The Royal Quest

Chapter 15. Sweet Scent

After tiring himself from roaming around different places, hunting for the disastrous vampire who causes troubles and crimes against mortal beings, Massimo decided to take a break and climb up to a tall sycamore tree.

"I bet you missed this sight," Massimo muttered, staring at the bright moon while standing on a branch of the tree.

"This world feels so boring without you, Amaia." He sighed and closed his eyes.

Until a sudden cold night breeze brushed against his skin that also brought a familiar scent to the lonely vampire. His eyes instantly flicker while his nose continues sniffing as he is disturbed by the scent.

'This can't be. Impossible!' He thought confusingly with widened eyes.

However, his curiosity followed the scent. And just a few moments later, he already found where the smell was coming from.

"Amaia?" He was standing just a few meters away, just enough for him to see what was happening in the middle of the woods.

Massimo's heart suddenly skipped a beat after being hypnotized by his own thoughts, seeing a lady covered in blood while struggling to fight against the masked men that could be bandits that wandered around the forest to get some victims.

"No, she's not her." He finally realized and was about to leave, as he had no intention of interfering with any of the mortal's issues. For him, he has his own objective and that is having the satisfaction of getting rid of all harmful vampires while taking revenge for Amaia's death.

But the sweet scent of the blood seems to want his attention and keeps on bothering him, making him feel uneasy.

"Arrgh!" He growled annoyingly as he badly wanted to ignore it. Not until he suddenly heard rapid movements, striding towards the bloody lady.

"Vampires!" He groaned and without any hesitation he quickly moved, leaping from one tree to another.

*****

"Princess, take the horse and run!" Baron cried as he kept on swaying his sword to prevent the men getting closer to the lady.

"No, I'm not leaving you!" Dahlia refused, suppressing the pain from her wounded arm while protecting Jamie from the unknown attackers.

"Let's see how far your blade can resist, soldier. I'm afraid you will not have the luck to protect your princess anymore." The man said, chuckling wickedly.

But everyone suddenly stops when a loud rustling sound gets closer and closer in their direction.

"What was that?" The one asked, terrified.

And that gave Baron the chance to save the lady and the boy behind him.

"Ugh!!!" He nudged the enemies that were close to the princess and quickly helped them hop inside the wagon.

"Hold tightly!" He said and struck the beast hard to make it run fast.

"Princess, you are bleeding." Jamie utters with his shaky voice.

"I'm alright, don't worry." She said, showing her sweet smile.

"Don't let the princess get away!" They heard one of the men shout as they chased the wagon with their horses.

However, the rumbling noise from trees did not stop as well as if it was following them, until something suddenly jumped out from nowhere and attacked Sullivan's men one by one.

"Ahh!!! Monster!!!" They heard them cry.

"What was that!?" Dahlia began to feel worried, not about herself but about Baron and Jamie getting hurt because of her again.

"Baron, they're vampires!" She noticed as she held tight her silver blade, but the moment she turned her eyes to the man, she saw how the man was also attacked by one of the night creatures.

Baron accidentally let go of the horse as he fought the awful monster and fell from the wagon.

"Baron!" Dahlia screamed.

"Just go!" Baron yelled back but suddenly got alarmed when the vampire let go of him and ran after the wagon where Dahlia and Jamie were.

"No! Dahlia!"

But because Dahlia did not listen to Baron once again, she halted the horses. She gave Jamie her wooden blessed crucifix and the holy water she brought with her, as well as the small revolver with silver bullets in it to protect him before she got out of the wagon.

Dahlia's body quivers in fear as she is welcomed by grinning vampires, showing their sharp fangs while their eyes glow against the brightness of the moon.

"Look what we have here," the vampire wickedly uttered with a smirk, while staring at Dahlia hungrily.

"A beautiful young lady with her pouring sweet blood." He added, licking his lips.

"Don't you dare get any closer or I'll stab you with this." Dahlia warned them, trying hard not to sound fearful with her trembling hands.

"I wonder if your blood is as sweet as it smells." The other added, but suddenly interrupted when Baron came running in their direction.

"Hey, you monsters! Stay away from her!!!" He loudly growled and started fighting with the vampires.

"Urgh!! Stupid mortals!" The one cursed when Baron got him with his blade.

However, while Baron was occupied with the other vampire, he didn't notice one had sneaked out and was already charging towards the princess.

Dahlia saw how the vampire skipped forward in her direction and took a deep breath, preparing herself to fight. But her eyes widened in shock when she witnessed how the monster got beheaded in front of her by another monster with golden flared eyes.

"You-" She was about to say something but the vampire immediately tossed her on his shoulder and took her away.

"Dahlia!"

"Princess!"

Baron and Jamie cried when the vampire suddenly took the lady away.

*****

"Put me down!" Dahlia hardly struggled to get off, but she had no match with the strength of the vampire holding around her waist.

"Baron!!!" Dahlia loudly yelled with all her might, hoping that the soldier would rescue her.

She watches around her to see where the vampire is taking her as they trail in the forest, but it is hard for her to observe the surroundings as they are moving rapidly like she is entering a portal and everything is blurred in front of her eyes because of their rapid pace.

"They are still after us." She suddenly heard the vampire utter.

