43__Revelations

Grace and Demetrius jumped as the doors burst open and Viktor came stalking in, Kamilla wrapped around his torso like a baby koala.
“Rock-a-bye-babyyy,” sang Kamilla, smiling up at Viktor’s frowning face.
He placed a hand firmly over her mouth when he reached Grace and Demetrius.

“Uh, my King…” said Demetrius in confusion.
“Good evening, M-mr. King,” said Grace timidly.
Viktor glanced at her. “It’s ten pm, young one.”
Grace blinked. “Pardon?”
Viktor turned away. His irritation unhidden as Kamilla snickered beneath his hand. “Demetrius, make a big pot of that soup you made when Seth and the guys got drunk—”
Demetrius jumped to his feet. “Did Kamilla get drunk? Where? You *let* her?!”
Viktor snarled. “I didn’t bloody let her! Where were *you* when she snuck off to Cassius on my damn horse and got up to no good— ah!” Viktor snatched his hand away when Kamilla bit his palm.
Holding his hand against his chest, Viktor frowned down at her face. “Are you insane?”

“Look here, little love!” Kamilla yelled, painfully tightening her legs around his waist until Viktor flinched with discomfort. “I wasn’t in Cassius to have a good time, okay! I was helping you! Don’t you want to know what I found out?” She wiggled her brows and brought her face closer. “About Rogan.”

Viktor raised a brow before taking a calming breath. “Okay, first of all…” Walking over to the sofa, he attempted to unwrap her legs from his waist to throw her onto the sofa, but Kamilla only tightened grip.
“What are you doing? Stop!” she complained.

Viktor lifted a warning finger between their faces. “Get down immediately! This is the body of the King of Onyx! I’m not your jungle gym!”
They engaged a short tussle, Viktor attempting to throw her off and Kamilla battling to stay on.

“What are you two doing after leaving me in Cassius?” Damon demanded as he closed the doors behind him.

“He’s being— ungrateful!” Kamilla grunted, fighting back with all the strength twelve dops had given her. “I went all the way to Cassius— got top info— on Rogan and Viktor won’t even let me— cuddle!”
“Can’t you share your precious information from the sofa?!” Viktor demanded, ceasing the struggle.
Kamilla shook her head firmly, panting to catch her breath. “I wanna stay here! It’s warm.”
Viktor narrowed his eyes on her before he ripped his gaze away. “You already stole my jacket and wore it on your shrewd adventures, now you want my whole body?!”
Kamilla ignored him and looked back at Damon as he pulled Grace up from the sofa, enfolding her in a hug.
“You feel alright?” he asked her softly and Grace nodded, gazing adoringly up at Damon.

Kamilla cooed at them, wrapped up in each other’s arms. “Look! Even Damon cuddles with Grace.”
Damon immediately unwrapped his arms from around her and turned around. He pushed back his wind-blown hair guiltily. “What are you talking about? That was definitely not a cuddle. I was checking… if she’s completely turned.”
Demetrius rolled his eyes. “I need to get out of here. I’m choking from all this disgusting romance,” he muttered bitterly as he sipped on his drink.

“It’s not romance!” Viktor denied loudly. “Some of us are being held hostage by drunk little hooligans!”
Kamilla turned around to glare at him. “One more insult and I’ll have yer bat-wings in pieces on the carpet!”
Viktor laughed loudly, the sound carrying zero amusement. “Too bad we, *real* Vampires, don’t actually have batwings! I don’t know who the hell told you we do!”
Kamilla gasped. “*Real* Vampires?!” she yelled. “What do you mean by that? Huh? That *I’m* not a real Vampire?!”
“Of course not!” Viktor yelled back. “Who’s the one who said she was only half?! Who’s the one who called us neck-suckers?!”
“Are you not neck-suckers?!” demanded Kamilla in a fierce scream.

Demetrius tilted his head as they went on with their screaming contest. “I don’t usually see a couple argue so loudly while holding each other so tightly,” he murmured.
Damon sighed. “Well, there’s nothing usual about these two at all.”
Tired of their noise, he walked over to Viktor and Kamilla and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her away from Viktor.

Viktor immediately jerked Kamilla back against him as he looked at Damon over her shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
Damon blinked. “Taking Kamilla off of you so she can tell us what she found out while getting hammered.”

Viktor opened then closed his mouth, unable to find a reason to refuse what he’d been fighting to do since they walked into the room. “No, but…” he murmured, wrapping his arms securely around her back. Kamilla looked up at him, along with everyone else. “She can explain from here. I mean… she’s drunk! She might fall over!”
Damon gave Viktor’s frantic justification a blank expression. “Fine. Kamilla?”
Turning her gaze away from Viktor’s Kamilla glanced at Damon. “Huh? Oh, yeah!” Turning back to Viktor, she jerked her head over to the sofa, satisfied when he rolled his eyes but walked over and sat them down.
Unwrapping her legs, Kamilla sat on the sofa and set her thighs and legs across his lap.

