Chapter 99: Chapter 99

DAHLIA:

My instinct told me to close my eyes. I trusted Tristan, but why did he throw flames at me, and how the hell did he get those powers? Did he want to burn me alive?!

I waited for the heat to descend to my body, the pain burning me to the core. After a few heart-stopping minutes of waiting, however, I finally opened my eyes.

To my surprise, I was still alive, and the silver net was now nowhere in sight!

I looked around and saw a few more flames flicker. It was consuming the rest of the silver net into fine dusts right before me.

“Dahlly, run,” I heard Arthur growl fiercely.

He did not need to say it twice. I nodded at him and scampered into the tunnel where the masked attendant had led us into earlier.

Before I could make it through the exit though, two more vampires blocked my route. They were baring their sharp claws and fangs at me, aiming for my neck.

I swerved from the left, and then dodged the other one as he swung his claws to the right. Why were these vampires so hell bent on capturing me?

However, one of the other two was much quicker than I had expected. He jumped overhead and aimed for my head.

I expected his claws to collide with my hide, but thanks to the Moon Goddess, someone with a sword came slashing at him, cutting through the attacking vampire’s hands.

“Sir Casior,” I growled. I had forgotten I was in my wolf form. How the hell did he recognize me then?

“Lady Dahlia, I’ll block then. Run into the exit! Don’t stop until you meet Gideon!”

I howled to him in affirmation. I hope he understood me grumbling away as a wolf. I have to thank him properly later when I have the time.

As he instructed, I slipped into the labyrinthine corridor and sprinted my way into the exit based on how I remembered it.

Earlier, I felt dizzy going through this maze-like hallway, but with Eva’s sharp sense of smell and perfect sense of direction, we were able to identify the passages we took earlier on, making the way to our escape much easier than I had expected.

There were a lot of apprehensions in my mind though, as I galloped towards safety. I saw some people trying to escape from this tunnel earlier, but why was the hallway empty? And why was it too deathly quiet?

I shook my head. This wasn’t the right time to panic or feel extra frightened. After I meet with Gideon, I’ll persuade him to go back so that we could help Tristan and Sir Casior. But first things first, he has to help me find where the red ruby had been taken to…

After fifteen minutes of non-stop running, I reached the door of the building where we entered before. Finally, Gideon will be waiting on the other side!

I was just a few inches closer to reaching the exit when it happened. Before I could reach that door leading towards freedom, something blunt descended at the back of my head, and almost instantly, the world around me began to spin and darken…

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TRISTAN:

“Blast it, where’s Dahlia,” I roared at Gideon, making the ends of his fur shake vigorously although the expression of his wolf’s face did not change.

“She never passed through here, my lord. We covered all possible exits, but she never came through any of them,” my assistant responded with a whimper.

“That’s impossible! I can smell her scent from here! I’m sure she came here,” I growled even fiercer than before, my blood positively boiling in sheer rage.

“Your master is right,” Sir Casior interjected. “Lady Dahlia’s presence lingers here... Are you sure no one had really passed by? Were you really watching it intensely?”

“N-No one came… Nobody passed through here…”

I didn’t know how Sir Casior could understand us when Gideon and I are both in our wolf forms, but I knew he did by the way that his concerned eyes landed on mine. Just like me, I knew he too was puzzled on how and where Dahlly could have possibly disappeared without meeting Gideon when there was but only one door out of this place…

A few minutes after Dahlia has escaped, Sir Casior and I fought our way into the passageway towards the exit. It wasn’t an easy feat. Thankfully, soldiers from the Apricus Kingdom came by very quickly and subjugated the auction thieves.

I was confident that Dahlly would be safe and sound. Eva had a strong sense of direction, and I didn’t sense any feeling of fear or apprehension in our shared heart… However, at the moment, that feeling of connectedness with Dahlia has numbed. It was as if there was an invisible wall that prevented me from sensing where she really was…

I looked around near the only exit to the damned place. I could still smell Dahlia’s scent very strongly in here. She wouldn’t vanish into thin air now, wouldn’t she?

Earlier, while trying to kill those bloody vampires who attempted to take my wife away, I caught a glimpse of Eva’s form, and I was stunned.

At the center of her head, there was clearly a fiery red crystal – a rune that looked exactly like the red ruby we saw at the auction on stage… Only this time, the red ruby was not small in size. It was as big as my own spirit stone, cut into a perfect square shape.

Since then, I kept wondering what could have happened in between the minutes I have left Dahlly by herself at the bidding area… How did she obtain the red ruby, and why was it etched on her forehead? Did she really manage to steal it?

“Look here,” Sir Casior muttered. His eyes were fixed into one corner of the hallway leading to the exit.

I scampered to my feet to see what Sir Casior was looking at so intensely on the ground. As soon as I saw it, my heart went wild.

It was Dahlia’s necklace – the one with a dark violet amethyst stone in the shape of a tear drop which I had first presented to her on the engagement party at Talandor. It was snapped cleanly in two at the very center of the stone…

I had infused the necklace with protection and tracking magic before I gave it again to Dahlia after our wedding… It would never break even in the midst of danger unless of course she was attacked by the very same magic that was used to make it.

I sniffed it out, and I confirmed my suspicions. It smelled so strongly of the mixed scent of a water fairy and a she-wolf…

There could only be one person who took Dahlia. I was sure of it!

I howled calling Samalah’s name into the night. Where the hell did she take Dahlia, and more importantly, why?