NIGHTS OF HALLOW
Chapter 94: Message Passed Through

Chapter 94: Message Passed Through

The time of noon slowly moved towards the time of evening with the snow still falling in the kingdom of Vamlone as it carried a certain eerie and dreadful feeling in one of the mansions in Cuckooland.

One can hear the quietness of the mansion from afar as the occupants recorded the death of so many men in one day.

John with a few surviving men in the mansion of their master held a gobsmacked and fearful expression at the omen that happened.

More than being shocked because of the dead men, they were scared of what their master would do once he got to know about it.

And just as they were thinking, they heard the flapping of wings outside the mansion, and from the open curtains, they saw their master land gracefully on the ground.

His bat-like wings now slowly flapped behind his back before he retracted his wings and made his way inside the mansion. His long hood coat draped over his body and his black walking stick clicked sharply on the marble floor accompanied by the sound of his shoes.

Under the hood covering his head and some parts of his face, a deep dangerous frown marred his face and his nose flared up in rage as he perceived the heavy stench of blood and death in the mansion.

Immediately he stepped into the sitting room where John and a few surviving men and the dead bodies were, without being told, John and the men were quick to fall to the floor with their heads bowed deeply and touching the ground.

"M...master," John called. His voice trembling along with his body.

"I need an explanation, John." The man’s voice thundered in the quiet sitting room making the already scared men more petrified.

John nervously gulped. His hands became clammy on the ground he placed them. He shouldn’t be this scared. He was behaving like a woman. But the man he knelt before accepted no mistake in his missions.

And this time, not only did he fail to accomplish the mission he was sent to, he was the reason behind the havoc that happened in his master’s mansion.

What he prayed, for now, was to stay alive even if he was left with broken arms and legs.

"Master, please forgive me and my grave mistake." John beseeched with his head still pressing on the floor.

Their master did not respond. His index finger on his walking stick tapped according to the ticking sound of the second hand of the wall clock hung on the wall in the sitting room before he would unleash his rage on the souls of John and his colleagues.

Seeing his master not respond, John didn’t know if it was a good sign of his master’s forgiveness or if the silence meant a great punishment for them.

John took a little courage to raise his head a little but it was still deeply and respectfully bowed at his master.

He let out a shaky breath and began to explain why the state of the mansion was as it was.

"Master, I went to the village of Woodbridge as you ordered me to bring the Lady to you and everything was going as planned until a man who came from the red-haired King came to me with Clayton and..."

"...I didn’t know they had another plan when they suddenly released him."

"I took Clayton with me because he looked as if he needed immediate attention and I helped him by giving him blood. B...but it turned him rogue which I don’t know the cause of it."

"Before I could control him, he went deranged and went on a killing spree in t...the mansion." John’s voice quivered as he spoke, fear evident in every word that left his mouth.

He couldn’t wrap his head around what and how everything turned out this way in a few hours since he returned from the village of Woodbridge after an unsuccessful mission of capturing the lady which he was dreadful of what his master will do and now this happened.

His master’s wrath will soon be unleashed on him.

He can vividly remember when he arrived in the mansion the night before with a weak Clayton who couldn’t stand on his own.

Trying to save him, he had brought him a human who he ended up killing in the process of feeding and this had confirmed to him that Clayton was deprived of blood by the red-haired King who abducted him.

A few hours later, after the morning of the following day which was today, he had gone to Clayton thinking he was stable after drinking that amount of blood last night.

What he had not been expecting was Clayton suddenly springing from the bed and attacking one of the men who were behind him.

Without wasting a second, Clayton had torn the head of the man from his neck and he rushed outside the room after the first kill, killing more men.

Anyone who tried to stop or hold him down, he tore apart. Clayton looked three times stronger than he was before with his enlarged fangs bared at them.

His fast reflex, sharp eyesight, and hearing ability of Clayton seemed to be more heightened in the way he was acting to let John know that it was not the pills of his master that was at work that made Clayton this strong.

