The Vampire's Luna

Chapter 215: I Need Men

’Lurent,

Gabriel’s personal servant, needs to be replaced with one of ours.’

Lurent had been with Gabriel for years. If anyone knew the depths of the Lord’s secrets, it was that man. Replacing him wouldn’t be easy, but the Queen wasn’t interested in easy.

Talon folded the paper, then tucked it deeper into his pocket. He’d burn it later.

He ordered a plain steak and undiluted juice to avoid suspicion.

His mind was already calculating how to make Laurent disappear without raising an alarm.

Luna had told him to follow the instruction on the note with Doctor Thessa’s help.

The Queen had been clear: he was not to act alone. Thessa was already part of the inner circle now.

As soon as he was done with his meal, he headed to Doctor Thessa’s home. She got into the car with him as he handed the note to her.

Thessa read it once, her brow arching slightly. "Lurent, huh? Interesting."

"I need men, trusted ones. Once he is seized, he should be brought to you. I’ll come over, pick him up and take him to the palace." Talon explained.

"This has to be clean, Thessa. No screams. No mess. He disappears. That’s it."

The image of Gabriel’s looming smirk hovered in his mind. Gabriel had caused too much chaos already. Talon was tired of watching Luna shoulder it all alone.

"Isn’t that risky? Your car will be searched." Thessa expressed her concern.

"Not when the queen is in it."

If Luna was in the car, protocol changed. No one searched the Queen. No one even dared.

Thessa gave a slow nod. She didn’t say another word. Just opened the door and stepped into the night without a backward glance.

Talon watched her walk up to her home.

He shifted into gear and drove off toward the palace.

*****

"Damien?" Luna called from her position where she had her head resting on his lap on the sofa.

Her cheek rested against his thigh.

"Yeah, honey." He answered as he took a sip of coffee, browsing through the latest newspaper.

The coffee in his hand steamed gently, and the crinkle of the paper filled the quiet of the room. It was domestic, ordinary—something they so rarely got to enjoy.

"I’m still new to Blood City’s laws. But tell me why you or your father have done nothing to curb Gabriel’s excesses." She asked.

"Well, he hasn’t exactly broken any laws. Except centuries ago when he killed a turned vampire. My grandfather buried it, but the consequence was my father got the throne instead of him."

"Gabriel killed him in front of witnesses. But my grandfather decided it would be better to cover it up than stain the royal line."

His jaw tightened. "He gave the crown to my father instead. Said it was penance. Said Gabriel was too unstable."

A political crime buried for the sake of image. A violent man left to fester because it was cleaner that way.

"Your grandfather chose peace over justice," she whispered.

"Yeah," Damien said bitterly. "And now we’re paying for it."

"How sure are you he hasn’t broken any laws? Someone like that, I am sure there are a million skeletons in his closet."

Luna sat up slowly. Her brows furrowed as she looked at Damien.

"Gabriel is too polished, too careful. And that kind of perfection only exists to hide something ugly." She paused, her fingers tightening on the throw pillow beside her.

"None that we have been able to find. Trust me, we have been looking." Damien answered.

He leaned forward, setting the newspaper aside. "Luna, I’ve had investigators going through every corner of the kingdom for years. Whispers and rumors don’t stick when there’s no evidence."

His voice softened as he reached for her hand. "I’m not defending him. I hate him as much as you do. Maybe more. But if we move against him without proof, we’ll lose more than we gain."

"Do you trust me?" noveldrama

The question came suddenly, her tone unreadable. Damien looked up at her, startled by the shift.

Damien looked up at her. "Of course, I do. And I also know you which is why I am going to ask my next question..."

He knew Luna too well. Trusted her fire—but he also knew what fire could do when left unchecked. And Luna, when determined, was a wildfire with no regard for survival.

"That’s the point of asking you if you trust me. You cannot ask me questions."

Her lips curved in a small smile as she interrupted him, lifting his hand to her cheek for a brief moment.

"You say you trust me," she whispered. "Then let me carry this one."

"...what are you planning to do?"

Damien’s eyes held hers.

He was asking so he could help—or stop her. Or both.

"I will answer that. But that’s it. You cannot ask me how. I would like to shield you from this." Luna answered.

There was steel in her tone now. And sorrow. Her shoulders squared and her eyes blazed.

"What?"

He leaned back slightly, bracing himself.

"I’m taking Gabriel down."

Slowly, his lips curved into a grin.

Damien’s grin widened. "I’m guessing you have a plan. I won’t ask. But be careful."

He knew whatever she was about to do, it would be ruthless. He knew she wouldn’t stop.

Luna smiled. A genuine one this time. She leaned forward and kissed the underside of his jaw, just briefly. Just enough to linger.

"I need a few things done today though."

"Yeah?"

"I need a place that can double as a cell here in Blood Castles. Somewhere close by. Somewhere not patrolled by the usual palace guards." Luna explained.

"I promised not to ask and I won’t. There is an abandoned dungeon used in the old days. It was abandoned after Blood City began to expand and develop. It’s along the back walls. Soundproof."

The dungeon he spoke of was a relic of an era when kings ruled by fear, when betrayal was answered with agony in dark chambers buried beneath the stone bones of the palace.