Love of a Raven

Chapter 40: A Step Forward

Several weeks have gone by since Mary Jane Kelly's murder occurred and all has been quiet. Too quiet for my liking. There were no other bizarre murders and the Yard has made little to no progress in apprehending someone for those deaths. Even Damian's informants haven't been of much help. Neither twins have been spotted in London; only their father and I did not dare to be near him.

"Was there really no word from your workers, Damian?" I ponder while I follow him into one of his licentious establishments. He insisted that I join him so that I could be recognized by his members.

Apparently, Damian wants me to be involved in his establishments. By involved, he wants me to have the same level of respect as he does. As of late, he kept introducing me to all of his members and his workers. I had many of his demons act hostile towards me, but Damian dealt with them by killing all of them. That brought everyone's attention and have ceased to bother me.

"None. Your vampire prince and his family have been silent. The king goes to his usual meetings with your prince, but nothing else. Are you sure that he has a twin brother?" Damian responds while we enter his establishment.

"I have seen him before. He looks exactly like Alexandru, except for his eyes." I mutter as I follow him through the room where demons make a clear path for us.

"Well, then he's probably hiding himself away. I've been around the surface and I haven't seen one glimpse of him before. Only his father and brother." Damian notes and takes a seat in a rather private section out towards the corner. I took a seat next to him while I think over Damian's words.

From what Alexandru has told me, his brother Lucius never pegged me as the sort of fellow to be out in public. If anything, he much rather preferred to be inside his room. I only ever saw him when Alexandru went to hunt, but even then they parted ways. So, what could be behind his disappearance all of a sudden?

King Ferdinand wouldn't execute him. If he hadn't sentenced Lucius to death for causing the death of his mother, he wouldn't have him die for drinking a copious amount of blood. Not to mention that killing him for almost exposing their species is an outrageous reason as well. Every paper has clearly stated a human man of genteel or of foreign appearance was responsible.

That could mean the only other suspects to be my twins. They are more demonic than vampiric and these murders have been gruesome. However, four of them are not sufficiently enough to be considered demon killings. Jasmine has said it herself that she was hoping for the fourth murder to be interesting. That statement alone could eliminate them as a suspect.

Yet, it was their discussion about the fourth victim that has me speculating that they may not be directly involved. They could be indirectly responsible for the murders instead. Their conversation has to relate to them being involved and perhaps even the army Acantha mentioned. Though, that would suggest that they have known about Mother's plans with my blood. If that is true, why did they know about it?

No, the better question is how come they got to know about it instead of me? Does anyone else know about it? Luka? No, he would've told me about it the minute they told him. Lily is too young to comprehend Mother's plans. Father? Very likely he knew about it long before Jasmine and Aiden did.

If I'm going based on time, would Damian know as well? He was furious that day when Acantha told us about her storage of my blood, but he could have been acting. Demons have no loyalty to anyone except their contractors and Lucifer. Damian's loyalty to me could come to an extent and knew all along.

"Damian? Did you know about my mother's plans before we visited Acantha?" I ask, ignoring the fact that I interrupted Damian's conversation with Galvin.