36__Conspiracies

Viktor pushed away from the table, gritting his teeth in irritation as he went out to find Kamilla. If she was outside sulking because he was mad at her, he’d pluck those pouting lips right off her face.
Approaching the exit of the restaurant, Viktor slowed down when his gaze fell on Kamilla. He frowned.
She was talking to someone with the most shocked expression on her face, her mouth agape like a baby bird.
He tilted his head in interest. Who was that blonde woman?

Viktor began approaching them but suddenly someone bumped into his shoulder. Viktor looked at the man as he practically fell over from bumping into Viktor, unable to see his face from the cap pulled low over the young man’s face.

“Shit, so sorry!” said the man as he straightened to look up at Viktor.

The minute their eyes met, Viktor saw the young man’s green eyes widen to the size of saucers.
And he knew why.
Viktor pointed a finger at him. “Jobless painter?”
The guy shrunk away, his feet inching towards the exit. “M-my King…”

Viktor frowned approaching the guy as he slowly tried to escape. “Hey, wait,” called Viktor. “Why’re you running?”

With a fearful shriek, the young man spun around and darted out of the restaurant, pushing past Kamilla and the blonde woman.

Kamilla opened her mouth to yell a few choice words at the mannerless twit until she saw Viktor stalking towards the exit, a frown on his face.
With a gasp, she pulled on Elizabeth’s arm to try and hide her but there was no point. Viktor just stalked right past them, following the guy with the black cap.
“Why the hell is he running?” Kamilla heard Viktor mutter as he stalked after the guy.

Watching him go through the crowd, she turned to Elizabeth. “I have to go, but please give me your number! I have a feeling I’ll need to speak to you again. To help Charming.”
With a nod, Elizabeth scrawled her number on a piece of paper and handed it to Kamilla.
Kamilla shoved it into her pocket and thanked Elizabeth before taking off after Viktor.
“Call me!” Elizabeth yelled after Kamilla, sighing at her raised thumbs up.

Kamilla ran through the crowd, eyes searching for Viktor. Where the hell had he gone?
Turning the down a corner she ran down a block, darting past an alley. Putting her brakes on, Kamilla backtracked and came back to the alleyway.
Her eyes widened at the sight. Deep in the alley was Viktor standing over some poor guy shivering on the ground, his hands held up in defence.
Kamilla looked around to make sure nobody was watching before she ran over to them.

“Look at me!” Viktor growled.
Kamilla grabbed his arm, eyes wide. “What’s going on? Are… are you bullying this guy?”

Viktor made a face. “Do I *look* like I have time for nonsense like that?” With a swift gesture, Viktor slapped off the guys cap and Kamilla gasped.
“Oh!” She pointed at the guy who looked like he would soon cry. “”You’re the guy who wanted to marry that Cassius girl. Right?”

“Damn right,” murmured Viktor. “What I don’t understand is why he ran the minute he saw me. Isn’t it only good manners to greet your King when you see him?”
The guy was shaking like a leaf in the rain. “M-my King… I swear, I didn’t want to do it! Please forgive me!”
Viktor and Kamilla exchanged glances and very slowly the same thought was going through both their minds.

Viktor bared his teeth. “Fucking Rogan!”
The guy jumped, shrinking back. “Please don’t kill me…” he pleaded in a whisper. “Please, King… Rogan threatened to kill me so I had no choice.”

Viktor made a sound of impatience and nudged the guy’s shoulder. “Stop that shit and get up. You’re embarrassing the whole of Onyx right now.”
With a sniffle, the guy rose and wiped at his nose.
Kamilla made a face of disgust. “So… you tried to get married to the Cassius girl because Rogan told you to?”
He nodded eagerly. “Yes! He… wanted to instigate a war between the two Kingdoms.”
Viktor shook his head. “You should have known that I wouldn’t have given you permission to marry her. How was that plan supposed to work?

“Rogan said…” The young man sniffled. “He said you’d say no, but we’d lie and say you gave us the permission. That’s why we were so shocked when you actually said yes. We didn’t thin—”

“Wait.” Viktor held up a hand. “I said yes? Was it me or my Queen who gave you permission?”

