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Trinity
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I could see the pain in Claud's eyes when I asked him where the others were. I needed to know where the leaders of this family were. I needed to know where to find those that were responsible for sending these brainwashed cultists after my people.
What was truly terrible about it all was that these people, Claud, Clovio, Warrick, and all the others that I hadn't had the chance to get to know, they never really stood a chance. Yeah, I know that Clovio and Warrick were among a select few that didn't agree with the family, but they still went along with them. If they didn't, they would end up dead. That was no way to raise a family. Intimidating them and scaring them into doing what you want, that is just wrong.
In a way, a miniscule one, I feel bad for these people. Even Claud was earning my sympathy. If he hadn't been raised to think about the things that he did, then he would be a good person. That is the horrible thing with the world in my opinion. When you have someone that is raised to hate and doesn't know anything else, then when they do something wrong then they won't understand why it is bad. They can't think about the reason why they shouldn't have killed those people because they don't see anything other than what they were taught. Who does this? Who raises kids to hate an entire group of people? Why? We're all alive. We all love. We all breathe. We all feel pain. We all bleed when we are hurt. Should that not count us all as the same? We are just a different race of people. It's nothing different than that.
My heart was broken. It was shattered into a million pieces as I thought about the fact that all of these people have to pay for what was done to them. If the person that started this in their family's past hadn't gone against the teachings of Alaric, then this wouldn't be an issue at all. No one would have to worry about dying or being hurt just because they were different.
.....
I guess I was a little more affected by this case, and all that went into it, than I thought that I had been. I hadn't thought about the fact that I would see these people as victims as well. They were guilty, there is no doubt about that, but they were victims. Because back when they were innocent, someone took the choice of right and wrong away from them. And now they are going to have to pay for their sins.
I tried not to let the pity and sorrow show on my face. There was nothing that could be done to save these people. They were killers, and they would always think the way that they currently do. I couldn't save them from their punishment, so letting Claud know that I pitied him wouldn't help anything at all.
“Come on Claud.” I pressed a little with the questioning. “Where are the others?”
“Th..th..there are some that go to the c..c..college.” He tried not to respond. “Th..th..they were supposed to get close to your kids. They are pretending to date them.” I knew this, but I let the anger from the other day show once more. I had been pissed when I learned about Clovio and Warrick.
“How many of them are at the school, Claud?” We had gotten this information already, but there was a chance that Clovio hadn't been told about them all.”
“Eight. There are eight of them.” He was crying. Thin tears of frustration were streaming down his cheeks. He really didn't want to tell me these things. He wanted to be able to hide these facts, but he couldn't. This right here, this is what I did feel bad about, but I knew that it was necessary so I couldn't stop the magic just yet. I needed him to tell me. I needed to get more information out of him.
“Alright, so there are eight at the school. How many others are there in the city? Do you know?” Knowing how many we were up against would be a good thing. It would help us to prepare for when we take them down.
“N..n..no. I don't know how many there are all together. I was never at the mansion, so I don't know how many there were. I know that there are over two dozen other ones though. Other than the ones at the school and the ones that are here with me right now.” He seemed like he might be talking a little easier now. Yes, he had stuttered again, but he didn't seem to be fighting it until his face turned red. Then again, his face was already red, so maybe it was just that he wasn't fighting it harder than he had been. Also, I learned that altogether, there were more than fifty of these people here. Twelve that we got tonight, eight at the school, and more than two dozen more. OK, that only totaled forty-four, but I was adding that extra half a dozen to make it a rounded number.
“Where are they? Do you know where all of them are located?” More details that I was asking for. How much did he know?
“N..no. I don't know where all of them are. S..s..some are at the hotel that we are staying at, but the others are somewhere else. Th..th..the more important ones are staying elsewhere. Th..th..the leaders.” He was fighting again. This was a topic that he didn't want to talk about.
“How many others are at the hotel?” If we could surprise them, we could lessen the damage when we went after the leaders.
“Th..th..there are ten. T..t..ten more people at the h..h..hotel.” With each sentence that he was giving me, there was an exhalation, like he was struggling to keep the words inside. I understood that he felt like he was betraying them, but this was important to me and my people.
“Who are the leaders, Claud? You don't know where they are, but who are they? Tell me their names.” The fear was there again. He was terrified to tell me this. He was fighting it harder than any of the others.
“N..n..no. I..I..I can't.” He was shaking his head furiously, and for a moment I thought that he wasn't going to tell me, but then he started to talk again. “I..I..I don't want to tell you, b..b..but I can't st..stop.” He was sobbing, not just tears streaming down his cheeks, but real and true crying and sobbing. “U..U..Un..Uncle Reginald. H..h..he was the one that took over for U..Un..Uncle Rayk. I..I..I wasn't alive then, but he is still the one in charge. H..h..he wasn't the one that everyone thought was going to take over. Klaus and Viktor were more in the spotlight back then, but Uncle Reginald took over. He and Gran Gran have been leading the family together. Th..th..they are the ones that told us about this mission. W..w..we have been preparing for it since before I was born. Th..th..they said that the time would come when we needed to fight, and the family didn't object.” When Claud was finally done talking, I saw that he was breathing heavily. And the sobs were still coming as well. They weren't silent sobs either. He was bawling because of the betrayal that he was feeling.
“Thank you, Claud. This is going to help us a lot.” I wanted to make him feel better, but that wasn't what happened.
“I DON'T CARE ABOUT HELPING YOU! YOU MADE ME BETRAY MY FAMILY! THEY ARE GOING TO KILL ME! THEY WILL NOT CARE THAT I HAD NO CHOICE! THEY ARE JUST GOING TO KNOW THAT ME AND MY BROTHERS WENT AGAINST THE FAMILY AND BETRAYED THEM! WE ARE ALL DEAD! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!? WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE NOW, AND IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” His sobbing continued all through his red faced outburst. I saw snot, tears, and spittle all flying off of his face as he roared these words into the otherwise quiet room. I knew why he was upset, but there was little that I could do about it.
“I am sorry, Claud, I know you feel bad for telling me all of this. However, I promise you, they will not kill you. You will all survive this ordeal then you will go to prison for your crimes.” I thought this would give him a little bit of relief from his anguish, but he just laughed at me.
“HA HA HA HA HA! YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN CONTEND WITH UNCLE REGINALD AND GRAN GRAN! YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING! THEY ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU COULD EVER KNOW! THEY WILL DESTROY YOU! THEY WILL END YOU!”
“We will see about that, Claud.” I was done with his yelling. It was hurting my ears. Besides, I had what I needed. It was time for me to leave and talk to the others. “I will have the guards bring you something to drink. Would you like some food?” I was getting to my feet as I prepared to leave the room.
“I WILL NOT EAT OR DRINK ANY OF YOUR POISON!” HE spat the words at me, complete with a trail of saliva that trailed from his lips. “I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL ME!”
“Fine, you can eat and drink when you are hungry and thirsty enough. It won't be poisoned. Now, Claud, I need to get going. Try to relax a little more. You are safe.”
I tried my best to ignore the incoherent screams that followed me out of the room. The two guards that had been with me in there stayed behind though. They weren't going to leave the prisoner on his own. That was understandable as well.
Things were both more complicated than I thought that they were, as well as being easier than I thought that they would be. We would be able to round up all of the people at the university and at the hotel. That would give us about thirty of these people in our custody. We would then only have to worry about the ones that we didn't know the location of. Those that were in charge and apparently more powerful than the others. We would outnumber them, and I didn't really think that there was going to be a problem with us taking them out. Then again, I wasn't going to take any chances here. I would always be more prepared than I needed to be. Caution was key when you had so many people to protect.
