The Royal Quest

CHAPTER 38. Strange Woods

Massimo could still smell Dahlia's blood, certain that the lady was still around Northriver. He wanted to make amends with the lady, so he decided to do something to surprise her when she returned. 

Meanwhile, after changing the bandages on her hand, Dahlia already bids goodbye to the kind man.

"Wait, before you go, take this with you." The man handed her a bottle of holy water. 

"This could help to keep you safe on your journey to the woods." 

"Thank you so much for your kindness, sir."

"Jeremy." The man introduced himself.

"And my name is Dahlia."

The man smiled.

"Though I believe that the king is innocent. I still hope you can find the justice you are seeking for your people."

Dahlia just responded with a smile before she finally turned and jumped on the horse.

"Take care of Dahlia." Jeremy whispered to the horse and nodded to Dahlia, and the princess bravely started her journey to the north by herself.

Massimo was still occupied by his plan of surprising the princess and didn't even notice that her scent had vanished in the air. He went to a place in the Northriver where the flowers bloomed generously on the ground. Making sure he was perfectly covered with his thick cloak and, thanks to Dahlia's blood, he didn't have to worry too much about any burn marks on his skin later.

After feeling satisfied with the bouquet he made, he smiled and went back to the lodge, hoping that the lady had returned already. Unfortunately, loneliness welcomed him, he sighed and dropped his body on the couch with his head down.

'It's alright, you can still have the whole night with her.' He told himself and walked to the window, to watch the people of Northriver having fun preparing everything for the evening celebration.

He also notices the tons of livestock in the street which he believes they will deliver later to the dark woods as an offering for him.  He sighed and stepped back, pulling the hem of his top and smiled after seeing his skin fully healed already. Not a bit of a mark could be seen. And that is also when he suddenly felt terrified after realizing that the scent of the lady was no more.

"Dahlia?" He muttered, anxiously. 

He immediately went to where their wagon was and saw it was still there, even with the horses. He suddenly felt a headache and stumbled on his spot. Luckily, his hand immediately touched the wall to prevent him from falling down. And memories of how he lost Amaia flash back to his memories.

"No." He could feel his body shiver with so much frustration, like someone else wanting to take over his whole being. 

"Urghh!" Groaning as veins started to get visible on his neck and face while his golden eyes slowly turned to red. 

"No!" He tried hard to prevent his other side from coming out, afraid that something terrible might happen again, but everytime his mind diverted to Dahlia, he couldn't help but get furious.

The night of festivity started, loud music was scattered all around the town and lanterns were lightened. People were laughing, singing and dancing celebrating their peaceful evenings. Until, an unexpected guest arrived, making everyone halt in their spots while every eye turned to the king.

"Where is my princess?" He asked, standing in the middle of the crowd with his cold golden eyes staring at everyone, waiting for an answer.

"Is he-" he heard a man whisper.

"Yes, I am." He quickly interrupted, throwing a quick glance at the man.

"I gave everything I have left, Amaia used to serve you all. She helped you build this town stronger, sharing the knowledge she has, for you to survive the nights. But none of you even think about her safety, you just let her get through the woods back to Gorgax alone, confident that I can always protect her. But you are all wrong. I made mistakes and have weaknesses too. My power has its limits as well. I'm not God." He scolded everyone in the town.

"Your Highness, on behalf of all the people of Northriver and our ancestors, I apologize for the  negligence we have made. But I can assure you that you can count on us for whatever the reason of your sudden appearance." An old man spoke up.

"I'm looking for a young lady. Her name is Dahlia, she's been staying with me in the town for days already. However, she suddenly disappeared and I couldn't smell her blood nearby anymore, she was wearing a ruddy cloak-``Suddenly Massimo noticed Dahlia's scent occurred in the air, not that strong but certain that it was hers.

The people were dumbfounded when the king started to move from his spot. Everyone took a step aside to give the vampire a way to where he was about to go. Until Massimo halted behind a young man and quickly grabbed the pouch of shillings he was holding.

The man gasped and angrily turned, but when he saw that the one who took his pouch was a vampire, he suddenly lost of words. Massimo brought the pouch close to his nose and confirmed that Dahlia had touched the thing with a stain of blood on it.

"Where is she?" Massimo asked, looking down at the quivering young man in front of him.

"Wha-what? I-I don't know." He stammered, answering the vampire.

Massimo swallowed hard, trying to prevent himself from getting wild and that could make him hurt the man.

"The owner of this, where is she?" He asks again in his still calm tone, but the man refuses to answer again as he really doesn't have any idea what to answer to the vampire. While the eyes of every villager in the area were all on Massimo, feeling agitated while waiting for the vampire's next moves, but everyone started to move backwards when the vampire's expression started to change.

"Do-don't kill me, please." The man begged for his life when he noticed the vampire's hand starting to move, but before Massimo could lose control, an aged man blocked himself in between the young man and the vampire. It was Jeremy, someone who had told him about his son and the vampire situation  that made him quickly go to the place.

"Your Highness, I apologize for my son's foolishness, but I can assure you he did nothing wrong." He started.

"The pouch and the shillings were given to me as a payment for the horse," Jeremy continued to explain.

"A horse?"

"Yes, a beautiful young lady came to our place, asking for a beast to head north." He continued to explain.

"To Gorgax?"

"Yes, My King." 

"And you didn't stop her!?" Massimo hissed as he crumpled the coins in his hands. 

"I-I did, I tried. But she is adamant. Please understand." Jeremy implored with his hands clasped together.

"Urgh! Stubborn!" Massimo groaned with so much anger and turned himself into hundreds of tiny bats. He flew away from the place to follow the princess into the woods. 

While everyone was amazed by his transformation and felt proud to have the chance of seeing the Vampire King in person even in a terrible situation.

Meanwhile, the princess is still in the middle of the strange woods. It is creepy and literally dark as the brightness of the moon barely passes through the thick leaves of the gigantic trees. The princess decides to have a rest on a giant root of a tree while beside her is the brave horse that also keeps her warm.

However, her time off was interrupted when the beast’s behaviour suddenly became odd. 

“Shh… It’s alright.” Dahlia whispered while caressing the horse’s hair, trying to make her calm as she also made herself ready for any danger around them, sliding out her silver sword. Until she heard a rustling sound behind her which she quickly turned and charged her blade forward, but she gasped when she almost got Alice with the tip of her sword.

“Alice?”

“You almost wreck my face, Your Highness.” Alice said as she chuckled softly, holding a lamp.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Dahlia apologize.

“Me either. What are you doing here? Where is Moss?” the lady vampire inquired. 

“I left him.” Dahlia honestly said, looking down.

“Really? But why?” and what happened to your hand?”

“Oh this? Moss got terribly hurt saving me, so I decided to offer my blood to heal his wound quickly.” She explained, looking at her hand while ignoring the first question.

“I see, so he couldn’t resist  your blood after all, huh?” 

“He refused but I insisted. I know that his body badly needed it.”

“Such a kind gesture from the princess. Anyways, I can’t let you stay all night here. Come with me so you can have a better place to rest. Besides, I’m pretty sure you are already surrounded by hungry vampires by now on. If you insist on staying out here, it’s like you’re giving them permission to feast your blood.” Alice warned her with a smirk while Dahlia looked around her and confirmed that the lady vampire was telling the truth as she could see the figures of the night creatures surrounding her. She swallowed several times as her hand started to shake while holding the blade.

“So? Let’s go?” Alice invited her and Dahlia nodded.

“Good.”