Kristian and Cora headed down the staircase, between the bookshelves. Lights automatically turn on as they descend, until they reached the bottom. At the end of the staircase is a hallway with emerald green carpet. Both sides have doors with numbers on it.
"This place looks…strange…" Cora muttered.
One of the doors slowly creaked open and a man carrying a tray exits. In his tray are some bloody gauze and surgical tools. He bowed at Kristian as he passed by, walking the opposite direction.
"Who--" She turns around, her sight following the man, then turns to Kristian, still following him. "What was that?"
He remained silent.
"Kristian?"
He then turns towards a door to the left with the number 308 on it. The knob immediately clicks as it was turned. He immediately shuts the door behind them as soon as they entered. Calming his brows as he takes a seat on the wooden chair beside the door.
"What's going on? What kind of a place is this?"
All of a sudden, the vampire starts coughing hard, spewing blood. His wounds start to bleed out again.
"Kristian!" She immediately leans down, gently rubbing his back. "What do you need?" she worriedly asked, trying her best not to panic.
"I-I'll be fine--" He continues coughing, struggling to take off the sling bag then the uniform's jacket.
"Hold on." She immediately grabs the sling bag, putting it aside then helps him unbutton the jacket, taking it off followed by his shirt.
France's bite wound on his shoulder is continuously bleeding. She quickly crumples the shirt, pressing it on the wound to keep pressure.
He leans down, rummaging in the pocket of his sling bag. He then grabs a vial, removes the cap then jams its needle tip to his chest. He sharply gasps as the pressure from the vial pushes the liquid in. He then slowly breathes as he pulls out the needle.
His bleeding cuts instantly clotted then started healing, yet scars remain visible. The bite on his shoulder took quite a while to react on his medicine. Healing but slower than the rest.
"Are you okay now?" she asked, releasing the pressure on his shoulder then kneels in front of him. Using the sleeve of her blazer, she wipes off the stains of blood on his lips and chin. "How are you feeling?"
He faintly chuckles, still catching his breath. "I'm fine." Reaches out to pet her head. "Don't worry. This is normal."
Cora noticed the side pocket of the sling bag to be slightly damp. She checks it only to see the rest of the vials broken, leaving just two intact. Carefully reaching into it, she pulls out the salvaged vials, showing them to the vampire. "I think the rest broke after what happened in the train. Maybe we should go back to Theseus."
Grunting to get up, he sharply breathes in. "No. We can't go back now. Our names are in that train's database. If we go back, we'll also put Theseus and Kyle in danger. We have to stay as far away from them as possible."
"But your meds…"
"I can handle myself. Two more vials is enough until we reach Rosewood District. We'll be safe by then."
She knows he is lying. She looks at the bite on his shoulder. Despite the blood finally clotted, the wound is still having a hard time healing. Theseus made her understand how critical Kristian's case is and by the looks of it, he needed more than just two vials to last a trip, especially if they encounter a situation as worse as last time. Despite doubling its dose.
"Hey…." He stares at her, furrowing his brows. "I'm not your responsibility, okay? With or without you, I'm sure I'll end up in this situation sooner or later too," he said as he walks across the room, approaching an empty wall.
"What do you mean?" She follows him.
He taps the wall and it glows, converting itself to a touchscreen monitor. "There's a reason why Theseus' clinic is located underground and why I'm a bounty hunter." He then taps the map of Wisteria, showing the red dots on every district. "Every district has a Bella Donna Hotel hidden underground. We're currently here." He points at the red dot on Venetian District. "My grandpa, Quentin Pauley, founded the Bella Donna Hotels to take in humans and vampires in need of her, for a good cause of course. Especially those who happen to be victims of Highborns' cover ups."
"That explains the bloody tray," she muttered.
He nodded. "And if I'm not mistaking, that dagger symbol is should also be a part of Bella Donna's database. Can I have the drawing?"
She reaches in her pocket, handing over a piece of paper.
He places the paper flat on the monitor, scanning the drawing, then hands it back to Cora. The monitor showed 58 results concerning the dagger symbol.
"Damn it!" Kristian frustratingly taps on every result but an 'Access Denied' message keeps on popping on the monitor. Scratching the back of his head. "Only grandpa can access these files. We really need to go to Rosewood District as soon as possible." He paused for a while. "There must be a reason why I'm specifically blocked," he mumbled.
"How so?" she asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with Dad's dirty secrets." He sighed. "And I'm probably a part of it again."
Cora stands next to him, staring at the monitor. "At least coming with me isn't much of a waste of time at all, right?" She chuckles.
"It's never a waste of time." He turns to her. "Maybe it wasn't an accident when we found each other. Despite chasing you towards danger. Sorry about that, by the way."
"Nah." Shrugging her shoulder. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be able to track down Kalvick. Besides, it's quite a thrill. Despite the almost getting killed part."
"I like it better when you're not scared." He smiles. "I don't know about you but maybe we're fated to find each other…to break this case."
"Of course. To break this case." She then stretches her arms, yawning. "I'm exhausted."
"Oh! Right. C'mon." Kristian opens another door that leads into a bedroom. At the middle of it is a king sized bed. You should sleep now. Let's just plan and prepare everything tomorrow.
"Ah! Finally!" She free falls in bed face first then rolls to lay on her back. "And how about you? Where will you be sleeping?"
"Hmm… I'm not sure yet. Probably on the floor." Scratching the back of his head. "Anyway, I gotta clean up. Bloody." Wrinkling his nose then turns around, opening a closet to get a towel and some spare clothes. "Go get some--" He turns back to her and realized that she already passed out. "--sleep."
He leans down, taking off her boots then carefully pushes her at the middle of the bed, letting her lay properly. "There you go," he whispers.
While taking a shower, Kristian tries to recall his childhood memories, specifically those that involve the dagger symbol and Kalvick. He tries to dig into it but it seems like every memory is a blur and muffled. "What are you hiding from me this time, Dad?"
Closing his eyes, he tries to focus on every memory. His father's office door. The empty desk. Opening each drawers. Seeing the case file. Flipping it open. "Why is it blurred?" he asked himself.
All of a sudden, a random memory crossed his mind. Playing with his older brother, Phoenix. Their father calling him out, yelling. "Stay away from him!"
Another memory popped up, this time, it's him walking into a dark tunnel. The tunnel looks ancient. Brick walls covered with moss. It's dark. Almost pitch black. There is a door at the end of it. Made out of wood and silver plated hinges. There is a window but he couldn't reach it. He is too small to take a peak. On his knees, he leans down to look through the space between the door and the floor. The room is empty.
"Wait. Go back," he tells to himself, hoping to see more. He forces his consciousness to go back.
The room may appear empty but it has some sort of door on the floor. He tries to decipher its appearance. He was taken aback. Someone is screaming. It's coming from the door on the floor. He ran as fast as he could. Just keep running. Running.
Kristian opens his eyes, gasping on shock. "What the fuck was that?!"
"NO!!! Let go of me! Don't!"
Kristian immediately turns off the shower, grabbing the towel then wraps it around his waist. Running straight towards the bedroom. He quickly climbed up to the bed, shaking Cora's shoulders to wake her up.
"Cora! Cora, wake up!"
"AAAAAHH!!!!" She unconsciously lifts her head upon waking up only to see Kristian in front of her. "Kristian…" Her heartbeat racing while catching her breath. She then lifts her wrist. It looks worse than the last time.
The vampire remembers the last time she had that mark on her wrist. "Wait here," he said.
He gets out of the bed, quickly putting on some clothes at the bathroom then went back in the bedroom. Taking a seat beside Cora.
"Tell me what's really going on with you," he said.