The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 86

Saxum didn't even sit when he reached Klementine's place. Every administrative creature of their community was at the worn-out wooden table. Gerella went to Saxum's side, whispered about the non-proditors' presence into his ear and waited. Saxum's blue eyes darkened, and he gave a firm nod of acknowledgement before Gerella left his side to take her seat at the only empty chair left next to him. The hard-faced leader with the ability of a fortis began, "Callows. Get to it. How much longer?" The Callows were lycan triplets - Matthew, Nessa and Ourelia. Gifted and ambitious didn't even begin to describe these three scientists, who shared a home lab since they were kids. Science fairs and competitions were for losers who wanted to waste time and potential on small- scaled successes that would be forgotten once the heat of the competition was over. The triplets had never aimed for anything less than world domination.

Matthew Callow, with bushy white beard that covered his jawline and chin, peered at Saxum in annoyance, and repeated the same thing he'd been saying since the failed attack in Blue Crescent, "I can't give a definite timeline, Saxum. Tests and experiments can run for years before we see the slightest hint of success, especially with one as huge as this."

His sister, Nessa, with messy short, brown hair that had prominent white strands here and there, affirmed, "If it were that easy and quick to come up with the formula for the chemical, someone would've done it by now. Sustainable success takes time. For the hundredth time, Saxum this WILL take time!"

Saxum's fist fell on the table, and all the creatures but the triplets jerked at the impact as their leader snarled, "Time...is something we don't have. The Blue Crescent attack triggered them, and now they're out for blood. Seeking refuge in the Forest of Oderem isn't a safe option for us anymore."

Matthew countered, "I thought you claimed that no authorities ever dared enter the Forest of Oderem."

Saxum glanced at Gerella before he shared what he had just learned, "Not until today."

Now the triplets were worried. Saxum continued, "You have to speed things up. I don't care how you do it. Just do it. Stop trying to be so careful with the vampires."

Ourelia, the youngest triplet, scoffed darkly as she taunted, "You really know nothing, do you, Saxum? We're not being careful with them because we don't want to hurt them. They're just raw material to us at the end of the day," she leaned forward and continued speaking slowly like she was explaining something to a child, "Extracting segments of their brain is a very delicate process. We're being careful about taking out what we want. It's not. About. Their lives."

Saxum persisted to argue, "Then speed up being careful. When I agreed to work with you, you and your siblings promised efficiency."

Ourelia smirked arrogantly and countered, "When YOU asked for this sort of help from the three geniuses of the rogue population, YOU promised bulletproof protection and anonymity by the forest which we're supposed to hide in should something go sideways," she chuckled condescendingly before saying in a low voice, "Looks like we both f*cked up."

Saxum's fist slammed the table once more, demanding the respect that Ourelia was more than happy NOT to give. Nessa placed her hand over her sister's wrist to stop the words at the tip of Ourelia's tongue from spilling out as Ourelia flicked her long, brown hair to the back and crossed her arms while she sealed her lips shut.

Matthew took over the conversation. "Slamming the table repeatedly is not going to get us anywhere, Saxum. I told you to refuse that idiot of a wolf's request to attack the wolf pack. It was bad enough that he wanted to outright show that our species are now working together. It's even worse that, of all the packs in existence, he chose the birth pack of the queen!"

Another vampire, Regina, spoke in Saxum's defense, "It was Draxon's idea. We weren't familiar with wolf and lycan territories. We trusted his judgment because he was a wolf."

Ourelia simpered and muttered, "One of the most stupid ones I've ever seen."

Saxum brought everyone back to the problem at hand. “Draxon was an idiot, and he's dead. We'd be joining him too if you three don't speed things up. You have the formula to come with the shell. Why is it so difficult to replicate and modify it in some way to shield us against the queen's power? If you can't create something to manipulate her to control another like how you three initially promised, at least create a shield!"

Nessa spat, "Do you think we're not trying to do just that? The problem with that former wolf's power is that no one knows how it's different from the King's Authority, neither does anyone know how much more powerful it is."

"How is that possible?" Chong, a wolf and Regina's mate, questioned in disbelief. "She's a wolf. She's not supposed to be more powerful than a lycan, and we're talking about the Lycan King!"

Nessa uttered, "That's a mystery that we can only hope to understand BEFORE they replace us. The duke is already spreading his forces at every corner that shows the faintest trace of abnormality."

"Are the distractions still working?" Saxum asked.

Nessa replied, "For now, it is. His people are still watching our puppets. That ought to keep the royal rogues busy for a little while longer."

Ourelia mumbled in dissatisfaction, "But not much longer. They'd figure things out soon enough."

Regina smirked and declared, "If they were that smart, they'd know you three were still alive, wouldn't they?"

