Vanessa opened her mouth to scream, but no voice came out. Her consciousness, which she had been trying to hold on to for a very long time, was now trembling.
The amount of blood she had lost with the poison in her body was now showing its effect. The world around her continued to spin; her head felt light and dizzy as she collapsed unconscious on the ground.
Dull red eyes just stared at her with a look of satisfaction. "What a nice meal I have here." He took a deep breath to take in her scent.
"Too bad the blood you lost couldn't get to me, I would have treated them like precious stones." He said, as though she could still hear him and was trying to sooth her before taking a bite.
He brought her body closer to himself, ready to suck out the remainders of her blood, as fangs appeared and were just a distance from being dipped into Vanessa's skin.
"Elliot!" a voice called from behind him, making him growl with annoyance as someone had dared to disturb his mealtime.
He turned around, ready to teach the person a lesson, but stopped when he saw who it was.
"King Theodore," his angry face had been replaced with a fake sweet smile as he greeted with a deep bow, trying to hide is astonishment. "What brings you here, my king?" Elliot asked as politely as he could, hoping to get an answer, but he should have known better.
"Trying to suck blood from a trespasser, Mm. Seems like you haven't got time to sate your thirst." His calm words, which were supposed to be soothing, were only unnerving.
Elliot's sweet smile had long since fallen from his face, which was replaced with an anxious expression because he knew he was going to be punished, as no one except for the king was supposed to drink or kill a trespasser without good reasons.
The rule was so because they didn't want to stand a chance of killing one of their informant from outside the kingdom.
"Go and sate your thirst, you'll be needing it." He advised, walking past him to Vanessa's nearly lifeless body.
King Theodore could hear her faint heartbeat, which was fading with every second that passed.
"Human." He tsk; his brow furrowed, revealing the three lines etched on his brow.
His eyes fell on her exposed slender neck; her scent was already everywhere, and all that was left was a bite. Though Theodore had tasted blood from different humans, their scents were nothing special; they were almost the same with a little difference.
And the scent now was strange yet strong and intoxicating, as if inviting him to take a dip. He could easily sense that the human wasn't one of his.
He squatted down and wrapped his long fingers around her neck, bringing her closer to his gaze: "Interesting, a female intruder, and that too poisoned." An amused look on his face.
He let go of her, and standing up, he called, "Ralph!" a figure stepped out of the darkness and bowed in greetings.
Theodore took some steps away from the human, his back now facing her.
"Milord, what should we do with the lady?"
King Theodore moved his head to the side without turning around, and his lips curled up in a sinister smile.
He replied, "Take her to Lipton for treatment." Ralph was surprised to hear this because he hadn't expected it—nor would anyone else.
As the human was an intruder, the most common order that anyone would expect was death.
Theodore continued, "Let's give her a sweet death, shall we?"
In Theo's boring world, where nothing could interest him anymore, he didn't see any harm in trying to have a little fun with his new game. But if there is any harm in it, the more interesting it will be.
Ralph watched his king's back until his silhouette was out of sight before leaving to carry out the order that had been passed.
Knocking on the door that belongs to one of the townsfolk, he stopped when he heard footsteps from the other side of the door. Some clicks were heard before it was opened by an older lady who held a lamp in her hand.
"Who-" Not waiting for the woman to say anything, Ralph walked in with Vanessa on his shoulder. He walked further into the house, laying the body on one of the tables.
He turned to look at the older lady, who had followed behind him but now stared at the girl in front of her. Lipton didn't know every one of the townsfolk, but she was sure she hadn't seen this face around before.
Ralph said, "The king wants treatment to be done on her immediately. She had been poisoned."
As if she finally placed the pieces together, "An intruder." Ralph stood to the side, watching as Lipton began the treatment on the girl.
"I'll be back to take her before dawn." Ralph informed her but didn't get any reply, just as he was about to step out of the room. She said,
"Send my greetings to Theodore."
He hummed in response, as he was not surprised at how Mrs. Lipton addressed the king without any honorifics.
Mrs. Lipton was an old acquaintance of the king, as she knew him since he was just a little boy. She smiled while recalling an old memory.
A boy sat quietly, cracking glasses in his hand and leaving it bleeding.
"You know that's not good, right? Your mam-"
"Mind your business. For a human, it seems you don't love your life." His voice was calm and collected, but his face was blank with no emotion.
He stood and walked away, while Mrs. Lipton just watched his back. She had only come to give the boy's mom some medicine, as most of the villagers had turned their backs on the lady, but she wasn't one to judge.
However, the little boy had come to her aid on another occasion when her neighbor's spoilt son was causing her problems.
Though Theodore had helped her, it was not done out of kindness or pity for the lady but because he didn't like to be in debt. He knew Lipton had given treatment to his mother but hadn't taken any payment for it, like every person should do.
The needle pierced though Vanessa's skin as Lipton did the stitches on her wound.
A sigh escaped Lipton's lips when she finished doing the stitches.
"You're one lucky girl." She murmured, staring at the girl in front of her. Just like Ralph, she was also curious to know why the king had spared the girl for now.
And the fact that the poison used on the girl wasn't a cheap one or one with low penetrating power, but yet the girl was still breathing when she was brought. It piqued Lipton's curiosity even more, as she hadn't seen anything like it.
'Did time perhaps freeze around the girl for some time? As that is what it seemed.' A thoughtful expression on her face.
Ralph came back some time later, before dawn, like he had earlier said. Lipton had already finished cleaning up Vanessa, leaving no stain of blood in sight. Her old clothes had been discarded and replaced with a comfortable one.
And Vanessa now laid on the table slowly recuperating. Her chest moving up and down rhythmically to show she was still alive and breathing.
Lipton felt pity for the girl knowing she was an intruder, and nothing ever goes well for an intruder;
'But then, it has gone well for this human so far. No one can tell what is coming for her after now.' *SIGH*
When Ralph went to carry the human away, Lipton looked at the girl, whom she felt was innocent and capable of no harm, and asked, "What will happen to her?"