"What are you doing here?"
"Just checking something," he glanced over at me.
"Like what?"
"Gods, can you stop firing me questions for a sec?" he whispered with his husky voice.
I bit my lip to suppress more questions coming out from my mouth.
"I'm pretty sure I already said earlier that you need to continue your trail," he continued.
"Yeah, I heard you,"
He smiled at me sarcastically.
"You are being followed, woman. Now if you may, for your own safety and my godforsaken sanity. Go home,"
"What's the relevance of my safety to your sanity?"
"Many things,"
"Like distinctively planning to fuck me after this?" I blurted out, not minding the indecency.
"No…but I might consider,"
My face started to heat up at his remark. I'm sure that I resemble the newly harvested tomatoes in our kitchen, red and flushed. He stared at me for seconds and turned to minutes. The emerald pairs devoured me as if he's taking every detail of my face imprinted in his mind.
"W-what?" I murmured.
"Believe me, I don't have the answer to that," he took a long harsh breath. "Fuck, they're near." His face turned grim.
Fallen leaves rattled, shook by a sudden burst of high wind. I tightened my grip on the pile of books I'm holding. The air suddenly stilled as if something had slowed it down, then there was a sound, a low moan that came from the connecting dark alley. Where illegal stuff happens.
He withdrew the sword I'd seen him used against the man earlier, the one he used to end a being without any remorse.
"Are you not hunted by the spirits of the men you use your sword upon? You're always carrying it like it's a type of trophy,"
He eyed me, "It's for protection and this is not what I used earlier. But if I'll have some spare time in my pocket, I'll ask the spirits if they will hunt me eventually." He paused, "For you to stop overthinking things,"
"Where are they?" My gaze shifted to the brick walls beside us. These walls are the butt of each building in town.
"You may not see them, unless you've experienced death before," he said, and I blinked.
"Good gods, I'll be more afraid to see things that are meant to be hidden." I muttered, and that was a foolish lie. I know what my mind seeks. Adventure that only books can appropriately give me.
Mist started forming around us, it was dark and intoxicating. I've read somewhere that longer exposure can kill any being. My muscles started to tremble for an unknown reason. All I can feel is cramps to my joints up to my calves. I dropped the books, before inhaling deep breaths, not letting the thick air swallow my lungs.
"If you see green mist, you must run for your life. It can knock you out for years, even a century."
My gaze flicked up, All I saw was nothing but the mist coating almost everything near.
The vampire lifted his sword that it rings in my ears. It was pitch heightened sounds that can be made in enclosed spaces. Maybe it was the mist, maybe it can cage a person and make them sleep in slumber.
"What do we do?" I leaned forward, squinting. They were only shadows, but I felt something drifting out of the mist. A figure cloaked in black.
They almost look mortal but half spirits. It was horrible…bugs coated their skin, crawling little bugs that seemed like they were glued in their skin. Eyes are endless pitch black, scalps with dark and brown scales instead of hair, missing nose, and their lips are sewn together. They look like puppets, and they move in unison, but it is slow, as if they are being controlled.
I reached for the dagger in the inside of my left boots, "I don't know how this happened but I can see them," I unsheathed the blade, quickly counting four of them.
"Well, I didn't expect that and the dagger."
Slowly, I looked over at him despite the mist covering my eyes, "It's for protection," I mimicked his stubborn voice.
One side of his lips curled up.
"They're the Arsuelans, spirits of dead pirates summoned by the Fates."
Fates? These creatures once lived their life as a person, and now they have become as terrifying as the demons in the Vale.
"After their death, they are tasked to seek something, they feel the strong urge to find treasures in the depths of the oceans," he continued.
My heart thumped violently against my ribs as the Arsuelans stood in the misty air, staring at us. My stomach churned as the urge to flee, and run for my life.
Another deep moan filled the air once more, and they moved in unison, side by side.
The vampire struck before I had a chance to respond, thrusting his
sword through the back of one and into the chest of another, striking down two
with one blow. The creatures made no sound, their bodies only spasming.
"Fates,"
He looked over his shoulder as he pulled the sword free.
"Impressed?"
"No, why would I, it's bare minimum." I lied under my tongue.
Jerking back a step when the two recently impaled creatures collapsed into themselves. It was like they'd been drained of all moisture with a snap of a finger. They shriveled in a matter of seconds and then shattered into nothing but a fine dusting of ash that was gone before it hit the ground.
"You should go home." He moved forward, sword at his side.
The remaining creatures continued forward, hands reaching around to their backs. They unsheathed their metal swords.
"This is more interesting than home," I smirked, feeling the kick of adrenaline that was buried inside me.
He moved with the fluid grace of a warrior, with a skill I doubted most beings could acquire with years of training. He spun, sweeping his sword in a wide arc, slicing through the neck of one of the creatures.
"Do you know how to use that dagger?" He pointed the dagger using his lips. Then he smiled coyly.
I should actually listen to him this time, but I couldn't just stand there or leave him to be stabbed in the back.
"You should be grateful…I'm here to make sure you'll be fine," I murmured, hiding my laugh by biting my lower lip.
"A very helpful moral support, I'm very grateful to you milady."
My breath caught at the inexplicable and somewhat idiotic tug in my stomach and then lowered when I saw the heated intensity in his stare.
There is something seriously super wrong with me.