The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 635. An Idiot

Chapter 635: 635. An Idiot

"You chased it off," Jael said and sat upright. It took everything he had as he was still bleeding profusely from where the Paler had bitten him on his leg and arm. There were claw marks across his chest. His clothes ripped and the cuts were bleeding but not as badly as the wound on his arm and leg. He looked paler than ever.

He coughed and spat out blood; even breathing was a pain. He grabbed his side; the pain emanating from there was even more excruciating. He just wanted to lay back and go to sleep but he knew better. The way he was bleeding, he would be lucky to make it to the castle in time.

"No, I didn’t," Louis said as he stopped in front of Jael and looked up to the sky. "Dawn," he whispered.

Jael groaned and stood to his feet. "We should get back."

"You look a mess," Louis commented. "You’re not going to make it in that state."

"Don’t be ridiculous," Jael said and took a step forward. His feet felt heavy and it took a lot to not tumble forward.

"We have ten minutes till the sun is fully exposed and that’s pushing it. The castle is at least twice that many minutes away and that’s at full speed. You can barely move at the speed of a sloth," Louis scolded.

"You’re not helping. Since we don’t have much longer, shouldn’t we be on our way?"

"You’ll be dead from bleeding out before the sun gets you. Fuck! Are you an idiot? Why didn’t you just run away? Didn’t you see the size of that thing? We don’t see a lot of large Palers, and the first time you see one alone, your first thought is to fight it. You’re an idiot!" Louis repeated.

Louis’s nose was still bruised, and there was a bandage across it. This made his voice sound a little off, as not much air could go through his nostrils.

"If you have enough energy to scold me," Jael said as he held his side, "you can use it to figure out a way for us to get to the castle faster."

Jael winced in pain. Speaking took effort: apart from the ripped flesh in his chest, leg, and arm, he also had some broken ribs from being smacked around. He had been tossed into the trees several times.

The monster didn’t hold back. He had been barely hanging on when Louis arrived and somehow managed to chase off the Paler, but apparently, he didn’t. Something else that was an enemy to both of them was fast approaching.

"How many broken ribs?" Louis asked as he tossed his weapon to the floor.

"I don’t know, maybe four," he chuckled.

"You’d better suck in the pain." Louis stopped in front of him where he was staggering and lifted him over his shoulders.

Jael swore as Louis’s shoulder dug into his ribs, but even he knew better than to say anything in this situation. He messed up big time and he couldn’t argue.

"If I don’t find my ax the next time I come back here, you’d better make me a new one."

"As you like. How did you know where to find me?" Jael asked.

Louis adjusted Jael on his shoulder as he prepared to head back to the castle, and Jael felt air kick out of his lungs. He bit into his lip to suppress the pain. It didn’t help that his broken ribs were resting directly on Louis’s shoulder blade, but he couldn’t complain.

"Are you really asking that?" Louis asked as he set off.

"I should rephrase that. How did you know to come look for me?"

"I didn’t. I was going to leave you out here on your own, but when you hadn’t returned an hour after I saw you leaving the castle, I decided to come see what was up. I didn’t think anything was wrong, so I didn’t hurry. I wish I did."

"You saw me leave?" Jael asked.

"You’re not exactly very good at sneaking out. Danag was distracted with the squad, so I doubted he noticed. I didn’t say anything before leaving. I’m sure they are worried sick."

"Yeah," Jael said absentmindedly. Dinner was definitely over by now. Usually, he would have been on the rooftop with Mauve, preparing to leave her in the hands of Jean. He frowned as he realized the order was about to change. Today, she would be outside the castle and not just on the rooftop.

He wondered what she thought had happened. He definitely didn’t want to see her in this state, but he couldn’t exactly hide it from her. Jael groaned in pain at this. He should concentrate on trying to get home without getting scorched by the sun; that was the most important thing right now.

---

Mauve stood in front of the castle doors, pacing on top of the stairs. She folded her arms as she walked from one end to the other. Mill was right next to her, following her around as she tried to convince her to get back into the castle, but Mauve was having none of that.

"Please go into the castle, Mauve. Staying out here isn’t going to help. Palers could still be roaming," Mill tried again.

Mauve shot her a look. She was too angry to fully grasp the impending horror. More like she was doing her best to keep it at bay and was just concentrating on her anger. She knew that if she let some other thought creep in, it would break her.

She didn’t even reach the dining hall. She doubted she even had any appetite. From the moment Mill had told her everything she knew, she had been out here waiting for him to come back and give her a proper explanation. He’d better have a good one. Where was he?

"It’s almost sunrise, Mill," she managed to say. "Even Palers know better. I’d rather stay here; being inside would just make me feel horrible. The sun is coming up. If anyone should go in, it should be you. I’ll be fine."

"I can’t leave you here," Mill suddenly said.

"You’ll have to," Mauve said adamantly. "You have a few more minutes at most. You can be right behind the doors, but it is unsafe for you to remain out here. I will wait."

The only thing she knew so far was that his personal guards had gone out to look for him. She had tried to get ahold of Louis before stepping out, but she had quickly discovered that he too wasn’t in the castle.

She was praying that he was where Jael was. He might not be able to stop Jael from doing anything stupid, but his presence would definitely be a huge help. She knew she would be able to relax a little, even if they were both attacked by Palers. Two of them could handle it better than just Jael alone.

Mauve winced, avoiding the thought she had been dreading since realizing he wasn’t coming back. She forced it out and held onto her anger; it was the only reason she wasn’t bursting into tears. There was no reason to despair; Jael had survived a severed arm, or so she had heard. Whatever this was, she was sure he would be fine.

As the sky brightened and the first ray of sunlight passed through, there was still no sign of his personal guards, Louis, or Jael. Mauve ground her teeth and stopped pacing as her heart sank.

"Someone is coming," Mill suddenly announced.

Mauve brought her hand to her lips as she stared hard. Someone soon appeared on the path, slowing down as they got closer to the front of the castle. It wasn’t who Mauve wanted to see.

Erick gave them a stern glance as he walked closer to them. His stern gaze turned to horror as Mauve flew down the stairs to him. "Where is he?" Mauve asked before she got close enough.

Erick stood, rooted to his feet. He glanced away. "I don’t know. I just returned because sunrise is practically here. Erick and Danag said they would continue searching."

Mauve bit her tongue until she tasted blood. It was either that or she would say something she shouldn’t; Erick didn’t do anything wrong. This was the right approach—coming back to the castle before he got hurt. Jael was the one who had acted foolishly.

"Okay, thank you for going to search for him," she mumbled.

"You shouldn’t thank me," Erick said and walked past her. "You should go inside," he said to Mill. "Any second now and you will start to burn."

"You should listen to him, Mill," Mauve said without looking back.

"I can’t leave you out here," Mill mumbled.

Mauve slowly turned around. "I won’t leave this place, and as soon as something is off, I will run into the castle immediately. I promise." She didn’t want to have to worry about Mill.