Ronkin, although not one of Quinn's closest friends, did have a lot of fond memories with him. The times the two were just walking around the city as guards were some of his best moments.
To top it all off, he was a family man, he had a wife and a child. There was no reason for him to be involved in this.
'Ronkin… he's been brought into all of this mess, because of me.' Quinn thought. 'What's happened to him.'
"What do you mean, he was missing and now he's been found?" Quinn asked, confused he was unable to think straight. He knew Immortui was going to act, but this fast, they were unable to prepare for any of this.
"Yes, Ronkin was taken from his home, Muka was the one that found out about this, and now he has been found again, or more so he is in the public eye. He is being held hostage by a particular vampire standing on top of a manor." Leona explained.
There was more she wanted to say, but Quinn was already on the move, that was until he could hear a sinister laugh coming from the man in the prison cell.
"Have you figured out my powers yet?" A deep distorted voice came out from the prisoner.
It shook the body when one heard it, to the point where Leona almost fell to the ground.
"Have you now figured out what I can do?" Immortui stated. "This is just a small taste, and the longer this goes on and you are indecisive, the more hardships you will face, and the more you will lose."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtQuinn decided that it was best to ignore him for now, the two markings in the prison, the whole thing was just to distract him.
Muka was the one that had been running around everywhere looking for Ronkin, it turned out that she didn't need to go far, because a lot of vampires knew where he was. There was a commotion going on.
Around one of the manors where all vampires could live now, there was a vampire standing on top of the house. He wasn't anyone of any significance, but he did have a marking on his head and on one of his hands. He was holding Ronkin right by his neck.
Ronkin's legs were dangling on the roof tiles, he had cuts all over his body and just like his wife, he was badly beaten with his arms most likely broken with the way they weren't moving.
His eyes were still alive and showed plenty of resistance, but the rest of his body was doing nothing.
"Don't think of getting any closer!" the vampire said out loud to the public and the guards in the area. "If you do, I'll kill both of them."
This was something that had completely been overlooked, because in the man's other hand, there was another hostage, and it wasn't just any hostage, but a child that looked to be around four years of age, a female girl.
'That girl, I don't recognise her either, she doesn't have any relation to Quinn… does she?' Muka thought. 'So why take her?'
"What do you want, why do you have the need to have hostages!" Muka shouted as she walked forward.
"Hostages?" the man replied. "No, these aren't hostages. When you have hostages usually you demand something. I am not asking for my freedom, or anything like that, these two here are a part of my game."
A game with people's lives, Muka once again wasn't liking the feeling of all of this. It didn't take long for Quinn to arrive at the scene, and when he did, Leona popped out if his shadow travel with him this time.
Immediately he looked up and could feel the energy. There was one who had been marked by Immortui, but not just that, Ronkin was being held in one hand while a child in the other.
'Crap, I didn't know there was a child involved in this as well, what is going on, what is happening right now.'
"Ah, so you have finally come." The man said, the voice was deep, similar to Immortui's but it wasn't as distorted as before, nor did the power flowing through the person seem to be as strong.
"I have been waiting for you Quinn." The man said. "It feels like we were just talking seconds ago, were we not? Anyway, I don't think I need to say much, but if you attempt to get any closer, then the lives of these two will be lost in my hands.
"I know you're fast, but I won't even let you get close to me, or I will act. You already failed to save one life, will it now be three?"
This was hard for Quinn, because he knew that in some way he had already failed, because Ronkin and this child could have already been killed, yet he had decided not to.
"I have information on the suspect." Muka said, having received a telepathic message. "They stated that the vampire was part of one of the squads that recently fought in the war. There were no signs of him connecting with Magnus that we know of."
From the recent information that Quinn had obtained, it meant one of two things. This man might have recently been close to death, or the more scarier possibility is that during the war, when he was on the verge of death, Immortui had marked him.
If that happened, then how many were marked, there were a lot of vampires that had participated in the war.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Quinn!" The man yelled. "As I said to the people before you, I have a sort of game to play with you, and you will be the player, and you will be the only player.
"In my right hand, I hold onto your dear friend. He was on guard duty with you for a long time, and I'm sure the two of you have shared many stories together. He also aided in the war by using some of your shadow beasts back then.
"He also holds his family extremely dear to him, and they rely on him a lot. Without him, I don't know how they would cope."
Moving Ronkin, he placed him closer to the tiles of the roof, and then lifted up the girl in the air.
"This girl is a vampire in the vampire settlement, she is perhaps the complete opposite to Ronkin. She has no relation to you whatsoever. Her family took part in the war but her father had died and her mother was already dead, leaving her completely on her own, being looked after by the castle vampires. Meanwhile, she is even too young to go to Roland academy. So she has yet to make friends, one could even say that she hasn't started to live her life yet.
"Now out of these two, it's up to you to decide who to save Quinn. I will kill one, and let the other go, but it's all up to you."
All of the onlooking vampires had disgusted looks on their faces. What situation was this, who could be so cruel to just force people to play in such a game, and eventually they started to speak among each other as to what the best choice was.
"He has to pick the girl." One of them said. "The girl is so young, she hasn't lived her life yet."
"I agree, but Quinn knows the other man, and it's not like the man doesn't have a family. The little girl has already lost everyone in her family… I hate to say it, but if she were to disappear, then it's not like anyone would care."
The arguments between the people were intense, so much so that it even felt like a fight was going to break out between them, meanwhile the man just stood there laughing to himself.
What they all agreed on though, was they wouldn't want to be in Quinn's situation.
"Alright, you've taken long enough, you have 30 seconds to give an answer, or they both die."