Finding You, Again
Again 7 - Strategy

"Duke! Can you hear me?"

El approached towards the bed, when he saw Duke's body start moving.

"Hmmmm---" The Duke simply replied with a mutter.

"Thank God!" hiss El while exhaling a sigh of relief.

"Why are you yelling?" The Duke said in an irritated tone, trying to get out of bed.

"Yelling?" El looked at Duke with a puzzled face, as he was speaking at an ordinary volume.

"Yes, and why are the lights so bright?" This time the Duke closed his eyes with his hands.

There were no lights in the room.

"Your sense is mess up" El said, while closing the curtains to reduce the light entering the room.

"Well...." The Duke understood. His eyes and ears were wrong, neither El nor the lamp.

The duke fixed his sitting position, then closed his eyes, concentrating.

Whatever Sorrel had done earlier, it must have messed up his five senses again. He had been training her yesterday.

El looked at him without making a sound and then sat back in the chair where he worked. He knew very well, the Duke needed silence for this exercise. El turned his attention to Monath's file on the desk.

Uncle Rex has almost given Monath all responsibility to him, and he has to learn quickly. His spare time is almost non-existent, with this new schedule, because Monath is really a big company.

El used to take business classes, because he wanted to open his own company, but who would have thought he was even lined up as CEO of Monath soon.

"How long have I fainted?" the Duke asked suddenly, after an hour of sitting in silence, making El jump out of the chair.

"A few hours, it's almost dusk" El said as he turned to look at the Duke who got up from the bed.

"What are these?!!" exclaimed El, surprised.

"Are you nut? Don't scream!!" snapped Duke, while covering his ears that felt like they were pierced by a knife. He had just practiced, his ears were still very sensitive.

"But.it!" el said while pointing towards the Duke's bare left chest.

Duke looked down, "Holly F--" he said, while moving towards the mirror in the corner of the room.

He looked with eyes of disbelief at his reflection in the mirror, because on his left chest now there was a crescent-shaped mark, but it was blue with an intricate black pattern on the edges.

The mark is slightly larger than the Blackmoon tattoo

"What's this?" ask her, stroking the sign.

It looks like a Blackmoon insignia on Lui's neck, but it's different.

"I'm pretty sure the sign wasn't there when I put your pants on this morning" El looked over with wide eyes.

"There's no point in guessing. I'll ask Sorrel"

Duke stepped towards the sink, then began to wash his face.

"That man is creepy" said El, recalling his meeting with Sorrel earlier this morning.

"I can't be more agree" Duke said as he dried his face. "My body felt like it was torn apart this morning"

"Yes, you're freaking me and Roan out. We could only hear your screams" El said, rubbing his face, recalling his uneasiness back then.

"Sorry" said Duke, who now began buttoning up the available black shirt in front of the cupboard.

El just shook the hand omens Duke need not worry about it.

"Where's Sorrel?" tanyakanya.

"Let's know, I headed straight here as soon as I finished watching, Aunt Myra asked" he said.

"You coming?" The Duke asked El who answered with a trouser.

"There's something I need to get done" he said, pointing to a pile of files on the table.

"Sorry, again" the Duke smiled wryly looking at her, then stepped out of the room. The decision of assigning Monath's responsibility to El was clearly the most appropriate. It will keep El incredibly busy

Inside the room El grumbled at the Duke's demeanor, but then smiled in relief, as the Duke had returned to normal.

\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~`

Duke opens the door to find Oscar and Alva inside. Alva was checking on Lui, while Oscar was sitting in his usual place.

"You okay?" ask Alva, while tidying up the equipment.

The Duke nodded "How is he?"

Duke gets closer to the bed.

"Well, his breathing and heart rate are almost normal, but I think we should wait a while before he's fully conscious" Alva said.

"You sure?" duke asked, because Alva's words sounded like a good dream.

"To be honest, I don't know Duke. The magic that was inside Lui's body surpassed my knowledge. For a definite answer, you better ask him"

Alva seems reluctant to mention Sorrel's name, not out of hate but out of respect. After saying that, he lifted up his equipment then exited the room.

