Chapter 154: A Price Worth Paying

Chapter 154: Chapter 154: A Price Worth Paying

Ronan glanced at the guards.

"Shouldn’t you ask your soldiers first?"

"I already have."

Varkos gestured toward the table.

"Now I want to hear your account."

Ronan approached the table and examined the maps spread across its surface. Several locations in the western territories had been marked with crimson pins, while two settlements had been circled in black ink.

Dusk Hollow and Blackthorn Outpost.

The Vampire Lord had clearly been busy.

Ronan began explaining what he had discovered, from the damaged defensive formation to the underground chamber and the strange energy left behind.

He deliberately omitted certain details.

There was no reason to tell Varkos about the full extent of his observations, much less reveal the existence of his system. He could describe what he had sensed without explaining how he had sensed it.

When he finished, Varkos remained silent for several seconds.

"You believe the formation was disrupted from within?"

"That’s what the evidence suggests."

"Yet you cannot identify the source."

"Correct."

Varkos rested his hands on the table.

"And the underground chamber?"

"Whatever happened there was connected to the formation above. I can’t tell you whether it was the cause of the settlement’s disappearance or merely part of the process."

The Vampire Lord studied him.

"You’re being unusually honest."

Ronan smiled.

"Would you prefer a convincing lie?"

"I would prefer useful information."

"Then we’re in agreement."

Varkos’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t pursue the matter.

Instead, he picked up the dark stone fragment recovered from Blackthorn Outpost.

"What do you make of this?"

Ronan examined it without touching it.

The markings on its surface seemed to shift whenever he tried to focus on them. It was a subtle effect, easy to dismiss as a trick of the light, but he had already learned not to trust his senses around this phenomenon.

"I don’t know what it is."

"Does it resemble anything you encountered at Dusk Hollow?"

"The energy feels similar."

Varkos placed the fragment on the table.

"That’s what my specialists reported. They believe both locations were affected by the same phenomenon."

"Then why haven’t you sent a larger force to investigate?"

"I have."

Varkos pointed toward the western territories.

"Three units have already been dispatched. One is investigating the ruins of Blackthorn Outpost, another is searching the surrounding settlements, and the third is attempting to locate the route used by the attackers."

Ronan glanced at the map.

"And you want me to join them?"

"Eventually."

That answer caught his attention.

Varkos continued.

"Before I send you into another dangerous situation, I need to understand what you can actually contribute. My specialists have confirmed that the energy is unusual, but they haven’t determined how it works."

"And you think I’ll be able to?"

"I think you have a better chance than most."

Ronan almost laughed.

Varkos was making assumptions based on his unusual bloodline, but the Vampire Lord had no idea how little Ronan understood about the phenomenon himself.

Still, there was no reason to correct him.

"If you want my cooperation, I have a condition."

Varkos raised an eyebrow.

"You’re in no position to negotiate."

"Then you don’t need to hear it."

For a moment, neither spoke.

The guards near the door shifted uneasily, seemingly uncertain whether Ronan had just made a terrible mistake.

Varkos, however, began to laugh.

"You truly have no sense of self-preservation."

"On the contrary. I’m trying to preserve it."

Ronan gestured toward the restraints around his wrists.

"You want me to investigate something that your own specialists can’t understand. If you expect me to risk my life doing that, I want something in return."

Varkos’s amusement faded.

"What do you want?"

"Freedom of movement. I don’t need unrestricted access to your city, but I won’t investigate anything while chained to a wall or surrounded by guards who might decide to kill me the moment something goes wrong."

"And what prevents you from escaping the moment I remove your restraints?"

"Nothing."

Ronan smiled.

"That’s the point of freedom."

Varkos stared at him for a long moment.

Then he picked up the stone fragment and turned it between his fingers.

"You understand that I could simply keep you imprisoned."

"Of course."

"And you still believe you can negotiate?"

"I believe you brought me here because you need something I might be able to provide. If I were useless, we’d have no reason to continue this conversation."

The Vampire Lord’s expression became unreadable.

Ronan waited.

He wasn’t certain Varkos would agree, but he knew one thing: the Vampire Lord had already invested too much interest in his unusual bloodline to dismiss him without consideration.

Finally, Varkos placed the fragment back on the table.

"Your restraints will be removed while you’re inside the castle. Outside the city, you’ll travel with an escort. You will have access to the investigation reports, and you may request additional information from my specialists."

Ronan considered the offer.

It wasn’t complete freedom, but it was a considerable improvement over spending his days chained in a dungeon.

"And if I discover something useful?"

"Then we’ll discuss your release."

Ronan sighed.

"You really enjoy making that promise."

"And you seem determined to make me regret it."

"Perhaps we understand each other better than you think."

Varkos gestured toward the guards.

"Remove his restraints."

The soldiers hesitated.

"My lord?"

"Did I stutter?"

They immediately approached Ronan and unlocked the crimson restraints.

The moment the metal fell away, Ronan felt the suppressed energy within his body begin to circulate freely again.

He flexed his fingers.

It was a small victory, but a meaningful one.

For the first time since his capture, he could move around the castle without being physically restrained.

He still had to contend with Varkos and his guards, but that was a problem he could address later.

"One more thing," Varkos said.

Ronan looked up.

"If you discover anything that might threaten Bloodfall City, you will report it to me immediately."

"Naturally."

"And if you attempt to deceive me—"

"You’ll be very disappointed?"

Varkos’s expression hardened.

"I’ll make certain you regret it."

Ronan smiled.

"Understood."

---

Ronan spent the next several hours examining the reports gathered by Varkos’s specialists.

