The coil blue ring at Tabitha’s index finger reflected the flames from the fireplace as she kept the finger pointing straight at Fabrice. Jolts of electricity jumped from one loop to the other, but Fabrice was not intimidate by it, in fact he was a bit relieved.
“I thought you knew, who indicated you here certainly must have mentioned it.” Fabrice’s voice was calm.
Tabitha held back all of her urges, clearly Fabrice wasn’t going for a fight, and striking first with no reason was not her style. Still, she felt deceived, she looked at Fiona for some feedback, but she was met was her fierce gaze. For a few seconds, they exchanged different looks, Tabitha knew what she was saying, she knew her reaction was far from diplomatic, but this was and odd situation, and she didn’t like feeling tricked by a vampire. Jacob tried to fix the situation, as the silence and awkward exchange of looks was taking too long.
“Yes, we would expect so, but since we are not from here, we rely on spells to communicate with people around here, and there must have been a problem at some point. I apologize for both their reactions, this should not affect our negotiations, as we can both help each other.” Tabitha glanced for a second at both of them, she was angry but they were serious, so she secured her dagger and sat once more, keeping a constant eye on Fabrice. As Estela’s fear began to fade, shame took place, so she sat down quickly and tried to behave. “So we get the seeds and you provide us with the information we need, is that correct?”
“I can give you some information, but I can’t guarantee I’ll know the answer to all your questions, or if this little trip will be worth the big ones.”
The ring’s voice echoed again inside Estela’s head. “Poor Tabitha, just because of that accident she can’t stand the sight of vampires. I guess this meeting is not all lost, so long as she keeps to herself.” It took some effort for Estela, but she was trying to piece things together.
“Is there anything we can do to get better answers?” Jacob didn’t want to go through all this trouble and end up with no answers.
“Since you said you don’t have time to search for anything, this is the only thing that would take little time that I want. But if you find some more time we can talk other options.”
Jacob couldn’t just say anything. He had to assess first if this was worth it. He held a laugh, as he thought Diogo would have either decided something or caused a fight. Estela began to understand the principle behind the ring. She figured she could use it to get some leverage on Fabrice, so she tried to focus on what could he really want.
“Oh so many desires. This guy has had a long life, he seen so many things, but there is one thing he truly wishes he had, the Caterum Crystal.” The voice responded to her will, almost naturally.
“So what if we can get you the Caterum Crystal?” She said trying to ignore the unnecessary information the ring kept feeding her.
“What do you know of it?” Fabrice bend froward, suddenly taken with interest and seriousness.
“We know that you want it, maybe we could get it for you.” She knew nothing, but at least she tried to believe there was something true about her words. The others just kept calm and unaltered, they knew better, when there was unknown information they should go along with any bluff.
“Bullshit, that thing is a legend, I’ve tried countless times to find it, it’s a myth, you can’t get it.”
“You don’t believe that, and you would regret passing this chance to finally get it. So long as you offer something worth our time, we can get it.” She had a smirk on her face, the ring worked great as a lie detector.
He stared at her blankly for a few seconds, in pure disbelief that she would happen to know something about it. Then he turned to the fireplace and kept looking into the fire. What would he do? He couldn’t just pass the offer, but the trouble of getting that thing would certainly mean his involvement in this crisis, and he had hoped he wouldn’t get drag into it. Azelia’s eyes darted from one to another, trying to understand how this change in the negotiation had happened, how did she know that if she didn’t know him?
“Ok, you’re right.” Fabrice turned to her again, now standing. “With the crystal I could make something that would help you immensely, but I would still need the seeds to complete it. If you can get me both I’ll tell you what I know and build this device.”
“Deal!” She smiled. “Now tell us what information you have on it’s location and we’ll take it from there.”
He began to tell them what he knew, but not a minute latter there was a group interruption. Jacob, Tabitha and Fiona looked at each other, clearly worried.
“Did you feel that?” Tabitha asked afraid to confirm. They just nodded.
“What happened?” Asked Estela.
“Diogo and Celeste just vanished.” Jacob replied, trying to remain calm.
“What?”
“They are either dead or in another world, but either way unreachable and untraceable.”
