The chill that followed me out of the Board Hall felt unnatural.
Fredric's words still rang in my head crisp, cold, commanding.
"Be late once, Kael, and I'll carve the reminder myself."
I'd seen men bleed slower than his patience.
And yet, beneath all that, the thought wouldn't leave me ...
my father.
His name twisted into something dirty.
Traitor.
No. I didn't believe that.
Not until I found out the truth myself.
My phone buzzed.
Serie: Teacher... when?
Me: 10 p.m. Same place.
The lie steadied me.
Pretending for her made me human again.
I shoved the device into my pocket and went to my room.
I wanted answers.
I wanted records.
I searched for families who vanished...old notices, erased files, buried names.
The silence on the records told me everything
That ....
they were good at erasing people. Too good.
My hands shook. I reached for the hidden bottle I kept for nights like this. The glass felt cold.
Before the first swallow, my phone flashed again....
Fredric: Come to the University gate. Two minutes.
I couldn't drink. Whatever this was, it wasn't a social call.
I shifted into my beast form and tore through the yard.
Black dragon...crow wings hidden, speed built of shadows and hunger.
I hit the gate in thirty seconds, breathless, coat still in my room, uniform sticked to me with sweat.
Fredric was waiting beside a black car, smoke curling from a half-burned cigar.
Two soldiers stood behind him ... both silent.
One's hair glowed red like flame; the other's shimmered blue like ice. Both reeked of iron and old blood.
Fredric's smile was all blade.
"You're fast. Good. Let's see if you can stomach what comes next."
We got in. The city blurred by...no sound, no breath, just the low hum of the engine and Fredric's voice slicing the silence.
"We found the rat. Warren. He's been whispering...feeding scraps of truth to outsiders. Your job is to watch. And when I say move, you move. When I say stop, you stop. And if I tell you to clean, you clean."
"Clean?" I asked quietly.
"Bodies don't vanish on their own."
----
We stopped in front of a small house at the edge of the city.
Ordinary.
Peaceful.
Lies.
"Shielded," said Red-hair.
Fredric didn't break stride..
"Then break it."
The man did, muttering spells that cracked the air. The ward screamed before it died.
Blue-hair wove something else -- a containment sigil.
My skin prickled. We were inside another shell now, one that no sound or light could escape.
Fredric grinned. "Perfect. No witnesses."
He kicked the door in...
"Warren! You f**king coward! Come out before I start carving your wife instead!"
A man's trembling voice came from the hallway. "Please… don't hurt them. They've done nothing. I'll come out!"
And he did thin, pale, terrified, bloodshot eyes wide.
Fredric's smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Loyalty's a funny thing. Costs less than a breath to lose it."
The man dropped to his knees. "Please, take me. Just spare them...my wife, my son, please...!!"
Fredric stepped closer.
"You know, I've heard that before. Always the same speech. 'Spare them.' It's almost poetic… except it's boring."
Then he pulled the trigger.
The shot echoed like thunder. The man collapsed not dead, but close...
"Carry him," Fredric ordered.
I hesitated, but I obeyed. The smell of iron filled my lungs.
When I touched his arm, I saw it .. a black tattoo, small, jagged.
A crow's wing.
My father's mark.
I froze. My mind split open. The dying man's hand gripped my sleeve .... just enough to drag my head down.
"Y-you look like… him…"
he choked, blood at his lips.
Then his palm brushed my temple and I saw.
My father, chanting with others, circles of flame. His voice...His eyes....
My skull burned. I staggered back, dizzy.
Fredric's voice cut through the haze.
"Move, Kael."
I bent down again, lifted the body. Inside, something broke.
A scream...
A woman rushed out .. his wife, dragging their son, a boy no older than fifteen.
The boy's eyes wide, wet, defiant.
"Stop! Please! Don't hurt him! Kill me instead!"
Fredric turned slowly. "Well... Isn't that touching?"
He aimed at her leg and fired. The woman dropped, sobbing.
The boy tried to shield her, trembling but unbroken.
Fredric's tone softened ...mockingly gentle.
"You see, Kael, this is what loyalty breeds...disease. It spreads. Best to cut it at the root."
He raised his gun toward the boy. My instincts screamed.
"Stop!" I shouted before I could think.
Fredric looked at me. Long, cold silence.
"You want to play hero? Fine...You do it...Kill them both."
My blood went cold. "Fredric...!"
"Orders," he said, smiling.
"Let's see how much of your father you've got in you."
He turned away, dragging Warren's body toward a chalk circle drawn in blood. Symbols carved themselves into the air -- a ritual, old and ugly.
The smell of burnt magic rose like smoke. Warren's body lifted slightly, twitching as Fredric chanted.
I recognized the pattern.
The same one I saw in my nightmares. The same one used on my father.
Behind me, the woman grabbed my boot. Her eyes were wide, pleading.
"Please… save him. Please…"
Her voice cracked something inside me. My chest ached -- dragon-fire, guilt, humanity. All burning together.
Fredric's chant grew louder.
"Do it, Kael! Stop wasting time."
The boy shouted through his tears.
"Don't! Don't touch her!"
I looked at him ... really looked .. and saw myself years ago, screaming for a man who didn't come back.
My claws shook. My fire gathered in my throat.
She met my eyes, tears streaking her face, and whispered,
"Do it fast."
And so I did.
Her eyes closed before I finished.
And I burned the body before Fredric could turn and use it.
Flames devoured her, and the boy cried out, falling to his knees.
Fredric snarled.
"Idiot! We needed them intact!"
I forced my voice steady. "She was screaming. You said to clean."
He paused. Then… he laughed.
"You really are your father's son."
---
While Fredric continued his ritual, I acted fast. The boy was still frozen, shaking. I crouched beside him, grabbing his wrist.
"Listen to me," I hissed.
"You need to live. You hear me? Live. Grow. And when you're ready… come for me."
His eyes flared --grief turning into something colder.
Behind me, Fredric's chant rose again. He was binding Warren's soul. The air split open, light pulsing.
I summoned a shadow body, a perfect illusion of the boy, and dragged it next to the woman's ashes.
Then, when Fredric turned, I used a flick of shadow to push the real boy into the dark, out through the side window.
The ritual light flared -- Fredric's grin wide and wicked.
He turned, seeing the fake burned bodies. "Damn! Why burn them both? We needed their energy!"
"They wouldn't stop screaming," I said flatly.
Fredric exhaled, almost amused. "Walter raised you well. Ruthless and obedient. Let's keep it that way."
He clapped my shoulder, leaving a handprint of blood.
"Welcome to the real kingdom, Kael. Hope you last longer than your father."
----
Outside, blue-hair whispered a command, and the house disintegrated — stone, flesh, and memory erased in one breath. Gone. Like it never existed.
We drove back through the silent streets.
No one spoke.
Only my pulse -- heavy, loud, full of ghosts.
Back at the university, I walked past the gate like a corpse pretending to be human.
My hands still smelled of smoke.
The boy's eyes haunted me.
The tattoo on Warren's wrist -- my father's mark--carved itself into my mind.
Inside, I couldn't breathe.
Inside, I was burning.
You did this...! A killer...! A murderer...!
the voice whispered in my mind..