And now, of all tis now, when everything was going to change Valentina had disappeared.
Tomorrow was the Red Moon, the day he was supposed to sleep.
Not an ordinary sleep a sacred rest. One that ca only once in many seasons. A deep, spiritual slumber that his bloodline required to maintain balance within him. It was not a choice. It was a law. A curse. A survival chanism written into his very nature.
And now? Now Valentina was missing.
How was he supposed to sleep peacefully for an entire day, knowing she was out there sowhere with soone he could no longer trust? How was he supposed to close his eyes and surrender himself to fate when the one person he swore to protect was possibly in danger, possibly betrayed by the very people he called family?
Raymond paced the room like a lion in a cage, every breath heavier than the last. His jaw clenched, his chest rising and falling with fury.
He was worried extrely worried. But more than that, he was angry. Furious beyond asure. Because the person he thought was family Rebecca, maybe even Cecilia had been the one backstabbing him. The one trying to destroy everything he’d built. Everything he loved. Everything that brought him peace.
They had touched his happiness, and for that, they had declared war.
Which was sothing that he was so mad at like very, very angry.
So without wasting any more ti, Raymond gritted his teeth and grabbed his phone again. The weight of betrayal, the fear of losing Valentina, the frustration of being outplayed it all burned through his chest like fire. He scrolled down and hit Benjamin’s contact.
The call didn’t ring twice.
Benjamin answered imdiately. "Sir—"
Raymond’s voice ca through low, sharp, and filled with a dangerous calm that could freeze blood. "Benjamin. I want you at the house. Now. Not in thirty minutes. Not in fifteen. Now."
There was silence for a heartbeat, then Raymond continued, "I don’t want excuses. I don’t want questions. Just get here. I need to speak with you face to face."
Benjamin swallowed hard. That tone. That tone was never a good sign.
Raymond wasn’t yelling. He wasn’t panicking. That made it worse. That ant the anger had gone deeper—below the surface. The kind of anger that couldn’t be shouted out but instead waited in silence to explode.
"Yes, sir," Benjamin said quickly. "I’m on my way."
As the call ended, Benjamin grabbed his jacket and bolted for the door. He didn’t even think twice. Raymond was many things powerful, intelligent, calculating but when he used that tone, it ant sothing had gone very wrong.
He didn’t want to disappoint his master. No matter what. If Raymond had called at a ti like this, with that voice, Benjamin knew he needed to be there without fail.
The drive back to the estate felt like a blur.
Once Benjamin arrived, he didn’t waste a second. He parked the car, got out, and moved quickly through the compound. Every guard he passed stepped aside wordlessly they could feel the tension in the air too. Sothing was wrong. Sothing big.
He reached the inner chamber doors and took a deep breath, bracing himself.
With a firm hand, he pushed the door open and stepped in.
There, standing in the middle of the room with his back to him, was Raymond. His aura was so intense it felt like the very air in the room had grown heavier.
Benjamin lowered his head respectfully, placed a hand over his chest, and said in a calm, loyal voice, "Master... you actually called for ."
So imdiately, before Benjamin could even move a single step, Raymond was already in front of him like a shadow that moved faster than breath, faster than thought. His hand snapped up with a speed and force that left no ti to react, and in the blink of an eye, his fingers clamped tightly around Benjamin’s neck.
The room shifted in energy, from calm to chaos in a heartbeat.
The air grew thick, heavy, almost suffocating.
Benjamin’s eyes widened in shock, his body slightly lifting from the floor under the brutal strength of Raymond’s grip. He struggled to speak, his mouth opening but no words coming out yet. His hands instinctively reached for Raymond’s arm, but he didn’t fight he couldn’t fight. He knew who stood before him. Raymond wasn’t just any vampire. He was power incarnate. And right now, he was furious.
Raymond’s eyes glowed with a deep, cold rage an ancient rage, the kind that ca from betrayal, from helplessness, from the weight of watching soone you loved being hard under your nose.
"You think I’m stupid, Benjamin?" Raymond growled, his voice like thunder rumbling in a cave. "You think I don’t see what’s going on around ? That I don’t feel it?"
He didn’t wait for an answer.
