Chapter 182: Cooler Heads Prevail: Sophie Is A Genius

Dak talked Zed out of going out to the streets to see what Tyler and everyone were up to. They decided against it because of Agent Z’s warning to avoid engaging the enemy. Zed and Dak hung out in the office instead and they figured he’d go check out what was going on in a few hours. Zinnia was heading to her own personal hideout anyway, so he felt he shouldn’t bother her.

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Meanwhile, the girls and Tyler were still in Vox’s realm with Zinnia.

{Tyler, remember, she was the only mask walking around and not running. You did a great job of catching her off guard but her mask looks different and more significant than the others. Maybe she’s a leader of this area or something?} Sophie

Tyler shook his head to acknowledge he understood, but the underlying problem was Kass’ anger right now.

’She has every reason to be pissed off, but this isn’t the time or place for a petty revenge match. We need her on our side, not against us,’ Tyler thought while looking at Zinnia, whose body language seemed off.

Rather than looking mad or upset about the accusation, Tyler thought her eyes looked sad.

’Why would someone be sad about doing something so horrible? There has to be more to this.’

"Zinnia is attracted to you and I think you are attracted to her, Tyler..." Isis said with a light laugh. "You can’t hide things from the primordial Eidolon of wives, fertility and healing."

"She’s right," Vivian said bluntly. "You’re in a pickle here buddy. Good luck. Your girls look torn too. Amanda looks angry like Kass does, but Sophie and Nyxara look more curious and relaxed."

"I noticed that too. Nyxara not being ready to kill her makes me wonder. It’s not like we can all talk."

"Of course you can. Leave her in the realm and go back. Make Zinnia think while she’s alone in this realm." Ash smirked.

"Ladies, with me, Zinnia, when we return I expect no mask on. I’ll ask nicely and I’m going to give you absolutely zero benefit of the doubt, but two of my wives seem to think something else is going on with you, and so do my familiars. See ya soon!" Tyler smirked while he grabbed each of his ladies and teleported back to the apartment.

"The bitch fucking killed her entire village and clan and my little sister watched it all happen!" Kass said angrily. "What the fuck, why are we just letting her stand there like none of this happened?"

"My people just got wiped out...why the hell would we talk to and even trust someone who did it to their own clan and demon race?! Don’t you remember how I was treated Tyler!" Amanda cried out.

"Wait, why isn’t Isis with me?" Tyler asked, which confused everyone.

"Are you even listening?" Kass stomped her foot.

"Of course I am Kass. I understand you are upset and I am sorry those things happened to your little sister but killing someone in cold blood isn’t our answer. Clearly there is some sort of masked organization. Whenever I teleported away to see where the little black and purple masks ran, they were in a hideout with other different colored masks. There was black, light purple but Zinnia is the only dark purple I’ve seen. Clearly something is going on here and we need to find out more. Could you not sense how powerful she was?" Tyler said while giving Kass a hug and infusing relaxing magic into her.

"Tyler...my poor little sister," Kass’ anger finally turned to tears. "She suffered through so much...she still has nightmares about the day she escaped the village."

"Something isn’t right. How would one little child escape someone of that magnitude?" Nyxara asked calmly and politely. "Listen Kass, I’m not saying she’s not capable, but how old is she? This happened 3 years ago..."

"She’s 14 now, so she was 11 when it happened," Kass continued crying into Tyler’s chest.

"So someone kills their entire clan and race but let’s an 11 year old somehow leave and reach your town? How far away was your town?" Sophie interjected. "I’m sorry Kass it’s terrible what happened but let’s use our heads here."

"That doesn’t change the fact she’s working for an organization that’s against Tyler!" Amanda exclaimed.

"No, it doesn’t, but let’s hear Nyx and Sophie out...Isis told me something strange."

"What’s that?" Amanda said while finally losing her temper. "Sorry, I just got really upset and mad for Kass. It sucks."

"Thank you Amanda..." Kass cried, but finally started to relax a bit in Tyler’s arms. "It was 20 miles... she walked 20 miles."

"And Zinnia just let her do it? That doesn’t make ANY sense," Nyxara said directly. "Why would she let one person escape with the memory of her destroying the entire clan and village? Now she’s hated amongst your entire race."

"I never thought about that..." Amanda said while her complexion changed completely. "Kass...what else happened that day?"

"Well, according to Ava, that’s my adopted little sister, Zinnia came and absolutely destroyed everyone in the village. She burned houses, slaughtered everyone and used several demon arts she didn’t see. She hid, ran and never looked back..."

"So someone with that many demon arts destroyed an entire village, even if it was a small one, but let someone leave? She would have finished the job." Tyler said while kissing Kass’ forehead.

"But why let her live to tell the story..." Kass finally relaxed. "Why make yourself so hated?"

"That’s what we need to figure out sexy," Tyler said, giving her a gentle kiss. "My familiars aren’t usually wrong. They feel there is something deeper behind this and Sophie’s intuition is almost always spot on. Nyxara has lived an entire life as a princess and has probably trained to look for things like this. I’m sure the royal family has spies, trained undercover people and files even we don’t know about yet?"

"Yes," Nyxara said matter-of-factly. "I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t already vampires risking their lives behind those masks."

"SHIT! The elves... What about them? The files..." Tyler lost his cool for a second, panicking and shaking.

"Our undercover agents don’t exist Tyler. My family is incredibly old and very, very smart," Nyxara smiled.

"What could possibly be their motive for going against you Tyler?" Kass asked. "Why would they want you eliminated?"

"Power." Sophie said while tapping her chin. "The enemy wants power. He is Eidolon. They want him captured."

"You have a brilliant set of wives." Ash chuckled. "Even I didn’t think of that."

"So you’re saying Zinnia is even more powerful now because she’s received power from the Necrams?!"

"Seems like it, champ," Ash sighed. "If she was already powerful enough to wipe an entire village, it’s a good thing you have the upper hand. Also, we can’t keep her away too long if the new theory is she runs that area. People will look for her."

"Ladies, what do you suggest we do?" Tyler sighed.

"This is going to sound really, really stupid." Sophie said. "Kass, Amanda, keep an open mind and don’t immediately chop my head off..."

"What could possibly make us that mad?" Amanda giggled while Kass shook her head and smiled.

"Come on, you know us better than that Sophie..." Kass admitted.

Isis appeared in her Eidolon form back from the realm.

"She’s ready to talk to you Tyler." Isis winked.

"And what is on young Mrs. Rask’s mind where she’s worried about pissing everyone else off?" His familiar added in Eidolon form.

"Tyler needs to ask her out and get involved with her romantically. That way, she gets a system and we can track what she’s really up to." Sophie smirked.

"Genius, I love this plan!" Isis smirked.