66__Detective Kamilla Drew

Damon blinked at Kamilla and Viktor. She smiled innocently at him while Viktor stood with arms crossed across his chest and his face as stoic as a marble statue. They stood covered in dust with what appeared to be three equally dusty boxes of rubbish stacked beside them.

"So..." began Damon hesitantly. "Viktor... what happened? You two are the dirtiest in this library. Even dirtier than Darrius's old globe. I mean, as filthy as-"

"I get it!" Viktor muttered. His gaze cut across to Kamilla. "As for this despicable state I'm in, it's because Kamilla dragged me through a needless search of the upper floors."

"It wasn't needless!" protested Kamilla, attempting to wipe away the smudges on her face. "We found so much! *I*..." she quickly corrected. "...found so much."

Damon's brows rose. "Really? Like what?"

Kamilla excitedly came forward with the amulet. "Look! We... *I* found this amulet of Rogan and what is most likely his mother!"

Damon frowned as he took a look. "Incredible," he murmured. He rubbed the back of his neck. "You found this here? What was it doing in our Castle?"
Kamilla snapped her fingers. "Exactly! That's... the question."

Viktor tilted his head. "None of what you found, including the amulet and these rags, has any importance at all."

Kamilla spun around to look up at him, ignoring how Damon waved her cloud of dust away.
"Of course it's important! This could be a crucial clue! Think about it. Could Rogan just have woken up one day and decided to kill the King of Onyx, along with his queen and head Vampire Elder? And carried that decision centuries on to want to kill the Vampire King's son? He must have a reason. "

Viktor looked at her with a cold smile. “You seem to misunderstand, Kamilla," he told her. "I couldn't care less about his reasons. Point is, he killed them. Fact remains that he threatened your life and he's just pissed me off enough times for me to want to off him. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to end him, regardless of what his reasons were. "

Kamilla opened her mouth to respond, but Viktor turned on his heel and walked away, shrugging his jacket off as he went.

Kamilla glared at the back of his head until he left. "You could listen to what I have to say, you know!"

"Say it to Damon!" Viktor called back from down the hall.

"So what you're saying," said Damon, making Kamilla turn back to him with hope. "...is that all this junk can explain why Rogan's such an asshole?"

She nodded. "Exactly. I don't know why none of you ever looked through those rooms before. Did Viktor never go up there?"

Damon shook his head with a shrug. "None of us ever did. We've only been back here for a year and a few months, Kamilla. And before you arrived, Viktor constantly went back and forth between Onyx and England."

"Why?"

Lightly scoffing, Damon eased himself into a chair. "Because he's didn't want to be King. Neither did he want to be in Onyx."

Kamilla narrowed her eyes. "What changed his mind?"

"Vernon," said Damon. "He said something to Viktor that changed his mind. Whatever he said made Viktor hate his parents and his Kingdom less."

"And also made him determined to kill Rogan."

Damon nodded. "Yeah."

"That means Vernon most probably knows what went on between Rogan and the late King. I should have a talk with him."

Damon raised a brow. "What you should do is stay out of danger, Kamilla."

Shaking her head, Kamilla lifted one of the boxes and pulled up the stack of papers. "But look at all this stuff, Damon! Viktor confirmed that these pages hold many different magic spells! That means that these things might have possibly belonged to a Sorcerer or Sorceress! This means something, I can feel it!"

Damon rubbed his jaw. "I know, you're right. It can't be a coincidence that Darrius would have kept all this in his castle. And that is an awfully young picture of Rogan."

Kamilla nearly jumped from joy. "Exactly! You're finally understanding me! It is very likely that Rogan has Cassius in him, that's the only thing that can explain his eyes and his connection to magic. If this is his mother... could it be?"

Damon leaned forward and looked up at her. "You believe Rogan's mother was a Cassius Enchantress, don't you?"

Biting her lip, Kamilla nodded. "I know the words of a group of wild Cassius kids isn't much to go on, but right now, it's making the most sense."

"It makes very little sense when you consider that Rogan is a former Elder of Onyx! How on earth did he get the title?!"

