The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 134: Unknown Compatriot

Chapter 134: Unknown Compatriot

"Elian?" Cassian’s brow arched. "You mean agent red?"

"Agent what now?" Inna blinked in bafflement, and Cassian used his hand to make a gesture at the top of his head. "The guy with red, orange hair.... isn’t he the one you’re referring to?"

"His name is Elian."

"I really don’t care about his name." The young lad nonchalantly shrugged to convey his disinterest, and Inna wasn’t ready to start off an argument on how he throws nicknames instead of figuring out politely what their actual name is.

"Okay, If you’re not concerned about his name or what background he comes from, why let him stay here with us? Didn’t you ever consider the idea that you might be inviting trouble?" Inna lowered her voice and moved closer to whisper. "There’s just something off with his presence, and he reeks trouble to me. During the celebration of you and Maddie’s wedding, I saw him heading towards uncle William’s abandoned study like he knew exactly where it lies, but he claimed he got lost which I still believe is a partial lie."

"Yeah.....I saw him that night." Cassian responded with his expression looking subtle, "we had a brief conversation at the balcony, he even gave me warnings regarding Catherine cause he witnessed our little beef at the dining. I found him creepy from the start, but I never saw him after that day till he showed up at the graveyard where I went to find Maddie, and then he offered to help me if I let him stay with us, a request I found strange cause he doesn’t look homeless."

"And you readily agreed??"

"I had no choice." Cassian turned around, keeping the knife back in the drawer. "Finding Maddie was all that mattered to me at that point." Closing the drawer, Cassian recalled the star-shaped tattoo he noticed at the back of Elian’s neck that night, and his brows knitted dubiously when he remembered Geoffrey’s advice regarding the mark.

If Agent red bears the star mark, he should be more acquainted with Elijah and the rest of the vampires, should he not?

"Interesting conversation, mind if I join?" At the sound of another voice reverberating coolly in the kitchen, Inna and Cassian whipped their heads to the kitchen entryway, and an aristocratic figure stood there, his sharp green eyes moving to the two people that stood at the counter.

He stepped in, his eyes lingering on Inna for a fleeting moment before diverting to the young lad who handed his sister the milk on a tray. "Get the berries and take this to Maddie."

"But I don’t..."

"Go." He said firmly, and Inna’s face displayed her discontent as she was also interested in hearing what Elian had to say. Meeting Elian’s incomprehensible gaze for less than four seconds, she frantically looked away and stepped out of the kitchen with the tray.

A tiny smile curved the corner of Elian’s lips as he watched her leave through the corner of his eyes, but the strange smile that was barely noticeable faded when he met Cassian’s impassive gaze.

"Agent red."

"Elian will do, thank you."

"You should have gotten the name redwood." He tsked as his gaze shifted to Elian’s eye-catching red-orange hair. "Speaking of which, mind telling me what I owe you for the sudden visit today?"

"Elaborate."

"You’re one of Elijah’s minions." Cassian went straight to the point, not hiding his suspicions. "You have the star carved at the back of your neck which leaves me to this, did he send you over to spy on me so I wouldn’t go further with the case? Is he using you to monitor my every move?"

"I’m not one of Elijah’s minions, we work differently, never associate me with his kind." Answered Elian as he opened the drawer, picking out the sharp glistening kitchen knife Cassian had shoved in earlier. His displeased reaction already proved one thing to Cassian, and that was the fact that he definitely knows Elijah, but clearly not on good terms.

"How do you work differently?"

"The thing is, I’m not here to ruin you, but I’m actually here to help you." He finally revealed. "I’m here on someone’s request, and that someone made it clear that you’ll need an extra hand in solving the case since Elijah will definitely be watching you closely. Believe me when I say he has eyes everywhere, I know him better than you think." And Elian stabbed the sharp mouth of the knife into the countertop, letting it penetrate to the middle and leaving the knife stuck there.

"Elijah hasn’t killed you yet cause he finds you fascinating." Elian told him. "He prefers to torture such people before finally getting rid of them, and being by his side for many years, no one can tell you what he’s capable of except me."

"He killed Geoffrey."

"Geoffrey had it coming." Elian firmly said, and it was the exact same thing Elijah said that night, making Cas grow alarmed, and he continued. "Not only Geoffrey, a lot of people have died in the hands of Elijah, vampires who wear red-cloaks are forever under him, and even they aren’t shown any mercy once his anger is peaked."

Hearing this, Cassian recalled the time when Elijah beheaded a vampire that dark night, and how he threw the body into the fire that had set Geoffrey’s house ablaze.

"He must be intrigued by your audacity to still continue with the case even when he told you not to, but are you ready to risk a lot of lives to solve this case? No one out there except you knows the danger it poses on those you care about, you’re a vampire yourself, you should be aware of how brutal Elijah can be."

"Half-vampire." Cassian corrected, and Elian shook his head. "There really isn’t much of a difference. You have human blood running through your veins, and your heart isn’t fully mutated. Apart from this, there’s nothing else, you’re still a vampire whether you choose to accept it or not."

"Making me one won’t stop me from finding out where those missing people are, you can see Ghosts?"

"All supernaturals can, our visions are different from humans entirely." He sighed. "As for the missing people, forget it cause you won’t find them, even if you do, they won’t be the same people who lived their lives before they went missing. Things have happened. Focus on stopping it instead, by that I mean, focus on getting rid of Elijah first."

He suddenly smirked while pulling out the blade from the counter. "And I’ll help you get ready."

As they continued on their conversation, Inna who had hid herself behind the side of the kitchen entrance, eavesdropping on what Elian had to say, could feel her eyes widen momentarily as a sudden realization dawned on her.

Quietly leaving where she had hidden, Inna made her way through the stairs and into her room that was at the right passage of the corridor. Opening her door, she headed for her desk that had papers and writing materials scattered all over, some crumpled and a few stained with ink that she had accidentally poured on it.

"Where is it?" She whispered underneath her breath as she fumbled through the papers, and when she picked a particular brown paper, there were a few words scribbled down on it with elegant calligraphy that made it appealing to read.

This was the mysterious letter she received from an unknown compatriot, and for some reason, she was drawn to read the letter again.

"Breathe..." she began in a low tone. "Think of a solution, and never let your worries control you. If you need help, let it depend on the people you’re talking about helping, and the wonderful part of the mystery is that we’re all so incredibly selfish."

No matter how many times Inna reads and re-reads, she couldn’t grasp the meaning of the content that was written to her by the unknown stranger, but then why was she having a feeling that her new pen friend was indirectly talking about Elian?