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Trinity
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I had just sent Talia back to the Alpha's house with David and Shane. Shawn, Vincent, Gabriel and Dietrich were still with me and Reece at the coroner's office. The coroner, Gwri, and the Alpha, Cadwal, were not with us at the moment. They were busy taking care of some business in their pack. So, for the time being, it was just the six of us. I knew that Shane and David would be disappointed to be missing out on this conversation, but I didn't have a choice. We needed to talk things out as soon as we could.
“Dietrich, I want to talk to you about something.” The man in question had been looking down at the floor. I could tell that there was something that was eating away at him. And it was not something new. He had been looking off since the first time we read over the case reports last week. Now, I wasn't about to let it slide anymore. He needed to stop hiding things from me. He needed to talk.
“Talk about what, Trinity?” He smiled and gave me that usually calm and serene face of his. Only he was not sculpting it right. He wasn't able to look completely carefree and innocent like he normally did.
“Well, for starters, tell me why you look so nervous right now. Do you know something about what is going on?” I hadn't meant to sound accusatory but based on his words that followed I was able to guess that they sounded at least slightly accusing.
.....
“Do I know anything? What are you saying? Do you think that I have anything to do with this? Do you think that I am a killer? Is that what you think of me, Trinity? I don't even drink blood as often as I used to. I have been a model citizen for almost twenty years so that I did not disappoint my mate.”
“I didn't mean that, Dietrich. I am sorry. I didn't mean to make you think that I thought you were a part of this. What I was meaning, and what I should have said in the beginning, is do you know who might be behind this? Do you know who might be using those symbols to trap the souls inside of their bodies?” I did my best to make my voice sound calm and apologetic at the same time. I had messed up just because of the way that I had worded that question.
“Hahh.” He seemed to deflate almost instantly. It was like all the wind that had filled his sails just a moment ago were gone. He was calm and looked very sad. “I know you didn't mean that, Trinity. I am sorry. I guess I am just extra sensitive at the moment. It's not just your people that are being targeted. It's mine too. And it has me on edge.”
“I know, Dietrich.” I walked over to him and put my hand on his arm. It wasn't quite his shoulder, but I was too short for that to be a natural place for me to put my hand. “Just tell me what you know about the runes. Please.” I prompted him to come out and tell me what he knew so that he didn't have to bottle it up anymore. “Just tell me what you can.”
“Well, the runes are old. Very old. They predate me by several centuries. They go back to old Norse legends. Anyone would be able to research them and use them. That is the problem with information being so easy to access. Even the evil things are there for these people to take for themselves.” He sighed and seemed to feel some sort of anger about that fact. “However, there was once a man that I knew who used those symbols. He was a man that sought to have a world filled with peace and light. He was a hunter of sorts. And I will admit that I helped him from time to time.”
“What kind of hunter was he, Dietrich?” Shawn didn't seem to know what Dietrich was talking about. He was just as surprised to hear about this as I was.
“He hunted people that were not human.”
“DIETRICH!?” Several voices called out to him at the same time. Me, Reece, Shawn, Vincent and Gabriel were all floored by this discovery.
“It's not what you think.” Dietrich looked like he was scared. He was frantically trying to get me to understand what he was saying. “Please. Listen to me. Let me explain. It wasn't that we were doing anything wrong. We were helping the world.”
“You were killing your own people. You were killing people that were supernatural with a human!” Shawn looked like he just couldn't wrap his mind around what he had heard, and what he was saying to Dietrich as well.
“Please, Shawn, Geliebte, listen to me. I didn't do anything wrong. The people that we hunted, the men and women that we killed, they were the worst of the worst. They were people that didn't want to hide what they were. They were killing people at random. They killed their own kind. They killed humans. They didn't care at all. All they wanted was to kill. These people still occur in our world today, and they are swiftly dealt with by their Alpha or Coven leaders. Back then, these people were not as easy to catch. There were fewer people in the world, and they would be able to hide a lot easier. The man, this friend of mine, he worked with me and the others like me to destroy those killers. We weren't just hunting our kind. We were also protecting them. That's why I know that he has nothing to do with this. For one thing, Alaric died centuries ago. He isn't around to do this anymore.”
“Alright.” I was finally letting Dietrich's words settle in. “I understand what you are saying. And I am not going to hold it against you. I have had to personally take care of people like that. My father, when he was alive, was like that. And so were the two Fae that I had to kill. Solanum and Hibiscus were evil and needed to be stopped. And even though it was in the underworld, I killed Hekate to save the world. I had done what Dietrich was talking about. I had killed to protect the world. We all had.
“That was all it was?” Shawn asked Dietrich, needing to be sure.
“Yes, Liebling, that was all it was. I did not harm innocent people. I only killed them to protect the innocent.” Dietrich was desperate to be understood at that moment. “You must believe me.”
“I do, Dietrich. I do. Just calm down, mein Liebe.”
“So, Dietrich, you killed vampires, witches, warlocks, shifters and Fae? You didn't discriminate at all?” Reece wanted to join the discussion as well.
“That is correct. We only killed those that we were completely certain were guilty. We would collect undeniable proof and then the sentence would be carried out. In the beginning, Alaric would trap the souls inside the body until they were cleansed with fire. That would be when the souls were freed. He stopped doing that after a while though. He said that it was not humane. He did not want to be seen as an animal. These runes though, they were in his home. They were in a certain part of his cellar. He made a sort of vault of souls. The worst of the worst that he did not think could be cleansed. He kept them trapped in there so that they would not be reborn.”
“So, he was humane, to an extent.” I mused as I listened to what Dietrich was saying. “And what happened as time went on? What did this Alaric do as he got older?”
“He had a family. He continued to hunt, but he often sent his children to complete the missions when he was getting older. At some point in time, I left him and his family to their work. I did not fear for my life or the life of anyone that was innocent. I knew that they would continue to live by their morals. They were doing good work and they were good people. I have heard a little bit of what they have been doing over the years, but for the most part, I have not thought about them in three hundred years.”
Three hundred years. I sometimes forget that Dietrich was almost five hundred and fifty now. He still looked like he was in his late twenties and would forever look like that. But having it being brought up again like this, it just surprised me for a moment.
“Alright. That is understandable.” I nodded at Dietrich. “If they didn't do any true harm, then they are not the ones that we are looking for. It's possible that they aren't even still active. Just in case though, we should look for them. We need to be certain.” I looked at the watch on my wrist then, checking the time and comparing it to the time back home. “It's two here now, so that means that it is eight in the morning back home. I know that everyone is flipping out over the fact that Talia is missing. I need to call them. The rest of you, relax and take a break. We will head back after the rest of them get here.”
“The rest of who?” Reece asked me curiously.
“You'll see.”