"Well, couldn't you tell me that?" Kamilla asked in exasperation. "I mean you're also an Elder and all that."

"I have no clue! I left this Kingdom at the age of nineteen when Darrius shipped me off to be with Viktor. When I was born, Rogan was already an Elder," said Damon with a straight face. "He's older than us by about a century. If anyone knows, it's Vernon."

"That's it." Kamilla dropped the stack of papers into the box, causing dust to rise in a puffy cloud. "I'm going to speak to Vernon!"

Crouching to lift her three boxes, Kamilla huffed with determination. The door opened, stopping her in her tracks.

Seth poked his head in. "Oh. Hi. Damon. My... Queen."

Kamilla nodded knowingly. "I'm going straight for a shower, okay, Seth?"

His mouth twitched as he shrugged. "I didn't say anything at all, my Queen."

Damon walked over to him. "Is everything alright?"

Seth immediately got serious again. "Mostly. The King?"

"He's showering."

"Seth." Viktor suddenly appeared in the hallway, his damp hair swept back, leaving his face clear and openly gorgeous for all to gape at.

Kamilla barely kept her jaw from opening. Tsuh! He really had to go all out and look that good, making her the only dusty one in the room!

"King," Seth greeted. "We're ready."

Clutching her box, Kamilla stepped into their triangle and looked up at Viktor with wide eyes. "Where you going? Are you going to attack Rogan?!"

Viktor looked at her with an expressionless face. "No. So don't do anything reckless and stay here, Kamilla."

He turned to leave but was stopped by her hand around his.

"You're not lying, are you?" Kamilla asked quietly from behind him. "You're not going to go fight him without me, are you?"

Viktor slowly tend around and looked at her. "I never did say we'd fight him together, Kamilla. I told you, did I not?"

Seeing his eyes narrow, Kamilla knew Viktor was seeing right through her and reading her emotions like damn book. She quickly pulled her hand away and glared into her box. "Right. I forgot again. Do whatever you want."

Not waiting to hear his response, she turned away from them and walked off towards her chambers, damming Viktor and all his orders to hell's mailbox.

******************

Kamilla tapped her left pocket under the cloak, making sure the amulet was still there. Dragging in a deep breath, she looked up at Vernon's impressive home. Well... Viktor would sure be mad about this.
With a nod, Kamilla made her way through the open gates and all the way up the dark, stone path.
The house stood before her, its dark doors closed and foreboding.
Not at all feeling unwelcomed by the eerie atmosphere, Kamilla hurried up the steps and reached up to know on the door.

"Hello?" she called as she knocked. The sound seemed to echo through the silent yard. Kamilla knocked again. "Hello? Mr. Vernon Sir?"

Just when her knuckles began to ache from knocking, the dark door rumbled and slowly swung open.
Kamilla froze, staring into the home. There was nobody as far as she could see. Was this a trap? Kamilla immediately rejected the thought. It couldn’t be a trap, nobody knew she’d been planning to come here.

She did leave Viktor a note in his chambers in case something happened. If Rogan maybe attacked her, she’d try her best to run away as fast as she could. That was if she failed to kick his ass.
Kamilla hoped to be back at the castle before Viktor so that he never had to find out that she’d gone on this little trip.

Slowly, she took a step into the silent home.
“Hello?” Kamilla called again. “Mr. Vernon? Are you home?”

Her feet carried her further in as she looked around and up at the high ceiling. This was far too much chill for a simple interview. Kamilla just wanted to ask the man some questions, she didn’t understand why the scene had to feel so Halloween-ish.

Kamilla’s feet came to a stop in the front hall when her gaze fell across a surprising sight.
Portraits and paintings. With Sasha in them.

Narrowing her eyes, Kamilla approached the wall and gazed at all the pictures. Sasha and Vernon the Elder. In one, Vernon sat on a high chair while Sasha stood beside him with a cold, ultra-seductive smile on her face.

Kamilla scoffed. No way. Was Vernon her father?

The sudden melody of chimes made Kamilla turn around in surprise.

Vernon stood at the foot of his staircase, watching her.
“Good day, my Queen,” he greeted with a smile. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”