The triplets glared at the woman who, to them, was nothing short of an imbecile when Matthew said, "It wasn't easy to make the duke AND his followers believe that our end came with an experiment that went wrong. He already had people tracking us before they lost our trail. Knowing the duke, he'd still suspect that we're alive since our bodies were never found."

Ourelia hissed at her brother, "I TOLD you we should've left fake corpses behind!"

"And then what?!" Matthew yelled back. "When the duke gets the lab reports, he'd know they're fake anyway! And then he'd be certain that we ARE alive! At least now, it's just a suspicion."

"Shut up. Both of you," Nessa said sternly.

Chong simpered. "At least one of you has some sense."

Nessa threw him a sharp glare when she spoke in her siblings' defense, "Their reactions are justified. We argued a lot on the best possible solution to get off the duke's radar. In the rogue world, Greg Claw either likes you enough to recruit you, respects you enough to leave you alone, replaces you displeasing enough to keep you out of his turf, or replaces you dangerous enough to kill you. You don't need to be as intelligent as we are to know where the three of us fit in."

Saxum let out a short, dark chuckle when he said, "You three aren't the geniuses you proclaim to be, are you? From what I heard, the duke only takes the best of the best."

Matthew refuted, "He takes whoever works FOR him, and we don't work for anyone. Our aptitude far surpasses everyone in the rogue community, even Greg Claw. He saw us as threats when we questioned his position, and was plotting to get rid of us." Regina commented, "For creatures who claim to possess superior intelligence, it's odd that you've made close to zero progress."

Matthew simmered in anger as he said, "Your memory must have gotten lost through those jumbled up curls on your head. Let me see if I can help you remember - in Blue Crescent, we couldn't control the queen but what we gave the decipios controlled the king. Acario and Maurine said the last glimpse they caught on the battleground was that the king attacked the queen, isn't that true?"

Saxum muttered, "It is."

Matthew seemed calmer when he said, "Well, then. That's progress. Instead of wasting time that we don't have trying to control the queen or shield ourselves from a power that could take years to understand and challenge, I say we control the king."

Gerella spoke for the first time, "Weren't there rumors saying that his Authority is inferior to hers?"

Ourelia smirked and said, "The events at Blue Crescent have confirmed that rumor, so it's a fact. It doesn't matter. Acario and Maurine said that the queen didn't even try to attack, which means that she wouldn't do anything to hurt him while he is under our control, and that would be her demise."

Nessa then confessed, "But the one we gave the proditors the last time wasn't...strong enough, I'd say. Those who manipulated the king reported back saying that it was a close call, that their combined power might not have been enough to overpower the Lycan King, even with the help of our chemical. The king was close to shaking off its effects."

Ourelia muttered, "We'll just increase the concentration."

Matthew added, "Which would then require us to make further adjustments so that it doesn't harm the proditors' systems in any way. For the rest of us, it's wise to ingest the shell. It won't shield us from the queen but if the king can't be kept under our command after he manages to kill the queen, we'll need the shell to make our escape."

"Agreed," Nessa uttered.

Saxum stared at the table as he asked a pressing question, "Are the vampires in your storage enough to manufacture a higher concentration of the chemical you gave the proditor-decipios last time?"

Matthew did a mental count and said, "It's enough for half of them, maybe a few more, but not enough for the rest."

Chong immediately asked Saxum, "Should we send them to get more from the villages, Saxum?"

Saxum didn't hesitate when he gave a slight shake of his head and answered, "No. It's no longer safe. We used to be able to rely on the forest to keep authorities out. Now, they can go in and leave without getting cursed. We don't have a proper escape route anymore." Regina's brows pulled together as she tried to console her leader and friend, "Saxum, we don't know that yet. It's too early to tell. Perhaps the forest's enchantment would work within the next few days."

Saxum's hard look continued to be fixed on the table as he declared, "Merely hoping that someone in the imperial family would be cursed is not a good option. Hope is not a strategy, Regina. We are not waiting around to see if they manage to replace us. The Callows will manufacture the...king-controlling chemical with whatever they have, and we'll have to move out of here by tonight."

His decision sent a shockwave among the creatures who had just moved hours ago. Gerella asked in a way that was asking Saxum to reconsider, "Tonight?"

His worried gaze met hers when he said, "We're only safe for now. When they dig their way through that tunnel, we will be found. It's better to leave now when we still have time on our hands."

Everyone internalized that fact before Saxum told Gerella, "Send an urgent message to Neptune. Tell him we need that spare hideout tonight."

Gerella nodded without question and everyone dispersed. Gerella got a sheet of paper from Klementine and wrote out a message in proditor code before handing the message to Klementine's assistant, Feva, who sped to Neptune's residence.