CAIN

SIXTEEN

"No, but I know you do."

I felt myself still at his words. He doesn't know anything, I told myself but it didn't stop me from staying silent the rest of the journey until we reached our destination. Despite sitting so close to one another, there was a distance between us that felt vast and almost insurmountable.

"Is this it?" His Fuzziness questioned, as we pulled up to a driveway leading to my half-brother's home. It was an ancestral estate, once owned by his mother's family; he belonged to a lineage of vampires with money that seemed almost older than Cain or me. Unlike the palace, the building felt gloomy, like something I had seen in haunted story books.

I nodded, reaching for my bag to pull out my spell book. I handed him a small glass vial, gesturing for him to drink.

He looked concerned, "this isn't going to whisk me away like last time?"

I smiled, as he studied my features carefully, "No, it's going to prevent anyone from knowing you're the king."

He looked ever so doubtful, and surprisingly cute, "Is this going to work?"

"The spell? The spell will work" I told him, "This plan of ours? I'm not sure."

"And what is this plan?"

I kissed my teeth - so many questions.

"We are going to find your attempted killer, Cain, by walking into a den of vampires."

"But this vampire, in particular, he is your family, no?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "If that makes you feel better."

The gates opened as we walked towards them, an ominous occurrence, but if His Fuzziness was alarmed, he did not let it show. In fact, next to him, I felt at ease, walking side by side with a lycan. He leant down slightly, kissing my temple. "For good luck," he explained.

A man met us outside the doors of the building, standing with his arms beside his back on the porch. He was old, and looked almost human. "State your name and business."

Resisting the urge to click my tongue at the pomp and circumstance of the greeting, I stepped forward. "I'm Morgana and I've come to see my brother."

If this surprised the man, he did not let it show. Instead he bowed his head slightly, tearing his wary eyes from Cain, and instead placing a cordial smile upon his face. "Come right this way."

I had visited my brother here very few times, perhaps only once before our father died, for a rather awkward family dinner. I was a child born outside of wedlock and of love. But Octavian, the youngest of the family, had doted on me, and I him. The eldest, however, had remained almost indifferent - he was his mother's child, after all.

When we reached the doors of the study, I sighed, turning to Cain for final look of support. I willed myself to move forwards, ignoring the knots of anxious thought forming in my stomach.

My brother was sitting in front of the main desk, rising as I walked into the centre of the room.

"Morgana, you look well," he greeted me in a terse and rather insincere tone.

"Lucius," I said, "It has been too long."

Not long enough, we said to each other in no words at all. He looked the same, despite the years, dark hair and fair skin which reflected our father's. But unlike mine, his eyes were a dark brown, red in any sunlight.

Lucius' chin veered to the figure beside me as he stood up. "And who is this?" despite sounding entirely uncurious.

"He is my friend," I replied, "We've come to ask for your help."

"Ah," I knew he was enjoying this, his own sister owing him favours, "and what kind of assistance do you require?"

"The kind that involves the trade of wolfsbane."

He paused, and for a moment I thought he was going to deny any connections with the trade at all. He would be lying, of course, but that seemed a familiar theme within my father's side of the family. "We are looking for someone who bought a strain of wolfsbane," I took the vial I had previously stolen from the body of the dead werewolf to show him, watching Lucius' eyes narrow as he recognised his own craftsmanship.

"Dare I ask why?"

It was Cain who spoke, "We are looking for the one who attempted to murder the king."

My brother leaned back on the desk, arms folded, "I do not concern myself with matters of the state or of its monarch."

"We are not coming on royal decree, Lucy," I used Octavian's pet name for him, "This would be a favour. I'm sure you will find we can offer generous compensation."

"I have no need for money," and I knew he was referring to this estate, and the embellished rings he had so humbly ordained himself with.

"Then perhaps my services," I inquired.

"I don't happen to have any corpses, Morgana."

My body stiffened. That sly, sly man.

Lucius smiled - this time, it was genuine. "I don't know why you've decided to grace myself with your presence after all these years, or why you've brought a lycan to my doorstep, but my answer is the same. I can offer you nothing, Morgana."

Cain looked at me, his eyes clouded but expectant, as if he was asking for permission to shift and lodge his teeth into the throat of this skinwalker.

I only patted the angry dog on the shoulder. "Fine," I folded my arms, "If you have no corpses, no people to be found, no minds that need altering... then we shall leave you." 

Lucius stared at me, cold and calculated as ever. He knew that he needed my help as much as he needed mine, and he knew that I was very much aware of this.

His sigh was my sign of victory. "Give me the vial. I'm a busy man." 

Ignoring his lack of manners, I passed him the strain of wolfsbane and came to sat beside him on  the desk. To my surprise, he didn't flinch as I flung an arm around him, grinning in his ear.

"You're a generous man, brother, very generous indeed."