I'm not worried at all for the Head Butler. Not because he's a jerk or something, he seems like a decent dude if anything. Rather my lack of worry comes from the person who no doubt just knocked him out. The tutor has no particular gripe with anyone except for Lilith. And also maybe me given the glaring contests we've been engaging in.
Is that comforting to me? No, not at all.
I stand from my seat on my bed, blood from my sigil engraving starting to flow down my leg. I'd love to check if or what it was doing, but I can't risk her hearing my voice, even if It's a mumble or murmur. She either didn't hear the knife clatter, or thought it was the butler. Either way, I didn't feel like testing my luck.
The throbbing pain in my leg leaves me uncertain as to if I'll even manage to walk right. I don't have another choice, I didn't carve an emblem into my leg for it to do nothing but slow me down.
I place a hand on the wall, and peek out of my room. The tutor is wearing white robes with a black hood pulled over her head. White is the color of the extremists of the [Church Of Purity], a bunch of radical extremists. There are a lot of churches in IRAAS, and the [Church Of Purity] is the only one that's antagonistic towards the MC.
They're full of unreasonable religious nutjobs, like the tutor standing over the slumped head butler. She's looking away from me, thankfully, and she starts walking towards Lilith's room.
It's only a few minutes long to walk the corridors between our rooms, and it'll be a straight walk. Meaning if she turns around, I'm screwed.
This won't work. I'll get caught and she'll either kill me then move on, or kill me and re-plan the whole thing. I hide back around the frame of my door. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest, my body feels on fire and sweat is pouring down my face.
The blood stream that's mostly dried now painting my leg a maroon color isn't helping me, throbs of pain still coming from my sigil. I peek out again, seeing her getting closer and closer to Liliths room.
This was going to be a timing game, with the highest possible stakes out there. I swallowed thickly, watching as she moved. She placed her hand on the doorknob to Lilith's room, and turned it.
I let out a shuddering breath. Not yet, she would just run. She took a step inside. Not yet. Another step.
She pulled the door behind her, it slowly started to close. Now.
I pull myself forwards, sprinting with all the energy I can muster, my feet slamming on the floorboards as I thunder past the unconscious head butler. I scream at the top of my lungs. "INTRUDER!"
The guards would hopefully be alerted, yes, but there was someone else I was hoping to alert. The door to Lilith's room is abandoned as I can vaguely make out the white robed figure blurring towards the bed.
I manage to burst into the room, just in time to see the woman standing over Lilith's bed, a wooden stake stabbed deep down. Deep down into the mattress, Lilith had rolled away from the blow, her crimson eyes wide as she took in the situation.
I grunted, throwing all of my weight against the woman and managing to get her to stagger a few steps with my shoulder tackle. "Lilith! Go get help! Ru-" I'm cut off for the third time tonight as a fist slams into my head.
I'm sent straight to the floor, and fuck that hurt. I groan, but roll to the side, scrambling up to my feet. The tutor is visibly seething, wooden stake in hand as she flexes her arm, drawing a curved dagger from her waistband. "A slave and a monster, what a fitting couple!"
She charged towards Lilith, who was staring at her with wide, almost animalistic eyes.
The stake was held above her hands as it slammed down towards the little girl. Seriously, who was the monster here? I take a heaving breath, not at all in shape for all of this with my malnourished body. I try to jump towards her, but I'm way too slow as the weapon hurtles towards Lilith.
The weapon pauses in mid air, as one of Lilith's small hands is wrapped around the older woman's wrist. She speaks finally, still staring at the tutor with those wide, nearly emotionless eyes. "Did you just hurt Poe?"
Uh oh, I don't like that reaction. The tutor clearly doesn't either, as she swings the dagger out towards the girl's throat. The weapon hits her skin, and stops, unable to cut it. Yeah, that was another absolutely broken ability of Lilith's. Weapons that weren't [Devine], or didn't in some way relate to vampire mythology straight up couldn't hurt her.
There's a cracking noise, and a gasp, as the hand trapped under Lilith's suddenly twists at an unnatural angle. It's worth noting, in the original novel, even with the surprise attack working, Lilith still wins this fight.
So, in hindsight, maybe any further aid beyond getting her up was unneeded. Still, what kind of guy would sit back and watch as a 9 year old fights an adult?
I may be in the form of another, much, much weaker 9 year old, but I had pride damnit. The tutor grits her teeth, and the stake falls from her hands, at the same time the dagger does. Then, with her unbroken hand, she grabs the falling stake and stabs it towards Lilith's chest.
I haven't been doing nothing this whole time though, and I manage to bash my shoulder into her side again. Unfortunately for me, I am still an emaciated child, and I can feel my body not putting enough force against her leg to stop the blow.
