TO FIND THE SIRE

Crow had to return to mount Genesis and this time he went in his large bird form in order to get there quickly. He was beyond certain that he had been seen by the people of the lands he had flown over but it didn't matter as much as avoiding a conflict. The lycan brothers were fast asleep when Crow reached the mountain. He was exhausted from the travels of the day and desperately needed rest.

"You are going to hurt yourself if you don't stop to get some rest." Genevia said from behind him.

"No one will be able to rest if I don't push myself." Crow responded in a tired tone," You can make the search short if you tell me where he is hiding."

"Don't you think I would have brought him back if I knew his whereabouts?" Genevia asked in a whisper.

Crow looked away from her and made his way into the small house where the lycan brothers were resting. He sat down close to one of the windows and stared at the moon from there. His thoughts were quick to wander to his niece and his master. Before he could realize anything or think about anything more he drifted off to sleep. In his dream he saw Eve standing at the edge of the cliff while Ceaser stood about three meters away from her with his sword in hand and his hand outstretched towards her. Crow himself was in the background in his bird form, fighting Elizabeth.

He woke up quickly before he could begin to see the fight that ensued. He was sweating when he woke up and it was already dawn.

"What a short dream to last an entire night." he said out loud.

When he had composed himself, he got up from the floor where he had been sitting and walked to the small dining room. Genevia and Clause we're sitting at the table all alone. He did not bother to greet them and made his way out where he saw the lycan brothers sitting in a circle while there was a small fire burning at the center of the circle.

"Good morning." Benjamin greeted him.

"We have trouble." Crow said ignoring the greeting,"Our sire is missing and princess Eve has waged war against him. She plans to attack him while he's unaware."

"So she has not waged war but she plans to attack the kingdom." Lucan said in a thoughtful tone and Crow nodded.

There was no need to say anything else as they understood what they had to do. They got up and transformed into their wolf forms so they could travel faster. Their journey was a short one because they soon realized that they had no idea where their master may have gone to. Crow was the only one who remained relentless in his search for Ceaser. As the feeling of defeat slowly started to wash over him he remembered that there was a place he had overlooked; the royal tombs of Dreg.

Crow hurried to the tombs and was there in an hour. The tomb's entrance was covered with a large bolder and by its placement Crow could tell that it was placed there using magic. It was easy for him to push it aside and he got in. There were various passages that led to different resting places of the deceased royal family members even from centuries ago.

"Is this where your loyalty lies?" Crow heard Ceaser ask him from behind.

Crow turned around slowly and came to meet the eyes of his master who looked like he was in perfect shape. An involuntary sigh of the relief escaped from Crow's mouth. Ceaser started to walk in the direction of his grandfather's tomb and Crow followed silently.

"Are you sure you want to take my side in this war?" Ceaser asked and Crow was quiet for a while.

"Yes. I am sure." he answered when they finally reached the tomb.

There was a cemented grave in the center of one of the passages where Ceaser, the conquerer, rested.

"The grave looks well kept." Crow stated and Ceaser hunmed in response.

"We have people clean this place every weekend and there's a watchman as well."

" Just one?" Crow asked.

"Yes just one. No one really likes to be in the presence or company of the dead....except you, I pressume."

Ceaser made his way to where the cemented grave was and he sat down at the top. He looked at the engravings on the headstone.

'Ceaser the great conquerer'

His grandfather's title was what was engraved on the headstone as well as his birth date and his death date. He got up from the grave as he did not want to spend too much time there and headed to the next passage to the right where his grandmother rested. Her name was Sarah, her title was 'the woman behind the greatness'. The greatness in this case referring to Ceaser, his grandfather.

"How did she die?" Crow asked,"I'm sure your grandfather died of old age but I know nothing about your grandmother."

"They did not die of old age. They were murdered."

"Really? That is a little odd considering how powerful and alert he was. Is she the one who killed him and then she killed herself later?

Typical love story. She must have found out that he loved another and her jealousy drove her to madness." Crow added with sarcasm laced in his voice.

Ceaser lightly chuckled at Crow's words.

"No not at all. Are you aware that Solemn was not grandfather's first son?"

"Oh! Is that so? Seems like an interesting tale." Crow replied making his way to where the cemented grave of Sarah was,"So what happened between these lovers and their son, who I assume is the one who had killed them both."

As Ceaser started to reiterate what Clause had told him about his uncle, his voice became a little quieter as if he was afraid that the dead would be listening to their conversation. Clause had told him that he had been the witness to the tragedy of long ago.

He had been sitting outside on a moonless night when Clause had come to join him.

"What are you doing alone outside, your majesty?" Clause asked with a distant look in his eyes that Ceaser did not miss.

"What else is there to do except watch?"

"You could sleep. For all I know you could be in your head talking to your dear friend."

"You put him to sleep remember." Ceaser retorted.

"I did not. He decided to do that on his own. Besides, I'm not even the one who told him about how dangerous he is to you."

"Oh yes. Genevia." Ceaser said in a tired tone that had Clause raise his eyebrow.

"Do you miss him?"

"No, he is not my friend for me to miss him."

"Really? He cared about you and treated you as his friend but you are saying that you're not friends."

"He only did that because I'm his master and he depends on me right now to remain alive. If my body dies then he has nowhere to go to."

"You truly think he is that shallow?"

"He is a heartless man, of course he is."

"Life was just hard on him. Why are you judging him when you are becoming very similar to him?" "I am nothing like Crow." Ceaser scoffed.

"You both thirst for power to protect those you love. You cannot protect them if you are weak."

Ceaser did not respond as his mind strayed to his mother and the little girl who had run away from him after calling him a socerer.

"I am right, am I not?" Clause continued to say. "What is your true purpose for coming here."

"I wanted to tell you something important. Do you know how your grandfather died?"

"He died of old age, didn't he?"

Clause shook his head and this made Ceaser curious.

"No he did not. That was put in the records to erase a previous one."

"What about?"

"Your uncle."

"Julius?"

"No, not Julius but Bethaven, your father's older brother."

"I thought Solemn was the oldest?"

"He wasn't. He was Ceaser's second child."

"Why were the records of Bethaven hidden?" Ceaser asked curiously as he fully turned to face Clause.

"It was very long ago sixty years or so now. I was but a boy, ten years of age. Your uncle was very notorious at that time. Solemn had not yet been born and Sarah had been experiencing a series of miscarriages. Bethaven had visited a witch at the time to ask about his mother's well-being, about a year after Crow's demise. The witch had told him that his mother's body was rejecting Ceaser's seed and to stop it she needed one of her offspring to mate her."

Ceaser's breath caught in his throat and Clause smiled at him reassuringly.

"Do not worry. Sarah did not agree to it after Bethaven had reported to her but quite unfortunately, he did not give up either. His relentlessness led the best of us into believing that he had an odd attraction to his own mother. He was barely thirteen."