Alva becomes more free to roam the Manor, as her existence has been known to all guests. He no longer had to hide in his room.

The Duke stroked Lui's head slowly, and realized something.

Lui's scent changed slightly, the fresh scent of the trees and the sun became stronger, defeating the faint aroma of coffee and chocolate.

Is this because of Sorrel's magic? The Duke wondered in his heart.

The circumstances between him and also the extremely rare Lui made him tired. He just wants to be with Lui, so simple isn't it? But it's all happening now, and the Duke will accept all the hassle of Lui. As long as he can be with her.

What is clear is that Sorrel's existence makes him torn apart. On one hand he solved many of the mysteries surrounding Lui, but his strange nature made it very difficult for Duke to like him.

"Why did you refuse Sorrel's invitation?" duke asked Oscar, trying to get to know the other side of Sorrel.

For a moment Oscar just looked blankly ahead. "Because Lui of course" he replied.

"I admit, invite it very tempting. He offered a life of freedom, away from my heartless father. But that means I'm gonna leave my mom and Lui in her arms. That's why I rejected it" he said, in a jaded tone.

"You don't like Sorrel?" The Duke asked the obvious, but he wanted an explanation.

Oscar smiled wryly.

"Yes, because he's been lying-maybe not a lie. He explained my position without mentioning how many descendants he 'spread' in the world. He said all in reverence, as if he were on a holy mission" he continued, returning in disgust.

The Duke nodded hearing that. Duke understands Oscar's point of view very well, but he can't hate Sorrel for the same reason, because Duke understands Sorrel's background very well.

Blackmoon is very lucky to have many pack citizens, but for a pack like Moonrise, death and war are near-extinction disasters. Sorrel took the easiest and quickest step to complete it.

"Did you get any info on me from Sorrel?" The Duke made sure of something else again.

He did not want Rex to continue to blame his subordinates for the information leak. They were not balanced opponents for the elves.

"Dihyan" Oscar corrected Duke's guess.

"Once I knew you were alive, I kept digging up information about you. But my most expert informant, can't find David Adalrik anywhere. I started to suspect at that time. There is no human being who has no history unless you are not human. Then I had to call Dihyan"

His face clearly blamed the Duke, for having bothered him.

Duke smiled with a grin, he was happy to see Oscar's angry eyes.

It was your own hassles that created it, why should I feel guilty? The absurd!. The Duke satiated with a satisfied heart. At least he could have irritated Oscar a bit back then.

"You also asked for his help to overthrow your father?" Duke suddenly remembered the story of Oscar when in Tower Delmor first. He calls relatives of his mother.

Oscar nodded, "That's all I can think of. I had to quickly save Lui, even though it meant I had to meet Sorrel" Oscar sighed heavily, then continued.

"Dihyan and also one of the imperfect were sent to help me"

"Imperfect?" The Duke frowned.

"That's what it's called for a creature like me and Lui right now. It looks like a human but has the special power of an elf" she explained.

"Oh..." That's a new term.

"That sounds like a mockery" Duke said.

The term imperfect seems to say that Oscar and Lui are defective items.

"Indeed, since most of the elves still cannot accept the existence of beings like me. The term was coined by them. Sorrel had never distinguished imperfect from other elves, but the treatment of the other elves was not to his liking"

Duke was speechless to hear the sad-sounding story of Oscar. Duke was glad Lui didn't have to experience it.

Duke stroked Lui's head slowly, "You look and smell like a human, I've never found any elf scent on your body" he said.

He just wants Oscar to know, if he's closer to humans, there's no need to worry about that ridiculous term.

"Yes, and I'm grateful for it" Oscar said as he picked up the book he had put down, as a gesture the conversation was over.

Duke understands.

"I'll tell you about my day Bee, there are some things I have to take care of" she whispered, kissing Lui's soft cheek at a glance.

The Duke stepped out of the room, but stopped his foot in the middle of the open door,

"Thanks, because you chose to stay and look after Lui" the Duke said sincerely.

