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Trinity
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Shawn and Dietrich changed the runes on all of the men that came from the hotel. They all had the death rune, but only four of them had the other ones that enhanced their abilities. The ones from the university didn't have the death rune or any of the ones that enhanced them. There was only one rune that was on the college students, and it was on all of the people that we had taken into custody. It was the one that I hadn't recognized, but Dietrich had told me that it was a rune that meant they were part of the Jaegan family. It was a mark that Alaric had given his friends when he was leading them all hundreds of years ago. Now though, this mark just meant that they were a descendant of the family, or something like that.
That mark was changed as well, I didn't care if it was just one that meant that they were part of Alaric's family, I didn't trust it. And that meant that I needed to change the marks on them. None of the marks that these people had on them when they got here were going to stay on them. That wouldn't be very safe for us or them.
The girl that Reece had mentioned, Armina, had her Jaegan mark removed, not changed. And the same happened with Clovio and Warrick. I didn't want to force her to agree to working with us just because of the rune that we put on her. So instead of changing her rune, which was on her arm, I went to her and personally removed the mark altogether. I made sure that she could see me, my face, the entire time that I removed the mark. And I made sure that she could see that the mark was gone. That she was technically free of the family if she wanted to be.
I could tell that Armina was scared of me, but she also looked extremely relieved when the mark was removed from her arm. She didn't know what to think of me, and I was sure that she thought that I was going to punish her for the crimes of her family. Well, people would be punished for the crimes that they personally committed and nothing else. If she was innocent, she would be protected.
.....
Armina, Clovio and Warrick were all put into rooms that were next to each other. In truth, Armina was in the middle of the two men. And that was because I had a plan. I was hoping that she was going to be useful to us, but until I found out for sure, I needed to be on my guard around her.
With all the prisoners now in their cells, waiting for their interrogations, I went into Armina's cell with Reece, Vincent and Gabriel. She was the first person that I needed to talk to. She was going to be given the chance to turn her back on the family without the prompting of Clovio and Warrick. She needed to do this on her own. I needed to know that it was all of her own volition.
“Good evening, Armina.” I nodded at her as I entered the room. She had been searched, but she had no weapons. She also hadn't been forced to change into the uniform. “You may go.” I looked at the guard and dismissed him. He nodded and left us all in the room.
“Y..y..you're Rika's mom, aren't you? Y..you are the queen.” She was definitely scared.
“That is correct. I am Rika's mother and the queen to all the shifters and magic users of the supernatural world.” I thought that a simple agreement would be best. She already knew all of this stuff. She had just needed me to confirm it.
“What are you going to do to me?” The fear was practically dripping off of her.
“Well, Armina.” I looked at her as I said her name. I hadn't asked her for that yet, so it scared her a little when I showed that I knew her already. “Your future all depends on you, really.”
“I..I don't understand.” She was looking all around the room, at me, Reece, Vincent and Gabriel. “What are you all here to do to me?”
“Armina.” Vincent stepped forward. “I have something that I need to ask you. And I will know if you are lying to me, so please be honest.”
“I..I am scared.” She wasn't chained to the chair at the moment, so she was stepping away from Vincent as he got closer to her.
“Don't be scared. I just need to talk to you.” Vincent was speaking calmly to her. “Please, just answer my questions honestly.”
“O..O..OK.” She nodded, but the fear was still just as intense.
“Armina, have you ever killed anyone?” Vincent's first question threw her through a loop.
“N..no. Never. I couldn't hurt anyone. I..I was just a spy.”
“OK.” Vincent made a gesture with his hand to tell me that she was telling the truth. “Now, do you believe that we are monsters? Do you believe what your family has said about us?” This was going to be a hard question to answer.
“I..I don't know. I can't go against the family without them knowing and killing me for it. B..but with the rune gone, they might not be able to find me now. And I don't want to go back to them. They are crazy. They say that you are killers and monsters, but they sent out our brothers and sisters to kill people. They are the monsters.” She was getting more and more brave. And at the same time, Vincent made that same gesture. She was telling the truth again.
“Armina.” I stepped a little closer to her. “If you want to get away from the family, we can protect you. Will you join us? Will you work with us?”
“I..I don't know. They will come for me. They will kill me. I know that they will.” Tears were streaming down her cheeks now. She was too scared to do anything at all. I didn't want her to be this scared, but I didn't know how to make her feel better.
The only thing that came to mind at the moment, that I thought might help her to trust us, was to show her that she wouldn't be alone. She needed to see that Clovio and Warrick were on our side as well.
“Armina, I need you to talk to someone else. Please do not be scared. I am going to use magic right now.”
“M..magic?” Her eyes went wide at the word. “So, the rumors were true?”
“Just relax. I am not going to do anything to you.” I turned away from her and looked at the wall to the left. That was where Clovio was. Almost immediately after that, while my magic was still taking effect, I looked at the other wall.
What I had done here was to create doors into the walls. They were like my magical portal doors, but a lot more simple. They just needed to connect two rooms and allow people to move from one room to the next.
“What is this?” Armina was looking around warily.
“Armina?” Clovio called out in relief when he saw her. “I am so happy that you are OK.” I saw that he and Warrick both ran to her and hugged her in relieved happiness.
“You have agreed to join us, Armina. You are going to help us fight the family.”
“F..f..fight the family? S..so you two are against them as well?” She was relieved. “I knew that we talked about it before, but I didn't think that you were going to turn against them like this.” Armina was the most shocked right now. She was learning things that she had never thought was possible.
“We want out, Armina. And we knew that you did too. Th..that was why I told King Reece about you. I wanted him to keep you safe. I wanted you to have a choice. If you renounce the family, then they will protect you. We will all be safe.”
“I do.” Armina's words were hurried and filled with passion. “I don't want to be with them, on that side. I want to live my own life. I want to be free.”
“She is telling the truth.” Vincent smiled.
“I know.” I could tell that even without Vincent's confirmation. She was too obviously relieved at the prospect of getting away from the family. “Armina, you have a chance to side with us and work against your family. We will protect you and make sure that you are not harmed by them ever again.”
“Please. I just want to be free of them. I want to live a life that isn't ruled by them and their weird rules.” Her tears, once caused by fear, were now from relief. I was happy that I was able to offer this salvation to her and the others. Any of them that turned against this family would be offered safety with us.
“Vincent, please take the three of them upstairs to one of the apartments. See to it that they are taken care of. They are to be protected and treated well. I will speak with them again later.”
“Of course.” He was the one that spoke to Armina earlier, so I thought that she might trust him the most right now.
“Reece, Gabriel, we need to finish the interrogations. And don't forget to see if any of them will turn against the family.”
“Of course.” Gabriel nodded.
“Offer clemency, got it.” Reece nodded. “Let's go.”
Our night wasn't over yet. We still had so much to do. It wasn't as stressful though, and that was a good thing.