Just as I'm about to panic, the sigil on my leg glows a bright white, and an unnatural strength fills me. I manage to knock into her with enough force that it sends her stumbling again, the stake lost in the encounter. "Slave brat!" She backhands me, and I'm sent back down to the ground.
I'm not a fighter alright? Cut me some slack.
Still, with the stake out of her hands, she…doesn't stand much of a chance. Lilith pounces like an animal, her fangs biting deep into the older woman's shoulder. I'm almost offended, is my blood not good enough for her anymore? She's growing independent so fast.
Where my process is a gentle and painless endeavor, the tutor screams in pain, her working hand grasping Lilith's hair and tugging desperately, trying to force her off. She stumbles around the room, trying to slam the child wrapped around her body into the walls to get her off. None of it is working.
I hear heavy boots stomping our way. Alright, PR manager time. What will happen if all these guards move up the stairs and see, a: I'm beat up, and b: Lilith is latched onto the tutors shoulder like a leech? If you guessed, they'll freak out and think she went crazy, you're right!
The fact that the tutor is dressed in the [Church Of Purification] robes won't be as immediately eye catching as the child they're all terrified of proving them right. That in mind, I shout out to her. "Lilith! That's enough!"
She tears herself away from the tutor, a chunk of flesh still between her teeth as she leaps with superhuman speed, suddenly right in front of me. She's on all fours and growling like an animal, her body between me and the tutor. Aren't I the one with the collar on? Why is she acting like a dog?
The already flung open door is slammed against the wall a second time as guards march in. The tutor is clutching the hold in her shoulder with a grimace. PR manager here again, this is great.
The guards have wide eyes, and the frontmost one draws his sword, pointing it at her. "Surrender fiend, you are surrounded!"
"Fiend?! FIEND?! YOU DARE?!"
The woman has an expression of sheer rage, as blood from her shoulder drips down, painting her white robes a faded maroon. She grabs another item out of her belt, some kind of flask, and raises it above her head. Oh…shit.
I jump, my body awkwardly draping over Lilith's as I cover her. Well, not that it matters much. All of us except Lilith are pretty much fucked. That was a [Last Rites Flask] the most annoying part of the [Church Of Purification]. It was essentially a magic napalm bomb they threw down to "cleanse themselves and burn any sinners around them." Basically? It was a suicide vest.
Ironically, it wasn't considered [Devine], so Lilith would be totally fine. Oh boy was this going to be traumatizing though.
I may have just made her life significantly worse by wanting to protect her. Ain't that a bitch?
As I think that, the sigil on my leg glows a bright white once more, as the room is washed in golden flames.
My arms are pressed to the ground, holding my body overtop of hers as I feel the waves of flame wash over us. They're…surprisingly painless. I can hear screaming, and sizzling flesh, but I don't feel anything at all. I close my eyes, contenting myself with this life ending as well.
I can't believe it only lasted a week. Man, I suck at living. Still, it might not have lasted as long, but at least this time, I managed to have someone important to me. That's gotta count for something, right?
…
I'm uh, still alive. There's a sudden rush of movement and the sound of shattering glass. I open my eyes. I'm hanging off the castle wall, looking out at the view normally separated by Lilith's window.
I'm over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, one of her arms around my back to hold me steady, while the other is wrist deep inside the stone wall, keeping us anchored to the side. The shattered window is just above us, licking flames occasionally peeking out of the shattered glass.
I…really shouldn't be alive. I look at my arms, seeing no particular burns. The scent of burning flesh is sickening me to the core, and I have to hold back from throwing up all over Lilith's back. The crackling flames overwhelm my ears, and even the chilly night air seems to have been beaten back by the warmth of the flames.
Still, a candle burning twice as bright is snuffed out twice as quickly. The flames die down, though the smell of burnt flesh remains in the air. Arguably the worst part about it was that the scent wasn't explicitly bad, it just smelled like sizzling bacon. I'm going to be sick.
I look down at Lilith, which is a little hard from my awkward position. She seemed to be on the verge of tears, blood dripping down from her lips. She spoke in a low voice. "I'm sorry…"
I huff a little in her grip. "What for?"
"You almost died becau-"
"What did you do?" She purses her lips, and I continue talking. "Did a single choice of yours lead to this happening?"
"...no."
"Then it isn't your fault. Don't say sorry, say thank you."
"…Thank you."
She says it in a low whisper, and I get the impression she's thanking me for more than what happened tonight.
I give her back an awkward pat. "You're welcome. And uh, thanks for making sure I didn't die."
She made a small noise, nodding her head. She spoke again in a low tone, almost under her breath. "You aren't allowed to die."
…
I'm sure that's nothing to be concerned about.