While back in Fritez City Rivan received the file he had requested on Aselia. He sat in his office, late at night when the file from Hamian Orphanage was delivered to him. He opened it and found the picture of the little girl he had dropped at Abinse eighteen years ago with the name Aselia written under it.

Rivan was in a state of shock as he stared at the picture with disbelief. How was that even possible?

So they shifted her to Hamian and declared she was dead, they changed her name to Aselia from Silah. That girl was so much alive and they just lied to him. But the question was, why? Why someone went to this length to hide her from him and change her identity?

He read her file further and the information after she turned 10 was redacted. The person he had hired to obtain the file had placed his note in it.

He read the note and understood everything.

Hamian Orphanage fell under the jurisdiction of Avarance: The Hunter Organization and was heavily funded by Aldridge; the head of the organization. They used similar orphanages to hire orphans as hunters.

It was a very clever ploy, no one missed orphans, and they had no families. It was easy to redact the information on them and change it according to their wishes. They are easily erased from the system and it’s not difficult to forge fake documents of them. Obtained younger it was less ardent to train them and mold their young minds according to their wishes.

The truth dawned on Rivan and he sprang from his seat. She was an undercover hunter, who had infiltrated their city. Most probably to fish for information which she had done effortlessly. She had fooled all of them. Now he understood her grievances, her resentments and why she said Xiran was better off without her. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Rivan knew he had to tell Xiran the truth. His body stiffened thinking about what Xiran might do to her. He wouldn’t hurt her but most probably he will wipe her memories or keep her prisoner forever. Rivan knew this would hurt and haunt Xiran forever. The harsh reality was about to rip his friend apart. But this needed to be done.

He took out his phone and called Xiran, right away. But his number was inaccessible, this was highly unlikely. Xiran’s number was always accessible when he was in Fritez City.

Rivan didn’t waste any time and called Carios. As soon as Carios picked up Rivan asked:

"Where is your Sire?"

"Señor Rivan, Sire is in his room with Aselia," Carios informed him.

"His phone is switched off and I need to talk to him, it’s urgent." Rivan had a bad feeling, Aselia could be dangerous.

"I will head over to his room and inform him."

"Yes, hurry." Carios took long strides to reach the lift and headed up. Reaching the top floor he made his way to Xiran’s room. The door was closed, so he knocked but there was no answer. He waited before knocking again, but silence met him.

"Señor Rivan, he is not opening up. Maybe Sire is sleeping and doesn’t want to be disturbed." He spoke apprehensively on the phone.

"Go inside," Rivan ordered him.

"Señor I can’t do that. Sire will kill me." Carios didn’t want to even think about entering the room when he was with Aselia. The thought turned his ears red.

"Knock loudly once more and enter if there is no response," Rivan instructed him. Carios knocked a bit louder this time but there was only silence on the other side of the door. With a thudding heart, Carios opened the door a bit and called out before entering:

"Sire, I am coming in. Señor Rivan wants to speak with you." More silence followed his words. He stealthily entered the room which was dimly lit and found it to be empty. He peeked at the bed and it was made up, indicating no one had slept in it. A wine glass lay shattered on the floor, its contents had spilled and almost dried.

Then his eyes landed on Xiran’s phone, which had been broken as if by force. Carios had a bad hunch about this. "Sire is not in his room, his phone is broken, I think he is either missing or he has gone someplace with Aselia." Rivan felt an electric shock rumble through his body. Was it possible that hunters took him?

"Find him and figure out what happened, I am coming over. Lock down the hotel and inform Warisie to check all entrances to the city. My gut is telling me someone took him. Inform me if you get any news." Rivan disconnected the call and headed for his car to get to the hotel.

Carios went over to the security room. The vampire who was on security duty informed him that one of the cameras in the back alley changed directions, it could have been a cat jumping on it but he had sent two security guards after a while to assess the situation.

"How long ago was it?" Carios inquired while monitoring the cameras.

"20 minutes ago."

"And they haven’t returned? What’s taking so long? I will check it out myself." Carios declared before heading out to find out what was happening.

Reaching the back alley he saw both the vampires laying there, tied and unconscious. There was a lingering scent of Aselia in the back alley. Carios quickly sprung into action.

He called the guards to lock down the hotel and not allow anyone to enter or leave. They checked all the entrances, back entrances, the roof and all the empty rooms. The only thing he found was a rope left behind which was tied to the backside of the roof. Carios felt surges of anger coursing through his body. How dare they took his Sire?

Rivan arrived soon and took everything under his control. Carios filled him in with all the details he had gathered, he had never seen him so angry and frustrated, his eyes were almost glowing red.

"Take me to Xiran’s room." He demanded and Carios lead the way. Reaching the room he scrutinized it from every angle. The lingering scent of Aselia was prevalent in the room and it went up to the roof. "Seems like she had help, she couldn’t have taken him on her own. Find out who they were." Rivan instructed Carios.

No other scent could be deducted. He picked up Xiran’s broken phone and took out his sim card, carefully tucking it away he handed the phone to Carios.

"Get it repaired, as quickly as possible." Carios nodded and hurried away. Rivan made some calls, he needed to get Xiran back as soon as possible and he was dead sure that hunters had taken him and Aselia was the main culprit behind it.

How could she do all that after everything Xiran had done for her? But then he remembered what had happened to her as a child. Did she remember everything? Was it all about revenge for her?

So many questions lingered and Rivan didn’t have all the answers. He knew he had to make contact with her and her organization, and make them listen to reason. Otherwise, this will blow into a full-fledged war and Xiran hated bloodshed especially if it was on his expanse. Rivan decided to negotiate peacefully with them. But he needed proof first, he couldn’t go on accusing them based on speculations. He needed to gather more proof, something to make sure Aselia and her team took him.

He decided to contact the director of Abinse Orphanage, where he had dropped Aselia all those years ago. As the call connected and he picked up Rivan got straight to the point and accused him of lying to him about Aselia’s death and selling her off to hunters. The director denied but Rivan sent him the screenshots of the other orphanage’s records.

The man’s blood turned cold and he quickly confessed after that, informing him that Aldridge has been hand-picking kids for decades now. They are first shifted to Hamain and from there they end up in different divisions of Avarance. Some become hunters, others become agents while the rest end up as tactical staff or fill up other required positions within the organization. Their sole purpose is capturing and killing rogue vampires which feed or kill unwilling humans and elves.

Rivan threatened to oust his secret to the media and end his life if he didn’t give him all the information he had on Aselia. The director promised to use his resources and gather as much information as possible on Aselia and send it over.

Rivan finally felt satisfied that he was on the right track and soon will have enough evidence to be able to contact Avarance, to negotiate with them. He had also decided to talk privately with Aselia and inform her about what actually transpired that night, 18 years ago. The night she lost her parents and became an orphan.