Zane bowed his head before sitting down in front of his grandfather. It was time to report all his activities. If not, the old man wouldn’t believe that he was doing anything to obey his orders, “Good evening, grandfather.” That was the best thing to call the old man. After all, he had been taught to always be formal and sharp-tongued even before elders.
The old man gently kept his walking stick on another chair beside him, “What news do you have?” He asked as he took the cup of coffee from the table.
“I hired Andras to kill Philip but the bastard managed to survive,” Zane said.
“And the girl?”
“I managed to input some doubts in her head, against Philip,” Zane held his breath as he spat out those words.
“What were you doing with her?” the old man asked, turning to look at Zane.
“I captured her while Andras was dealing with Philip….” He was cut short by his furious grandfather.
“Why didn’t you kill her, Zadiach? ” His voice was deep but straight. It definitely meant trouble if his grandfather called him by the family name.
“I wanted to, but I had to pause that plan when I learned that Philip was still alive,” Zane explained, “So I had to find a way to put her against Philip.”
“How is your plan going to get her killed?” his grandfather asked, “Philip won’t kill her, you fool!”
“My plan is to put some doubts into her mind and some into his,” Zane said with a normal voice, trying to calm his father down.
When he said that, his grandfather grabbed his stick and stood up from the chair, “It’s either you kill both of them or I will make sure that they are killed, including you.”
Those words shocked Zane to his bones mostly because his grandfather meant it. Just as the old man was about to leave, one of their guards walked in and bowed his head. The box in his hands seemed suspicious as Zane knew that he didn’t order anything, “This box is for you, Master Zane.” The guy said.
“For me?” Zane said as he collected the box slowly. He noticed that his grandfather had stopped and turned to look at him as he opened the box.
Zane’s eyes widened with horror when he saw the bloody skull of a person in the box. Without thinking, he let the box fall from his hand and he stood up with effortless speed. The box rested on the ground, causing the blood stained skull to roll out, “Shit! ” Zane cried out.
His grandfather stepped back with shaky footsteps and he placed his hand over his chest, as if trying to prevent a heart attack from occurring, “Who is that, Zane? ”
“My informant,” Zane stepped back from the box and skull. He knew exactly what Philip was trying to say by bringing Elena’s skull to his house. Yet, what seemed to confuse Zane was the fact that Philip could magic burn Elena alive. Out of all the people that Philip had in his life, Zane didn’t expect him to kill his long time friend, Elena. The truth scared him to his bones such that his mind went absolutely blank for a moment.
“He did this, didn’t he?” His grandfather asked, glancing at Zane.
“I never knew….” Zane said as he stepped farther away from the terrifying thing. “I never knew he could do this to her. I thought he loved her too much to roast her alive.”
“Have you forgotten that you are dealing with a Mutant? An Assassin for that matter!” The old man said with wide eyes, “Did you forget that?!”
“It never crossed my bloody mind, grandfather!” Zane retorted furiously. That was the first time he had raised his voice at his grandfather. There was tension in the air and Zane wanted the old man to know that he wasn’t the only one angry and shocked over what they had seen.
His old grandfather turned silent for a while, and the tense atmosphere around them dissolved slowly, “You are walking on a dangerous path, Zane. Raise your voice at me another day and it will be your skull presented to that bastard.” he said and walked away with his stick making the loud stomping sound on the floor.
Zane sighed and he rubbed his hands in his hair in frustration, “Get me my phone,” He said to the guard that had brought the box and the guard hurried away to do as he was commanded.
Zane felt like he was in a furnace, burning and screaming. Everything seemed to be crumbling down in front of him. As a matter of fact, he had never experienced such difficulty in obeying his grandfather’s commands. His schemes always worked one way or the other but it seemed like the case was different in Philp’s matter. Of course he knew within himself that Ava would not completely fall for his tricks and now, he was wishing that he had not fallen in love with her. He simply wished that he had killed her the day he killed her father.
****************
“He bloody sent Elena’s skull to my house!” Zane said loudly at Andras. He had never experienced such a thing in his life and it was highly aggravating to have experienced it just when he had fallen in love with a girl.
Andras kept his glass of wine on the table and turned to look at him, “Why didn’t you just kill her?”
“That isn’t the issue here.” Zane replied and paced about. Andras’s sitting room was big enough for pacing and thinking but Zane wasn’t concerned about that. His mind went back and forth, trying to compile his thoughts.
“The Mutant has a lot of hate in him,” Andras said and Zane held back his last step, “You shouldn’t be surprised at what he did.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you seen him using his powers?” Andras asked rhetorically, “It’s pure magic. Magic sponsored by genuine hate.”
“He didn’t even know how to use his powers when we were young.”
“We were young, Zane. Now, we are all grown men and everything has developed including our powers,” Andras said, “Clearly, his powers are more developed because of resentment.”
“Why would resentment be the fuel of his powers?”
“Because he is a Mutant. He is not human,” Andras glanced at Zane, “Resentment is an emotion for we humans but it goes beyond the realm of emotions for Mutants. Especially the ones whose generation possessed magic like his. The magic holds more weight as it gets passed down from one member of the family to another.”
Zane sighed and finally sat down on one of the sofas. He had to find a way to deal with Philip before he got mad.