Rejected, Broken And Forgotten
Chapter 78

Mikhail’s POV

“How did this happen? It must be an inside job! You are all in on this!” I shout at the vampires and soldiers. No one can get into the dungeon without going through the Castle. How can someone slip in without anyone seeing them? He can see the soldiers and vampires and not lying when they say they did not help anyone. He listens to their heartbeats and can tell they are all telling the truth.

“Maybe it is the wolf you set free, Duke. Maybe he got help from somewhere, and they helped him rescue the rest of them,” One of my generals says.

“He is too weak to pull off something like this. There must be a secret entrance in the dungeon. Look for it! There should be footprints in the dust where they came in,” I say. That is all I can think of. We start looking around the wall and behind everything, we can find, but there are no footprints, and there are no secret entrances that we can find. I wouldn’t say I like that someone can come into my Castle. It does not feel so safe in here anymore. I am already unhappy that Luca is hanging around my Castle, as I know he is strong. He is a loner, though, and does not have an army to help him fight me. I know Luca will not attack unless I am alone. That is why I always ensure that I am never alone and always have guards near and around me. I am angry as I do not know who came into my Castle and how.

“I don’t know who got in here, but we better find out and how so that it does not happen again. We need to put guards around the Castle. Maybe they used a window or something, and we did not see them as it was daytime, and most of our human guards were watching the wolves. Get the humans to secure the windows and make sure no one can get into the windows,” I say. That is all I can think of that might have happened.

My wolves are gone, and I lost another bunch of guards. I can not keep losing my humans. They must do the dirty work for me! I need new wolves, and I hope the troops I send out into the woods in Russia can find a few rogues so we can start making dogmen again. I want to start in Russia as it is a big country, and it will be easy to make a bunch of dogmen before we release them near small towns and make sure more humans see them than in America. I will also ensure that more people get photos of them that they can post on the internet. I need to work fast if I want my plan to work before those wolves of the Kingdom knows what I am doing and stop my plans again! I know it was them who stopped my plans in America. They somehow got all the wolves to work together, and they were more than us. So I need more dogmen that I can control. I do not know how they got all my dogmen, but I think they must have killed them or something. This time I will be faster and more clever than they are. I need to work fast, so I send most of my human army into the wood in Russia. I know there will be rogues. There are always Rogues in the woods.

“We need to keep checking up on our army in the woods, and we do not want to happen what happened last time. We must ensure they do not get attacked again, and our labs must be double protected. I do not want any more surprises!” I say.

“Yes, Duke! We will check them at night,” One of my generals says.

“Don’t send out too many soldiers, as you know that the Castle must be protected at all times. I do not know who was in here yesterday, but that can never happen again,” I say.

“We will never leave the Castle unprotected, Duke. We will protect you with our lives as our lives are linked to yours. We do not want something to happen to you,” My general says.

“That is right. If I die, all of you die,” I say and smile. I know they do not want to die, which is the only reason Luca has not tried to kill me yet, as he will die when I die. I am still angry that someone got into my dungeon yesterday, killed all my soldiers, and released the wolves. It is like they came in and disappeared into thin air. There is no trace of them and no footsteps. It feels like there were ghosts here, and I do not know how they got in. I am sure there must be a secret entrance, but where? I need to find my father’s plans for the Castle. Maybe he will indicate on the map where the secret entrance is. I walk upstairs to the vault. I know their bodies are gone, but I do not care. They were my parents once, but they were weak in my eyes, and I never respected them. Luca took their bodies when he was in my Castle and dropped the rings.

I start looking for the map of the Castle, but I can not find one anywhere. My father was a clever old fox and would have hidden it from me. Maybe he gave it to Luca so that I could not find it, and it would give them an escape route. He never trusted me, and he made my children weak like him! I miss my wife now, as she would have known where to look. She was always the clever one. I still do not know why I killed her with that damn ring. I was stupid as I needed her now. She begged me to read those letters in my parents’ hands, but I bet they were all curses. They knew many gypsies, and if I read those letters, I would be cursed even more than I am now. Besides, it had the sign of the gypsies on the envelope. I was not going to take that chance, and my wife was angry at me for being superstitious. I do not care what she thought. I knew if I opened those letters, I would be cursed. After the curse of the Sun God, I did not want another curse on me, so even when my wife begged me to open those letters, I refused. I knew how much my parents hated me, and after what I had done to them, they did not hold back on their curse. I am sure they had something to do with the curse of the Sun God, but then, on the other hand, they would not have asked for a curse on their grandchildren as they loved those stupid children of mine.

