DAMIEN'S POV
"What do you mean by a Magik is leading the rebel group?" I stood up and my eyes narrowed on the stuttering messenger in front of me.
There was a reason Father had handed me the human race to control when he had left for our realm, there was a reason he had entrusted me with the responsibility of subduing the rebel group completely and their sympathizers. There was a reason the man in front of me was seconds away from pissing his pants and I say this with no regret or hesitation, it was because I was heartless, I was a killer and I'll do whatever it takes.
There was a truth most of the mortal weak beings around us were not privy to, because it wasn't important, at least it hadn't been until this Magik of a person had started freeing men from my butchering block, granting them mercy and housing them. There was a Magik who was alive.
Magiks were human magic wielders and although most of his kind had died in the war and the rest that had survived had been so overwhelmed by the loss, they were practically useless. He should be of no consequence since he was just one man grieving and doing something heroic to justify his sure to come end. But his actions were now attracting a wavelength of attention and the knowledge of his existence might give the defeated humans around us hope that I doubt we could afford especially since the magik is now raising an army that are playing 'savior' to men I have condemned to their deaths already.
He was releasing men that had insulted the crown on my head, insulted the sovereignty of my reign, refused to bow and call me their Prince and that was treason, an insult to me as a person and if there was something I personally resented, it was disrespect. I had earned this position, the absolute authority over these people, this regiment and the name absolute sovereign and regiment of this world.
But, the job also came with lots of pressing responsibilities and I doubt I had the time or leniency to seek some exalted fool that could cast a couple of spells that made him believe he had a bigger mission of sorts rather than being anything we wanted and eating off the crumbs of our table.
I eyed the messenger and his prostrated form on the ground turned into a sprawled one. He was trembling, to be fair, it wouldn't be the first time I will be making a man lose his head just because he delivered undesirable news.
But unfortunately for him, I wasn't ready to stain my sword with such an undeserving blood. He was mortal after all and death was already his fate from the minute he entered this world and wailed at the vison of the unremarkable life he was bound to live. He was a slave. He was bound to worship men like me. Men with immortality, grace, and power.
"Summon my brother, Conrad," I muttered and he quickly arose bowing to his waist and when I looked away, he scampered as fast as his legs could carry him before I change my mind and decide that his sight was too much of an irritation. Again, it wouldn't be the first time that had happened.
I counted. It took 5 minutes before my brother had lazily saunter into the throne room with barely dressed mortal whores draped side by side his arm.
Conrad was the only being I know on earth including my father that could get away with such insolence and I bet he knew because his insolence remained on his face even as he mockingly stood in front of me, bowing to his waist like the two humans he had sucked dry and who were barely conscious. They were clearly hypnotized by my brother who looked like he was certainly up to no good.
But now I thought of it, when had he ever been up to any good? He indulged in all form of debauchery and he partied wild with the whores that frequented his chambers where he had what he called a hella of a good time; he had sex with them, fed from them and got rid of them with no recollection of the memory except a bag full of cash and the reminder of an insanely pretty face that didn't try to hide the mischief written all over it as he opened his door for them.
Safe to say that if he wasn't my blood he will be long dead by now and even as he was, his insufferable cocky smirk made it easy to forget but he was also the one thing I love after power and authority and he seem to be aware of this fact and hence he kept on pushing his luck.
"His royal majesty, what do I owe this esteemed acknowledgement?' his brows were arched and his eyes shone with amusement as I snarled at the human girls who looked at us with vacant eyes, unaware of what went on in here and could only act in the manner Conrad willed them. Yet, the thought that this disgusting underdressed beings were in the throne made me glare at him.
"Send them out," I stiffly ordered.
He pouted, his crown angled to the side of his head. "Party pooper,' he said under his breath and before I could treat his remark with a response, the girls with their droopy eyes and their robotic steps left the room I bet heading for his where they will remove their clothes and wait for him sprawled on the bed naked.
I looked at him, disappointment in my eyes. Yes, I could see the appeal to feed from them but the fact that he shared a bed with these skanks was something I still couldn't wrap my head around. But I frowned remembering that I had called him not to chastise him for the choices of women that warmed his bed but for something even more important.
"I have a duty for you,"
I watched as his posture straightened and I bet the crown on his head got heavier because he readjusted it and then with a slight nod, he took a seat adjacent to me ignoring the dais that was next to mine, unoccupied.
He had countlessly expressed his wish of wanting to serve me like every ordinary soldier and not like a Prince to the crown prince. Although, I had told him that he couldn't change his fate and he will forever be recognized as more, I let the master rest.
"Does this have something to do with the Magik?" he asked immediately as he sat down and I didn't even have the graces to appear surprised because although my brother could throw a big party and might not necessarily be living an exemplary life, he never slacked in his duties as a soldier and even a Prince.
I nodded. If he knew then he might have something up his sleeve and just like I suspected, he didn't disappoint because he met my gaze.
"Should I go after him? Should I kill him and make an example out of him?" he drawled out.
I eyed him knowingly. "You would have already if you think it was okay," I replied him knowing my brother was better than asking permission from me to attack an enemy of the crown.
"I could go after him and present you his head,'
"But?" I asked.
He didn't miss a beat when he looked at me with the eyes that made me insist that he remain with me in this realm. The eyes that made him a strategist; that when I had practiced with the swords, he had been in the classroom sharpening his wisdom and conversing with scholars.
"Killing him will make him a hero, glorify him and we certainly don't need news of a supposed savior spreading through the capital," he listed my earlier calculation. "And what guarantee do we have that if we kill him he might not have done enough damage with his followers that we will have to enter a repetitive cycle of getting rid of the copy-Magiks?"
"We can't just let him be," I seethed. "he is causing lots of damage."
He grinned at me, his eyes gleaming with the thirst for blood. "I don't plan to. I have a plan. A plan that will obliterate him and his team completely."
I sat up on my seat now interested in what he had to say and he had a smug grin on his face knowing that I was watching him with rapt attention when he continued.
"One of their kind. A human girl preferably, docile, pitiable and needs saving." He flashed me one of his grin that had too much teeth to be genuine. He was also pissed off at the Magik. "She also needs to be painfully beautiful. The Magik is after all just a mere mortal man."
I narrowed my eyes, not at all liking the thought of having to bear discussions with a mortal for longer and especially not on something so secretive. "What is the guarantee that we can find a human that will not turn against us at the slightest chance?"
"Everyone has a price," he smirked. "Father taught us that much when he had used humans to infiltrate and conquer humankind army. But, this will be a long-term job so we certainly need someone trust worthy and humans? They say we are the bloodsuckers but they will fall their own kind for a bowl of rice so who is to say that they cannot be backstabbing demons at the end of the day."
I rolled my eyes in disdain. Not only were they mortal, but their selfishness, their deceit, their scorn had destroyed them even before we had unleashed our army on them that funnily amongst them were their kind raising their sword on them.
"What is your suggestion?"
"We need to save someone."
I shook my head slowly hating the sound of it even though I don't know what he is insinuating and something tells me I don't want to. "We need to buy a beautiful, humbled human girl and I know the right place."
"I'm not getting a pet!" I blurted out remembering with a chill down my spine at the collar attached to their neck and how they stood behind the lords silently at balls and were masqueraded as pretty statues.
Conrad stood up with a haughty grin.
"We leave tomorrow Crown Prince," he bowed to his waist and when he arose, he was grinning at me. "You have until dawn to decide what you can't stand more, a docile pretty human girl or a proud human filth calling himself King when you are wearing a crown?"
He swiftly left and I cussed knowing that he already knows what my reply will be.
Sometimes, I want to kill him only because he knows me too much.