BLOOD.FANGS.N'.FIRE

A sinister smile graced the King's pale marble like face, causing the vampire's dead heart to leap a few beats.

Caroline tugged her cousin's hand, silently hoping that he wouldn't blow the situation out of proportion.

Lester and Matthew were also closely watching the scene, and the butler had the same thoughts as Caroline. He hoped for the king not to overreact, but that was a far-fetched wish when dealing with the king

Gavriel felt each and every gaze that looked his way awaiting to see what his next action would be. He knew that they expected the worst, but who was he without the element of surprise against his opponents.

"Well, what are you still doing here?" He raised his eye brow in askance

Mr. Sombers, giving one last respectful bow to the king, made his way in the direction of the front door so that he could exit the ball.

Matthew walked towards the king with a silver tray, housing two tall glasses of white wine, and presented it to the king and the Duke's daughter.

Gavriel picked up a glass and smiled as if nothing had happened earlier.

"TO A WONDERFUL NIGHT!!" The king exclaimed.

The rest of the guests bowed and also raised their glasses, taking small sips on the account of the King's arrival.

Soon, the soft music changed to a more melodious and cheery tone, though still low tuned.

The atmosphere of the ball became stiffer. It was ironic how they silently demanded for the King's presence.

But his presence somewhat made some of the guests jittery.

Gavriel's eyes stealthily looked among the guests, noticing the familiar and unfamiliar faces of the House's members.

He could feel several sharp gazes subtly piercing daggers his way, but he could care less.

A certain gaze he felt looking sharply at him from a certain direction, he could guess from whom it was but blatantly ignored it, just to spite the person.

The old Marques in front of him was blabbering about something that he was barely focusing on. He was looking for a certain oddity that must be cowering in some place of this very castle.

He felt her energy behind the dining doors. His eyes looked sharply and met hers that were peeping in a certain direction.

Quickly averting her frightened hazel orbs, Florah hid behind the door and left the place and joined her colleagues.

'How did he even know that I was there?' Florah muttered to herself in annoyance.

He always seemed to catch her doing something she shouldn't be doing.

Gavriel smirked so very slightly that the old man in front of him thought that he must have imagined it.

Assuming that the king was listening to him, he coughed and continued, "....establishing boundaries further south would separate the local farms from the wild Laziha forest my liege, that is my formidable gesture "

The old Marques said thinking that the king was in fact interested about the safety of his people, though the man might have been right but Gavriel already wanted to punch his throat to shut him up for bringing forth such trivial matters.

"Shouldn't you first bother the Duke about such a matter before you disturb his Majesty's peace?" Lester commented from behind the old Marques

The old man was annoyed by the interruption, but he didn't know that the intruder might have just saved him.

Before he voiced his answer, he first turned around and looked at the ill mannered person, only to realise it was the lunatic Northern Duke.

Instead of confronting the man for having interrupted his talk with the king, he instead bowed his neck respectfully to greet the pureblood, "A pleasant evening, your Grace." He wished the youthful vampire.

Smirking, Lester applauded the man's composure, "Hmmm, my inquiry still stands unanswered." Lester answered seemingly unbothered.

Ignoring the vampire's rude behaviour, he answered "Of course i am not an imbicel to skip the required formalities, but i did inform the duke about this matter two months ago yet nothing has been done about it. "

Lester remained quiet for a while before a teasing smile formed on his lips, "So you did!" He remarked.

"I wonder why the ever so dutiful Duke didn't address such a delicate matter involving his people." Lester added

The old Marques realised that he had said too much, and he turned to the king, "I hope that his Majesty considers my request. " he said before bowing and leaving the two vampires to themselves.

"Such a plain event you are hosting, your Majesty!" Lester commented

"Mmmm," the king mumbled

Lester scrutinised the man before him and realised that he was barely paying attention to anything around him but rather his razor sharp gaze was fixated on a certain middle aged woman and man conversing at the far left corner of the ball room.

Looking at the woman and man, Lester didn't notice anything peculiar about the two at first glance, but he knew that they wouldn't have captured the King's attention if it was so.

Observing the two more, he noticed that they resembled each other a little bit.

'Green striking eyes, long pointed noses, square jaws and tall statures'

Focusing on them a little more, he sharpened his senses to listen to what they were saying, only to realise that there was a barrier preventing him from doing so.

"Witches," he whispered