31

othing else pained Evonne more than the possibility of never leaving Eden. Though somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she would leave once more, and perhaps for good this time. But a fragment of doubt remained. With every fiber of her being, she begged to be free. And that day couldn’t come any sooner.
The days following her return felt like months. Restricted to her room, Evonne investigated high and low, looking for any small cameras. Her searching turned up nothing. Her next course of action was the easiest to accomplish. In her closet, she grabbed a duffle bag containing her training gear. It had been a while since she practiced any martial arts; even then, she wondered how effective her skills would be against a werewolf or vampire. Useless junk. All of it. She dumped out the bag. Gathering up some of her clothes, she refilled the bag for later use, in hopes of a quick escape one night. She hid the stuffed bag in the back of her closet, concealed by her shoes and other items.
Now on to the next part of her plan.
Watchtower.
After the first week, Alex unlocked her door and allowed her to go wherever she liked, as long as she remained inside and away from the lower levels. She didn’t argue. It was on the second week did she decide to go after Watchtower.
She waited until her father was secured away in his main office before venturing into his personal study. Though her room was free from cameras, she knew that her father beefed up security and added more cameras to the interior of the house. She was willing to take her chances.
Cautiously, Evonne left her room and headed for her father’s private study. She knocked. No answer. She took in a deep breath and entered. The door was surprisingly unlocked. She stepped inside and closed the door. Working fast, she found the old portrait of woman in 1700s attire. The old painting was off to the side and the focal point of nothing. To others, it was easily overlooked.
Evonne gently lifted the painting from the wall and checked its backing. The backing was nothing more than simple, brown paper. At the bottom left corner, the paper bubbled near the edge. She peeled away the corner and found the small USB flash drive. Evonne quickly pocketed the drive and returned the painting to the wall.
She looked at his desk. Was there anything else of importance in here? Pulling out the chair, she sat down and went through the drawers.
Evonne stopped breathing as her eyes landed on a familiar face. Plucking the photo from a mess of papers, she tried to recall that day. The family of three stared back within the photo. The candid shot was taken one fall day, not long before her mother’s death. Evonne hadn’t seen many photos of her mother. Most images of her were locked away within her mind. She traced a finger over the photo. Such a happy family then. She placed the photo in her pocket.
“What are you doing in here?”
Evonne looked up to see her father in the doorway. She stammered out her answer. “Uh, I was looking for you,” she said, closing the drawer. “I remembered something when I was away. I think you need to hear this.”
Alex crossed the room and motioned for her to get up. Obeying, Evonne left the chair and stood on the other side of the desk. Alex sat in the chair.
“Well?” he asked, crossing his arms on the desk.
Evonne remained standing. “Do you know of anyone else out to harm you? Besides the obvious ones.”
“I’m not quite sure what you mean.”
She fidgeted, unsure what to reveal. “When I was away, a group of humans had drugged this vampire in hopes that he would kill me.” She stopped to read the worried look on his face. “Their plan didn’t work, of course. But we never found out who they were.”
Alex eyed her carefully but didn’t reply.
Evonne continued. “I don’t know what they drugged him with, but it fueled his hunger, almost blinding him with it.”
“Did you know this vampire?”
She shifted on her feet. “No. Whoever they were, they placed him in the house I was staying at.” She decided fast whether or not to mention the following name. “It was Gabriel who protected me from him. That was the night we left the house. When we returned, we were greeted by your welcoming crew.”
“Did Gabriel know who they were?”
“He didn’t seem to know. Listen, I don’t want to argue with you anymore. I just want know if this is something you should be concerned about.”
Alex leaned back in his chair. “They call themselves The Brotherhood of Osiris. I’m afraid that’s all I know. And I’ve already been warned about them.”
Evonne shrugged. “Then there was no real reason for me to speak with you.” She turned to leave the room.
“Wait.” He stood up and crossed the room to face her. “How can I change things between us? Where did I go wrong?”
She bit the inside of her lip. Now’s not the time to be truthful. “I grew up. It happens to a lot of families. You did nothing wrong.” She motioned to the door. “I have to get back to my room. There’s this new TV show I wanted to see.”
“Okay.” He appeared to force out a smile. “If you need to speak with me again, then find me first. You know how I feel when others are in my personal area without me knowing.”
