Chapter Twenty-Five: Romulus

“Do you know what you’ve done?” I keep my temper on a leash. Atticus is already gearing up for a fight and has been since before we even begun including the witches in this fight. If anything comes of it, that would exclude a big part of our future warring force to nothing.

“I do,” Verona replies. “I did what you asked.”

It’s small comments like that that would make the temper I’m trying to contain shatter. Up to this point, the war has had no need to bring the human faction in. They had no part in the war in the first place and until they discovered supernaturals existed, there was no threat from anyone but the Agency. There was a need for their inclusion because they had nothing to offer. The Agency doesn’t choose sides in these battles and has to deal with their own issues regarding more important issues among the people. With this, they have a reason to head a huge assault on us to bring the war to the ground and leave us no closer to Daffyd than we were before.

“No. I did not say destroy half a city in the process of bringing down a tunnel,” Atticus snickers behind his sister.

“You may not have asked us to bring down the city, but you did lie to us. You made my sister panic, and because of this, she acted hastily. Your wolves were safe and fine deeper in the tunnels. You just wanted us to kill as many vampires as we could that were trying to bring support to their kind.”

Atticus is right. They weren’t meant to know about this either. There was always the possibility there would be wolves where they tore down, but that would have been a tiny few. With bringing the tunnel down closer to the town, there was a greater chance, but still one that could have been done without tearing down buildings.

“Had we been placed where we originally meant to be, nothing would have come from the destruction apart from the vampires. Your men moved us, and I did as planned,” Verona chimes in. I know that she’s only doing this as a coping mechanism. She ended many innocent lives because of where I, and my commander, asked her to tear down a tunnel. So why wouldn’t she be upset? Why wouldn’t she have the need to cope? Shift blame to where it is due and not keep it on her head.

“I take the responsibility of what happened for myself. Because of what happened, many wolves were able to break free and get home safely. The rumble in the tunnel was enough to give them a break and have them escape through tunnels that led into sewer pipes and underground railroads. For this, you deserve thanks, but my plans are in tatters now. I will have the Agency breathing down my neck. I will have to deal with the human faction trying to show their teeth and scare us off from the fight. I will have them asking me to give up on my redemption and salvation.”

I bare my soul. Not because I don’t think they understand. I am trying to win them back. A loss like this…

If I don’t play my cards right, why would they want to stay a part of a war that has nothing to do with them directly? The witches are an essential part of the rest of this battle. The vampires won’t see it coming. They won’t know that behind this attack was not just one converted witch or warlock to our cause; it’s an army of coven members that are ready to strike, fight, and kill any vampire that thinks themselves the wiser.

“That sounds like a you problem.” Atticus steps in front of his sister. She’s half in my view and half behind him. He’s showing his protective nature over her.

“Things don’t have to change. I just need to know what happened,” I say. Again, the reason this happened was because of us. A strike that was far too big on their part. I should have known it would happen. It was the safest measure we could take, though. There was nothing we could do on the perimeter because Daffyd had too many men guarding him. The strike would have ended up in unnecessary deaths on our part, and I don’t see him stopping the attacks any time soon. So, we have to prepare for the worst in these situations.

“You know what happened. We used too much power to destroy the tunnel. It went too far and people died. What else do you want to know?” Maybe I should have been more clear, now that I think about it. They destroyed as much of the tunnel as they could. They didn’t stop. They just had to breach it and tear it down at a certain key point, destroying transport. I wanted to wipe out their forces in those tunnels and may have misled them.

The temper that was housed on its short leash for the witches has turned its tide back to me. I can’t believe that I was so foolish that I dropped everything to kill a few vampires. Blind rage is not something that filters into my actions, so the fact that it did now? That just makes me even more upset on this matter.

“I’m sorry that I made you do that, Verona. You were not prepared for the outcome,” I know it’s eating her up from the inside. She hides behind the strong shell but she is not. She’s nothing more than a child. Innocence lost.

“I will take care of what happens, and neither of you will be a part of my reports. I am sorry.”

This cleared nothing up, but that’s fine. In my own brazen anger, I was quick to point fingers. There was no place for that. I offered them and their coven reparations for what the vampires had done to their kind over the years, but how do I pay for what I have made them face?