Duke can't imagine what if Lui grew up without her protection, If Oscar chose Sorrel, Lui would be alone facing her father.

"Don't say such unimportant things. You gave me goosebumps" Oscar said loudly, shuddering.

He was not used to Duke's gentle demeanor.

The Duke chuckled, then passed by to close the door.

He doesn't ask Oscar, but Duke understands why Oscar was silent when Lui fell into a coma after receiving his insignia.

Oscar knew the blue haze was related to the elves. That's why he can't be angry with her. He must be weighing whether it is necessary to say about Sorrel or not.

At least it all ended right, Inner Duke. While walking down the stairs.

He then opened his ears wide, trying to catch Sorrel's voice, and heard Sorrel's hissing laughter from the direction of the table of the room where his piano was.

When it got there, the scenery that greeted him was a little unique.

Sorrel and Dihyan were chatting casually accompanied by Aygul, Jacy, Rigel and Urtzi. Urtzi and Rigel were forced to be there.

Only Kamaria is absent, the Duke imagines she doesn't care about anything Sorrel tells her.

"Duke!! You look healthy" Sorrel greeted Duke with excessive enthusiasm.

"I was explaining Dyad to them, because they were very curious" Sorrel said.

The Duke complained inwardly. That meant the situation where Lui and she were mate, was no longer a secret. He had to double the security around Lui after this.

"Sit down!" Sorrel patted the empty space on the sofa next to him.

Duke wanted to ask about the mark on his left chest, but hesitated a little, whether the answer from Sorrel was safe enough for another Alpha to hear.

"Do you want to ask me something?" Sorrel looked at the Duke closely.

The Duke cursed inwardly in wonder, is he so readable? He began to regret not following Oscar's advice to practice hiding emotions from his face.

"Yes, but I'll ask you later" Duke tried to dodge.

"Oh don't worry, they already know everything" Sorrel replied as if it wasn't a big deal.

The Duke gritted his teeth in annoyance. He glanced at Jacy who could only shrug his shoulders resignedly, a sign that the statement was true.

Exasperatedly Duke opened the shirt, and showed insignia in his left chest.

"What's this?" he asked, trying to sound ordinary. Duke's patience was thinning, his manners had flown in the wind.

The other alpha took the incignia seriously. Alpha has an insignia? That's very interesting news for them.

"Oh, that's amazing"

Even Sorrel looked at the insignia excitedly. There was no need to be a genius to guess if this was also the first time Sorrel had seen such a thing.

"That's Lui's insignia for you. Because it's blue, and if you look closely, the blackish leaf pattern inside is a symbol of the Dyad Elf" Sorrel said cheerfully.

"That doesn't mean it's something weird?" ask Duke to make sure.

"Of course not, just maybe you will feel something different when transformed later, just a little difference" he explained, still with a smile.

A smile that did not make Duke feel relieved. What does that smile mean? inner Duke with annoyance.

Sorrel now slowly sipped his drink, not intending to continue the explanation.

"What exactly did you do to Bee and me?" The duke no longer cared about secrets, he just wanted everything to be clear.

"I made a slight 'adjustment' to Lui's body, so that she could receive the blood side of her elves awakened" Sorrel's reply sounded reasonable, but it still did not explain everything.

"adjustment? What's that supposed?" The duke asked again.

"Lui's body, for 23 years, accepted the fact that he was human. What do you think will happen, if suddenly the balance is disturbed by the presence of Elf blood? Of course as always, the human body system will reject foreign objects that suddenly enter. Like a failed kidney transplant. Youunderstand?" Sorrel uses a more reasonable analogy.

Duke nodded.

"I did a little change to his body, not an easy and almost impossible thing. But since he chose Dyad a werewolf, it's possible for me to do so. Do you see how destiny beautifully follows your story?" Sorrel threw a big smile at Duke.

"You wouldn't be able to live without Lui, and Lui has chosen a perfect partner who ensures she will live even with the elven blood flowing through her body. Lui needs a bond that strengthens her body, and you give her Alpha blood. Like your mother and the previous Zhena, she received new powers. The path is not as smooth as the other Zhenas of course, but the result will be the same as a little help of my magic" he concluded, in a satisfied tone.