Most contained little useful information. The energy had been detected at three locations, each associated with a settlement that had suffered extensive damage or disappeared entirely.

The first two were Dusk Hollow and Blackthorn Outpost.

The third was a smaller settlement called Hollowmere, whose inhabitants had vanished several days before the incident at Dusk Hollow.

That discovery changed the situation considerably.

The phenomenon had appeared earlier than Varkos initially suspected.

Ronan spread the reports across a table and examined the dates.

Hollowmere had stopped sending supplies nine days ago. Its disappearance had been reported only after a patrol discovered the abandoned settlement.

Dusk Hollow had been attacked two nights before Ronan arrived.

Blackthorn Outpost had disappeared more recently.

The incidents were becoming more frequent.

He examined the map and noticed something else.

The three locations weren’t scattered randomly across the western territories. They formed a rough line extending toward a mountainous region beyond Bloodfall City’s usual patrol routes.

Ronan leaned closer.

The mountains were marked with an old designation that appeared on none of the newer maps.

The Ashen Reach.

He searched through the remaining documents until he found a reference to the name.

The Ashen Reach had once been a dangerous frontier where several vampire territories had competed for control. Eventually, the region had been abandoned after repeated disappearances among its inhabitants.

The surviving records offered little explanation.

Some blamed powerful beasts.

Others claimed that the region contained unstable magical formations.

One document mentioned a settlement whose entire population had vanished overnight, leaving behind structures that appeared untouched.

Ronan’s expression changed.

That sounded familiar.

He read the document again, paying close attention to its date.

The incident had occurred several centuries earlier.

Whatever was happening now might not be new.

It might simply have begun again.

Ronan leaned back.

This was the first genuinely useful discovery he’d made since encountering the strange energy.

The disappearances might follow a pattern, and the Ashen Reach could be connected to the source.

He needed to investigate the region.

But first, he wanted to know why Varkos hadn’t mentioned it.

---

That evening, Ronan found the Vampire Lord in his private study.

Varkos was examining a collection of old documents when Ronan entered.

"You found something."

It wasn’t a question.

Ronan placed the report about the Ashen Reach on the table.

"The three affected settlements form a rough line toward this region. I also found records of similar disappearances several centuries ago."

Varkos’s expression changed slightly.

"You’ve been reading the old archives."

"They were available."

"Those records are incomplete."

"That doesn’t make them useless."

Varkos examined the document.

After a moment, he set it aside.

"I know about the Ashen Reach."

Ronan folded his arms.

"Then why wasn’t it included in the initial reports?"

"Because I don’t know whether the current incidents are connected to what happened there."

"But you suspect they are."

Varkos didn’t answer immediately.

Finally, he walked toward a cabinet and retrieved a narrow wooden case.

Inside lay a collection of old metal tokens, each bearing a different crest. Most were worn beyond recognition, but one had a distinctive marking resembling a broken circle.

Varkos placed it beside the report.

"This was recovered from a settlement near the Ashen Reach nearly two hundred years ago. At the time, the investigators believed it belonged to a group responsible for several disappearances."

Ronan examined the token.

"Did they find the group?"

"No."

"Did they find the source of the disappearances?"

"No."

Ronan looked up.

"So you have a mystery that has persisted for centuries, and now something similar is happening again."

"Precisely."

"And you didn’t think to mention it?"

"I had no reason to burden you with information that might prove irrelevant."

Ronan smiled.

"How considerate."

Varkos ignored the sarcasm.

"I have another reason to believe the Ashen Reach is involved."

He opened a second document.

It contained a rough drawing of a circular formation surrounded by several broken pillars.

Ronan’s smile disappeared.

He recognized the structure immediately.

It was almost identical to the one beneath Dusk Hollow.

Varkos watched his reaction.

"You’ve seen this before."

"At Dusk Hollow."

"Then we agree that the Ashen Reach deserves investigation."

Ronan stared at the drawing.

The energy had appeared in multiple settlements, resisted analysis, and left behind structures that matched a design recorded centuries earlier.

This was no longer a matter of investigating a single attack.

Something with a long history was becoming active again.

And whatever it was, its influence seemed to be spreading.

Ronan felt a familiar excitement stirring within him.

He still didn’t know what the energy represented, and he wasn’t about to pretend otherwise.

But he had found a direction.

For now, that was enough.

"When do we leave?" he asked.

Varkos raised an eyebrow.

"You’ve agreed to investigate?"

"I’ve agreed to find out what’s happening. Don’t mistake that for loyalty."

The Vampire Lord smiled faintly.

"I wouldn’t dream of it."

Ronan turned toward the door.

Behind him, Varkos spoke once more.

"One warning. The Ashen Reach was abandoned for a reason. Whatever lies there has survived for centuries without the interference of vampire rulers."

Ronan paused.

"Then perhaps it’s time someone interfered."

He left the study before Varkos could respond.

For the first time since entering Bloodfall City, Ronan had a destination that offered more than an escape route or another powerful enemy to kill.

He had discovered a mystery that had persisted for centuries, one that his system couldn’t explain and that even an experienced Vampire Lord had failed to resolve.

Ronan intended to change that.

Not because he cared about Bloodfall City’s problems.

Not because he had suddenly become interested in protecting the Abyss.

But because something existed beyond his current understanding, and he refused to remain ignorant of it.

If the Ashen Reach held the answers, he would find them.

And if the energy truly possessed the value he suspected, he intended to discover why.

Whatever waited in those abandoned mountains, Ronan would meet it on his own terms.