The Gamblers Six

Chapter 6: Dominik

Viscountess Lilibet Walsh's final resting place stood dull in its perimeters.

The woman was hunted on the account of witchery in the Capitol. Before Cadieux's regime started.

The days when he was still plotting to take over were known best for its cold blooded murders and open mass killings. The monarchy in Liriath would soon dissolve, and the General's rule would commence.

Lilibet had run through the downtrodden roads of the then outskirt of Liriath, when she was shot in a house she had taken refuge in.

The house before which stood Dominik.

Sliding a forged key into the keyhole, he rotated it to open the scene into the house.

Click

A note echoed as the lock unlatched, and Dominik sauntered into it..
The house occupied little ground, and most of it was broken, the wood of the staircase broken in half, left hanging in the air. Dust muddled his scent, reaching to him through the cotton cloth he had wrapped around his mouth and nose.

The wood creaked below him as he walked under the staircase. Knocking on the wall, an echo welcomed him. He took out his dagger and stabbed the wall.

Blood trickled down the ceiling as the false wall fell, crumbling to the ground in a bound of cement and dust, unveiling a most awaited sight.
A room.
Dominik had spent years pining over the exact location of the once siren, now, he had her.

Viscountess Lilibet sat atop her bed.
The siren bore her eyes into him. She was older in age now, with wrinkles adorning her forehead.
It was a humbling sight.
She survived the shot, lying bleeding on the floor, until a member of the communist party found her, and for whatever reason unknown, had hid her successfully for the past twenty seven tedious years.

"Who ever may you be?" the women got up, a semblance of fear seeping into her.

"Inquisition."

"Are you to kill me?"

"I have not yet decided."

The women strode forward to him, "I have nothing you might be interested in."

"you would be right." He moved over to her bed, "May I sit?"

Bewildered, she nodded. Eye bags hung crinkled on her skin, the echo of youth barely traceable.

"your lineage, tell me about it."
Carefully, she pressed her lips together. "There is not much," she spoke, "A son. That is it"

"You lie."

"How-", a suspicious discern flooded her features. She realized that Dominik had done his homework.

He left her wondering, not denying as he offered a stern look, unmoving eyes boring into hers.

"A daughter, she is the only one who visited me." Lilibet struggled initially, but continued talking. "She is not the Viscount's daughter, so I do not mention her existence much, or even at all."

"Describe this daughter."
She huffed a short laugh, "However must you have anything to do with her?"

Dominik only raised an eyebrow, and the poor soul crumpled in defeat. "the opposite of me really, bright red hair, stormy gray eyes."

"Contact her."

"I cannot. She stopped visiting me seventeen years ago." her eyes grew distressed, shoulders sagging as she connected the dots. "you want to kill her."

Not a question, yet a statement true.
"You are a siren, you can not birth a son."

"he was from my husbands first wife." she came down to sit on the bed, her weary eyes falling to the floor, "I believe you are aware of his whereabouts."

He was Dominik's next visit. Offering so much as a nod, he stalked over to her, taking out his ivory blade.

He needed an exact ounce of the siren's blood, enough to help him locate her daughter. Lilibet stayed in place, not wavering as Dominik held out his hand.

A hushed whisper, a cold water bucket dropped over Dominik, "My dear, I am already dead. My question is, how in the Fates are you talking to me?" she huffed a laugh, moving so his blade entered through her stomach.

Dominik retrieved the blade, and to his luck, it came out clean. "why tell of your daughter then?" he asked.
"Let us make a trade." she began, "Unbeknownst will our reasons remain, I will aid you with memory granted you aid me in foot."
"Elaborate."

*

Theodore Boderlias was often agitated.

Dominik was not concerned of the individual, just that he may follow thorough with his given orders, precisely.

Many a times, Theodore would elude the dismissive gestures Dominik would throw at him, and suggest bonding activities such as the brothel engagements of two nights prior. He was a nuisance, but a man Dominik trusted much.

Valor House was a residence of Setrev in the Capitol, for all official visits and occasions. The night bordering dusk as Dominik strode to his quarters, Theodore at his tail.

"you called for me?" he spoke, "I also came to you an hour ago," he stopped infront of Dominik, "you were not here?"

"A walk does one the wonder of clearing their head."

Dominik stepped aside from Theodore and led him into his quarters, closing the doors behind them.

"I need you to keep a keen eye on if or when General Faverhall meets with any official from the Capitol."
"Of course."

"I also need all reports of our tradings with the Capitol dated a year till now. I am entrusting you to get them in person, I do not want to risk it being altered."
"May I ask of such, sudden measures?"
"May you like to keep your head?"
His mind ran to a thousand and more scenarios. The sound of the door closing was the only sign that Theodore had left.
His tasks for tomorrow were jumbled. He thought of the information Lilibet had offered him. He had yet to find any solid lead on her daughter, but he would locate her, even if it took him a whole life to.

He remembered what Lilibet had told him, "The most easiest way to find her, is not at all. Bloodlust against the Setrevian family is what she breathes for, make yourself known, she just might come to you."

A shame, thought Dominik, A mother pitching to have her own child killed. A monster, but her made monster.

"She was quite, raunchy." She had said, "Surprised, I would not be therein she bore child."

Dominik heard her clearly.

The woman had a child, one he needed to locate. Stupid, he was not. He did know that a monster knows no bound. That they care not of their offspring, for if they indeed did, he would not be here, searching for them.

He would lie to himself if he denied the spark of hope that lit within his bones, the fragile hope of finally ending his burden pumping rampant.

He would win. He had to. He would find the Lilibets grandchild.