The Duke was silent for a moment with his head full. Duke more or less understood some of Sorrel's explanation, but he had to let it settle for a while in the brain, in order to better understand.

"So after this Bee's body is no longer human? She's Inhumane?" duke asked, trying to summarize Sorrel's explanation.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your serious discussion, but this Lui and Bee are the same people, aren't they?" Aygul asked in a confused tone.

Duke clucked in annoyance "Yes" he replied.

"Ok. Now I'm starting to understand a little bit" said Aygul back leaning on his chair.

"To know how Lui is doing, we have to look at her when she wakes up. Because I don't know either" Sorrel shrugged.

The answer that made Duke glare sharply.

"What do you mean you don't know?" tanyakanya.

"Well, what happened to Lui and you, is the only case I've encountered in thousands of years of my life. I'm also very curious to see the results"

"Oh. Don't say that. I've never done anything like this, but I'm pretty sure of my magic prowess. Anyway, what are you gonna do to get Lui up? Alva won't get an answer, even if she spends a lifetime studying all her books"

Sorrel sounded like he was reprimanding the Duke, but he said all that in a cheerful tone, as if he was telling a joke while drinking tea.

The Duke's anger receded hearing that answer, he would not forget how despair gnawed at him like acid before Sorrel appeared.

He did not have any plans, just waiting for a miracle. And the miracle came in the form of an inhumane that had deer antlers.

"It would be best if you warned me about the pain" Duke grumbled as he drank the tea that was in front of him.

Trying to vent his anger, he looked towards the other Alpha who was faithfully listening to his conversation with Sorrel, they certainly got an exciting entertainment spectacle.

"Ah--yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't know it would hurt that much. But I'm glad you recovered so quickly. Alpha recovery power is amazing" Sorrel said with an amused smile.

The Duke did not believe him at all. He was sure Sorrel had deliberately not said anything to him. Sorrel has a childish side that is clearly not appropriate for his age.

Now the Duke can only wait again. Waiting for the proof of the truth of Sorrel's theory.

"As for when Lui wakes up you have to be a little patient" Sorrel said as he placed his cup on the table.

Another topic Duke wanted to avoid was to be discussed in front of Alpha.

"He'll wake up when he's ready, he's lost and locked up" he continued, as if his words made sense.

"Missed and locked up?! Do I have to ask further what do you mean by--- is all that?"

The Duke refrained from slipping the curse in between his words.

"Ah. You don't have to ask. You just have to wait for him to wake up. Be patient" Sorrel said as he patted her on the back.

"Oh. jeez, thanks a lot" said the Duke in a high-level sarcastic tone.

Aygul chuckled amusedly at hearing that "It's a pity that I haven't been able to meet your wife Duke, Arana is already impatient to get acquainted" he said while sipping tea.

The Duke was eager to reply, if he didn't need to get acquainted with Lui, but Myra came over to them.

"Eat night is ready" he said.

"You healthy?" Myra asked the Duke who was answered with a nod.

Duke follows another Alpha who has gone in before him.

"I have provided warm milk and honey" Myra said with a smile on Sorrel and Dihyan.

"Thank you Myra. I've been troubling you" Sorrel said.

"Why milk and honey?" asked the Duke to slow down, in order to walk next to Sorrel.

"We elves are the guardians of the Duke, we cannot eat anything that comes from living things, including plants. Milk and honey are foods you can eat without killing" Sorrel said.

That's a little pathetic, Inner Duke.

He could not understand at all, how could they miss the delicious taste of meat.

Oscar won't regret his decision if he finds out.

The Duke now also understood where the thick milk aroma that always attached to Abel's body came from.

\~\~\~\~\~\~\~IlI\~\~\~\~\~\~

The journey to the library this time looks more relaxed.

Not only because they know better, but there's Arana there. He hardly ever shuts up. El looked in amazement at how patiently Aygul answered all of Arana's curious questions.

Duke decides to take El today, Myra chooses to look after Lui.

