CHAPTER 444: CLOSED DOORS

Thousands of miles away from home he stood, facing a high mountain chain that concealed nothing but red behind it.

But despite the great distance separating him from that old man, his words still rang loud against the inner bounds of skull.

"Silas!" Persephone’s voice reached him from behind, "We can’t go any further than this, I am afraid,"

Indeed, they stood at the northern west limit of Solis Aevum. At the border that kept them from the hell their neighboring country, Gehenna, everyone knew to be. A place where rivers of liquid fire ran unfettered.

"I had and still have no intentions of crossing the border, mother" he spoke in a flat tone.

"Then why is it you stare at this line so intently? What goes through your mind?" she came to join him and stopped once they were shoulder to shoulder.

"Other than the fact that Allegra has completely vanished into thin air," he half asked, his diamonds still on those darkened rocks in front of them, "Now the fact that my wife comes from a long line of cursed women doomed to die before touching their third decade in this world,"

He said in a way that did not raise every hair on his mother’s body per se, but his apparent nonchalance sure affected her more than the words, seeing the way she turned to him, her eyebrows fully furrowed, that was.

To a complete stranger, it would have seemed as though Silas couldn’t care less, but deep down... There was simply no facial expression, no tone, no words that had the power to convey the full scope of his feelings on the matter.

"What curse do you speak of? I have heard of nothing such as this plaguing the Sterling bloodline," she slowly shook her head.

"Well, it was never the women in that family that caused us trouble, so we never cared to pay attention their way, I suppose,"

True that was. After the war, the Sterlings were nothing but business competitors in multiple fields. The men of that family were simply much louder than its women which was never surprising or odd considering the culture and values humans continued to live by to that very day.

"But where does this information come from? Can the source be trusted?" she asked.

Could Rubius be trusted? After all, he played in the same team as the prince, Reubon and Dragomir.

But then again, what kind of plan would convincing him of a looming curse upon his wife be?

In any case, a trip to the library was a must. Another look at the Sterling lineage tome was very much needed.

"I am not sure Rubius can be trusted, but I am not leaving anything to chance either," he admitted.

"Fair enough, but what did he say on the matter?"

"If I go by his words alone, every female born to the Sterling name was dead somewhen in her teenage years or early twenties and even the woman that married into their family never outlived their husbands,"

Was that simply what life was going to be for them? Curve after curve, relentlessly?

Silas had lived for over three centuries and yet never saw things from such an angle. Everything seemed so distorted, so gray all of the sudden.

"Pardon me for having my doubts," Persephone stared upwards at the mountain without blinking, "But had there been any curse attached to her bloodline, Morgana would have clocked it the instant their skin came into contact,"

Although true, Silas’ mind was already running wild with all of the possibilities. All the ways his wife was near to meet her fate. With everything going on, it was easy to believe.

In what twisted way would she take her last breath? Arabella had already died once in his arms so...

"My Lady, My Lord!" Katherine came with a gust of wind at the heel, "Have you found a sign?" bloodshot red her eyes were.

"No, my dear," Persephone turned to face her, "I am afraid not,"

The energy she had come with slowly fizzled as her face fell, "You stopped so I figured...,"

"I am sorry we gave that impression," the Lady took a hold of Katherine’s shoulder, "Let us resume our search," her eyes flickered towards her son momentarily.

"Turn around and leave, Vampires!" a deep, guttural voice came from above, far higher on the mountain.

"I thought they’d come out the woodworks," the vampiress hissed under her breath.

"Our hearing is as advanced as yours, blood sucker!" the same voice spoke again.

"Fear not, demon!" she turned to face the... Invisible creature, "We aren’t here to invade. We simply come searching for a lost soul,"

The voice, still hidden, blared once more, "None has crossed this line. Now leave or there will be consequences!"

Tensions ran high enough with Lustris as it was. There was no benefit in riling up Gehenna too.

"We will do," it was Silas who responded.

Without any further ado, the three vampires took off, back inside their land. Their eyes hadn’t caught a glimpse of the being, but there was no need for them to. They knew what fire demons looked like. Well, Persephone and Silas did at the very least.

Nevertheless, Silas ran around with those same thoughts in mind. What curse? How to approach the matter? Where to begin and how to broach it with his wife?

Things for the search did not look up either. There was no trace of Allegra for everywhere they turned, a closed door presented itself.

Despite the large number of people looking for her, it was as though she had evaporated.

The idea struck him that it was possible, she was just nearby, either watching as they squirmed or begging for help, but they just could not see her.

It wasn’t long before they would have to obtain permission from the syndicate to search every home or at least those more suspicious and no one wished to reach such a point.