The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 54

After Lucianne kept Liam's rocket ship in the glove compartment of the car, Juan led the entire party to the far side of the pack, near their river. This was where Lucianne would come to on her 4 a.m. runs when she still lived in Blue Crescent. She'd sit right next to that boulder that had some blood stains now. Lucianne's predatory eyes started looking for a trail, and found a few more drops here and there on the ground and dried leaves.

Lucianne had the sudden urge to ask, "Seriously, Juan, why didn't you tell me?"

Juan persisted arguing, "Lucy, this is my pack. You're my sister. What did you expect me to do? This could have been you! The vampire scent is lingering over there, across the river, meaning Kiera and Albus were attacked there and thrown over here. And do you know what the doctors found in their blood? Vampire venom. And the biggest joke?" He let out a short, depressing chuckle, "No one who saw Kiera and Albus being tossed here saw a single vampire during the attack!"

Fear entered Lucianne's eyes. Still, she put on a brave front. But everyone noticed her weakened voice when she asked rhetorically, "See, was that so hard to say?"

From the side, Toby muttered, "Well, I don't know if it was hard to say but it was definitely hard to hear." His hand subconsciously moved to his neck, because wolves learned in school that during the war, vampires went for their enemies' necks when it came to injecting venom with their fangs. It was the fastest way to kill them.

Lucianne narrowed her eyes at her best friend, "Toby, you're supposed to be on my side."

"I am. But still, no one saw any vampires, which is kinda creepy. You haven't happened to develop some sort of super vision to see what the rest of us can't see, have you, Lucy?"

Lucianne ignored the question and asked Juan, "Is the scent over there a mix of chrysanthemum and pine leaves?" Juan nodded, "Yes."

Greg noted aloud, "That definitely confirms that it was a vampire."

Juan's eyebrows furrowed when he addressed Greg, "I'm still shocked that you're here instead of the other duke, Your Grace, but yes, this concludes that those were vampires." "Those?" Greg questioned.

"My warriors smelled two individual scents on top of the vampire's general scent."

"I see," Greg muttered, exchanging a hard look with his cousin and Lucianne.

Juan continued, "And, Lucy, before you kill me or send me to space, I'd better show you what one of them left in Kiera's hand after she collapsed."

He rummaged through his left pocket and took out a crumpled sheet of paper and handed it to his sister. Lucianne unfolded it, and read the note aloud, 'You know who we're after. We're waiting for HER.

Xandar's hold on her shoulders tightened. Greg's forehead creased, so did Lovelace's. Toby shuddered. Tate held Margaret closer. Zeke started rubbing Zelena's right shoulder to reduce her anxiety.

Christian and the warriors arrived and entered the discussion circle. Greg's followers reached at about the same time as well. As soon as Christian joined the circle and registered everyone's ominous faces, he asked frankly, “Okay, how f*cked up is it this time?” Lucianne muttered, "I'm hoping less f*cked up than it was 204 years ago. We don't need another war."

Christian blinked repeatedly, not believing what he was hearing before Xandar started filling him in. The lycan warriors behind the duke matched everyone's ominous expressions. At the end of the tale, Christian heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head before he spoke in a low voice "So, long story short, it's super f*cked up."

Lucianne then asked Juan as she continued staring at the blood on the boulder, "Has anyone smelled any vampires since the attack, apart from those across the river?"

"No. I've put every warrior to work. Literally everyone is sniffing around the entire pack right now. I sniffed my own house ten times and I'm still worried."

Christian asked in dismay, "Alpha Juan, if your warriors are sniffing around...are you saying that the vampires could still be IN the pack?"

After exchanging a gloomy look with Lucianne, Juan muttered, "It's possible."

Greg questioned, "For clarification's sake, you have warriors everywhere, correct? Streets, trees, homes, borders, trails?"

"Yes, everywhere," Juan confirmed.

Greg then spoke with certainty, "Then I doubt they're in the pack. Their scent wouldn't vanish that quickly. If no one has found anything yet, there's probably nothing...that, or they're hiding in the sewer." An awkward silence followed before Lucianne asked the question going through everyone's minds, "Your Grace, is that a joke or—"

"Oh, it is a joke, My Queen. I saw a few sewer openings on the way here. No adult vampire could fit through them. And I doubt a child did this." He gestured at the blood stains and trail in front of them. Xandar then said, "A discretus can see other discretus. We should contact the empress for help. Maybe she could send a few of her people to guard Blue Crescent in case the intruders return."

Juan's sights went from his brother-in-law to his sister, whose black-and-lilac orbs were begging him to agree to let them help. So, he sighed and nodded as he said, "That would be great, Xandar. Thank you."

As soon as the green light was given, Lucianne got out her phone from her back pocket and began looking for Pellethia's number when a sudden gust of wind came from her side and snatched her device right out of her hand. Everyone watched her phone flying across the space like it was thrown before it stopped mid-air. The phone was held facing them, and something in the air threw it up and caught it twice before crushing Lucianne's device against a tree trunk.

Greg cursed, "Damn it."

Everyone heard a stream of cackling laughter from across the river. The warriors and rogues took their positions as a man leaped from one of the trees across the river and onto Blue Crescent's land.