But Duke is no less busy with Aygul. Next to her, Kamaria was endlessly wondering about the scenery around the pack. Kamaria used the opportunity as a substitute to get her around the one that Duke had refused yesterday.

But Kamaria no longer tried to hold the Duke's hand, after the first attempt failed.

The duke reflexively pulled Kamaria down. Duke was not even aware while doing so, his mind was busy.

So Kamaria had to be satisfied, just by standing with a position almost attached to the Duke as he is today.

Arana several times turned her eyes in annoyance at the sight.

Oulam and Arkin joined them halfway to the library.

Arana who just saw a vampire from a close distance, certainly can not hide her spirit.

Arkin until look caught off guard, because of the probing view of Arana.

"Why did you bring humans here? Don't vampires only need to drink blood every few months?" asked Arana without hesitation.

Arkin frowned at the presumptuous question, but Oulam smiled.

He was used to dealing with people who were too curious. His extensive association made him meet various people.

"We will need blood every few months, if we drink all the blood in the human body. We need it more often, because the portions we drink are much less" Oulam explained.

"Interesting" the Duke said as he sat in his chair. They arrived at the library.

"Your eating system is very neatly organized" he continued, given the size of Barclay's body. He is very healthy for a human.

"Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment" Arkin put his ass in the other seat.

"Of course it's a compliment. I've never liked the idea of human farming, but it's so much better than being a killer"

The Duke looked at Arkin seriously. Arkin smiled slightly in response.

From next to Arkin, Oulam gave a one-eye blink as a sign of thanking the Duke. Which the Duke responded with a sharp shot.

"Well, today's meeting will start with me reading out the results of the last report of spies around the area of Crispin's existence" Abel said, without further ado.

Dihyan and Sorrel who preceded them all arrived at the library, turned their eyes away from the book, and sat up straight.

"As we have guessed, Crispin continues to move westward after destroying the sanctum at Black Forrest, last seen at Lavrentiya. After that, there were no more reports of them moving"

"They stopped at Lavrentiya? Why?" ask Urtzi.

"Once again this is just a guess, I estimate they are waiting for more allies, before committing actual attacks on humans" Abel replied, in a grim tone.

"And we all know why he chose that place as his gathering point, right?" abel asked rhetorically.

"Selat Bering" Without thinking much Duke muttered his answer.

The other meeting participants also nodded in understanding. Crispin will cross the Bering Strait with his army.

"Therefore, I have an idea, we should wait on the Deznev peninsula or Wales, so that we can prevent them from reaching Canada or Alaska" Abel said.

Clearly, the first terror Crispin will unleash in America, so the world will soon know about their existence.

"Isn't that a little stupid? Attacking humans openly like that" Sorrel interjected.

"If I want to attack humans, I will do it secretly, when humans are off guard they are easily defeated" he said.

"I'm glad this war isn't about fighting you" the Duke said with a cynical smile.

Obviously Sorrel will do it more neatly. Sorrel just laughed at hearing that. But everyone present thought the same, it was fortunate that Crispin was not as smart as Sorrel.

Abel shook his head and continued his explanation.

"It is suspected that Crispin will stop attacking Blackmoon before crossing the border into America" he said.

"I don't want to bring the war here" said the Duke quickly, followed by a nod from El.

Everything they had built with great difficulty, would be destroyed in a matter of seconds in the event of a war here.

"We better wait for them in Wales" Duke continued.

"Yes, I like that better too. Wales is a quiet area, it means fewer people are involved" Abel said, now looking around for an opinion.

"The Hunter Council will also take care of matters relating to border guards. They won't interfere" he added.

"I agree" Aygul said first.

"How are we going to get there?" Kamaria who asked while thinking hard.

When all the warriors gathered their numbers would be in the hundreds. That will attract a lot of attention.

"I will send an envoy to Wales early, they will prepare a place there. The problem is how we transport the hundreds of inhumane to it" Abel said.

"It's no problem for the Elves, we'll be there in time" Dihyan said.

"Ehlh..." The Duke snorted annoyedly hearing that.

