My Most Precious Human

"This is an act of unbelievable impudence, Duke Calvet!" Duke Orseolo yelled, "None of the nobles were sentenced to death in two hundred years! One noble life is worth more than a thousand mere human lives!"

He definitely made my blood boil, but this time I did my best not to open my mouth. I learned that staying silent was crucial to my survival.

"You have already taken our wealth and titles. Isn't that enough?! For what reason should we give you our lives as well?!" the former-now Marquess, Henri Adragna fumed, supported by frantic gasps of his

sons.

Sariel slowly walked to the middle of the courtroom stage again. His eyes showed a firing glow as the slick smile slowly formed on his face. It was the first time I noticed that this court wasn't only for my revenge. His attitude displayed disdain and hatred. For Sariel, this conflict must have been something private, something that had been built for a long time. He was enjoying every second of Adragnas' misery and he clearly wanted them to drown in humiliation and agony. I started to doubt if I was brought here to demand justice for the taking lives of innocent women, and I began to wonder what was the thing that he really needed me here for?

"Your Honor, auxiliary judges, members of the Great Council, may I remind you that there is one crime that is punished by death in our law, and that is betrayal. If a vampire betrayed our kind, there is only one punishment for it," Sariel calmly stated, then glanced at the defendants, checking their reaction.

Henri Adragna gritted his teeth, a distorted, angry roar coming from his vocal cords. Sariel certainly like that reaction, he sent Adragna a playful smile just to fuel that rage in his veins. Once he saw Henri Adragna huff in fury, he graciously turned towards the judges.

"It's been almost thirty years since Lycans attacked the House of Calvet. Since then, I have been searching for a link between the werewolves and one of the vampire noble families, and I found it. There was one family that traded goods with werewolves, and that same family has a direct connection to the leader of the pack that attacked the Calvets." Once again, Sariel's words caused an uproar, but this time the air was filled with anger and hatred.

It seemed to me that if there had even been a truce between vampires and werewolves, the reality would certainly be different. It was only natural that if there was any vampire who used a werewolf pack to kill another vampire, he or she indisputably deserved death.

"This is outrageous!" One of the Adragna's sons slammed the table with his fist, getting up from his seat.

"George, calm down." Henri Adragna grabbed his arm, pulling him down to sit. "If the Duke of Calvet wishes to accuse us of such horrible crime, he will need a solid proof of that, and I seriously doubt he has one..." He glared at Sariel, challenging him.

At the moment I started to think about it, they could have been in contact with the werewolves' packs. If someone from the pack had been at the auction that would explain how the wolves from my father's pack found me at Sariel's castle. What puzzled me was the fact how could the wolf enter the action unnoticed by so many vampires. Even I could smell them, and I was sure that the vampires could scent them a hundred times more than I. I wish I could provide any evidence that could prove my theory. Unfortunately, although my observation skills weren't bad, that night I had been too absorbed with surviving to notice anything useful... or so I thought.

Sariel's smirk didn't leave his face. He was composed and confident. He didn't even bat an eye at Henri Adragna's remark. He gave Mr. Gotha a meaningful gaze, and his right hand man immediately dashed out of the courtroom. Then Sariel walked closer to my seat and turned towards the judges.

"I'm sure, Ms. Leber's statement will give us the evidence we need." He smiled cunningly.

"W-what?" I muttered, startled.

I gazed at him nervously and shook my head, "How can I help him?! I can hardly remember anything from that night!" I panicked inside my head, as he looked at me with full confidence. "So, let us hear what Ms. Leber has to say." The female judge grinned at me, looking intrigued.

My stress level increased by the second. I was positive that I was going to make a complete fool of myself. I dug deep into my memory, but it seemed useless as all I could remember was those vampires' lustful eyes locked on me, and then me trying to escape the horror.

Sariel turned my way and gazed deeply into my eyes.

"I cannot help you. Please call it off somehow!" I begged him, softly whispering.

"Calm down, Lilith," he said, smiling, "Focus on my eyes and you will remember everything. Trust me."

