her here?" asked the man. Ah, looks like she knew what the man's question meant.

"She knew, don't worry," said Karl, straightforwardly. "Where's Theo?"

"Sleeping, but he's been waiting for you a long time ago," the man turned to her. "Vero, can I ask you a favour?"

"Yes?"

"Please persuade Bianca, so she would eat. She kept herself away from anything and locked herself in her room for a week."

"I understand," she said. "I'll try my best."

The man was relieved to hear this, then led Karl to meet the man named Theo whom Karl had mentioned earlier, leaving him in front of Bianca's gloomy room. She made up her mind to knock on Bianca's door, but her trembling hands prevented her from knocking. After she had calmed down, she knocked on the door several times until it opened. Bianca's head stuck out the door, looking at her reluctantly. The woman's gaze lost its radiance. There was only a void in those eyes, coupled with a very pale and exhausted face. The woman's forehead creased for a moment, questioning her existence in this place.

“Vero? Why are you here?" Bianca had no intention of inviting her into her room, so she had to wait patiently, standing in her place. "Don't tell me Erick told you to persuade me to leave the room?"

"Erick?" now she was confused at Bianca's question. "Who is he?"

“My brother's boyfriend,” Bianca sighed as she ruffled her messy bed hair. "So, what're you doing here?"

Veronica touched the door of Bianca's room, forced Bianca to open the door wide and slipped into the woman's room. She glanced around the room looking messy like it'd been hit by a tornado.

“Vero! Who allows you to— "

She turned around as soon as Bianca's hand gripped her and was about to tell her to get out. Her hand was holding Bianca's hand, glaring at the woman. "I don't need permission from anyone to enter my best friend's room."

“But that doesn't mean you can just walk in! Go out!" Bianca growled, along with her canines popping out and her irises turning red. For a moment, she was terrified. But when she saw those eyes that looked like they were going to cry at any moment, her fear turned to anxiety. The woman looked exhausted, so weak, that the grip of her hand felt nothing in Veronica's hand, making it easy for her to pull her inside her embrace.

“Bianca, I don't know how you feel right now. I can't imagine what it's like, because I won't be able to understand it. The only one who knows what you feel is you," she stroked Bianca's hair as the woman calmed down. “But that won't prevent me from being by your side when you need me. We're friends, right?"

“I don't… need…” Bianca tried to push Veronica away but failed. The woman's voice was trembling. "No ..."

“Shhh…,” Veronica gently rubbed Bianca's back. "Nobody will see this side of yours. This secret of you showing your weak side in front of me will be locked forever without anyone know it. You can take my word, okay?"

Hearing her words, she succeeded in breaking down the fortress that was built by Bianca. The woman burst into tears, allowing Veronica to hug Bianca's body until her best friend felt better.

***

What a mess. Everything seemed chaotic.

Karl kept saying that sentence over and over in his mind as he came to Pedrosa's residence. Seeing many corpses of the Pedrosa family group being carried upstairs to be properly cremated, he growled in annoyance. If all of this mess was from the dragon clan—especially his clan, things would be much easier. He only needed to use his power as leader of the Smith family to execute the culprit, just like when he executed his subordinate—Jean Sapphire — who killed Neil Wilson, by melting all the bones so that they could not move. Like a liquid, then evaporates when exposed to sunlight, preventing Jean's body from getting the chance to reincarnate. An extreme death sentence, but worth the damage they have done.

Unfortunately, it was not that easy. The opponent he was and the group of supernatural beings was very formidable, and he did not have much information on the movements of the Schneider clan yet. He looked at the figure of Theodore Pedrosa who was asleep on his bed. Judging from the wound, it was terrible but much better than the vampire corpses he had seen earlier.

"Theo, Karl is here," Erick whispered near Theodore's ear, waking the man who had opened his eyes.

"Karl?" Theodore forced himself to get up, but he prevented it.

“Get some rest. You need that," Karl approached Theodore's steadfast figure to try to get up, forcing him to release his dragon aura to stop Theodore. "I just need some information."

"Shoot," said Theodore who had given up, lying back down. He caught a glimpse of Erick's relieved face, which seemed to thank him for stopping Theodore, so he replied with a faint smile.

"Where did it happen? And when? "

"At the airport, when I picked up Indri Pedrosa, who had just returned from Italy. Approximately when it was getting dark," said Karl, followed by a heavy sigh, and the man's reluctance to mention his now late stepmother's name. The man's hand gripped the sheet. "Three of my confidant defected to Schneider ..."

"I'll help to fix the mess." Karl changed the shape of his right hand into his dragon form, slicing off his left hand with his dragon claw. Blood came out of his hand. He brought his hand closer to Theodore who shook his head weakly. "But first, drink up."

