The hustle and bustle at the Vampire Royal castle was the usual. No could say looking at the atmosphere that the only princess was missing for the past three but this wasn't unexpected as there were only a few who actually cared for the princess, within the castle, one of them was her brother. One might wonder, what about the king? Didn't he care? No, he didn't. He probably wouldn't even have known if his heir hadn't informed him about it.

The man with golden hair and dark red eyes stood by the window in his office as he stared into the distance. His eyes filled with worry. It's been three days since he last saw his younger sister. They had an argument over the future royal gamma, the werewolf who claimed to be her soulmate, the last time he saw her.

As a vampire, who in this world didn't have any concept of mates, he couldn't fathom how easily his sister was smitten by the werewolf. It shouldn't have been easy considering the fact that she was the sole Vampire Princess. He knew that his sister had been sneaking out to meet with the wolf. He had told her that she didn't need to be with the wolf just because he claimed she was his mate.

The young princess had been furious and hurt as she thought her brother didn't understand her happiness. The prince had felt bad seeing his sister hurt but stood by his argument. He didn't trust the other kinds, distrust instilled by the King, something the king believed should be common knowledge.

The king, Draven Nightfall, himself grew up in an environment of war, 'The Witch-Vampire War', he had the belief that the other kinds can't be trusted, something he passed down to his heir. The King was prideful as the Vampires were the ones who had won the war but deep inside he was a coward, always fearing that another war might break out at any given moment.

The princess had stormed off after the argument and hadn't returned since and the prince was all too certain that the werewolf had taken his sister by force as he believed that his sister would never leave home willingly. But when he expressed the same to his father, the king had brushed the issue off as unimportant.

The prince was surprised, didn't his father care about his daughter's disappearance. Little did the prince know, the king had never cared for the princes, it was the prince who failed to notice this. And the care shown to the prince by the king was just because he was his heir and not because he was his son.

Cassius had been blind to the princess's suffering till now too absorbed in is his preconceived view of the things around him. He had been ignorant of the I'll treatment of the princess and Lyra didn't want to bring the King down in Cassius's eyes, at least he had a parent.

Someone knocked at the door of the study he was in. "Come in," he said. His assistant came in with some paperwork that he was taking care of as his duty of being the crown prince. He was frustrated, how can he do his work when all he could think about was his sister and his disdain for a certain werewolf.

"Your Highness, these need to be looked through before the evening." His assistant said. The prince nods his head and the assistant leaves. He sits down in his chair but doesn't touch the work, still in thought.

The door to his study opens, he knew who it was. The only person other than his sister who would come into his study without knocking, his friend Leonard Strigoi, the young Lord Strigoi, entered the room. "Still no news about Lyra, Cas?" Leo asked. "No, Leo." Cassius replied frustrated and worried.

Leonard was also worried about his friend's sister, she was his sister too. The prince and young lord were childhood friends, being close in age. Leonard was twenty - three whereas Cassius was twenty-four. For Cassius, Leonard was the only friend he had and then when his sister was born, when he was four years old, she became a sister to both of them.

"You know there is this person, a henchman perhaps you might call them. Who helped my father when my mother's family was trying to stir up some trouble. They dug up some dirt on that family which helped my parents to take control of the situation. I bet he could help us. If you agree I can ask my Father to set up a meeting with you." Leo suggested.

"Do you think this henchman could help get Lyra back from that werewolf? But I see that I don't have any other options. If Father doesn't approve I can't act directly as the werewolf is the future royal Gamma." Cassius replied. "Fine, ask Lord Strigoi to set up a meeting."

"I will talk with my Father and will send you the details."nLeo replied as he left the study in a hurry. Cassius hoped that this would help him find his sister.

✧✧✧

"Are you sure this is the place?" Cassius asks Leo. "Positive." Leo replied.

Cassius couldn't help but doubt. Such a beautiful place, it was a place to grab a meal with friends and enjoy a drink at night, with an equally beautiful name 'Celestine'. Surely this wasn't a place to hire a henchman. He had imagined a dark and dingy pub where a lot of goons gather.

The two friends entered through the door which had a closed sign hanging.As expected the place was empty other than one there woman behind the bar counter with her back facing them, wiping some glasses.

Cassius went towards the bar counter, cleared his throat and said, as instructed by Lord Strigoi through Leo, "Can I have a Manu Fortis?" He knew the term was Latin for 'strong hand', perhaps it was a code word to distinguish a normal customer from a client in search of a henchman.

The woman turned, Cassius was faced by a beautiful yet unique looking Vampire, who replied with a smooth yet strong voice,"What can I do for you, Your Highness?" The last two words are spoken with a bit of contempt.

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