Quinn arrived at the reception of the castle, by the entrance waiting for Leo to arrive. When Quinn saw Leo and Silver, both parties looked a little down. The duo, just as Quinn, had hoped that Fex might have been found by the other side.
This meant that the big news Leo had informed them about was something else
After meeting up they moved over to one of the smaller reception rooms, which had a couple of large sofas and a table. It was a room rarely used but rather than find something comfy to sit on or look around the place, Quinn was just eager to hear what information might be important enough to make the duo of Vampire knight return instead of continuing their search.
Only the three of them were present, as Quinn didn't want to get the others involved. By now everyone in the castle already knew that Fex had gone missing, so they were on pretty strict orders to remain inside.
"Silver, I'm very sorry that I just heard about Fex today. I was sure he was enjoying his time with you and your father. It's my fault that I hadn't checked up on him earlier." Quinn started off the conversation by apologising as he fully blamed himself. "Lee is now also aware of what has happened to your brother and said he is doing everything he can on his side to see if he can find him. I'm going to do the same."
Silver nodded but didn't say anything, and the silence just worried Quinn more, when one was silent they tended to be thinking about something else. It was clear she was worried.
"Paul said the two of you found something, will it help us find Fex?"
"It's possible." Leo answered. "But it might or might not be fixable. You see as soon as it became apparent that he had gone missing we started searching between the two castles and on our path we managed to stumble upon Kazz."
Hearing this name, anger started to rise in him and Quinn thought his hunch was right, that Bryce was the one behind it all.
"We found her pinned in an alleyway behind one of the houses. She was badly beaten and her blood was everywhere. From the looks of things she had been that way for about a week. The path taken and the timing collates with when Fex disappeared as well. I have a feeling these two things are linked."
'Kazz was beaten by someone? How is that possible? She's Bryce's Vampire knight, right? Who would even have the power to do what? Just what the hell is going on?'
'I bet you're glad you didn't go storming into Bryce's castle now, patience is something one learns when they get older.' Vincent teased the other
'Is this really the right time to give me an "I-told-you-so-speech? Besides I listened to you in the end, didn't I?' Quinn replied angrily.
"Then what about Kazz? Is she in any condition to tell us what happened to her? Or did you find anything else?" Quinn asked.
"She was too weakened when we found her. To avoid any misunderstanding the first thing we did was have Silver return her to the first castle to heal her injuries. I checked if there have been any reports but for some reason, it looks like Bryce hasn't reported what has happened to his first Vampire knight yet."
"Judging by his character, he will try to find out who did this himself. I also wanted to ask Kazz what happened, but she hasn't left the castle yet and I have no idea of her current condition. So it means we are still stuck and have no idea of what happened to Fex." Silver said with her head held down.
"Not quite." Quinn smiled. "I didn't want to say anything to you guys beforehand because the lead on my end isn't in better condition than Kazz. Still his existence proves that Fex is at least alive and he might even know where he is."
Going up to one of the higher floors, they arrived in the medical bay of the castle. There were no healers among the vampires, so just like the other rooms this one was usually empty.
Luckily many of Paul's people knew how to do treatment beyond first aid, and they were currently looking over Ham in the hospital bed. Quinn had asked Linda beforehand to keep watch, since he wasn't willing to take any chances if someone was going to go after one of his people again.
"That's… the flying creature." Leo called out once he recognised its aura.
"It's Ham!" Silver shouted as she leaned forward, but the person who was looking after Ham quickly stopped her.
"They say he's very weak at the moment. I found him lying just outside of the castle and he was covered in sweat. I imagine he must have used a lot of energy to get here. I was hoping after some rest he would wake up, but he still hasn't done so."
Silver asked permission if she could look over Ham, and after the personnel explained a few things, Silver started to check all over him with a gentle touch and finally placed him back down, the look on her face seemed to be more worried than before.
Quinn had imagined that seeing Ham would make her feel better, but for some reason she seemed even more concerned now.
'It's because of Ham's condition.' Vincent explained. "Remember, Ham is not a beast or an animal but a familiar that belongs to another world. Although strong ones like yours can remain in this world, once one makes a contract, their power is linked to their creator.'
'She's worried that his current conditions could be either of two things. Ham is recovering slowly or worsening due to Fex's condition, or it's due to him being too far away. If his condition is getting better but slowly then it would be the latter'
'So that's why we can't use Ki, or Blood, the heal Ham, the energy familiars use is different, something linked in our bodies?'
'Correct.'
With this new information Quinn wanted to say something.
"Silver, Ham should wake up soon, he's looking better than he was before, so at least we know Fex isn't hurt, and they've captured him for some reason. We will just have to wait."
The problem was could they really afford to wait. The ceremony for burying the king was soon, and they wouldn't be able to delay it much longer.
The three of them were about to leave the room but Silver requested to stay. She wanted to stay by Ham's side even though she knew she could do nothing. It was just that she wanted to be the first person there when Ham woke up.
"You can stay here as long as you like Silver, just remember to get some sleep. The second we find out where Fex is, we'll punish those who are responsible for all of this." Quinn said.
He felt bad but honestly, with Quinn and Vincent, the two of them couldn't figure out what was happening. A lot of the others were ruling out Bryce as a suspect due to Kazz being attacked, but Quinn felt they had all overlooked one crucial detail.
What was Kazz doing there in the first place?
Had she been there together with Fex? If that was the case what had the two been talking about?.
Back at the ship, he had seen glimpses of Kazz's reaction when talking about her leader. She was frightened of him, and there were times when Kazz had decided to do things that she felt were right.
'Did she decide to go against her father? Was Bryce after Fex like Muka claimed? Could she have just been there to try and help Fex? Do you think that is something Bryce could do against his own daughter?' Quinn wondered.
'I wouldn't say it's impossible.' Vincent commented. 'Unlike humans, there are only a few vampires that have a strong bond with their children. In the past, it was actually considered quite normal for leaders to have multiple wives. By spreading their seed they increased the likelihood of creating the strongest vampires possible. It was also agreed that rivalry between siblings would have a good overall effect on their powers, as such the blood relation didn't matter too much.'
'However, it is strange that Bryce hasn't revealed any information on someone attacking the first family. A knight at that. If he did, he could try to pin the blame on the other side, and use this to grab one of their votes. This 'game' of crowning the next King seems to be getting rather complicated.'
'And we're stuck in the middle.' Quinn lamented.
Before leaving the room, Quinn looked over Ham and Silver. He felt a slight itch on his back, and a deep whisper that he couldn't make out.
'Did you just say something?' Quinn asked.
'Not unless you can suddenly hear me humming in my own head.' Vincent replied.
'Weird, is this stress starting to make me hear things?' Quinn wondered as he left the room.
*****
