Lady Dhampir
Chapter 41

Milena left the room in a hurry. The young duchess couldn't take any more of Rayan's disturbing red eyes and annoying smirk. How come she could never have the last word with him! Restraining herself from touching the injury, she went down the closest stairs,

Dinah right behind her, confused.

"My lady, are you alright?"

"Let's leave immediately. Go get Olivia, tell them something urgent came up."

"I can't leave you alone!"

"I'm fine, just go. I'll wait outside."

Dinah frowned, but she didn't have any choice. She ran back upstairs, to replace someone to ask for Olivia. Meanwhile, Milena finally left the brothel, with a long sigh of relief.

"Ready for a ride?"

Rayan was behind her, waiting.

Milena turned to him, crossing her arms.

"What are you really playing at, Your Highness?"

"Didn't we mention a date? It's a full moon tonight, at least we got the setting right. Come on."

To her surprise, he actually meant for her to get on his horse. Milena hated the idea of riding with him, but she had to admit, his horse was beautiful. A white and black one, a bit bigger than Black Bella. She stepped closer to caress it a bit. "You like horse riding, my lady?" Rayan asked, with a little surprised tone.

"I happen to..."

Milena found horses to be one of the most beautiful creatures in this world. She had trained Black Bella for a while, but she loved each of the horses in her father's stables. It just so happened that Rayan's mount was quite impressive, too, and behaved well to her touch.

"Come on," said the Prince, getting on his ride and offering his hand.

"My maids are still inside."

But just as she said this, Olivia and Dinah walked out, noticing her with the Prince. She turned to them, gestured that she was leaving, and took Rayan's hand to climb up. Both Dinah and Olivia had stunned expressions, but Milena didn't leave them any time to voice their protest.

As soon as she was sitting behind him, Rayan had his horse ride away from there.

The night was so cold, but also beautiful. Riding on a horse in the empty streets, everything covered in fresh white snow, had something eerie about it. Milena had an odd feeling, holding onto the Vampire Prince, feeling the biting cold on her skin and the wind howling around them.

This world had a sad tune to it. They lived in a little pocket of the world, yet this was the only one that was believed to have... life in it. She often wondered if this world was going to die, buried in the ice and snow. Each year was colder than the previous one and aside from the Giants, Humans and Vampires seemed like the only ones left. There were few wild animals to be spotted around, and their fur had to be thick or they wouldn't last the long winter nights.

The most tragic thing was that, even if Humans died first, Vampires wouldn't survive long after them. Why was the most powerful species sterile? It was a twist of fate that bound those two races together, so similar yet so different.

Milena could see that very peculiar balance in the princes themselves. On one side, Rayan, the twisted, strong Vampire, and on the other, Ellias, the sweet, gentle Human twin. Those two were tied since their birth, but one would eventually outlive the other. "Do you know where we are going?" Asked Milena.

"The Royal Guards sent the bodies to the Royal Mortuary. We should be able to enter in a few minutes..."

But right as he had mentioned that, both of them noticed something bright and orange in front of them. He took his horse around, making sure they wouldn't be noticed, but even from afar, both of them could easily see the tall flames engulfing the building they were headed toward. It was completely caught in a large, raging fire. "That's..." Started Milena.

"The Royal Mortuary, where the bodies were. Looks like someone beat us to it..." Growled Rayan.

They couldn't possibly go any closer. The Royal Guard was running to try and stop the fire, men were screaming orders and throwing buckets of fresh snow at it. It would soon be extinguished anyway, with this cold. Who had done this? It had to be a criminal fire, it couldn't be an accident. There was no way anything could catch fire out of the blue, not with the current temperature and in this peculiar place. Milena felt some cold anger rushing through her veins. Who? Who was so eager to cover up their tracks? "Damn it..."

Rayan turned his horse around and made sure it would go far from where the soldiers could spot them. After a while, Milena noticed he wasn't headed to the De Crescent Manor or the Royal Palace. She didn't recognize the road, but it seemed like they were heading back downtown. "Where are we going?" She asked, a bit loud to be heard over the sound of the horse galloping.

"To catch the one witness. The undertaker is living in this part of town. If anyone knows something, it would have to be him."

"How do you even know where he lives?"

"You're not the only one with spies downtown, my lady."

That sentence silenced Milena. Did he know about her bribing the orphans from the church? How much did he possibly know about that? She felt a bit annoyed that Rayan was, once more, one step ahead of her.

After riding a bit longer, he stepped down and guided his horse along the streets, visibly looking at the numbers on the doors. He only had an address, but the houses were so close to one another; if the horse ran in there it would be too noisy and alarm many people. Hence, they silently walked for a while, until he finally seemed to spot the right place.

They both noticed the open door.

No one would leave a door open in the middle of a winter night. Milena got off of the horse, loosely tying its reins to the closest spot. She walked up to the Prince. He already had his sword out and a cold expression. Milena took out her little dagger too, but he pulled her behind him while stepping closer to the door.

There was the silence of death inside. Both held their breaths, stepping slowly. Rayan pushed one door, looking for any traces of a struggle, but the place was so quiet as if it was... abandoned. Milena needed a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the darkness inside and unconsciously grabbed onto his coat. Rayan didn't react to that, only walking in a bit further. It was a long corridor, but they could hear a faint sound coming from ahead.

For a second, they both shared the same thought: the assassin might still be there. If the fire had been provoked on purpose, silencing the undertaker had to happen right after or right before that. Both silently hoped they had been there on time, and continuously stepped closer and closer, watching out for any threats.

Milena felt a tickle on the back of her neck, like her instincts were warning her. Something felt wrong there. If the assassin had left, why weren't there any steps in the snow around the house? How did they open the door, and still have been able to not leave traces of fighting inside...?

The long corridor they were in seemed to lead to what should be the main room, and it was actually better lit, thanks to an open window. Milena kept her eyes there. Did they leave through the window then? Suddenly, Rayan grabbed her hand, pulling her back.

She looked down and saw it. A body, or what should have been a body. Instead, it looked like a skeleton with barely any flesh in it. It was as if all the flesh had been dried out, leaving the most sinister corpse, like a ghost, with empty eyes wide open.

The young duchess covered her mouth, a terrible nausea surging. It was disgusting. Her nose picked up a horrid smell of blood, from the red pool splattered all around. She hadn't even noticed they both had stepped in it, but from Rayan's frowning, she could tell he had smelled it way before she did. It was horrible.

A few steps further, she realized there was another, smaller body. A child? It looked like it had been sucked dry too, horrible remains left behind. On this one, she could see a wide hole on its neck, as if someone had taken a wide bite in it. Once again, Milena had to repress an urge to vomit.

"It..."

"Hush."

She wondered what was wrong, but when she turned to the Prince, Rayan was looking up, at one corner of the room. She took her eyes the same way and froze. They weren't alone. They weren't alone with those two bodies.

Crawled up in the corner, its limbs extended like a spider to hang onto the walls, something was watching them with eyes wide open like it didn't have eyelids, but big, bloodshot eyeballs. The creature was completely still, but leaving its eyes on both of them. Some blood slowly fell from its mouth, splashing little drops on the floor. Its whole, gray discolored face was covered in blood, including the hair falling around the face.

Fresh blood.