Deacon - Nicholas Bella Page 0,94

screamed,” said Vanessa, one of the house servants.

So, hers was the scream that had alarmed me. I looked around and saw a fancy, half-emptied vial of what I suspected to be the dragon venom and wolfsbane I’d acquired to carry out my scheme. I pulled my handkerchief from my pocket and picked it off the floor and smelled the bottle, which had Graham’s scent all over it and the scent of the two children. Oh my God, was this what Charlene had been alluding to? Was this why she said I needn’t worry about how we were going to pin this all on Graham?

We had one child dead and another traumatized, and I had plausible deniability. Above all, I had grounds to pass Judgement on Graham. I placed the cap back on the vial and handed it to Elliot, who had made his way through the crowd.

“Smell it,” I said.

Elliot took the vial and handkerchief from me and took a whiff. “Graham,” he growled, then passed the vial to another wolf. The more wolves smelled it, the more witnesses we had that Graham had poison in his possession. The vial was returned to me eventually, but enough wolves had scented it to prove that Graham was guilty.

“Sarah, what happened?” Nicholette asked the sniffling child in her arms.

“We… we… we were just playing,” Sarah said. “Having tea.”

“Where did you find this?” I asked, showing her the vial.

“In April’s mo… mother’s ro…room,” the child said through harsh pants.

“You didn’t drink any of it?” I asked her.

The child nodded. “It was… sweet. We… we thought… it was… syrup.”

“So, you put it inside your water to pretend?” Nicholette asked the child.

She nodded. “And she… she…” the child began to cry again. “I feel funny.”

“What do you feel?” Nicholette asked.

The little girl shrugged, then pointed towards her crotch.

“Oh, oh my,” Nicholette gasped. “Let me give you something to help.” She took the child out of the room and I was grateful. The child was human, and I could only imagine what effects the dragon venom was having on her. I hope she slept it off, which was what I was certain Nicholette was going to do. Make sure the child slept it off.

I looked back at the body. So, that was how April died. She drank the poison and the other child had to witness it. I couldn’t imagine how painful her death was. Graham’s only child was dead, his wife was dead, and soon, he would join them. I guess it was only fitting. I would have preferred not to have the death of the child, but it was done. And since Graham had no problem killing the female children of my old pack, there was something poetic about this tragedy. I had what I needed to finally get my revenge. I scooped the child up and the crowd parted as I carried the little body in my arms.

“Elliot, build a pyre,” I commanded.

“Yes, Alpha,” he said, then walked off to carry out my order. I laid the body on the sofa, then turned to address the other wolves who were standing around, some of them crying. “I think we have enough evidence to convict Graham of killing Royce and by default, his own child. He will face Judgement tonight. Do you all stand as witness?”

“Hell yeah, we all smelled his scent on that poison,” Barret said.

I might let Barret stay. I’d pull him off to the side to let him know the good news. “Barret, please gather the pack here. I want as many as can attend for the sentencing.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Barret said, then he walked off.

“The rest of you, please… do what you need to do,” I said. I really was at a loss for words, because I hadn’t seen this coming. A child was dead and her last remaining parent didn’t even know. I decided to go down into the basement of the mansion to his cell where he was sitting in the dimly lit room, brooding. He looked up at me and growled.

The bars were silver, so I knew he couldn’t bend them. Also, if he got out of control, with one flick of a switch, I could rain silver on him, which would hurt like a son of a bitch and then some. So, he could growl all he wanted.

“Stay away from my child,” he snarled, having caught her scent on my clothes.

I ignored the warning, because really… it came far too late. “I came down here because I