Letters to Romeo.

Chapter 237 – Suspect In Veteris

The three Elder vampires were the first to step into the drawing-room, and Simon followed them, while Julie and Roman followed Ms. Dante into another room. Once the door of the room closed, Ms. Dante said, 

"Sit down." 

Julie stared at the vampiress before turning to look at Roman and then sat down on the couch, and Roman sat next to her. 

"What's the matter, Dante?" questioned Roman. He had almost believed that he would be reprimanded for burning one of the buildings down, but seeing the vampiress call Julie, a subtle frown appeared on his face. 

Ms. Dante held a grim expression on her face, and she asked Julie, "I have been seeing phantoms, walking around the forest or near the campus in the middle of the night. Do you have any idea about it?"

"Phantoms?" asked Julie, "Are you talking about the ghosts?" she was quick to ask, but she had made sure to collect all the witches' spirits in the vessel. 

"Yes, ghosts of people who are dead, I have caught glimpses of them in Veteris," replied Dante, and Julie's lips turned dry. "I believe it had something to do with you, since the last time you and Roman visited Willow Creek." 

"All the spirits' souls have been captured and kept in the vial glass," Roman came to Julie's aid. With a look of seriousness on his face, he said, "Whom did you see?"

Ms. Dante pursed her lips as if trying to wrap her head around something in her mind. Julie pulled out the glass vial from her pocket that she carried with her everywhere, and she showed the little mist inside it. "Cillian said I got every one of them in here, and I haven't opened the lid since I last closed it." 

The vampiress stared at the little glass vial, for a moment tearing her gaze away from the glass. She asked, "What exactly happened in Willow Creek when you visited it?" 

"We were trying to get in contact with the magic that belonged to the spirits, the witches who had been killed surfaced up on the ground. Who were unjustly killed and burned alive," explained Julie, not knowing how Ms. Dante had caught sight of a spirit. 

"Whom did you see?" Roman repeated his question, and Ms. Dante's eyes met his. 

"My late husband's spirit," came the words of the vampiress that held no emotion in it. Lady Eloise Dante's whole family had been killed in the massacre, and she had witnessed her husband being killed by a vampire. 

"You're telling the magic awakened other souls apart from the ones who were in Willow Creek?" asked Julie, "That's not possible. It was done only for the witches, and not humans or vampire spirits to be awakened—"

"Unless her husband was not a human," replied Roman as he stared at the vampiress, who had the same thought as him. "When did you see his ghost?" 

"This evening. It was just a glimpse but I am sure I saw him, and I knew he was there. Just hovering around Veteris, and I doubt students have realized it was a ghost," Ms. Dante sighed, feeling a slight headache emerge in her head. "Your powers must have increased, to be able to affect the other lands that are away from Willow Creek." 

"Or maybe something changed," suggested Roman, and Ms. Dante shook her head. 

"What do you mean?" asked the woman. 

At the same time, Mr. Evans entered the room, and he walked towards where the three of them were sitting. Roman replied to her, "We experienced something odd on one side of the restricted forest. None of us were able to make use of our abilities, and we turned into normal vampires. It even affected Julie." 

"That's impossible," responded Ms. Dante. "The whole of Veteris is free from the magic of the witches. And we have checked every inch of the property over the years, enough to know that these lands are clear and safe for us." 

"What happened?" asked Mr. Evans, curious to catch up to what he had missed. 

"Maybe something changed in Veteris, recently," stated Roman, "We know that Veteris was originally a human oriented town, with vampires and hunters. But we don't know much about the reign of the witches in the past. They probably laid a trap of trigger, enough to pull down the vampire's abilities. They probably wanted to get rid of the other kinds, but never could at that time or they needed some kind of trigger?" 

"Did you get to speak to him?" Roman asked Dante about her late husband. 

"No," replied the woman. 

Eloise knew it was wrong to think, but she had felt liberated the day the massacre had taken place. Liberated from the marriage that she had been bound to. Talking to the ghost of her late husband was the last thing she wanted to do. 

"What about the Corvin? Any news from him?" Roman asked Julie, who shook her head. 

"Nothing so far. It's like the connection between is weak and breaking," she answered him with a hint of worry. She hoped for Cillian to be alright and hadn't gotten himself into any trouble. Julie hoped he wasn't planning to send her into another time-space like last time when she couldn't contact him. 