If showing up in the middle of a Blackmoon is easy, moving their bodies to Alaska is less challenging.

Duke pulled his cell phone out of his pocket by pressing number 5. Slightly surprised as his call was answered almost instantly.

"What's wrong?" Oscar replied in a tone that was no less surprising. The Duke almost never contacted him.

"How many airplanes do you have?" ask the Duke directly.

"Commercial or private?" Oscar was of course astonished, but he did not ask further the intent of Duke asking that.

"Everything"

"Delmor has an international airline if that's what you mean" Oscar is now curious about all these questions.

"May I borrow one of your fleet? Maybe Boeing or Airbus?" Duke hopes that Oscar will agree.

Monath is not in the airline business. To his knowledge, Monath only had a few private jets for business travel.

"Hmm. what is it? Don't you have to explain your purpose first?" Oscar finally couldn't bear to not ask.

"I'll explain later, I just want to know if maybe I borrowed it"

It wasn't Duke's intention to dodge, but the explanation would be very long.

"Of course I can, I will ask one of the fleets to be shut down" Oscar said, lightly.

"Thanks!" Duke then disconnected his call, ignoring Oscar's annoyed curse.

"For the transport business has been completed. We're going to take the plane there" Duke said, lightly.

Rigel and Urtzi are getting riled up by the show of power. Not only as an inhumane, Duke is also very powerful in the human world, They don't like him.

"Good!! We'll discuss further on this" Abel looked troubled, not paying any attention at all to the aggravation of the two of them.

Abel was just happy, his biggest problem was solved easily.

The pack that is farthest from Canada is Badira, but considering the amount transported is not too much, the number of, Duke gave 2 Monath planes so they could get to Quebec and fly to Wales with the others.

Levana, which is in Africa, will depart on a Monath jet, Celaine which is in Europe, will depart from London using Delmora airline. Take the plane to Quebec.

Moonrise and Shavarana from South America will fly Monath to Quebec.

Abel looked very satisfied once the conversation was over.

Sorrel already looked very bored because of this talk, meaningless at all to him.

Arkin and Oulam only promised if they would be in Wales on the promised day, without explaining how they would get there. They were reluctant to give an idea of where their Clan was.

This provoked anger from Urtzi and Rigel for feeling that it was unfair, but the Duke again rebuked them.

It doesn't matter where the vampire clan is located, because it won't have any effect on this war at all. Rigel and Urtzi were silent.

"If all is clear, we'll say goodbye now" Arkin got up from his seat.

"Sure, I'll call if anything changes" Abel got up and shook Arkin's hand warmly.

Duke also got up and shook the hands of the vampires, this time with a slightly lighter heart. Getting to know more closely, the two of them were not as bad as he thought.

"When we meet again" said Duke.

"Thank you Alpha" Oulam nodded kindly, patting Duke's hand gently.

He agreed with the Duke, their second meeting went better. Arkin gave her a wry smile.

"Call Roan" said the Duke to El who immediately got up out.

Roan's gonna escort them out of the pack. Urtzi and Rigel got up at the same time and said goodbye. The Duke took them off in relief, tired of all the tension they both carried.

Three Hunters followed them farewell later.

The Duke told El to escort them. He wanted to give El a chance to say goodbye to Faust.

Although the Duke returned a little doubt whether his actions were right or not. But he'll do anything to help El.

Jacy's entourage will stay and wait for his warrior to come.

For Levana only Shashi to return, Kamaria gave the reason he was lazy if he had to go back and forth to Quebec, he would wait for warrior Levana here.

Just an excuse of course, Kamaria would obviously not waste the opportunity to be at Blackmoon any longer.

As for Aygul and Arana, they think the long journey home will be a waste of time if they finally come back here again.

Beta from Badira who will take care of the Warrior's departure.

Sorrel and Dihyan would stay as long as they wanted, and the Duke also did not want to ask when they were coming home.

Bering Strait: The narrow strait (approximately 80 km) that separates the Russian and American (Alaska) landmasses 

Wales: A city in the Alaskan peninsula, closest to mainland Russia.