"Let go of me!" She pulled my palm off her mouth, as she wailed in this cold weather. I could see that she was a little short of breath. "Why did you do that all of a sudden? We were in such a good mood. Hmph!"
"Blake's here!"
"Huh? Really?" It seems that even she was unaware of this development. But that didn't take long for Miss. Princess here to put on her thinking hat. "Well, honestly I'm not surprised."
"Why is that?"
"Ah, I never mentioned did I? It's time for me to take you down the highlight reel."
"Nevermind, I'll just barge in."
"Wait!" She grabbed onto my arm, stopping me from forcing my way through the door. "Are you out of your goddamn mind? It'll be the death of us."
"You mean I'll be dead. You're a royal. Why would this be the end of you?"
"This is the part where you were supposed to listen to the whole story that I was going to enlighten you with and then we make our move. But clearly, you've seemed to be going on a decline in terms of your decision-making skills lately."
"How is that my fault? You just seem to know it all. And most of the time you just make the decision that I've never bothered myself in a challenging situation."
"So you blame me for all of that, huh? Well, I am guilty so I will take it."
"See, that attitude of yours. You've just gotten too soft on me. I don't feel like I'm your partner or a grand duke or whatever title was bestowed on me anymore. It just feels like...It just feels like we're..."
"We're what?" She was looking at me with serious passion in her eyes. But there was a hint of anxiety.
"We're being watched."
"Huh?"
I pulled her close and embraced her, all while whispering slowly into her ears. "Just answer me with a nod ok?" She didn't get the gist of the whole situation we were in, but she complied with my demands.
"Alright, let me ask you this. Can a low-ranking vampire pick up your presence as a fellow vampire?" She just nodded her head meaning that the answer was a solid "NO."
"Good. Next up, can they pick up my presence?" She looked at me, understanding the gravity of the situation now. She just stayed quiet. She caught onto my thoughts. "Alright, stay there." I tried to separate myself from her, but she desperately latched onto me.
"Don't! It's risky!" We were communicating telepathically now.
"You know we have to do it. There's no other choice."
"But why? We were the ones who were invited, weren't we?" She had a point. But that was just one point. Considering our whole situation, even that was hard to consider plausible. We came to an unknown place. No, we were forced to search for it. Normally, one could just write it off as a weird prank, and just go on. But considering who we were, that wasn't an option. We had to be vigilant at all times.
"Yes, maybe. But what if this is just a ploy to reel you out of your home turf, only to be led to an ambush? Can you rule that out? Can you?" I raised my brows and signaled at her. She stayed quiet. "See. Point proved. Besides, there's nothing to worry about. I'm clearly an expendable pawn to you. It's pointless for you to worry about me all the time. You have to think like a queen now, not as though you're a friend of mine."
With that said, I left her and cut the link between us. Sure, she could try stuff on her own that would bite me back later on. But that's only if I was going to be around to see that. I made my way through the snow-filled path, at a brisk pace. This should be enough to lure my follower behind me.
There were echoes of footsteps right behind me. At a distance of 10-50 meters. It was not an estimation. It was an accurate description since it was not one person that was tailing me. It was a group of 4-6 stalkers. The disadvantage of walking at a brisk pace is that if I had to increase my pace any higher than it already is, then I'd have to start jogging or worst-case scenario, running.
Why? Normally, I have the benefit of the doubt in this situation because the people following me were still a bit on the fence about whether I was aware of their existence or not. But I was going to throw that advantage away if I did choose to run.
But that wasn't clearly an issue for me. I started running, and the footsteps behind me were in synchronous rhythms. Anyone who would be in my situation could picture us were football players practicing for a game, and this was just a warm-up we were doing. I kicked into a new gear and ran faster than they could keep up.
I was able to lose them. I made my way now.
"What? Did you lose him? How hard is it for you to keep your eyes on a filthy human? Huh?"
"Well, it's nice to meet you."
"Huh?" Faced with my sword right in front of his eyes, he kneeled down, without trying to do anything shady, and dare I say, life-threatening. "How did you make your way here? Unnoticed?"
"Well, let's just say you were too caught within your own headspace trying to keep up with your subordinates and monitoring their task of tracking down a certain "filthy human", and here we are. Speaking of which, how does it feel to be on your knees, lifting your head up, and looking at the very same "filthy human" you were tasked to bring down? Huh?"
"So, you're clearly enjoying this eh, you pesky little brat! Are you mocking me?... Argh! You... What did you just..." He spat the blood near my shoes.
"Bold of you to assume that I wouldn't drive the sword through your chest!"
"Wh...Why?"
"It's been a while, hasn't it? I didn't introduce myself, haven't I? It's me..."
THE GHOST OF AMSTERDAM!