Demetrius looked at their position with doubting eyes. “My King, are you perhaps feeling unwell tonight?” The sight was too unfamiliar for Demetrius who, in the past, had had to repeatedly warn the Elders and other visitors about coming too physically close to their temperamental king.
Viktor cleared his throat and waved away the concerns. “No, it’s not that. She’s drunk! So… being the generous King I am, I’ll allow her sit comfortably.” He looked impatiently at Kamilla. “Will you hurry up and explain already?!”
Kamilla nodded. “So… first of all, after I met Ursula—”

“You met Diana’s aunt?” Viktor asked.

“When?” asked Damon.

Kamilla held up calming hands. “Hold on. I went there to meet her in the first place because of… what she told you last time.”

Viktor narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Wait. You went to meet her about *me*? Without letting me know? Do you realize that you went there behind my back, Kamilla? And that anything could have happened to you in that bar and I wouldn’t have known.”

With the alcohol lessening in her system, Kamilla was able to detect the dark anger tinging his words and grew silent, looking wide-eyed at Viktor.
“Viktor,” said Damon, shaking his head. “Later. Right now, we should hear what she has to say.”

Taking his gaze away from her paled face, Viktor drew in a breath. “Okay. Go on.”
He’d said the words in a mellow tone, but Kamilla had heard it as a dare. She gulped. “Uhm… should I carry on…?”
“Carry on, Kamilla!” said Viktor.

Pursing her lips, she nodded to herself. Yup. He was actually angry now. Slowly, she attempted to pull her legs off him but Viktor’s hands gripped them, stopping her movements.
Kamilla looked at him. He eased his grip and gently stroked her thigh with his thumb. “Just… carry on, Kamilla.” He told her more calmly.

She swallowed and nodded. “Okay. Uhm…” She glanced at the others. “So Ursula firstly said a whole lot of weird stuff. She told me that Rogan was fighting for what was his. She said the attack from the Cassius Vamps was just a part of the war between him and Viktor.”

“That makes no fucking sense,” muttered Damon. “Why would there even exist a war between Rogan and Viktor? Viktor is King.”

“Rogan’s fighting the King?” asked Demetrius with wide eyes.
Kamilla nodded. “Yeah. It’s a long story, but in future, please be careful about letting him in here.”

“Oh, let him in,” said Viktor darkly. “I’ll take any opportunity to snap his neck.”
“But Grace and I are here,” said Kamilla quietly. “He might try to hurt Grace.”
Damon immediately looked at Demetrius. “Don’t let Rogan in here if I’m not around.”
Demetrius nodded. “Got it. Should I let the Legion know?”

Viktor shook his head. “No. I’ll tell them myself.” He glanced at Kamilla, noting how she was looking at him with big green eyes. She knew he was angry at her. Good. Maybe if she felt guilty enough, he’d spare her a trip to the cliff. “Go on.”

She nodded. “Okay, so… there’s something that confuses me. Ursula said Rogan was fighting for what’s his, which I immediately assumed to be Viktor’s throne. But then when she left…” She looked at Viktor. “By the way, at that moment, I was going to wait for you to leave so I could follow you back home safely.”
He gave her a blank expression. Did she think that made everything okay?
Accurately reading his expression, Kamilla turned away and carried on. “As I was saying, I thought he was fighting for Viktor’s throne. But…” she raised a finger. “I saw him going into a so-called private pub owned by the Queen’s son. That’s when I knew he was working with them and tried to follow him in there.”

Damon raised an eyebrow. “Alone? Wow, Kamilla. You sure are smart.”
She narrowed her eyes at his sarcasm. “Moving on. I failed, obviously. The guard told me that I couldn’t get in unless I was a Cassius royal.”
Demetrius looked taken aback. “Then how come Rogan got in?”

“Exactly,” said Kamilla. “Since, I couldn’t go in, I had no choice but to take that group of wild ones up on their drinking challenge. I win the challenge and they offer me information.” Kamilla stopped to pointedly look at Viktor. He strategically avoided her gaze. “So, while drinking, Dre and Maya mentioned that Rogan had actually been allowed into that Cassius Royals pub for years now.”
Viktor’s jaw clenched. “Bastard. He’s been going there since before I became King.”

“Either he’s working with them…” said Damon. “Or he’s one of them.”

Demetrius frowned. “That can’t be. He’s an Onyx Elder! There’s no way he can be a Cassius Vamp and have a title like that.”
“How are Elders chosen?” Kamilla asked.
Damon looked at her. “By the King. They go through various tests, but Rogan…” He frowned. “Once he became old enough, Viktor’s father made him an elder without as much as a test.”
Kamilla bit her lip. “I thought it would be impossible for him to be a Cassius Vamp. But then Dre told me about the rare magic.”
“The what?” asked Damon.
Kamilla tried to remember exactly what Dre and Maya had told her and repeated it, word for word.
When she was done, the room remained silent, Viktor staring at her face intensely.

“What I want to know is this,” he said quietly, each word hard and sharp. “Why the hell is a Vampire with Cassius magic in his eyes… fighting for *my* goddamn throne?”