Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 94: The Unconscious Human

In one of the remote villages secluded at a cliff in EmptyHollow, the leader of the hunter group quietly stepped out of a hovel without his mask, and behind him was an elderly woman who stepped out with him. It was already Midnight like he had detected, and when he glanced at the path ahead that had been lit by lantern lights, it was eerily quiet since everyone in the village had retired to bed.

Turning around slightly, he glanced at the unconscious human that was still undergoing treatment inside the hovel. Slowly averting his disturbed gaze, he fixed it on the elderly woman who had a look of concern etched onto her aging face.

"How is he feeling now? Will he regain consciousness soon?" He asked the elderly woman in a firm tone, but his brown eyes displayed a hint of worry as he waited for her response. When the elderly woman retracted her gaze from the boy to the hunter, she nodded her head before exhaling softly.

"He is getting the proper treatment now, thankfully you were able to afford the right amount of money on time to get his treatment started early. His wounds have been stitched up, so he should be up very soon. You have nothing to be worried about since he is out of danger." But the elderly woman still looked slightly worried as she said, "for the past few days he has been uttering a name in his unconscious state, he keeps calling out to someone named Samantha, do you perhaps know this person, and can you try to bring her over the next time you visit?"

The leader of the hunters, whose name was Caddel, stayed quiet at the mention of the name, but it was only for a short moment of time before he shook his head. "No, I am not familiar with that name. Please do not mind the words that come out of his mouth as he is not well, I need him to get better so I want you to focus on doing just that. You should go inside, I will be taking my leave now."

"Do be safe." The elderly woman nodded, but it was obvious she had more to say but chose to keep quiet.

She went back into the hovel to nurse her patient for the night, and Caddel quietly slipped his mask back on before disappearing into the night. He had taken note of every junction the guards would patrol tonight, making it easier for him to know the safest route to take, and he was able to leave the village, unseen, till he made it to where the rest of his henchmen waited for him, and a look of relief washed over their faces at the sight of their boss returning safely.

"You’re back, how is Maurice doing? Is he starting to get better?" One of his henchmen asked as he took off his mask, and Caddel only nodded before saying. "He will be fine, the money was enough to commence his treatment. He should be awake soon, and when he does, we’ll get him to join our crew. We’ll need more skilled men if we’re going to face those vampires on our own, and we need to come up with a bigger plan, a better one if we have any chance of assassinating the big bad wolf."

"Yes Boss!" The six henchmen chorused before discarding to continue what they were doing. One of them, who was named Macho, walked up to Caddel and asked. "What about the maidens? They must have returned to the Palace and delivered the news to the crowned Prince. I do not think it is safe for the three maidens to wander about, I feel our lives will be threatened if we do not find them and do something about them."

"We have no use of them." Caddel responded before taking off his jacket and going into the Chalet. He dropped it across the wooden table and took a seat on the wooden chair that creaked under his weight. "They do not seem to recognize us at all, which is a good thing. If I have been exposed or not, I can’t tell. I heard the vampire Lord is quite dexterous - who knows if he’s already aware of my schemes in the Palace, and it would be fatal to fall into his trap." Caddel cryptically noted, seriously contemplating on the gambling house that had been confiscated, and he was well acquainted with the royal Fletcher that always went there to gamble.

He had used the man’s predicament to get himself inside the Palace so he could end the vampire Lord and find the missing girls, but what he witnessed that night when he looked at the window..... the remembrance of it still gave him goosebumps as he was utterly disgusted.

"Boss." The voice of his henchman snapped him out of his pensive state, and Caddel exhaled wearily before bringing out the map and placing it on the table. "Somehow, we have to get into the royal Palace and make a confirmation concerning the missing girls. Going in while disguised as a Fletcher helped me with some information, and I don’t think the vampire Lord is in this alone, he must be working with someone, and if I eventually find out that the vampire Lord has a hand in their disappearance, I’m not going to spare the damned Prince!" He swore.

—----

The next day, the morning sun was already out on display as the Chevalier Palace quickly began their every day to day activities. With guests from Vesunard arriving soon, Lucy was sent to the Winged Palace as usual with a couple of servants to get the place prepared for the guests and their entourage.

Sitting on the bed in Lord Ivan’s chamber, Samantha gazed at the locket in her hand. Her thumb gently brushed the surface of the golden oval-shaped pendant, and she could remember there was a picture of them that used to be in it. Her brother had drawn a stick-like figure of them on a piece of paper and had kept it inside, but opening the locket, it was empty.

Was he still out there like Lucy had said?

Samantha didn’t know, but she knew if she kept her hopes up only to have it crushed again, she might not be able to recover from it for the third time. Unhooking the locket, Samantha wore it around her neck; she was going to keep it as a reminder of the good times she’s had with her brother, and she hoped he would find a place in his heart to forgive her for failing as a sister.

Letting out a soft depressing sigh, Samantha was already getting out of bed when she heard someone knock on the surface of the door, and she automatically froze. Worried that it might be the vampiress or the other princess, she chose to ask instead.

"Who’s there?"

"Samantha, are you in?" The familiar voice of the head maid coming from outside had Samantha breathing out in pure relief. Standing on her two feet, she hurried to the door and when she opened it, the smiling face of the head maid was presented before her.

"Miss Collette?"

"How are you? It is good to see you’re back." The head maid said in genuine relief, and Samantha smiled faintly, but her appreciation gleamed in her eyes.

"Are you here for Lord Ivan?"

"No, not at all." The head maid shook her head. "Actually, Queen Carina has asked of you, she wants you to come see her at the royal garden."

"Queen.... Carina?" Samantha almost stuttered, and she noticed the head maid didn’t bother to hide her own disbelief as she had been ordered to go fetch the human servant.

"What do you think she wants?"

"I should be asking you." The head maid said instead, "unfortunately I can’t help you with that answer. You have to hurry up and go meet her in the garden. Queen Carina is a difficult woman to please, so never look her in the face, and just politely agree to whatever she wants, I’m assuming she must have requested for an extra maid so don’t keep her waiting."

After informing Samantha, she turned to leave since she had other servants to instruct.

"What does she want?" Samantha could feel her heart starting to race again, but it was not in a good way.

Closing the door, she hurried to the mirror to have a quick look at herself, adjusting her lemon-green dress and tying her hair into a bun before stepping out of the room.

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