To His Hell and Back-Chapter 208: The Cat Named Lala-I

By the time it was morning more of Cassius’s guards had appeared all over the chapel. Both Charles and Mrs Rath had been taken under questioning, brought away in the dark carriage with other guards busily inspecting the whole building and the village itself. Arabella who had exhausted all her energy had sat down quietly outside the chapel, staring at the people as they brought out the brown coffin where her mother had been sealed inside.

There were a few unfamiliar faces but notably one who had talked to her first while offering a cup of warm water, the older man named Jasper. Upon finding her outside the building, he had offered her a warm water inside a cup, striking up a question as she took the cup water from him, "Miss Arabella wasn’t it?"

She nodded at his question and saw his light red eyes which meant that he’s a human turned vampire.

"I have heard the gist from His Highness," Jasper continued, "Though it was brief, I’d like to offer you my condolences. No one would want to find out how their parent had been buried inside a coffin."

She looked at him and turned her eyes around, "What about that man?"

"The sorcerer you mean?" Jasper questioned and she nodded again. He took a moment of pause before he replied, "He has been found, dead."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "That man could know a lot of things that we haven’t discovered yet. Why was he killed? Did Cassius..."

"No, His Highness didn’t kill the man," said Jasper as he looked behind as if to make sure none of his men or those unwanted was listening to their conversation. "He was found dead, melted. Skin, flesh, and even bone was melted until nothing was left but a bloody red liquid. It’s a disgusting sight but as for now we suspect that one of the sorcerer’s own ally had killed him as he had failed his mission. It’s known how sorcerers tend to kill their own ally if they were found lacking and unable to succeed their mission."

Arabella frowned. That would mean earlier there wasn’t only Owen in the chapel but more of his own ally yet they had stood behind and watched as he fought against Cassius, only interfering to kill him once they have confirmed how he had served no more use.

"And," she drawled, looking around, "Is His Highness still..."

"His Highness is currently overlooking the leftover evidences," said Jasper when he turned around and noticed someone, quickly greeting them with a wide smile, "Mr Hilton!"

The man, Mr Hilton turned around, his eyes bloody red, a complete vampire but like Jasper, the two seemed to have a rather mild mannered personality, quickly greeting each other with a strong handshake.

Not seeing Arabella, Mr Hilton spoke quickly, "I saw the aftermath in that building- the chaos, the creatures, the swarming hordes. I even managed to examine one of them that was still alive, and they’re far more troubling than I first imagined. No matter how much damage they take, they keep moving as if they’re undead. It’s terrifying to think we’ll have to fight things like that. And considering the only one who came out of that attack without a single scratch is our Crown Prince... well, our chances against them look grim, don’t they?"

"They’re called remnants according to the sorcerers. How they are made, well, all I heard was how they had been injected and that allowed them to live in a state of invincibility until they are burnt completely to ashes," Jasper explained, "For now I heard the Doctor is trying to find an antidote against the injection but the said antidote need a certain herb that is far too rare in our land."

Sighing Hilton placed one hand over his head, "With how it is, all the vampires have voiced out their complaints against humans but from what I’m seeing, the victims aren’t only vampires but also humans. Isn’t this the right time for all of us to unite?"

Jasper laughed at his words, "I also agree but would those above us nod in agreement when asked to work together with humans? Then what about the other humans- those who feel their miseries are caused by vampires? Would they easily turned down the opportunity to get back at vampires when they’re sold the said potion?"

Hilton’s face twisted in frustration as he patted his chest, "I’m getting stressed just by thinking about our future. Whatever we do... nothing seems to work out."

"Don’t be so discouraged," Jasper patted Hilton’s shoulders as he smiled and turned to Arabella. "His Highness isn’t going to allow the old mistake to repeat. Soon our cycle of hatred will meet its end."

Arabella could see the glimmer of hope Jasper had in his eyes as he talked about Cassius and at that moment she could understood that the vampire who was once a human didn’t wish for the fight between human and vampires to continue. Deep down, they also wish for a stability where all of them didn’t have to live in a sense of hatred, wanting to kill each other. To see such vampires with such mindset put her somehow at ease, knowing that this was something she had wished to see.

"Ah right," Jasper then said as he reached out his hand to her, "Jasper Law."

Hilton who had seen Jasper introducing himself also did the same as though it was practiced. He politely bowed his head slightly forward, "Caston Hilton."

"Arabella," she returned the two’s greeting, finding them quite friendly despite her being a human slave and they should know this as the investigators had already written her identification.

The two then bid their goodbyes, slowly walking away as they chatted when she heard a familiar soft and demure calling from her left side. "Meow."

Surprised to see the cat, Arabella reached out her hand, holding the cat who had instantly jumped to her laps, turning into a ball as if it had declared her laps as its bed, "Meow."

"How are you..." Arabella drawled as she did left the cat back at her father’s house and then the cat had managed to find itself back to her side as if it couldn’t be torn away from her. "You seem to like me don’t you?" She broke into a faint smile as the cat’s green eyes reminded her so much of Ariel’s.

"Meow." The cat turned its head to the side slightly.

"Then do you want me to name you?"

"Meow. Meow."

"Hm," seeing such positive response from the cat, Arabella began wondering what kind of name would be good for the cat. Something that’s easy to call, but not too dull and short. "Cas?" She asked to the cat who immediately frowned.

"Meow. Meow. Meow." freewebnσvel.cøm

The protest from the cat was short but enough for her to understand that it would rather be unnamed than being named after Cassius.

"Lala? It’s my sister’s nickname," she whispered to the cat, softly brushing the cat’s back.

The glimmer of the cat’s green eyes sparkled and its smile softened as it agreed, "Meow."

"Lala?"

"Meow!"

"Lala it is then," she softly brushed the cat again, chuckling as she found herself a friend though it is not a human, this one seems to be quite loyal as it’s always beside her as if trying to help though it’s a feline creature.

Meanwhile, Cassius had gone to examine what remained of Owen. There was nothing left but a pool of thick liquid—a bloody mess so grotesque it made even the human investigators gag and turn away. Even the vampires recoiled, not from hunger, but from sheer revulsion.

Only Cassius stood over it with a calm, unreadable expression.

"I—I—it’s not a potion, is it?" asked Doctor Malcom, his arms crossed tightly, deep shadows under his eyes betraying a sleepless night.

Cassius turned to him, offering a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "Isn’t it your job to answer that question?"

Malcom exhaled heavily and pressed his hands together, almost as if in prayer. "But, Your Highness... if it were a potion, they’d need an enormous amount. Liquid is heavy. And those sorcerers clever enough to put it in an injection for convenience, wouldn’t have had the means to carry that much unnoticed. Dissolving an entire body like this... it would take far more than a single vial."

Cassius’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Yet you’re not certain, are you? Whether such a potion even exists, one that can be injected and reduce a body to this kind of mess. And with the entire body liquefied... checking for a needle mark would be nearly impossible."

"I shall take a sample of their blood but as for now," said Malcom as he stared at the mess, "I do think that this isn’t a doing of a potion."

"Why so?" Cassius inquired as Malcom pointed the muddy path around the liquefied body.

The doctor whispered, "There was no footsteps around this place at all, other than the dead sorcerer’s. It’s as if he was alone... as if he died after turning himself to liquid."

Cassius who had now focused on the muddy path noticed the paw prints and he slowly turned his lips into a smirk, "Or maybe something did kill him," he paused as Malcom looked at him confused. "Maybe a cat killed him."