He slamd Benjamin against the wall with bone-shaking force, his hand still around his neck. The walls cracked, the floor trembled, and dust fell from the ceiling.
"I trusted you," Raymond hissed. "I put you close. I let you stay near Valentina. And now she’s missing. And Cecilia Cecilia’s vanished into thin air. No calls. No signs. Nothing!"
Benjamin’s eyes showed the confusion and panic rising in him. He tried to respond, to explain, but Raymond wasn’t done.
Raymond landed a vicious blow across Benjamin’s jaw with his free hand so fast, so brutal, that it echoed like a whip crack in the chamber. Benjamin’s head jerked to the side, blood tracing the corner of his lip, but he didn’t fall. Raymond still held him up by the neck like a rag doll.
He stared into Benjamin’s face, his eyes piercing, wild with fury but controlled enough to ask just once.
"Where is Cecilia?"
He asked it slowly. Dangerous. Final.
Benjamin, still gasping, coughed and swallowed, his voice shaky but honest.
"I... I don’t know..." he croaked out. "She only told ... she said she was going sowhere today. That’s all. She didn’t say where. I didn’t even ask..."
And that was the truth.
But it didn’t make Raymond feel any better.
He didn’t move. He didn’t speak.
He just stood there gripping, breathing, burning while the silence between them grew heavier.
Benjamin is going to be like shocked a little bit that he doesn’t know. Cecilia only told him that she would be going sowhere today. That’s all she just said about—like he didn’t even ask. Like he didn’t even ask where she was going.
At that mont, Raymond still held Benjamin by the collar, his grip now slightly loosened but his fury nowhere near fading. His breathing was deep, slow, and dangerous. His eyes burned into Benjamin’s, filled with the type of anger that wasn’t just about betrayal—it was about pain.
He couldn’t bring himself to believe it fully not yet that Benjamin, soone he had trusted for so long, could have been so clueless. Could Benjamin really not have seen what Cecilia was up to? Could he really be that blind?
"You an to tell ," Raymond said coldly, his voice thick with disbelief, "that you didn’t know what Cecilia was doing? You’ve been with for years. You’ve watched her. You’ve guarded Valentina’s door. And yet you didn’t see this coming?"
Benjamin’s mouth opened, but the words struggled to co. He could see it in Raymond’s face his master was desperate for this not to be true, for there to be another explanation. But the silence between them was deafening.
That’s when it finally hit Benjamin.
Hit him hard like a crashing wave against stone.
His eyes widened slightly, as if sothing had finally clicked. His voice dropped, unsure, hesitant. "Wait... Master... are you trying to say that Cecilia... that she was involved in Lady Valentina’s disappearance?"
Raymond’s stare hardened. His grip tightened again, this ti not with rage, but frustration.
"Do I have to say it over and over again for you to understand what’s happening here?" Raymond barked, his tone cold as ice. "Use your head, Benjamin! Think for once!"
Benjamin flinched.
Raymond let go of his collar, stepping back with clenched fists, trying to hold in the storm still raging within him. "Cecilia is a traitor. I’ve seen the patterns. The lies. The silence. She’s been the one behind Valentina’s pain ti and ti again. Maybe not alone. Maybe she works with soone else. But I can tell you this I know she’s been in contact with Rebecca."
The mont Rebecca’s na was spoken aloud, it was as if sothing inside Benjamin shattered.
He froze.
His thoughts flooded with mories—old images of Rebecca, the way she used to watch Raymond, the strange silence that followed her disappearance, the way Cecilia always avoided her na whenever it ca up. For years, he thought Valentina was cursed. That maybe so ancient bloodline was chasing her. That her near-death episodes were from sothing supernatural mysterious.
But now...Hearing it from Raymond himself. Hearing Rebecca’s na connected to Cecilia. It made everything fall into place like a brutal truth he should’ve seen long ago.
His knees weakened slightly, but he held himself up. His voice trembled with sha. "I... I never thought of it that way. I just thought maybe Valentina was being targeted by so enemy we didn’t know. I never once looked at Cecilia. I didn’t think..."
But he didn’t have to finish.
Because hearing what Raymond just said it all made sense now.
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