Avenging Luna
Chapter 170: The King Is Dead

Chapter 170: The King Is Dead

Chase’s POV:

"Father is dead," Damon said, his voice flat and emotionless. "Murdered, to be more precise..."

The words hit me like a physical blow, stealing the breath from my lungs. For a moment, I thought I had misheard him, but the grim expression on his face told me otherwise. My mind reeled, struggling to make sense of what he had just said.

"What the hell?" I managed, my voice sharp and disbelieving.

Sure, I knew my father’s death was inevitable. He had been weak for recently, his health failing him steadily. The only thing keeping him tethered to life was sheer willpower—and, recently, Leila. Taking her to meet him had given him a spark of joy I hadn’t seen in years. She was, after all, the daughter of his long-lost friend, a connection to a time before the weight of the crown had hollowed him out.

But this? Murder?

It was something else entirely.

"Who...?" I began, but my words faltered as my thoughts spiraled. Someone had gotten past palace security—royal security—to not only reach my father but also kill him. It was unthinkable.

"Where were the guards?" I demanded, my tone sharp and cold as I grabbed my shirt from the couch and hastily pulled it on. My movements were rushed and jerky, a reflection of the storm brewing inside me.

"They’re dead," Damon replied grimly, his words heavy and final.

"Dead?" My disbelief turned to anger. The royal guards were the best of the best, handpicked and trained to be unshakable. Whoever had managed to kill them wasn’t just skilled—they had to be a goddamn ghost.

Damon shook his head as if reading my mind, his expression darkening. "Poison." he explained it in one word. So that’s how they managed to get pass the guards.

The room fell eerily silent as the word hung in the air, carrying with it a sinister weight. I barely registered Leila’s soft gasp behind me until it broke the tense stillness. Turning, I saw her still on bed, her arms wrapped around herself as she processed what she had just overheard.

Shit.

I hadn’t meant for her to hear any of this. Her expression was a mix of shock and concern, her golden eyes darting between Damon and me.

"Leila—" I began, but she held up a hand, cutting me off.

"I’m fine," she said, though her voice trembled slightly. "Go. Do what you need to do."

Her composure amazed me. Even in the face of such heavy news, she didn’t break. Instead, she straightened, her chin lifting in quiet determination.

I nodded, appreciating her strength but unable to focus on it for long. My father had been murdered. The king—the ruler of this realm—was gone, and his death wasn’t natural. It was deliberate.

And that meant someone had made the mistake of targeting my family.

"Where is he?" I asked Damon, my voice cold and flat as I finished dressing.

"His chambers," he replied. "The council is already gathering."

Without another word, I strode toward the door, my jaw clenched and my mind racing. Damon followed close behind, and as we stepped into the hallway, the weight of what lay ahead settled heavily on my shoulders.

But one thought burned brighter than the rest, a fire that consumed everything else.

Whoever did this is going to pay.

"Chase, it’s more than what I told you," Damon said as we strode down the dimly lit corridor. His voice was quieter now, laced with something far darker than grief. It was caution—or maybe fear. "I didn’t want to say it in front of Leila, but..." He hesitated, his jaw tightening as if the words themselves were painful to utter. "On Father’s chest, written in blood, it says, ’I’m coming for your beloved next.’"

The world around me seemed to tilt as his words registered. My mind filled with a cacophony of rage, fear, and something else—regret. I already knew who was responsible, even before Damon finished.

"I think we both know what that means," Damon continued grimly. "It’s Ace."

Of course, it was him. The name sent a wave of hatred crashing over me, my blood boiling with a fury I hadn’t felt in years. Ace—the blood-lusting vampire rogue who had once been my closest friend. My father had warned me, time and again, that Ace was a monster beyond redemption. But I hadn’t listened. I’d clung to the naive belief that he could change, that there was still something worth saving in the man he used to be.

I was wrong.

Not only had Ace killed my mother, but now, he’d also murdered my father and set his sights on Leila.

And the bastard had left a message in blood to make sure I knew it.

My fists clenched as I replayed everything I knew about rogue vampires. They were supposed to be mindless creatures, consumed entirely by bloodlust, incapable of reasoning or coherent thought. But Ace... Ace was different. He wasn’t just surviving—he was plotting.

Has he evolved? I thought, the idea sending a shiver down my spine. If Ace had somehow risen above the madness of his kind, it changed everything we thought we knew about rogue vampires. Worse, it meant he was far more dangerous than I’d ever imagined.

As we reached my father’s chamber, I could already hear the low murmur of voices coming from within. The council was gathered, as expected. A cluster of self-important relics who cared more about preserving their power than doing what was right.

I pushed the door open, stepping into the room where my father had breathed his last. My eyes swept the scene, taking in the somber faces of the council members, the still body of my father lying on the grand bed, and—inevitably—the blood smeared across his chest. The message was clear, written in dark crimson:

I’m coming for your beloved next.

My jaw tightened, but before I could speak, one of the council members stepped forward, his face twisted with accusation.

"We told you the wolf wasn’t to be trusted," he spat, his finger pointing toward me. "She’s the one who killed our king!"

The words ignited a firestorm of rage inside me, obliterating all reason. In an instant, I moved, my vampiric speed reducing the distance between us to nothing. My hand shot out, gripping the fool by the throat and lifting him off the ground like he weighed nothing.

"I dare you to repeat what you just said," I snarled, my voice low and deadly, as I held him inches away from death. My fangs extended, sharp and ready to tear through flesh, my other hand itching to rip his heart from his chest.

The council member’s eyes bulged with fear as he struggled in my grip, his hands clawing weakly at my wrist. The room erupted into chaos, voices shouting in protest and alarm, but I paid them no mind. All I could see was red.

"Chase, stop!" Damon’s voice cut through the haze of rage, his hand gripping my shoulder. "Killing him isn’t going to solve anything!"

For a moment, I didn’t move, the urge to crush the man’s neck still burning strong. But Damon’s voice was like a lifeline, pulling me back from the edge. Slowly, reluctantly, I released my grip, letting the council member collapse to the ground in a coughing, gasping heap.

I stepped back, my chest heaving as I tried to rein in my anger. My fangs retracted, though the tension in my muscles remained.

"Don’t ever," I said, my voice like ice, "speak about Leila like that again. Or I swear, councilman or not, I’ll end you."

The man nodded frantically, too terrified to speak.

The room fell silent, the tension so thick it was suffocating. I turned my gaze to the rest of the council, my eyes hard and unyielding.

"You’re all so quick to point fingers and make baseless accusations," I said, my tone dripping with contempt. "But while you bicker like fools, the real threat is out there, plotting his next move. Ace killed my father. He killed your king. And now, he’s coming for Leila."

The mention of Ace’s name sent a ripple of unease through the room. They knew the stories, the whispers of what he had become. A rogue vampire with the mind of a predator and the heart of a monster.

"I suggest," I continued, my voice colder than ever, "you stop wasting your breath on petty politics and start preparing for war. Because if you don’t, Ace won’t stop with my father. He’ll tear through this kingdom, and when he does, none of you will be safe."

With that, I turned and stormed out of the room, Damon following close behind. I didn’t stop until I was back in the hallway, the fury in my chest still simmering like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

"Chase," Damon said quietly, his hand resting on my shoulder. "We’ll figure this out. Together."

I nodded, though my mind was already racing ahead, plotting my next move. Ace had taken everything from me. My mother. My father. And now, he wanted Leila.

But he had made one fatal mistake.

He had underestimated me.

And I was going to make sure he regretted it. "Chase" I had Ash call out before I was teleported.