At this very moment, Slacovich and Ara took the earliest flight to India. Having the fear of corrupting the children"s mind if Volton"s evil doings. Moreover, if he can freely deploy his men in different countries it will be a big trouble to track them down. The plan of going to j.a.pan has been cancelled yet, Ericka decided to visit her granfather alone but Carl insisted on coming with her. The lack of training and combat knowledge puts the hunters in a very tight situation. If Volton figured how open they are and how defenseless they will be for sure he"s gonna attack immediately. As for Sofie, upon hearing the news of Slacovich and Ara"s departure her heart felt a bit uneasy. She somewhat felt that something"s gonna happen. She took precautionary measures and deployed some shadow guards to follow Slacovich and Ara all the time. The Black Knight Society hasn"t been officially announced as the Demonfire"s new ally. In this situation, they"re widely open for sudden attacks. The vampire hunters are very much gonna fight back at the stake of their lives but for the Demonfire, every life is valuable.Sofie arrived at the airport three hours after Slacovich"s departure. In the hopes of making it on time before he leaves but unfortunately she didn"t. Diego and Li picked her up and are very happy to see her and Harry again. Seeing each other again makes them happy and shrug a little of the worries they have. Harry handed the two of them some special present he made also gives one to Sofie.
"What is this?" Li asked while trying to search for an opening.
"Woah, relax Li. You can open up with the rest. As for Slacovich and Ara they can have it when they get back." He stops Li from opening the box.
"Whatever"s in there might be something special. But you never mention anything about this at the palace." Sofie raises an eyebrow while smirking.
"Well, it"s something I want you guys to see at the same time."
"Then why not open it when the two comes back?" Diego tosses his box to Harry.
"Well, it"s better that way but it"s very useful." Harry tosses it back to Diego.
"If that"s how useful it is then I should ask the shadow guard to deliver it to them."
"Sounds great." Harry reaches out for the two boxes for Slacovich and Ara inside his bag as Sofie looks around making sure no one"s watching them. At such crowd one shadow won"t make a difference. Harry gives her the boxes then a shadow appeared below her syncing with her own shadow. She tosses it there without a word and the boxes disappears. Li looked amazed so was Diego.
"Sofie, so is that it? We didn"t hear you say a single word to it." Li crosses her arms. Sofie just smiled pointing her forehead. Li seems to pick it up but Diego didn"t.
"What"s that supposed to mean?" Diego looks at Li, Sofie and Harry as they exchange glances and laughs.
"Oh Diego, it"s all in the head." Sofie turns around and starts walking towards the exit where their car"s waiting for them. They safely arrived at the Demonfire mansion and decided to take some rest before going to the company.
Meanwhile, after traveling for 18 hrs by plane Slacovich and Ara arrived at the airport. A few men with the Black Knight"s emblem approach them. Both of them recognizes the emblem and just followed the men"s lead. The four members of the black knight society wears suit and tie. They act like bodyguards, the two on the front leading the way while the other two following them from behind. They stop at a car parked not far from the landing area. Seems like the black knight society have people a.s.signed in India. One of the men opens the car door for them then waiting for them to get inside before sitting next to the driver"s seat. The driver then starts the engine and drive their way to their headquarters following a car in front of them and one following them from behind. While on the way Slacovich breaks the silence.
"Thanks for picking us up. But may I know why?"
"It"s the least we can do for the Queen." The man beside the driver answers.
"Least you can do? Are you doing this out of her request?"
"No, Queen Sofie doesn"t know anything about our actions."
"I thought the black knights would only do as ordered."
"Yes, the Queen"s order is absolute that undeniable. But we are treated as comrades and friends not servants byt the Queen. To show our grat.i.tude towards her kindness, protecting those she values the most makes us feel honored and worthy to serve her."
"That really sounds like her." Ara almost whispers.
"If that"s the case then I"ll be looking forward to your help."
"Rest a.s.sured we will." They reached their destiny and they"re guided towards the main office where the head of the branch is waiting for them. Stepping inside the office gives them the eary feeling that someone"s watching their every move. Ara who"s easily startled jumps on Slacovich"s back as a shadow pops up out of the blue. The people inside the office can"t help but chuckle on her reaction. Ara felt embarra.s.sed and slowly steps down on the floor.
"I"m sorry, I get easily startled." She blushes like a tomato as Slacovich messes her hair.
"We"re sorry about that, Ara"s the youngest of us and she"s quite sensitive in terms of getting startled." Slacovich grins while looking at her. She felt more embarra.s.sed.
"You"re not making it any better." She pouts while fixing her hair. The shadow guard hands them the boxes which Harry prepared for them. There"s a little note on the box that says, "Open it up together."
"The handwriting seems like Harry"s. This means they might be at the mansion already." Ara keeps the box inside her bag and so is Slacovich.
"Yes, the Queen safely returned to the Demonfire mansion and is currently resting as per the infos from the shadow guards." A lady steps inside holding some doc.u.ments in her hand. She gives them to Slacovich and sits on the chair. She"s the Black Knight branch head in India.
"These are the children we"re looking for." Ara bursted out in excitement.
"What"s their status?"
"Before I tell you anything let me introduce myself. I"m Vera Ashlik, head of the India branch of the Black Knight Society and the owner of the Gunslinger Manufacturing. We make direct transactions with the government here in India by selling then the best weapons for their soldiers."
"I bet you already know us both. So let"s cut the chase and get on the matter directly." Slacovich and Ara sits on the chair opposite of Vera"s.
"As expected from the President of Demonfire Group of Companies. Being straightforward is one of your traits."
"Excuse me, may I know what happened to those kids?" Ara worries about them. Without a word for almost three years about their whereabouts, she"s thinking whether they hated her or not.
"As for our gathered information, General Buhadden shelter"s them the moment you left. They"ve been taken care of until the news of General Buhadden"s disappearance broke out. They were taken back to their old home and are neglected. They lived on the street until last month."
"What happened last month?"
"A man named Blu took them in. Reports states that children gone missing since his arrival here in India. For some reason we think that this man is a vampire and the children"s blood satisfies him."
"No!! This can"t be true." Ara slams the table breaking the right foot of the table because of her sudden emotion. The black knights weren"t surprise at all. They already know what they are.
"Relax, we have men monitoring him. And a shadow guard confirms their survival. As of the moment they"re doing well but I bet he already heard the news of your arrival. The kids will serve as baits for the two of you."
"We need to save them!"
"I know your concerned about their safety but we can"t act recklessly. Blu is not someone who"ll show mercy. If you attack there immediately without a plan, he would kill those children without hesitation in front of you." Slacovich"s eyes dimmed upon remembering how cruel his old friend can be.
"Then what should we do? I need to save them. They"ve lived awfully because of my disappearance. I promised them good life but I didn"t keep it." Ara"s tears falls down her cheek.
"That"s what Blu"s looking for. Your soft spot towards those kids will be your downfall." Vera walks closer to her and pats her shoulder.
"I know Blu too well, he"s cruel but his impatient. When he"s being impatient he won"t be able to think straight. Now that he"s a vampire, the serum will add up to his agitation we don"t want those kids to get hurt right? I"ll handle Blu by myself while you help those kids escape. For that to happen we must have a solid plan of action." Ara nods and calms down. Slacovich and Vera talked for a bit about their plan while letting Ara take some fresh air to relax herself. What they don"t know is that, Volton"s true plan isn"t related to Blu at all.