Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate
Chapter 229: A New Lead

Chapter 229: A New Lead

The dark magic the human witch used to contain the demon inside Florian had failed miserably. It was like trying to calm a child’s week-long tantrum with a single piece of candy.

The spell only held for the first two nights. By the third night, without Lady Maris or King Valentin knowing, the demon took control again. Florian slipped out of the palace, lost to the demon’s influence. Another vampire fell victim to its cruelty.

When Margrave Boris brought the news, King Valentin felt a sharp pain in his head.

"Wasn’t the dark magic supposed to be enough?" he murmured, more to himself than to Margrave Boris.

But the margrave heard him and decided to answer. "I consulted the Holiness at the High Temple, but they know little about dark magic. And since I couldn’t give them all the details, they couldn’t provide the answers I needed."

King Valentin thought deeply. If anyone in the vampire world still knew about dark magic, it would be the elders. But most of them were wiped out during Elder Alfred’s ambush.

"Have you tried contacting the elders?" he asked, then quickly added, "The ones who are still alive—and willing to listen to the crown?"

Margrave Boris took a deep breath before speaking. He knew the truth wouldn’t please the king, but he couldn’t withhold it.

"There are only nine elders left alive," he began carefully. "Six of them have shut their doors to us. While they weren’t aligned with Elder Alfred during the attack, they strongly disapprove of how you handled it—killing so many elders during the incident."

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t King Valentin who had killed the elders during the battle. It was Emperor Kaan who ended the conflict, and ultimately, who took the elders’ lives.

Yet King Valentin had never clarified his position on the matter. Clearing his name simply didn’t matter to him.

When Emperor Kaan left the Kingdom of Eira and Florian returned to the palace, King Valentin chose to let the past lie buried. It was his way of moving forward—and a gesture of respect for the dead elders, despite the betrayal they had plotted against him.

Margrave Boris watched the king for any reaction. When King Valentin stayed silent, Margrave Boris pressed on.

"I’ve sent inquiries about the dark magic to the three elders still willing to work with us, but none of them have any knowledge of it."

The real issue was that dark magic was a taboo subject for vampires. The first emperor had outlawed its use, declaring it a crime to preserve the delicate balance of power among vampires, humans, and werewolves.

Humans were allowed to use magic as a way to protect themselves from the stronger beings they lived alongside. It was their only real defense should a war break out between the races.

Because of this law, vampires had never been taught dark magic, and their knowledge of it was scant at best.

"Then our only hope is the Nightshade Coven," King Valentin concluded grimly.

"It seems so, Your Majesty," Margrave Boris replied.

The Nightshade Coven, made up of the very first vampires, might hold the ancient knowledge needed to understand dark magic—and how to combat it.

"Have you heard anything from Kai Stahl?" the king asked.

"The last update was two weeks ago," Margrave Boris replied. "He was in Blackspire, a small town north of Galene. He’s been there for three months but has yet to find any trace of the Nightshade Coven."

"It’s been over five years..." King Valentin muttered, frustration clear in his tone. Yet, deep down, he understood how daunting the task was.

The Nightshade Coven had vanished without a trace. Even if they were still alive and hiding among society, they would have masked their true identities flawlessly.

If vast kingdoms, elite knight orders, and generations of kings and emperors had failed to uncover their whereabouts, how could one vampire succeed where so many others had failed?

"Ask him if he needs anything to speed up the search—resources, gold, authority, whatever it takes," King Valentin ordered. "Tell him I’m willing to grant him my royal crest if it will get him where he needs to go."

The royal crest was no small offering. To wield it was to act with the king’s full authority, a power that could be devastating if placed in the wrong hands. But King Valentin was desperate, and he trusted Kai enough to take the risk.

"I’ll inform him immediately, Your Majesty," replied Margrave Boris.

As the margrave departed, King Valentin rose and made his way to the north tower. He stopped outside the heavy door, standing there for what felt like an eternity, lost in thought.

Where had it all gone wrong? Would this boy—the demon child—have even been born if he had shown a little more kindness to the late Isolde? But she had been nothing more than a stranger to him then.

The question gnawed at him, planting bitter seeds of regret. It wasn’t Isolde he pitied, not truly. It was the faint hope that, had he acted differently, the shadow of this evil might never have come to be.

King Valentin tried to push the thought away; it would lead him nowhere. The past was unchangeable, and dwelling on it would only hinder his ability to find a real solution.

With a deep sigh, he raised his hands and cast a spell around the chamber where Florian was being kept. This spell was stronger than the one he had used on Riona’s chamber before.

He had avoided using such magic to lock the boy up, wary of touching the dark magic that bound the boy. Adding his own spell to the dark magic would only tie him to it, something he had hoped to avoid.

But now, he had no choice.

***

A young vampire, tall and striking, wore a face as rigid as stone. His expression had long since faded, worn down by time and countless failures, leaving him unable to show any emotion at all.

Sir Kai had wrapped a thin scarf around his head, blending in with the townspeople as he posed as a humble merchant’s helper. He gathered information—both accurate and false—from the unlikeliest of places, such as the market, where people never expected to be overheard.

After leaving the Kingdom of Eira, he had traveled through the old lands, scouring every inch of each city in search of the Nightshade Coven. When his efforts there proved fruitless, he moved on to the next. He had never stopped moving, always alert for any whisper that might guide him closer to his goal.

Now, standing at the border of the continent, far from his homeland, Sir Kai still hadn’t found any trace of the coven.

That was, until now. As he moved crates of potatoes into the store, he overheard a conversation between two maids.

"You’re new, so you might not know this," one maid said. "But our Lordship has lived forever. My father, my grandfather—no, my great-great-grandfather—served the same man. I bet he’s one of the firsts."