The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 229: Always Watching

Chapter 229: Always Watching

Back in Monica’s room, Osvaldo still had Monica in his arms as he tried to calm the crying girl down. Presently, Madeline had joined them after Cassian confirmed it was safe enough to let her in, and from Monica’s anguished look, Madeline could feel her heart break on the inside.

"Osvaldo..."

"Shhhh.... Settle your mind first." He consoled Monica in a soft tone while stroking her hair lightly, "does it hurt anywhere else?"

"Not as much as it did earlier." She gently pulled away from his embrace after responding, feeling quite ashamed with herself that they had seen what she had become.

She thought she could persevere through the consequences, but she completely guessed it wrong.

"Osvaldo, you’re so heartless, that thing you used on me...."

"If I took pity on you I would be endangering your life. It was a tough decision." He patted her head apologetically, unable to hide the fact that he nearly stopped when she kept crying out in pain.

"That spell you made, was it able to get the ghost Fiend out of her?" Cassian switched the topic, knowing that this was way more important than the conversation they were having, and to both him and Madeline’s dismay, Osvaldo shook his head with a weary sigh.

"It’s not out yet." Taking hold of Monica’s arm, he showed them the tiny threads of black vein that disappeared under the short sleeve of her shirt, and he shook his head at the painful sight, feeling a bit annoyed.

"The Fiend is weak, that makes Monica’s spirit more dominant than the Fiends for the meantime. Once it recovers its strength, it will attack again." He said, and Monica’s glossy eyes widened in alarm, but Osvaldo gave her head another reassuring pat.

"Nothing will happen to you, we’ll try to stop it before that happens?" Even though he wasn’t convinced by his own words, he wouldn’t want to see Monica break down because of what happened.

"Why can’t it be gotten rid of?" Madeline asked worriedly, stepping forward, and she heard him say.

"It would have gone if the Fiend wasn’t already accustomed to her body. By that I mean, it has been nurturing itself inside Monica for a long time now, enough to know how her body and spiritual roots work"

He glanced at Monica who lowered her head guiltily, realizing the terrible mistake she had made by keeping it away from Osvaldo.

"Why didn’t you tell me about this when it entered you?" Osvaldo questioned her softly, but his gaze on her was a contrast to his tone "if Napoleon gets to hear about this, you’ll be in big trouble from keeping it away from all of us."

"I’m sorry, sorry to everyone." She quickly apologized to the three of them, her regret laced in her words. "I wanted to tell you but... but I got scared. I thought I would get killed just like everyone if Napoleon or you ever found out about it, I was confused and acted out of fear."

Her eyes were once again filled to the brim with tears, and it was Madeline who sat beside her on the bed, pulling Monica close and offering her the hug she desperately needed.

"I’m sorry for trying to hurt you." Monica apologized, but Madeline made her look into her eyes, wanting her to see that she carried no hate.

"You didn’t try to hurt me, the Fiend inside of you did. You don’t have to worry too much about it, okay? Cas, Osvaldo, Napoleon and I will figure out a way to get you out of this."

"I... I won’t die?"

"You won’t, I promise."

Hearing this, Monica hugged Madeline once again, feeling the weight in her heart vanishing at the thought of knowing there were people here for her.

"That man.." Madeline pulled back, making Monica look at her. "Is he the one responsible for doing this to you?"

At her question, Monica nodded her head truthfully, refusing to keep anything else from them. "Yes, he was the one."

Rising from her bed, she began to tell them what exactly happened on that day, remembering it as though it was just yesterday when it happened.

"When he abducted me, he chanted a very strange spell that I wasn’t familiar with. I assumed he was a vampire who knew how to cast spells but before I could react or use my powers, something sharp went through me and I passed out at the scene. When I woke up, he made me get on the carriage and warned me not to say anything, that’s when I met Madeline with another young lady."

She turned to look at them, "somehow, I succeeded in handing the little note of help to Madeline on the carriage, and it’s because of her that I was able to return back to White bridge, away from that strange man."

"Did you say Vampire who can cast spells?" Osvaldo questioned Monica who nodded. "Yes, I’m sure what he chanted was a spell, a conjuring spell."

"That wasn’t any Vampire." Osvaldo corrected Monica, his face deepening into worry. "What abducted you wasn’t an ordinary Vampire, it was....."

"The Mastermind." Cassian completed after putting two to two together, his face paled at the image of Madeline coming in contact with the Mastermind without realizing it.

He looked at Madeline whose face had turned ghostly pale at the thought of it.

"He must have used someone’s body to hide his true form." Osvaldo also rose to his feet. "What happened when you went back to get Monica?" He asked Madeline who was still yet to recover from her shock.

"After reading the note, I... I came down from the carriage to get Monica." Madeline could still picture the strange man with a hat. "He was leading Monica into the quietest place in the upper East quarters, and I did what any insane person would do."

"What?"

"I gained his attention, but after he saw me coming, he just turned and left." Now that Madeline was starting to think about it, nothing felt right.

"He just walked away?"

"Yes, and he left Monica alone."

"Did you see his face, the body it was using?" Cassian asked Madeline, but unfortunately, she shook her head in response to his answer.

"The hat he wore practically overshadowed his face."

"Doesn’t matter if you saw it." Osvaldo suddenly added, "it changes the body of humans like one would change clothes, it doesn’t bond with a particular body unless that body is willing to trade itself for something in return, which I doubt would be that easy."

"So what do we do? If we can’t even trace this stupid thing then how do we find it?"

"You don’t seem to understand, it’s not hiding." Osvaldo explained. "It’s basically plotting. You’re not messing with a common Fiend or Vampire. I bet it’s already aware of the conversation we’re having right now, it knows the both of you are in Whitebridge, and it knows your mission for coming here. Its absence is an even bigger threat, don’t be ignorant."

Madeline could feel goosebumps arise on her skin the more Osvaldo spoke about this Ekiminus or whatever he calls it. One creature is responsible for the death of so many people, kidnaps them, and uses their soul for its wicked purpose. The humans it finds worthy, it turns them into pure-blooded Vampires like Elijah.

Her parents - it caused the accident and killed her parents that night. It was the one hiding behind the shadows those years ago, and it was probably the one hiding in the shadows when she and Cassian planned on leaving the upper East quarters with Klaus’s Carriage they had stolen.

It was keeping a close eye on her, yet it never made a move on her, despite coming in contact with her.

Clearly, they were messing with something- something more dangerous and way smarter than all of them. The fact it could listen to their conversation without being here.....

But how is that possible?? Listening without being here? Madeline wondered to herself, knowing there was another meaning to Osvaldo’s words.

Instinctively, Madeline’s gaze shifted to the window. Her mind was no longer on the conversation they were having as her own thoughts had diverted elsewhere. Like a silent calling, Madeline’s feet moved towards the window in Monica’s room.

Madeline couldn’t grasp the unsettling feeling that stirred in her stomach. There was a whisper, an ominous whisper coming from outside the window, and before she knew it, she was standing close to the draped curtains.

The curtains were closed, and although her fingers were trembling, she forced herself to spread them apart, revealing the outside view to her gaze.

Lowering her gaze, what she saw was a familiar figure standing outside the palatial building, hands in his pocket.

He smirked her way, his lips curving up as his red eyes met her dark orbs, and at the sight of him, her face paled, and panic seized in.

"J.... Jeremy??"