A MAZE OF GREED

Reznor was silent after hearing Oscar Payne's name from Darius. He did not understand how he knew Oscar.

-"Why a human from Vincardine had Painite in his system?"-

And then it struck to Reznor.

"Was it you..."

"Yes! He was my sixth prey in the woods of Vincardine. Isn't fate an amazing thing, Reznor?! I had a very interesting interaction with that man. He was brave... foolishly brave.

But one thing I should confess is that he was not afraid of dying. He knew from the very beginning who rather what I was, yet he tried helping me, told me his name.

And guess what? He even dared to fight me. Can you believe it? Huh, Lisa? A human dared to fight a Vampire!"

Lisa did not know this story. She had no idea who Mr Payne was and why he was the centre of their conversation. The only thing that made her intrigued was he was from Vincardine- Edwin O'Dell's home.

"H-he did?" Reznor whispered.

"Yes. Unfortunately, I had to kill him because he then knew the reason for the deaths in Vincardine. I was very impressed with that man that I even thought of only drinking from him and leaving him there. Give him another chance at life.

But..."

Darius clenched his jaw tightly as he recalled Mr Payne's last words.

-"You have to understand the consequences of your actions, Vampire. This violence and bloodshed are not going to solve any problems. You should first learn to acknowledge the real problems, your shortcomings.

Everything can be achieved with peace. Negotiation is the best resort for any strategist. And if you do not understand this soon, then open your eyes and see your end nearing fast.

The werewolf leader will not spare you. Not at any cost!"-

Darius got so infuriated, that he did not think twice before squeezing the life out of the old man. He did not even realise then that he should ask him how he knew so much about the supernatural world. And when it came to him, it was already too late.

"After drinking from that old man, I realised an aftertaste in his blood. It was peculiar. And when it caused me health trouble for about a week, I was curious. I researched, spent hours and hours, going through every source of information available.

And then I found it. Painite! And that Reznor, gave birth to this mindblowing experiment of mine that will destruct the werewolf world and initiate another war. A war that will be greater, crueller, and more devastating than the previous one.

And guess who will turn out victorious in the end?"

Reznor only listened to him with wide eyes.

"Darius Garfield! He will be the ruler of the whole world both of supernaturals and the humans! I will kill all those who will disagree to acknowledge my suzerinty and humans... they will be my slaves!"

Darius looked up at the sky and laughed maniacally.

Lisa and Reznor's eyes crashed for a moment. And that made Lisa realise how big of a fool she was to fall for this blood-sucking demon.

Her heart was broken, but her mind was raging in the fire of vengeance. She would be the death of him, she pledged right there.

"Now come on Reznor, you know I have a whole war to begin. So do not waste my time and tell me where is Painite?" Darius's smile was gone and now what remained was only a cruel person who did not care about anyone but him.

"I... we... we have exhausted what we had." Reznor told.

But Darius did not believe him at all. He pulled up Reznor to his feet. Without his wand, Reznor was not much of a trouble for Darius.

He made Reznor open the portal to Malvadogar. He did not believe the cunning wizard who once was a leader of the clan of dark witches and dark wizards. Darius could not underestimate his smartness.

Lisa had no other choice but to follow them through the portal. This whole new experience was very astonishing and jaw-dropping for her. Living with Vampires was one thing, but roaming in the world of magic and wizards was something she had only heard in the folk tales.

Reznor took Darius to his headquarters, where he lived and conducted all of his experiments and magic. Once prosperous land of dark magic was now bare and in bad condition.

That reminded Darius that one has importance only until one possesses the power. Once that power is gone, all that remains are ruins of the prosperous past.

He would not let his empire crumble down like this, he promised himself.

Darius searched every nook and corner of Reznor's place but did not find Painite. The time was ticking fast, and he could not hold Reznor for long. So Darius had to leave.

To save time, Darius made Reznor find the portal that would take them to Kinsville in a short time.

Darius was confident and happy with his little success. Little did he know that the old dark wizard was two steps ahead of him.

Darius did not make him cooperate, Reznor agreed to go with him willingly. After the deterioration of Malvadogar, and losing his human chains, who used to bring the essentials he needed for his magical experiments, Reznor's ambitions seemed futile.

But fate had given him another chance in Darius's form. Reznor had a fair idea of Vampires' power and reach. He could easily use Darius for his benefit.

While returning back to Kinsville, both Darius and Reznor had no idea what they were planning on initiating.

*

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Ruth was passing through the corridor, lost in her thoughts when the murmur fell on her ears. She initially ignored it, but as she neared a small group of maids standing nearby, she could not ignore their words anymore.

"Oh look, she is coming." One of the maids said after seeing Ruth.

"I heard that she went to meet the physician before he died." Another one said.

Ruth cringed inwardly yet kept on walking.

"They say that he died because of heart attack but then why was foam coming out of his mouth?"

"You mean he was poisoned?"

The first one nodded her head.

"And it is very obvious who must have poisoned him." And all the women in the group threw an accusing glare at Ruth.

Now Ruth realised why everybody was upset at her for opening her mouth in front of the whole crowd. But the damage was already done, and there was no going back now.

Ruth decided to ignore those baseless comments, but those church bells were not done yet.

"Why do you think she might have killed the poor physician?" One of them asked.

Which sounded more like an attempt to fuelling the fire, instead of a genuine question.

"I do not know. Why don't you ask herself?" The other one said.

"No... no... I do not want people to see me talking with a murderer." And they laughed loudly like a herd of goats.

Ruth was angry, yet she knew that any reaction would be misinterpreted and might be used against her. But the false accusation daunted her self esteem.

"SHUT UP!"

A loud voice boomed from the right, and every head, including Ruth's, snapped in that way. The taunting smiles on the women's faces faltered as Thea stomped towards them with flared nostrils.

"Are you already declaring an innocent guilty without the proofs?" Thea's voice thundered.

Ruth was amazed as well as surprised to see the effect she had on those women. Being Young Master's head maid had its own privileges, Ruth thought.

"Thea, we were just-"

"You were what? Making fun of a your coworker? Trying to show that our lords are incapable of findng the real culprit? Do you consider yourself wiser than them that you know the killer but they don't?"

The maids looked at a loss of words. They kept glancing at each other and fiddling with their fingers nervously.

"If I see or heard any of you accusing someone of unproven charges, I will not hesitate to complain to Young Master." Thea threatened.

The women looked panicked. They knew that as much as Edwin was lenient and sweet at times, he could be also brutal if he decided to.

"We... we are sorry Thea, Ruth!" Saying that, the group hurried away from there.

Thea released a frustrated sigh before turning to Ruth. She narrowed her eyes, seeing her best friend smiling meaningfully.

"What?"

Ruth hugged Thea taking her by surprise. "You are the best friend I could have ever asked for!! Thank you!"

Thea smiled even though Ruth could not see her. Pulling away, she frowned at Ruth.

"And since when you decided to keep silence when people try to walk all over you? It was not long ago that you dared to get in trouble with Lady Eloise and Lady Theodora for standing up for others and yourself. Have we lost that Ruth already?" Thea asked, raising her brow at her.

Ruth smiled again, recalling these past days.

"No my dear best friend. You haven't lost that Ruth. In fact this new Ruth will definitely take you by surprise. She is just handling things in a different way." Ruth winked mischievously.

Thea did not understand the gravity of her words then, but one thing was sure that she and the whole world was going to witness the rise of that smiling woman!