Page 50 of Lured

I knew that my uncle would want more information so I looked up the cruise we were on next and what port we would be arriving at then. We had got on the boat in Italy, but I'd not bothered to see where we were going. It never mattered to me when I wasn't planning on committing crimes of any kind.

It appeared that our next day would be at sea, but we were heading down the coast of Greece afterwards and would arrive in one of the ports that allowed people to check out some historical areas of Greece. I frowned, not sure who would be in the area and if there were any warlocks, witches or other magical folks who might be interested in trading with Ludis.

Of course, someone could be flying into the area, but I doubted so. If someone would be flying in, I was almost certain it would be the day after and they would meet Ludis in Athens.

The location had to be important, but I wasn't sure how, yet.

Exactly as I suspected, my uncle responded to me swiftly and made it clear what he thought of my efforts so far. I read the response several times, trying to decide if I wanted Ludis to possibly put an end to my uncle after all.

You have been out there for almost a week and you have only this information for me? On top of that, I hear that there was a shooting in Vegas and the hunters academy there are riled. The strings I had to pull to keep everything quiet is beyond the pale. Find out where he is going in two days and make sure you stop him before then. I hope you've also thought about how to prevent him from ever planning something like this again, or you have evidence to present to the Brethren if I am to act instead. I also hope that I don't have to remind you what can happen to our family if you fail.

The last sentence was what annoyed me most. My uncle had raised me after my father had been killed and for that I was grateful, but there were times he said things like this that made me wonder if he had been behind it or hadn't cared as much as he pretended that he was now in charge when he said he had never wanted to be.

Sometimes I wondered how much he also schemed. Of course, I had no proof that my uncle had ever done anything he shouldn't, but the more I was dragged into the world of the Brethren, the more I was noticing that they all schemed on some level.

While they liked to pretend that they all held their power because of duty and respect for the order of things, weak vampires were taken out by stronger ones all the time. Our numbers never grew out of control because too many of us died still at the hands of others.

And I had hidden from that a lot of my life, but my uncle wasn't going to let me hide from that much longer and I was beginning to suspect I didn't want to anymore.

I held off replying to him for a little longer and instead looked up the area we were going to on a map. There had to be something in this part of Greece that had importance.

As I researched, looking up a few ancient vampire prophecies and all sorts of different angles that might hold some truth to them I also messaged another friend I thought I could trust who studied old vampire magic to see if he knew of any reasons Ludis might consider this port to be important in some way.

Now that I had some information, I was going to make use of it. And I had a nagging feeling deep in my gut that there was something to the location, I just couldn't remember what.

When nothing I remembered of old vampire lore came to mind, I cursed myself for not studying harder when I was younger and decided to try another angle. I began searching for the tourist destinations and looking up the planned cruise trips. While I didn't think Ludis would book himself on anything like a cruise trip and I knew that he would struggle out in the day, even as a turned from our clan, whatever it was, there would need to be plans to get him there in a car or shade.

None of us traveled during the day without making plans, usually. Not without an artifact that might help us, or some serious skin problems for a few days after. There was a chance that whatever item or magic Ludis thought he would gain, that it would take care of that as well. I had to consider that he might just be getting himself a ring or amulet that allowed him to day walk unimpeded.

Just being able to move among the living during the day could make a huge difference to a vampire's life and plans. While I was looking at a map of the area, I frowned and wondered if I was missing one possible option.

It was only a rumor, as far as I was aware, but there was an old true-blood tale that the original Greek Olympians. The gods of Greek mythology, had truly been true-blood vampires from the various clans. The whole Hades and Persephone myths had held a personal fascination to me and made me wonder if they were true.

But it had also implied that their power had been granted by some very powerful magical artifacts. Ones like the slightly more easily acquired day walker enchanted relics here and there. If they did exist, they could be wielded by the turned as well as Brethren.

Given how confident Ludis was, I suspected that one of these might have been discovered. It was a wild theory, however, and I didn't know if I truly believed it. I would be clutching at straws and trying to find an answer where there might not be one. Just because they might have existed and they might be in this area, didn't mean there was anything to the story.

If I was going to assume that was the case, I needed to have some more evidence and a corroborating piece of information. And I couldn't afford to be wrong. This investigation was far from over, but it was all I had to go on for now and I knew I would need to appease my uncle a little more. He would be expecting me to tell him more information, or I might find he showed up on the boat himself and made sure the task was completed another way.

Or worse, I could see my clan fall and Ludis would become its new leader.ThatI couldn't let happen.

After quickly looking for information on any archaeological digs in the area, I was surprised to easily find news of some near what was suspected to be the original Mount Olympus. I sent these on to my friend as a hope that he might have some idea what was there and then considered a response to my uncle. I was close to done with this whole situation.

It appears he is looking for an old relic of Greece. I will get one of my own people to identify what and make sure I get to it first.

The message was brief and I had to hope it would satisfy my uncle for now, even if I didn't know if it was actually the truth or not. With that sent, I wasn't sure how much I could do alone. I knew I had to tread carefully.

I also knew that if this was right, I was creating a potential second threat by involving another vampire who might take it, but I trusted the one I had contacted more than Ludis, that was for sure.

If this was what I was looking for and I could get to it first, or my friend could, then the problem would be solved and it would be time to end this mission entirely. All I'd need to do is get Anais to finish the vampire off.

Working out how to do that would be another element entirely. I didn't know if Anais was up to it. She was progressing and she was eager to learn, but she was still a human and not strong enough for this. Not really.

I had to trust her to do her part in this mission, but that was also something I had to consider. Trusting others wasn't high on my common choices and I still knew very little about this woman other than what she had chosen to tell me. If I was even able to trust her stories.

Shaking my head, I tucked my phone in my pocket. I had gotten so used to seeing duplicity and looking for danger, that I was struggling to accept that someone might just be totally trustworthy. Anais had no reason to be putting herself in this much danger unless she was trying to complete the mission she claimed to be doing.

No matter what, I had to trust someone in this whole affair.

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