The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Charmire, the magistrate of East Carswell village had hoped to celebrate a peaceful Christmas. But with the number of dead bodies that were piling up just not in the village, but also kills in the woods where the bodies were found scattered around, he doubted he would be able to get a day off from work.

The man had a stressful look on his face, his eyebrows drawn together in worry, "We are yet to inform Mr. Barnes about his daughter's body being found there."

"Why haven't you done it?" asked Calhoun, his eyes calmly looking at the magistrate. With Theodore who had already informed him last night on his findings in Heathcliff's residence, Calhoun was barely shocked with the news that came from Charmire, who looked like he didn't know what to do.

"My King. Mr. Barnes is a well-renowned man-"

"I don't think death comes knocking on people's door by seeing their status, Charmire," stated Calhoun, his eyebrows raised. He was waiting for Barnes to come breaking through the gates of the castle to meet him so he could help Mr. Barnes find the killer of Catherine.

Mr. Barnes had shown no mercy or thrown pity at the girl whose head was ripped apart from her body. Calhoun could barely wait to see what Barnes had to express.

"The problem is for the second time, the body was found in Heathcliff's residence. It's like people go there to die," frowned Charmire in thought, "And we still have no information about Mr. Heathcliff. Someone said they saw him leaving his shop, but when we went and spoke to the workers there, they said he hadn't visited the shop since many days.

"Maybe he didn't visit then. It has been quite some time since he went missing. Especially with the last case of Miss Layla's death, I doubt he's even heard about his charges being dropped. This is why I said, you should have a thorough check done before claiming someone as guilty," Calhoun chided the man, and the magistrate bowed his head.

"It is why I came here to see you, milord," came the solemn response from Charmire, "But last time, we found the body in Mr. Heathcliff's backyard, and he turned out to be the first suspect."

"More like your people were lazy to find the actual culprit," Calhoun gave a look.

So what Madeline said was true. James had indeed returned to his human self. It was possible that James went to see what state his shop was in and then had gone home. And even though the assistants told Chamire and his men that they hadn't seen James for many days now, Calhoun knew that James had visited. Not because there was an outbreak in James' house last night, but because Calhoun had spoken to Emilio to follow his words. His thoughts went on what he had told to Emilio, who had worked the longest in James' shop,

'If Mr. Heathcliff comes to your shop and someone comes looking for him, make sure that the people whom you work with tell, they didn't see him.'

'Is Mr. Heathcliff in trouble, my Lord?' the assistant had asked, his hands folded together in the front.

'There are some people who want to put Mr. Heathcliff in trouble. And we don't want him being framed for something he didn't do. Do we?' Calhoun had questioned the young man back. It was the time when James was caught as a werewolf, and Calhoun had taken necessary measures with the plan of 'ifs'.

He had given his word to Madeline about protecting James, but if things continued like this, where bodies were found in his house, Calhoun doubted he would be able to keep the werewolf's neck safe.

"You said there were other men's bodies that were found in the house? Did you try to find who they are?" questioned Calhoun.

Charmire's hand reached to the back of his neck, scratching it, "I did, my King. After tracing where the arrows are being made, I found out that it is from Mr. Douglas' shop, one of the men whom Mr. Barnes is acquainted with." Charmire would have suspected James Heathcliff again, but with the false accusation he put on James last time, he decided to come straight to the King.

"Get Mr. Douglas and place him in the prison of the village until the High House comes and question him about why he killed Catherine Barnes. You should be able to cough up something from him," said Calhoun, dismissing the magistrate. He turned around to see Madeline who stood not too far away from him.

"What are you doing standing there all by yourself?" asked Calhou while making his way to her and Madeline met him halfway.

"I didn't want to disturb you as you seemed busy. Why did the village magistrate come to visit you?" Madeline looked at the retrieving figure of the magistrate, who disappeared from the corridor.

"It was about Catherine Barnes," Madeline looked back at Calhoun, her eyebrows furrowed when she heard about the vampiress, "She was found dead in James' house."

"What?" came the shocked response from Madeline, "H-how did that happen? Was it James?" He did leave the forest yesterday and it was possible that he went to meet her. And Calhoun said she was found dead in the Heathcliff's residence.

"No, it wasn't James. Though I do suspect that he was there when the murder took place. Theodore mentioned earlier that there were light colored marks on her neck," he informed her.

Of course, Theodore was the eyes and ears of the King.

"It might be Mr. Barnes' men who must have come to kill James. He didn't want his daughter marrying a human, especially one that belonged to a low class."

"James doesn't belong to the low class," corrected Madeline, "You knew the vampire didn't want to get Catherine married to James," her eyes narrowed.

Ah, how he missed that look in her eyes, thought Calhoun in his mind. It had been quite some days since they had bickered with each other.

"Right now, James' name is clear," Calhoun replied, a charming smile formed on his face, "It was Catherine's father's men who killed her. Silver mixed with certain components can harm both werewolves as well as vampires. Though not much to us demons as we are a mixture of both. A hybrid."