CHAPTER 489: BOLD AND CARELESS

"Silas! Silas!"

Her screams followed him as he braved the surface of lake Vaelmere using the strength of his legs alone.

Leaving her there was the right thing to do! There was no other alternative! Silas had to put an end to it all before he lost her.

Why? Just why did she have to do that? Only recently had they talked about a very similar situation so, why?

Did she still not trust his judgement? Living with that thought alone stung to no end.

But, considering the chance he’d cross the prince’s path which was very likely since Silas was heading his way... What was he planning on doing? Arabella had asked multiple times, but the vampire failed to answer.

In the end, perhaps he too had no idea what he was doing.

It took less than ten minutes on the route to Lustris for his diamonds to spot the royal emblem brightened by the torches in the distance.

The foul odor emanating from Cedric also held that path with him. There were no mistakes. It was the royal caravane escorting the prince.

The closer Silas got to them, however, the stranger things became. For one, no voices reached his ears from there which was odd since the sun had just sunken. There was no way they had all gone to sleep already.

Not to mention, the syndicate had made sure to provide his majesty with the best of nightwalkers’ escort until the border came into view. They should still be awake even if the humans fell asleep.

In light of that realization, Silas slowed his roll and only took cautious steps towards the camp.

But from afar already, unconscious figures laying across the ground were distinguishable and upon closer look. The bodies turned out to be the vampire escorts’. Only, they, for sure, weren’t dead as their chests rose and fell, their even breathing being the only other sound to break the silence around him other than the whistling of wind, that was.

No. Not all of them were even. To his left, a breathing rhythm stood out as erratic and taking a few more steps forward, another figure became visible. That of a hunched over woman, curled up against a tree that had shielded her.

Her struggle to inhale grew more intense as coughing became involved. The long, frizzy and dead from the toot looking hair on her head meant that she couldn’t be anything other than a witch.

Other than that, no soul lived in that camp. No humans in sight.

"What happened here?" he approached her.

He maintained some distance but when the witch didn’t budge, he put a hand on her shoulder to better garner her attention.

"Where is the prince?" he asked again, voice as cold as ice.

Her head spun around ever so slowly for their eyes to meet. When that happened, Silas took the time to analyze her features.

The more he gaped at her the narrower his eyes grew.

The face of the witch was familiar but not in a memorable way. Not her big, arched nose, not the moles on her skin, not the rotten, stench-breeding teeth in her mouth.

But it was when she grinned that it hit him...

"You are not the witch tasked with escorting the prince," he stated as a matter of factly though took no action other than retrieving his hand before stepping back.

"Tell me something, vampire," her grin never dimmed as she stood to her feet, her lungs no longer struggling to provide her heart with air, "Have you always been this bold and careless?"

Silas had the time to do literally nothing as a burst of sharp and searing agony exploded in his gut, forcing him onto one knee.

Except, no matter how hard he looked, there was nothing but the sight of his own gushing blood, leaving the round, gaping hole in his abdomen.

"The spell only works on them," the wicked witch giggled, "As a courtesy from me, you will get to see what befalls your body before kicking the bucket,"

Then, like clockwork, one after the other, more invisible weapons pierced his flesh with little force needed as though made of nothing but soft butter.

His back, shoulders, arms, knees... All impaled with what his eyes failed to see.

"What a lovely sight!" her hoarse voice gritted his eardrums when cackling before his misery.

"Make sure you don’t touch his heart!" another voice, that time around masculine, rose, "He is worth more alive than dead," the man approached the witch then stopped to watch as the spectacle unfolded.

Standing at least a foot over her, that vampire’s grin was every bit as familiar as hers. Only, unlike her, he was a lot easier to remember.

"You...," Silas coughed with the flood of blood escaping his mouth.

"Me," Lauden smiled.

The weapons used could not be mere ones. There had to be more to them as they kept him rooted in place, unable to move a single finger.

Silver alone had the potential of piercing his skin but not the strength to paralyze him in place.

Even his healing abilities had dimmed.

"Watch out now!" then finally came Cedric’s nauseating voice, "All that blood wasted for nothing," he clicked his tongue against his palate while walking over towards Silas’ incapacitated figure, "How selfish of you to keep such treasure to yourself!" the prince hissed, swiping his index finger right against the vampire’s chest wound before scooping some of the blood off then bringing it to his own mouth.

After having a lick of it, Cedric’s face contorted in disgust very momentarily. All of that strain on his features evaporated the instant he swallowed.

His eyes grew sharper, widening as his entire body was seen reinvigorated.

"Ahh...!" he pushed a long, loud sigh of satisfaction, "There has to be another way for me to take it without the degrading act of ingesting blood upon my person," he sealed his complaint by spitting right in Silas’ face, "You filthy freak caused me more trouble than I’d like, but worry not, I am not done paying you back for all of it... In fact, this is just the warm-up,"