Release That Succubus

They were very excited and began to discuss among themselves the changes that would soon be introduced into their lives.

Diana was the first to rush towards him while puffing up her cheeks like a squirrel. It was obvious that she was mad. She expected Zach to discuss it with her at the very least if he wanted to give her such a responsibility.

Bruce was right after her as he too wanted to teach Zach a lesson for almost causing a disaster. Had he lost the trust of the people, it might have caused an irreparable crack in the family. Unlike what the rest of the families in Byzantium city thought, Zach hadn't been the Smith family leader from the beginning after all. It had previously been the Luther family which had been led by Bruce. Therefore, Bruce had every right to ask him about the blunder he had made after calling a family meeting.

Diana was the first to reach him. So, she dragged him away from prying ears to give him an earful.

"What do you think you are doing? Who said I was going to teach those people? Did you for once stop to think the kind of impact it would have on me?"

Diana sounded really angry as she asked him several questions while glaring at him with indignation.

To Zach, she looked like a sweet girl pretending to be a strict teacher and failing spectacularly. He enjoyed being chided by her for a bit before answering, "And who else do you think is more capable than you? Should I have given your brother the chance to teach them? Could he have done a better job than you?"

Zach replied to her questions with questions of his own, but they were extremely effective.

A blush spread on to her face, stretching across her neck and spreading downwards slowly. Even though Zach's tone had been questioning, she could sense the confidence he had in her. She almost melted right there and then thinking that Zach trusted her so much.

"Even if you are right, it doesn't give you the right to make a decision on my behalf. You should have at least asked my opinion on the matter before announcing it to everyone."

Diana still felt wronged but was slowly beginning to accept it. Still, she didn't want to make it too easy for Zach.

"I am asking now. Can you do it for me please?"

Zach had barely even uttered his request while Diana was already nodding her head in acceptance.

Zach couldn't believe that she had agreed so easily when she had been opposing his choice so vehemently before.

It hadn't even taken him more than a minute to coax Diana into accepting the responsibility.

Either she had become more gullible, or he had become too convincing. Whatever the reason for the change might have been, it made his life easier, so he didn't bother finding out the reason for it.

Seeing as Diana had changed sides so easily, Bruce couldn't find it in himself to argue with Zach either. He was worried that Diana would end up opposing him if he tried to put Zach in a tough position. By not bringing up the topic with Zach, Bruce was essentially saving his own face.

Zach had a lot of things going on in his mind, various projects that he had been thinking of going ahead with, Christina's plight, Luke's release from the military prison, the changing attitude of the Windsor family and the training of Smith family into a tech savvy group capable of leading people on his behalf and recruiting them.

Since there was so much to do and very little time to waste, Zach didn't stay in the guest house after the adjournment of the family meeting. Instead, he turned on his heels and hurried out of the lake house with rushed steps.

…

With everything settled in the Smith family household, Zach decided to tackle the second problem on his mind. He had been of the opinion that this particular problem was quite low on his priority list, but it turned out to be quite important to him as it had been bugging him for quite some time.

After leaving the guest house, Zach made a beeline towards the Windsor family mansion located near the center of the city. He had been there so many times but this time was slightly different.

For the first time, he felt that he wasn't welcome. He felt like an outsider trying to smuggle himself in but that didn't deter him from looking for Clara whom he found sulking in the back garden, completely unaware that the man she had been pining after, was standing right behind her.

Zach silently took a seat beside Clara without making any kind of disturbance that might bring her out of her trance.

Clara didn't notice when Zach arrived as she was sitting on the lawn chair while hugging her knees and hiding her face in them.

Zach coughed slightly to get her attention, but his actions startled her so much that she almost fell out of her chair. She had been sitting in the back garden because she wanted to be alone for a while but that was not all. She also didn't want anyone else to see her in such a pathetic condition.

Clara had always been a warrior at heart and had the instincts of one too. She didn't want anyone to see her weak side. Therefore, she was immensely shocked when she found that someone had creeped so close to her. To top it off, she had failed to notice him spectacularly. 

How peculiar?

"Who allowed you to come here?" Clara shouted without even raising her head. She knew that she wasn't alone anymore but that didn't mean that she was willing to raise her tearful face. She couldn't reveal her current condition to anyone, not even someone from her own family.

"Am I not welcome here? Should I go back then?"

Zach's voice was soft as he could feel the anger and desperation in Clara's voice.

Clara jerked her head up in surprise as if unwilling to believe that Zach was truly there to see her.

Zach flashed a bright smile at her and asked, "Since you aren't willing to talk, I should head back home."

"NO..." Clara's voice was loud enough to scare the birds sitting in their nests outside the mansion. Even Zach was somewhat surprised at the pitch of her voice.

Her scream was abruptly cut off once she came to know what she had done inadvertently. It had been an instinctive response to Zach's leaving and she had been unable to control herself for a moment.

"Who said...I wasn't willing to talk to you." this time her voice came out as a sweet whisper that was somewhat alluring as if inviting Zach to stay for a while, like a siren's song that became the doom of many experienced sailors in folklore.

"What happened? Why are you pouting?" asked Zach, slightly concerned about Clara. He knew that no one in the capital was probably powerful enough to bully her so it had to be something else.

"Our wedding...it was cancelled." replied Clara pitifully. She was barely holding her tears back as she conveyed her worries to Zach.

"I know...your father told me as well." 

Zach had a matter-of-fact kind of attitude towards the cancellation. Unlike Clara, he didn't care much about the government intervention because he was planning to gain strength to resist them anyway. If he couldn't marry her now, then he could only wait for a while before doing so.

But Clara had already begun to think of it as her final fate. So, Zach needed to give her some reassurance at the very least.

"Aren't you even a little bit put off?" Clara was slightly indignant that Zach hadn't shown the slightest reaction. It was as if he couldn't care less about her.

"Why should I be?"

Clara's heart fell and tears creeped up to the edges of her eyes threatening to fall along with all the emotions she had been holding inside of her.

She hadn't expected Zach to be so heartless. She had done so much in an attempt to gain his affection, but he hadn't acknowledged her efforts at all. He didn't even feel a sting when they were forcefully separated.

Zach noticed the changes in Clara and knew he had fucked up this time.

"I have no reason to feel bad..."

Clara cut him off mid-sentence because she couldn't keep on listening to his heartless words that were slowly sawing her off from the middle.

"...because I can still see you like this." Zach's voice grew increasingly affectionate with every word. 

She was taken back by the sudden change in attitude, but she didn't jump to conclusions no matter how honeyed his voice was to her ears. 

She raised her head up and stared right into Zach's eyes as if looking for any sign of deceit. She wanted to know if Zach truly meant his words.

The sincerity he was displaying and the smile on his face made her want to believe him but she was afraid of it all being a concoction of her tired mind.

Zach knew how vulnerable she was at the moment despite how strong a woman she usually was. 

He walked up to her.

The sound of his footsteps getting closer to her rang like the beating of gongs in her head. She was weary of what might happen next but was also anticipating it to some extent.