With her own forced smile, she agreed.

Evonne closed the door to her room. A tinge of nervousness lingered. Did he suspect anything? She chose to wait before removing the flash drive from her pocket. Instead, she turned on the TV and sat on her bed. Minutes passed before the curiosity became too great.
With the flash drive in hand, she moved to her computer and loaded the single file. The series of questions appeared just as David said. Her mind worked fast. With controlled keystrokes, she typed in the answers. She stopped and looked at the time. Between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., she recalled. It was already noon. She sighed and continued typing the answers.
The program launched, installing the needed files. When it finished, the first code box popped up. Her mind scrambled this time. What did David tell her? Something about kings and queens.
She rubbed her face, her nerves returning. Red, blue, and green… I think. Or was it blue, green, then red? Her fingers returned to the keyboard and type; blueking, redqueen, greenknight.
The program whirled into life.
Evonne allowed herself to breath. She removed the flash drive and hid it within her desk drawer. Alright. Time to get to work. For the next several minutes, she surfed through the program, familiarizing herself with its layout. She was amazed at all the information now sitting at her fingertips.
Her first search landed her on a lengthy list of known havens and nests. Each haven listed gave their location, name of ruling elder, and estimated amount of residence. Most of the nests listed, however, had a status of eliminated out to the side, including a date of elimination. Only a couple of havens had such a status. Evonne then stumbled onto the lists of known werewolf packs, as well as satellite images outlining the edges of their territories.
She went back to the list of havens and searched for the one belonging to Demetrius. The page loaded with a distant image of the building, most of the structure hidden by trees. Her eyes scanned the page and found Demetrius’ name as a link. Clicking on his name, she was sent to a new page, this one more like a short biography. His current age was left unknown and his threat level was listed as moderate. There was no image of him. The small biography, however, gave her a little bit of insight.
Mentioning the Original, Gysai, Demetrius was said to be her first child. There was also mentioning of a legend linking him to the flesh born daughter of Jharell. She was a dhampir, the rare offspring of a human and vampire. The dhampir’s name was Dianthia, and their marriage was said to bring peace between the feuding bloodlines. But not long after their marriage, Dianthia was captured and killed by a group of vampires who hated the peace they ushered in. Off to the side of the myth, a phrase read, “To be taken with a grain of salt.”
Another name was listed within Demetrius’ biography; Gabriel. Evonne clicked his name. A much larger page appeared this time. She saw his threat level and laughed. From low, to moderate, to high, he was listed as a high threat. Her eyes then landed on the name of his sire. Demetrius? This didn’t make any sense to her. David mentioned the rumors that he was said to be from Saros’ bloodline, but this made him a part of Gysai’s bloodline. All of what she had seen told her that he was from Saros’ line, not Gysai. There was something more to this, something he never told her.
She continued reading over the information. Watchtower even had detailed information on the car Gabriel used and its license plate number. She felt the dread rise in her gut. If they had this information all along, then why haven’t they gone after him already? Why allow him to live? Evonne read over the brief biography again, finding nothing else that she already knew.
She then clicked on another name listed with Gabriel’s: Keelan. The information on him was weak at best, and his threat level was set on low. And that was probably how Keelan preferred it.
Evonne searched for a new name: Zachary Ingram. Nothing. Not even a mention. She slumped in her chair. Was his absence from the listing a result of her father’s doing? She wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
One thing confused her. How did they gather all of this information? Evonne then remembered SEVEN and how they employed some vampires and werewolves. Perhaps they spilled these secrets to them. Half of her felt betrayed. It was an odd emotion to feel at this time, but as she mulled over the idea of spies among the havens and packs, the more anger she felt towards her father. She wanted to use the term “Big Brother” as David once had said. It was the perfect comparison in her mind.
Returning to her desk drawer, she shuffled around for her own flash drives.
“Now where did I put those things…” My laptop. She left her computer and entered her closet. The laptop was another gift given to her by her father. Not that she really needed it—it was left over from the last upgrade to Estate’s system.
She sat the case on her bed and rummaged through the compartments. On the side pocket she found two flash drives.
“Jackpot!”
She went back to the desktop and began the long task of copying Watchtower.