Kamilla’s heart fluttering from his calling her his queen was crushed when she immediately realized what he was about to find out.

“Y-you did, King,” said the young man, peeking up at Viktor.
Kamilla watched tensely as Viktor pointed at his own face. “Me? I said to you that you could marry the princess of Cassius?”
The young man looked confused for a minute, but nodded firmly. “Yes, Sir! You personally gave us your permission. You even… said you would bless it, which was bizarre because we’re Vampires… and we don’t…” The kid grew silent as Viktor’s expression grew darker.

Kamilla practically turned into an ice sculpture as Viktor slowly turned to look at her face, his gaze weighing a ton as it focused on her.
She gulped and peeked up at him.
Suddenly, Viktor hand shot out and grabbed the guy’s collar earning a shriek of fright from the poor soul and a gasp from Kamilla.
“P-please, my King!” he whimpered. “I just want to liiiiive…”
Turning away from Kamilla, Viktor slowly lifted the kid by his collar until his feet were dangling off the ground.

“You…” he growled at the guy. “…have the guts to say you want to live? You betrayed your Kingdom, kid. Do you know that?!”
Kamilla was holding her breath as she watched the kid nod.
“I’m sorry, King. I was… I was s-scared…”
Viktor made a face of disgust and let go off the shirt, letting the guy drop to the ground where he scrambled away against the wall. Clutching at himself, he peeked fearfully up at Viktor.
Crouching, Viktor brought himself face to face with the quivering mess.
“You know what?” he said. Kamilla saw Viktor’s mouth curve in that smile that held equal amounts of humor and evil. “I’m not going to kill you, kid. I’ve got too much else to do. Hold on tight, though because if I know Rogan well… he never leaves loose ends.”
The meaning of those words slowly sunk into the guy’s mind and Kamilla saw his wide eyes fill with cold fear.

Leaving the guy frozen on the ground, Viktor rose and stalked away, his black coat billowing behind him.
Kamilla glanced at the guy on the ground with pity before quickly running after Viktor.
She caught up to him halfway back to the car and Kamilla bit her lip, intending to do so for the rest of the day. Viktor was vibrating with rage, if she said anything out of line right now, he’d most likely toss her in a box, courier her from London and straight to Witcher’s Cliff.

Her plan to be silent as a grave was shattered however when Viktor suddenly spun around.
Kamilla bumped into his chest and Viktor caught her by the shoulders, setting her on her feet away from him.
Eyeing him for handling her like she had a contagious illness, Kamilla pouted and shoved her hands into her coats pockets.
Viktor’s gaze narrowed on her face. “And?”
Kamilla looked up at him. “Huh?”

He sighed impatiently. “You should be explaining, Kamilla. You have no idea how confused I am right now, do you?”
Kamilla looked down and nodded. “I… I actually do. I know none of this makes sense, Viktor. You don’t understand why you don’t remember any of what that guy spoke about.”
“Wow, you do have a brain!” said Viktor with a clap.
Kamilla looked sharply up at him. “Yes, I do, so trust me, okay!”

Viktor shook his head, rubbing a hand across his forehead. “I don’t know if I can! This is my problem and I’ve had it for years. You think I don’t know that I black out? It’s been happening for as long as I can remember. Now that I want to face it, you’re expecting me to sit pretty and let you do everything? It’s like trusting you to carry me across a skinny, old bridge with flaming lava boiling below it—”

Kamilla pouted at him and shrugged. “I don’t see anything wrong with that. I’m getting stronger, I could carry y—”

“What’s wrong with it is that I can just teleport us both across that fucking bridge!” Muttered Viktor through gritted teeth. “Let me deal with whatever this is, instead of taking unnecessary measures, Kamilla. Who’re you trying to protect? I’m a fucking Vampire King, you think I’m scared to deal with my fucked up mind? I’ve lived with this dark soul for six-hundred-and-forty years, my mind and all the demons hiding in there should be a walk in the park.”

Kamilla was staring up at him, unable to turn away to hide the moisture filling her eyes. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she released a shaky breath. “Viktor, I—”

“Charming… it’s really you!”

Viktor turned around and Kamilla’s eyes widened at the sight of Elizabeth standing there, an innocent smile on her face.