Like looking into his eyes had ever helped me concentrate on anything! To make matters even worse, I found the composed tone of his voice sexy as hell... My heart began to throb erratically, and I became everything but calm!

He crouched down in front of me and grabbed my hands. I gulped, watching his face moving closer to mine. He had his eyes locked on mine the entire time, and I sank into the grey ocean of his pupils. "What happened before the auction?" he asked, his voice amazingly hypnotizing.

"There was a form of a banquet, but the guests didn't really eat nor drink. They were observing the waitresses." The words came out of my mouth before I realized it.

He smirked and began gently rubbing my hands. At one point my body and mind surrendered to him like I was under some kind of spell. Suddenly, everything beside him and I ceased to exist as if my brain refused to acknowledge that we were still inside the courtroom with over a hundred vampires watching us.

"Now, Lilith, you really have to concentrate. You have to tell me if there was a werewolf at the banquet." His eyes didn't even blink as he said those words with absolute trust that I was able to do it.

I heard that people could be able to recall every single detail from their past even if their conscious mind was not aware of them, but it all sounded like science fiction. Nonetheless, I was currently looking into the eyes of a creature that supposedly didn't exist in human reality, and I was also a daughter of those who are called supernaturals, so perhaps I shouldn't doubt this possible turn real from the start...

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I knew exactly what to do, and I knew I was able to reach into the deepest parts of my mind. I tried to recall the entire scene of the banquet. I pictured mysel moving with a tray among those freaking me out guests that turned out to be vampires. I passed by the disgusting guy who nearly licked my neck and was walking closer to the door at the end of the hall, opposite the kitchen. I could see only vampires around. I tried to recall any weird scent, but I could only smell the guest's perfume. I concentrated more, and surprisingly, I could even differentiate their brands. There were Gucci, Paco Rabanne, Dior, Tom Ford, and Channel. Most of the scents were filled with musk as if the men in the room greatly needed to add themselves a hint of confidence and manliness... All but one. There was a weak scent of lavender and mint coming from right outside the banquet hall.

Inside my mind, I found myself moving in the direction of where this scent was coming from. I saw the door at the end of the hall crack open. There were two men standing behind that door. I scoured out the image of their faces hidden among the thousands of brief glimpses in my memory. I recognized one of them because I was doubtfully fortunate to meet him when I was caged; it was Thomas Dorwart. I had never seen the other man, but the lavender and the mint scent was clearly coming from him. The man had straight, short blonde hair and blue eyes, looking sturdy. His complexion was definitely not as pale as Thomas's. He wasn't a vampire. I gasped and opened my eyes.

"You found him," Sariel stated, still gazing deep into my eyes.

"Yes," I instinctively confirmed his words.

Then I started to wonder what made him so certain that it was a man.

"Did the man say anything? Tell me, Lilith, what was he saying?" Sariel's words were like a direct command sent to my mind.

Before I could react on my own, I closed my eyes again, and this time I focused on sounds. First, I erased all the snickering conversations and all the disgusting comments about me and other waitresses. I shut down the music and the background music, and I tried to hear the sounds coming from the crack of that door.

At first, the voices were deeply distorted, but then they began sounding clearer and clearer.

"Diamonds..." I heard a single word coming from Thomas.

"You need to try better than this. It will be much harder to strike this time." The other man smirked arrogantly.

Thomas growled angrily at him and then squeezed through his teeth, "How much?"

"Fifty rocks," the blonde-haired man tossed.

"Fifty million dollars?! Are you out of your mind?!" Thomas fumed.

"What? You hoped for a discount since it's the second time?" The man snorted.

"I say twenty," Thomas stated reluctantly.

"Don't like it, then I'm out. You know well that it would take an Alpha to take down a noble, and we're talking about the future vampire king after all. I'm quite sure that our Alpha is the only one powerful enough to kill him." He chuckled and turned around, ready to leave.

"Wait!" Thomas grabbed that man's hand, "I'll... I'll pass your words on to the Marquess." He sighed heavily.

"You'd better." The man snatched his hand out of Thomas's grip and smirked, "Alpha Randal D'Apolito waits for your answer by tomorrow."

I gasped and opened my eyes wide.