"No need. I can recover without it. "

"Just drink it. This will make you feel better. ”He waved his hand, changed the shape of his right hand back into his human form, then forced Theodore, who had already pulled out his fangs, stimulated by his blood scent, to drink the blood. “Your wound will heal as soon as you drink my blood. After all, you are the head of the Pedrosa clan, and your sister still needs her brother."

There was no other choice for Theodore but to accept his blood as soon as he mentioned Theodore's younger sister who had always been the man's soft spot. Theodore sucked his blood, making the wounds on the man's body disappear. Satisfied, he took his hand away, casting a healing spell to seal the wound.

"You look better than before," he said again. "Any new moves from Schneider apart from that incident?"

Theodore shifted his position to sitting holding Erick's hand, trying to remember something. “Schneider has arrived in this town. His movement is still underground, but the number of his followers is increasing every day. You definitely won't like to hear it. My informant said several dragon groups were joining as well.”

"Dragons!? They even recruited dragons too?! It's not that they— "

"That's the problem. I don't understand how they managed to incite the dragons to join their dragon-slaying group,” said Theodore, grimly. "If they recruit dragons as well, that means there is something bigger they are after."

"What is that?"

"This is only a temporary guess. But if that was true… ”Theodore bit his lower lip.

“It's likely they are aiming for immortality and want to create a world where there are only supernatural beings living on the Earth, ”continued Erick. “Dragons have immortality that we don't have. Pureblood or mixed blood. Am I right?"

Karl nodded. His voice choked with surprise, so he let Erick lead their discussion.

"There are several factors that can support someone doing something, right?" Erick took the touch screen tablet that was on the nightstand beside Theodore's bed, showing the data on the ten-inch tablet screen. “Both humans and supernatural beings, they all have them. In the case of the vampire group, it was a matter of bureaucracy and caste. In the dragon clan—sorry, I didn't mean to offend—it was down to their disappointment in—”

"The ancient rules of the dragon clan," continued Karl, scanning all the documents and returning them to Erick. "This is indeed a dragon clan weakness I was trying to erase, but it's still difficult to apply this new perspective to all the dragons who are more conservative."

Erick shrugged, took the tablet and put it back on the nightstand, helping put the blanket on Theodore who had started to fall asleep because the dragon blood effect he had given him had started working.

"I think it's been a long day, so better let him rest," Karl stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets. "Make sure he gets enough sleep. He should be able to recover by tomorrow."

"I'll try to do that," Erick muttered, then led him out of the room. As soon as he closed his room, Erick bent over to face him. "Thank you, Karl. I don't know what would happen if you weren't around."

"You're too much," Karl asked Erick to stand straight again, and Erick complied. "It's only natural to help my own friend."

"I wish all dragons were like you, Karl. Maybe it would be better, ”Erick glanced at Theodore's door. "Earlier Pedrosa's personal doctor had asked Bianca and me to accept the worst possibility."

“You and Bianca? Then what about Phillips? How can he, a—"

"He's the illegitimate child if you still remember. He really doesn't care about Theo's condition and ask the doctor to let Theo die,” Erick's eyes filled with tears as he said this. His voice was trembling, and he blinked repeatedly so as not to cry in front of Karl. "So, thank you."

“Phillips, Phillips. Still as usual. Maybe I should visit and talk to him privately once things stabilize. I should teach him a lesson, ”Karl sniffed the scent of Veronica and Bianca who were walking toward them. “I think his favourite little sister will arrive soon. And I have to bring my Cinderella back before the magic disappears completely."

Erick glanced at his watch, then laughed softly. “Her magic has been released since two hours ago, Karl. Seems like you are softer than before. So is she your lover? "

"Well, in the future, yes. But now, not yet. She still hasn't given me an answer, ”Karl smiled when he saw the figure of Veronica who walked quickly to where they were now with Bianca. "I still have a lot of time, so I'm ready to wait any time."

"Let's just hope Odelia doesn't bother you," said Erick, patting his shoulder.

“I cancelled the engagement from the start. She knew that. "

"That's what you think. But not with her," Erick walked over to Bianca who was already in front of them, embraced Bianca's shoulders and dragged her away from Theodore's room before Bianca could refuse him, leaving him and Veronica. The woman's eyes were half-closed, reminding him of a baby panda who fell asleep and fell out of bed on one of the shows he had seen on a TV channel with Stephen some time ago. Without realizing it, he laughed softly.

"Are you sleepy, Cinderella?"

Veronica puffed her cheeks when she heard him call her Cinderella. "Who do you call Cinderella?"

"You," he carried the woman's body quickly. This time Veronica did not refuse. The woman just buried her face in Karl's chest. "We're going home now."

The woman did not answer his question, was really asleep. He looked at Veronica who was in his arms, then walked away leaving the Pedrosa residence.

***