It was then it occurred to him that Clayton had been given another substance. He had to admit, his master’s pills were not this powerful.

With the help of other men in the mansion who were all vampires, John was able to hold Clayton down before ending his life after trying so many times.

Every part of the mansion was painted red with blood. It was as if there was a blood bath in the mansion, which indeed happened.

John and the remaining men who were alive stayed in the sitting room where most of the killing was done and it left a heavy stench of blood and death surrounding and wafting from the dead bodies.

They had been in this position till their master who was on a day trip outside the town arrived and here they were shivering and waiting for the punishment of their Master’s wrath.

Several minutes passed in silence that followed after John’s explanation before their master finally spoke.

"Did you bring the Lady?" These were the first words that left the man’s lips that had darkened because of the smoke from the pipe he smoked.

The calm voice of their master left an unnerving and heavy feeling in their hearts.

It was better he barked at them like they were used to than to speak in such a low and frightening tone. And not to add, his first question was not about the dead men, it was about the mission he sent him which was the most important to him at the moment.

Having not completed the mission, John knew he was doomed.

"No, master. I was not able to..." Before John could finish his sentence, he saw himself fly to the nearest wall in the sitting room. His body crashed heavily against the wall and the impact made him bounce back and was met with the golden statue of a bull that was hard as a rock.

The sound of the crash and the sound of breaking bones echoed in the silent sitting room as John’s body fell limply to the floor.

He coughed blood out of his mouth as he struggled to raise his body and continued to kneel on the floor with his throbbing head bowed.

The other men even though they were not the ones to receive the hit felt every impact of John’s body on the wall and the statue hit hard in their scared hearts.

"Stupid!" Their master spat with gritted teeth.

"Unless bunch of fools." He continued to curse. "You are never good at anything, John. I might as well make you join these dead fools too." As he spoke, he walked towards the trembling John with his walking stick tapping terror into his already wounded body.

He said, "I have no use for useless people who can never accomplish the simplest of my missions."

"M... master, please forgive me this one last t...time," John pleaded with blood dripping from his mouth.

"I don’t give a second chance, John." The man deadpanned and shook his head disapprovingly.

He raised his walking stick to hit John with its sharp tips he made to come out by pressing on the head of the walking stick, and this had John’s heart shudder in fear. The tips of his master’s stick were dipped in poison and it killed any being instantly.

His end has finally come. It was time he paid for his sins. John tried to put on a brave face as he accepted his fate.

The man lowered his hand with the walking stick, but instead of hitting John, it landed and pierced the back of one of the men in the room, and he dropped dead on the floor.

"I can’t you kill, John. Not now at least. So any time you fail any of my missions, I’ll kill one of your brothers and colleagues."

"You know what to do to keep them alive from now on. Or you can consider yourself responsible for their deaths."

The man retracted his walking stick from the dead man and used it to raise John’s bloody face. "Am I understood, John?"

"Y... yes, master." John vigorously shook his head in obligation to his master’s words.

"Good," The man said and John watched as he walked away from the room.

The man entered his study after leaving the sitting room. He sat on his seat and took out a quill and a piece of paper and scribbled some words on it.

A whistle from his lips had a Raven bird fly and perch on the window pane. He folded the paper and attached it to the bird’s leg. He whispered some words to it and the bird flew away to deliver his message.

In the castle, on one of the balconies of the highest floor of the castle building stood the king who was overlooking the vast land. A glass of blood in his hand he sipped from time to time.

He had left Perdita to take care of her brother after speaking with her and had come to process things in his quiet time when he saw a bird fly towards him and landed on the rail of the balcony.

He took the paper and unfolded it to read its content. And it read, ’I got your message.’ At the end of the paper was a boldly written letter V representing the first letter of the sender’s name.

A wicked smile stretched on the lips of Sthena when he finished reading the message. His dark red eyes twinkled with an evil glint and he muttered, "Sure you did, Vetis Leander."