17. Having Help (2/2)

chaos hunter pulled her whip out, the tip trailing on the ground. she wasn't convinced yet. "speak sense." she didn't bother with a threat. threats meant nothing without the ability to back them up.

"he is a vampire. i'm certain you know this already. but he was turned by another and lives under her thrall. what he does isn't what he'd choose to do if he were free-willed." fujiwara spoke each word with a pain that came directly from his heart. "my friends and i wish to help him get free, but there are not enough of us. we'd like you to help, you and anyone else you can gather from here."

she rolled her eyes at that. "there's no one here who will help. they all think he's so perfect that he can't possibly hurt anyone."

the corner of his mouth quirked upward. "they don't know him as well as they think they do. but will you help?"

chaos hunter stared down at him. "what is it that you want of me? and what is it that you are?" a childhood friend would have to be more than just a friend to want to help a vampire, in her opinion.

again he smiled. "a shadow mage. but we can discuss more of what we need to do on the way to the mansion." he turned and headed into the shadows, not looking back. "come along."

chaos hunter stared after him before she followed. she didn't like what was going on here at all. vampires, shadow mages. what was next? what could possibly be next?

"did you hear that?" ojama yellow stopped and looked around. "i thought i heard something."

green and black looked at each other, then at their younger

other. "what is it?"

"i don't know. it was just something." he hovered onward, stalk-eyes twitching violently as he peered around a door frame. finding their way around in this place was almost impossible and all three were convinced they'd gotten lost at least twice, if not more. but they hadn't yet found anything that would be worth reporting back to their big

other manjoume, so they kept on going. none of them had any idea of how long they'd been searching, either. it didn't seem to matter so much if they could come back with useful information anyway.

all three froze the moment they could see what was going on through that door. what lay before them was a sumptuously decorated room, every inch of the walls hung with splendid tapestries, and a large four-poster bed in one corner, draped in satin sheets and with velvet curtains around it.

seated in the center of the room was a throne-like chair and in that chair sat a woman dressed in red. she held one of the mansion's servants in her grip, her long fingers keeping a firm hold, her head buried against her captive's neck.

the ojamas knew certain scents very well. the way lightning seared against stone. the aroma of a well cooked meal. but they were not used to the scent of blood or the reek of death, all of which filled this room.

stifling howls of horror, they fled as quickly as they could, followed by unearthly laughter.

to be continued

note: thank you for reading and i hope that you enjoyed the chapter. please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.