"I thought I had lost them already," he added.

While Dahlia was too confused to understand what he meant and she already felt dizzy for some reason as her eyes were about to close.

Massimo felt Dahlia's body suddenly drop and stop from struggling. He stops from running and puts Dahlia down, leaning her back against a giant tree trunk.

'She passed out.' He thought as he finally had a better look at the lady, while he felt the sudden throbbing of his heart become unusual, just like how it beats when Amaia is around him.

'Why do you have the same scent? Who are you?' He added, confused, but the intense scent of the blood interrupted his thoughts again, remembering the current situation they were in.

He roamed his eyes to know where she was hurt and realized that her blood was dripping from her wound in the arm and that gave the other vampires a trail to follow them.

And so, Massimo ripped the hem of his cloak and wrapped the piece of fabric around her arm to stop the blood. Once done, he scoops the lady in his arms and begins to take her away far from the other vampires who crave her sweet blood.

"Wake up." Massimo mumbled, while gently shaking Dahlia when they arrived at the river.

"Hmm…" but the princess only whimpered in his arms and that brought memories back to the vampire.

Memories of when he used to carry Amaia to their room every time she fell asleep in his study while reading books. He sighed and looked down at the lady in his arms, seeing how she looked comfortable snuggling closer to his body.

"You are not Amaia." He reminded himself and looked ahead of the river where he planned to dip the lady's body to get rid of the smell of her blood.

Slowly he got down and put Dahlia's feet in the water but when he did, Dahlia woke up feeling so terrified, as she pushed the man hard, causing him to drop the lady in the water.

"Ahh!!!" She shrieked and glared at the man.

"You! How dare you!? Are you planning to drown me!?" She angrily confronted the man who was now standing in front of her.

"No, I just want to wash off the blood in your body." Massimo explained, calmly.

"I tried waking you up earlier but you have no response." He added.

"Are you out of your mind!?" Dahlia retorted but winced in pain when her wound suddenly throbbed.

"Just get in the water already so they won't be able to follow you because the water could conceal your scent." Massimo explained.

"What are you talking about?" Dahlia asked with furrowed eyebrows, holding her bloody arm until she realized and remembered what had happened earlier.

"You, you killed that monster." She said, looking up to Massimo before she jerked her head around, looking for Baron and Jamie.

"Where are they? Where is Baron? A-and Jamie?" She asked anxiously.

"I don't know, just get in the water." Massimo insisted again, as he could still smell her scent in the air.

"No, I need to go back." Dahlia stepped out of the water.

"You can't, there are still vampires out there trying to find your scent. If you keep on being hard and they finally locate you, I'm afraid I won't be able to save you and worse, you will not be seeing your friends again."

"Save me? Are you mad? But you are one of them. What makes you think that I would believe you?" Dahlia countered, but Massimo only scoffed in annoyance before he suddenly vanished in front of her.

Dahlia's eyes widened with his sudden disappearance and panic stunned her.

"Did. Did he just leave me?" She mumbled, looking around her with the gusts of wind whooshing through the branches of trees and streaming water giving her chills of fear.

She looked at her side and realized that her arm was soaked with blood.

'What scent is he talking about? But he is one of them, is he really saving me or is this just a setup and he will make me his breakfast later?" She tries hard to comprehend what is happening until her headaches with so much tension.

She stared at the water and thought of Baron and Jamie.

'There's nothing wrong with dipping my body in the cold water if he really is telling the truth, but if my instincts failed me again then this will be another consequence of my awry decisions." She told herself and took a deep breath before she finally stepped into the deeper part of the river.

"Cold." Dahlia muttered with her trembling voice and shaky lips.

"It wasn't hard sometimes to follow someone else's orders, wasn't it? Princess?" Suddenly the vampire's voice occurs.

Dahlia was surprised and turned to see the vampire crouching beside the riverbank.

"You know me?" Dahlia inquired.

"Your friend said so."

"Ba-Baron? Where are they now?" Dahlia worriedly exclaimed and was about to walk out of the water.

"You can't get out yet. You have to make sure that your wound is cleaned up properly, wash all the bloodstains away." Massimo strictly told her.

"Don't worry about your friends, they're fine. They will probably arrive here at sunrise," he announced while watching the lady in the water.

"How do you know that?" Dahlia asked again.

"Just trust me."

Dahlia sighed again and asked,

"And how long should I stay here?"

"As long as there is no ray of sunlight around, you have to stay there."

"Wha-what!?"

"Yes, because the water will serve as your protection from the strong senses of vampires," he explained.

"So you have to withstand the cold for the meantime and we can treat your wound later," Massimo added.

"Easy for you to say." Dahlia retorted bluntly as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Can't you see!? I barely move my arms and I'm freezing!" She angrily cried, sharply staring at the vampire.

"It wasn't my fault if you were hurt, so don't yell at me, lady. Instead, I believe you should be thanking me for saving your life. If I didn't come, then maybe by now they are feasting on your blood already."

But, instead of saying her gratitude to her saviour, Dahlia covers her face with both hands and suddenly whimpers.

"I can't forgive myself if something happened to Baron and Jamie." She mumbled between her sobs.

"This is all my fault, I dragged them into danger." She added between her hiccups.