I walk around the vault and then go to my study. I look around in my study, but I find nothing. I do not know what my father was thinking and why he hid the Castle’s plan from me. Well, he never liked me since I was a child. He always said I was too cruel to animals, as I killed a puppy he gave me. The thing irritated me. I never liked having dogs or cats near me. They are always so annoying that you must feed them all the time. My father told my mother I was a cruel child and that he should have killed me when I was born. It was the day I locked them in the vault to die of hunger and thirst. I did not care about them, and my mother was crying and begging me not to let them die in such a cruel way. I closed the vault and left them in there for a few months. They were dead by the time I got in there. They had letters in their hands I did not even bother to read them. I left them for decades in the vault, then Luca came and got them. I guess he gave them a burial.

I walk up and down in my study. I hope this time, the humans do not fail me. I am not in the mood to be disappointed again. I want to rule this world. I want no werewolves or other creatures that can kill me in this world, and I want to use humans as food. I want to breed with them and ensure that vampires always have food. After a few years, the humans will get used to their new lives and will not even try to rebel against me. I have seen them live under dictators and never rebelled. They did what they were told to do and never complained as they were afraid to die. That is one thing all creatures on earth have in common: a fear of dying. I must admit I do not want to die. Not now! I want a daylight ring and to be able to walk in the daylight again, but I will have to find a gypsy, witch, or other magical creature I can trust. I do not trust easily as I know everyone wants me dead.

I walk down to the dungeon again, looking for any sign that something is out of place, but there is nothing I can find. I do not know how they got in here, which is working on my nerves. I am angry again as I think someone was in my Castle without me knowing, and I do not know who it was.

Luca’s POV

I am standing here looking at the letters that were in my grandparent’s hands. I am laughing because I know my father would not have read them as he hated his parents. It is not letters. It is the plan of the Castle, and there are many more tunnels leading into his Castle. He and his minions are not safe at all. Now that I know how to get and move around the Castle without him detecting me, I can spy for the wolves. He is foolish. My mother must have begged him to read those letters and see what they said, but I bet he was afraid it was my grandparents putting a curse on him. My grandparents were friends with the gypsies and always gave them food and water when they passed by the castle. They also gave them a place to stay. They never wanted to be on bad terms with the gypsies, as the gypsies would curse whoever treated them wrongly.

I look at the two maps. I know my grandfather was a clever man, and he knew my father would look for the plans but that my father would never read a letter he wrote. He was always afraid my grandfather would curse him as he was friends with the gypsies, which is why he killed my grandparents so cruelly. My father is not the brightest of all the creatures I know, and my grandparents knew it. That is why they also used the gypsy sign on the letters. I laugh again.

“Well, played, grandpa and grandma, well played,” I say to no one in particular.

“Did you say something?” Mariana asks.

“Well, look at this. We have the maps and plans of my father’s Castle. Do you know those letters that were in my grandparents’ hands? It turns out they are helping us from beyond the grave,” I say with a smile.

“Wow, what if your father read those letters?” Mariana asks, and I explain to her how my family works and how afraid my father is of being cursed. She laughs.

“Well, your grandparents knew him well, and they were brilliant,” Mariana says. I pull her into my embrace and k**s her with a passion I have not felt for so long. She k****s me back, and I know she is the one and that I want to live for her. I know it will be her choice to turn into a vampire-hunter hybrid, and I will leave it up to her, but I know she will want to stay with me. Hunters live a long time, but not forever, as vampires do. Still, I will leave it up to her, knowing the decision will be difficult. I had no choice, but if I had back then, I would have rather died than become the monster I was before the gypsy gave me back my soul.