Mr. Evans put his own thoughts into the matter and said, "I can go check the property to see if there's anything different. Lady Opaline once said that there was a group of witches, who were trying to contain the other witches, who held immense power and the vampires." 

"Did she tell why?" asked Julie, and Mr. Evans nodded. 

"Yes, actually. Unlike the vampires, who wanted to gather more power, these witches wanted to bring in a balance, balance by taking out all the abilities. They believed that no one was supposed to have powers, and that everyone was supposed to live equal and fairly," explained the counsellor of Veteris. 

"Does that mean no one can use their abilities anymore?" asked Julie, turning to Roman, who possessed the ability of fire. 

"That would be something to look at," Ms. Dante murmured under her breath, which related to the Elder vampires, who liked to have their noses up and high. But then, this wasn't the time to be losing abilities as they were going to be in a possible fight with the Mortimers. "Can you use your abilities right now, Roman?" 

Roman brought his hand forward, and a wisp of fire appeared from his palm. 

"Maybe something else caused it. Like the spirits in here," stated Roman, closing his fingers, and the fire extinguished itself. 

"It would be troublesome if we have ghosts walking in the campus, while having to continuously compel the humans' minds," the headmistress let out an exasperated sigh. "Keep an eye on it, Evans. Also the help I need from you Julianne, is to put these spirits back to wherever they have come from. But before that, let me go and see if I can find any information from my… late husband." 

"I can try sending or containing the spirits where no one can see them," Julie agreed with a nod, and Ms. Dante gave a slight nod.

Ms. Dante stood up from her seat, starting to walk towards the door, halting her feet. She turned around and met Roman's eyes, "Fix the building for damaging it. The sooner the better." 

Saying this,  the vampiress left the room. Mr. Evans offered Roman a smile, and when he turned to look at Julie, he warned her, "Don't use too much of your ability," leaving Julie and Roman behind in the room.

Julie closed her eyes for a moment, trying to channel her bond to reach out for the Corvin, but she felt nothing. Opening her eyes, she said, "Do you think he's in trouble? I cannot sense him." 

"He's a Corvin and a former witch, I doubt he should be in trouble," remarked Roman, but on seeing how Julie was worried about his ancestor, he asked, "Is there any other way to summon the Corvin without using the bond. There should be another way to do it." 

"I guess I will need to go through the spell book to find it. There are still a few pages that are untouched," replied Julie. They both turned and looked outside the window, where the night was dark and noticed a firefly fly in front of the window. 

Both of them stepped out of the room. Roman decided to take a look at his friend as he was in the company of the Elder vampires. They walked to the room where they were. 

When Julie stepped near the room, she noticed Roman's face turn more serious, and it was only when she heard the groans coming from inside the room did she become alert. Roman placed his hand on the knob, and without bothering to knock on the door, he opened the door right away. 

When the door pushed open, Julie's eyes widened on seeing Simon on the floor with his hand touching his lips. It had turned slightly bloody, and gone was the cheeky smile that he often held on his face. In front of him stood Castiel and Donovan, while Remy had taken a back seat as usual. 

"I thought the vote held an equal decision to both the humans as well as the vampire's mistake," stated Roman, stepping inside the room, and Julie could sense the tension in the room. 

"I thought you were supposed to knock before entering a room full of Elder vampires," pointed Donovan, who seemed a little more serious than he usually looked. 

Julie looked back and forth between the Elders and then Simon. Roman replied to Donovan's words, "I thought I didn't need to knock. Considering I am an Elder's son, unless you have decided to forget about it like in the past," he taunted. 

Donovan's eyes narrowed before his lips twisted, "Seems like you like to use the card of us being related when it is convenient to you." 

"Learned it from the best," answered Roman, and he came to stand next to Simon. 

Castiel warned Roman, "Step away from the boy, Roman. We aren't done asking him questions and he cannot leave until we get an answer from him." 

"About what?" questioned Roman. 

"On whose order is he working, because it doesn't feel like he's working for us Elder vampires," stated Donovan. 

Hearing this, Julie frowned. There was no way Simon was working for someone other than the people who were in Veteris. 

"That's a ridiculous assumption," replied Roman, and at the same time, Simon stood up from where he had been sitting on the ground. 

"It isn't an assumption.. It is the truth," came the calm voice that belonged to Elder Remy.