Riftan and I hurried back to the inn, our clothes drenched because of the snow.
He opened the door and I stepped inside. I threw my shoes on the corner and aimed straight for the bathroom. Riftan was left in the bedroom, taking off his clothes and reaching out to a nearby dresser to get some spare clothes.
I opened the bathroom door and peeked at him.
Riftan's body was just out of this world.
He had a perfect body shape. Lean chest, broad back, chiseled abdomen. His wet hair adding more to the beauty of hi
RUBY VERMILLIONWhere... the hell are they?Surely they must have not left without doing what I asked to, right?I am almost out of energy. My lungs are suffocating, my joints are tired. I have never eaten for the day and I am thirsty. I even don't have a single idea why I am still alive.It's been days. So many days.Just how much longer am I still going to wait?The vampire is looking at me. Smiling slyly in the darkness. I'm still at the broken pavilion, basking in what seems to be the final seconds of sunset. I grit my teeth as his smirk grows wider when the sun falls behind the hills.The darkness looms over us, and the stars are about to twinkle.I can't move. My body feels hot from being roasted in the sunlight. I feel like I am going to die.Am I going to?I can hear Leueral's footsteps around me. He slowly makes his way towards me, where the sunlight couldn't reach. I am done for."D-Don't touch me..." I snarled while trying to crawl away. But I feel his vines wrap around my
The vampire observes me meticulously with his blood-red orbs.I wonder what was in his mind? Could he perhaps be planning on what seasoning he would put on me if I were to be prepared on his table?"You and Riftan... are you both, by any chance, fated?"I lifted my eyes to him and crossed my arms. "Fated? Now that's a word I am not familiar with.""You don't believe in fate?" he raised a brow questionably. "You don't believe that someone is playing with our lives?""We pull our own strings. Everything is a coincidence. If something happens to me, I don't blame it on these 'gods' you speak of." I answered in a monotone."You remind me of Riftan's answer when I asked him the same question."The very mentioning of his name brought my curiously to rise. "What about his answer..?""Both of you do not seem to care about a god deciding your fate. You're both objective in living your life the way you can." The vampire reached out for a goblet on the table. I could see the stains in the golden
I raised my hand and took a deep breath. The siblings looked at me reluctantly as I gripped the bottle of medicine. I wanted them to trust me. I was the only one who could hold Leurel back. Klaid was injured, and Etina wasn’t good at fighting. That left only me."Ruby..." Etina whispered. "Brother... what should we do?"Klaid gritted his teeth. "I... don't know. But we have to trust her. If we don't, we can't help her.""But what if she faints again? What if she dies this time, for real?""She won't die. Not today. She's tough. If she offered to fight, she wouldn’t let herself be killed."Leurel descended the staircase, chuckling. "How have you been? Did you sweethearts sleep well?""I didn't," I replied. "You didn’t even spare us a blanket.""Why should I? You’re prisoners.""Whatever. Just don’t hurt them and I’ll cooperate."I had a knife hidden under my skirt, another in my boot. Leurel could smell the steel, but he wasn’t fazed. He turned a blind eye."You volunteer to be my brea
“Northern Highlands is my home and my territory. Riftan knew that and forbade humans to enter by creating a wall that would reach from the Western shore to the Eastern. Every entry point is blocked by his men. I wonder how you were able to get inside so quickly?”I couldn’t reply. My body was heavy, vines wrapping tightly around me. My fatigue from the fight with Leurel hit hard. Damn it... I didn't know vampires are this powerful!Under his castle, he pulled me into the catacombs. Skulls, animal corpses, and the remains of flying creatures were among the bones that covered the dirty floor. The smell of rot and dead bodies filled the air.“You've got time to lurk around, but not enough to clean this pit?!”“I ate my janitors already,” he said, deadpan.“Seriously, ever touched a mop?!”“Maintenance is for the lower class.”“Rank doesn’t matter here, idiot. You don’t even have citizens!”“You lost because you were sick and weak.”I snapped my head to the side. The siblings were locke
We ventured into the castle for a detour.There were many things I noticed in it.The amount of death in this desolate place. The silence that seemed to witness a forgotten myth, hiding behind the ashes and bones that litter the dusty marbled floor. It was elegant- if it weren't devoid of life.I couldn't help but notice shadows following as I led the siblings to a possible way out. The castle was covered in tall, thick walls- similar to Baronveil and Hezel. A symbol of a dynasty that ravaged wars. "There's something here, isn't there?" I asked them both. "We shouldn't have come here, brother." "We had no choice." All of a sudden, in our grim silence, we catch a glimpse of crimson hues glowing in the dark. I halted, hovering a hand sidewards to stop the two."W-What's that..?" "Stay back." I warned the creature in the dark."We... should light the lamp."Etina, the herbalist nodded at her brother's request and lit the lamp. When the embers shed light into the darkness, the creat
I inspected the grounds.I plunged towards the thick snow and buttoned my coat, slowly pacing towards the abandoned tent. I see no sign of human life but a newly built campfire, just as I thought. I looked around."They must have stayed here."The tent was shredded, some of its cloth grazed on the ground. I saw pots, utensils and a few books. I grab the books and skimmed through the pages.There were pictures of weird-looking plants and some alphabets I couldn't understand. Was this the herbalist's textbook?I looked around for footsteps. And yes, there were.However, it wasn't theirs.A huge paw print of a beast trailed from behind the destroyed tent. There was a red substance spreading from the snow. Fresh blood. If Vale was here, he would know who it belonged to.It was only then that I realized that they were attacked.I didn't intend to go this far beyond. It is still early in the afternoon, and I have time before dinner. I will go beyond a little more and see what I can find.Be