Chapter 877: The castle duty A message had been sent out to all of the Vampire knights and family leaders informing them that the tenth family leader, Quinn was currently treated as a high level threat. There was evidence suggesting that he plotted something against vampire kind. Paul had also received that message, informing him to keep an eye out for the possible traitor with the order to inform one of the other family leaders or Royal Guard so that he could be brought to justice. Based on the short amount of time Paul had been in the vampire world, and the expressions on the other leaders’ faces he had seen in the council room, he knew something like this had been bound to happen. He had experienced this a lot in the past when even he was attempting to rise to the position of Head general. The difference was, nearly everyone was against Quinn, and he didn’t really have any allies amongst the other leaders. Whatever deals he would make, would only be tempered with and would benefit the others. Springing into action, Paul had called in all the vampires in the inner castle area, to enter the castle itself, apart from those stationed at the gates near the tower. They were each given a mask that had been created by Logan. Although Quinn would have prefered limiting the masks to those in his inner circle, the situation was now clearly different to before. At least Paul knew he could trust his people, especially the ten directly under his control as a Vampire knight led by his second-in-command Ashley, who had been the first to volunteer during the mass turning. Everyone knew something was up when they were called in, but Paul didn’t share the details. This only made them speculate and more anxious. As time went on, eventually he received another message a short while later. "The tenth leader has been captured and will be held captive until a decision has been made by the council." The content was short and was delivered personally by Jill, the eighth leader. However, it was the worst outcome Paul had expected. He called a meeting in the dining room next to the throne room. It included everyone who was close to Quinn and who he deemed as important. Communication with Leo’s team was impossible, making them believe they were in the midst of their rescue mission. Once everyone had gathered in the dining hall, there were those facing backwards and forwards, some standing up, and a few sitting down in the empty seats. "I’m sorry that I’ve called you in without saying anything beforehand." Paul began. They all were already aware that it had to be something about Quinn. When he had been in the middle of his fight, getting beaten by the others, they had all felt it, a horrible feeling in the bond between leader and creator getting stretched. "Someone has framed the murder of the Royal Knight Dwight on Quinn, and the other family leaders have now captured him, holding him at the moment. I’m sure a lot of you have many questions, but I honestly don’t have all the details either. However, I fear that there is something much bigger than this going on in the background!" "It doesn’t make sense for the mastermind to just get Quinn captured. If they wanted his vote there were a number of ways they could do it. So I think there is something bigger going on, which is why we need to focus on protecting the castle." Paul explained. The first one to act after hearing this was Peter as he slammed his fist down on the table so hard that the corner piece of it had broken off. "Bullcrap! How could they frame him for this crap? It’s that second leader!" Peter claimed. "They’re the ones behind all of this! We need to march up and get her to confess whatever she did." "Peter we can’t just go and do that!" Sam stopped him. "Our family here is small and doesn’t have the power to stand against all of them. I mean there is a possibility we could get Logan to create one of the teleporters to the Cursed ship and call on them to help, but based on the strength of the other families and how they are acting, I fear even then it would be sucide mission." "Which is why I think it’s best we just protect ourselves." Paul concluded. "Just before it happened Quinn left me a message. I’m actually surprised he had the insight that something like this might happen, which was why he had made as many upgrades to the towers and statues around the place as possible." "I don’t think what Sam suggested is a bad idea, but we shouldn’t lead them here. If the other families do attack us, we should use the equipment to hold them off while we ourselves escape back to the Cursed ship. Yes maybe we will be hunted down, but if it comes to that staying in the Vampire World is just too much of a risk!" "Aren’t you just telling us to abandon Quinn?!" Peter accused the Vampire knight. "After everything he’s done for you! How many times has he saved us here? Even after he has returned, he spent most of his time looking after everyone in the family. If we leave this place and do nothing, then it’s only a death sentence for him!" The group discussed more on the topic and quickly two camps manifested. Those that wanted to protect their own lives, and those that wanted to stay and save Quinn. Unfortunately, they lacked any details about the evidence the family leaders supposedly had against him. On top of that, there was no news from Leo and Silver. "We can’t leave Quinn!’’ Layla blurted out. "At least I can agree with Peter! If it was any one of us in his situation then he would have stayed to help us! He made the Cursed faction to protect others, and even you Paul! I know that as a general you tend to think about what’s best for the majority of the people, but this time, I think you got it wrong! I think the majority of the people want to help Quinn." Hearing that, Paul looked around the room and he saw the faces of everyone in the Cursed faction show determination, including some of those that had stayed at the castle, such as Timmy and Erin. "It seems I got you all quite wrong on this one. Very well, but, I forbid anyone to do anything before we find out the decision that is to be made with Quinn!" Paul declared. "Also we shall wait for the return of Leo. In the meantime, I want Erin to take Leo’s group of vampires that he had trained and protect the east gate!" "I will send Ashley and my group over to the west gate, while Sam, you will be in charge of the main entrance, the north gate. I’m not telling you to engage, but to only be on the lookout and slow them down. Quinn showed me what these towers and statues can do, and if the other families do attack, they will be in for quite the surprise." Paul said with the meeting coming to an end. Some were dissatisfied, especially Peter, since he wanted to storm in and attempt to save Quinn right now, but Logan calmed him down with reasoning, saying it would do Quinn more harm than good. One person, though, had left the room a little more worried than when they first came in. "Hey are you okay?" Layla asked as she rubbed her hand across Cia’s back. Her face was covered in sweat and she felt a little sick. "Yeah, I just feel a little ill, I’ll be okay." She smiled, and walked down the hallway to her own room. While walking she couldn’t help but think about what Peter had said, how the second leader Cindy was behind everything, if that was true, she was now starting to wonder if she was somehow responsible for all of this. Cia only had the negative feelings towards Quinn she had before, she had lost her memories due to Quinn. The fact that Layla liked him only worsened that. Cindy had been nothing but nice to her. In order to make it so the vision she saw didn’t come true, she decided to inform Cindy of what Peter had seen, how Peter had claimed to see her with the eighth leader. She thought maybe this would be the misunderstanding caused between the two that caused Quinn to kill Cindy, but when she went to visit her again something odd had happened. ’Is it really all my fault?’ Unaware, Cia had done something unbeknown to her that made Cindy aware that Quinn had in his possession, none other than something called a Blood fairy, which would be the start of a slippery path for the tenth family. ******