Lady Dhampir
Chapter 44

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thanks to you. If you hadn't arrived in time, both your brother and I would have been..."

Milena didn't finish her sentence, a heavy silence floating between them. Ellias looked like he had age y years in a couple of days. Both Milena and Rayan were recovering well, but the human Prince was still unhappy. Most servants thought the b****y scene had been too much for him, or that he was dealing with the guilt of coming too late to save his twin. Rayan was still in bed, but by now, Milena suspected he was acting up instead of a real need to rest. F empire, he had drunk plenty of blood to recover, faster than in two days. On the other hand, Milena was the one still feeling weak and tired. She had passed out several times after Rayan had drunk from her, and was still under the surveillance of their family Blanche was on her lap, too, keeping her warm in her form of a furry arctic fox. Even today, Ellias was the one who had come all the way to visit her. They were sitting in the De Crescerden, in her favorite part with all the midnight lilies, having an early morning tea.

Of course, His Royal Highness wasn't simply paying her a visit. First, Ellias was sitting closer than what bubble appeared around them. No servant dared to approach or to interrupt them.

"Any news?"

"Yes, the bodies have been confirmed to be the undertaker's family. As we predicted, his wife was the "What was it then?"

Ellias frowned, shaking his head.

"No source of poison or bite was found, we are still in the dark about her transformation. One thing's

He was about to add something else, but while he talked, Ellias had noticed a strange expression on h so cute on her.

"My dear friend, why don't you share your thought with me?" He asked gently.

Hearing him use their nickname brought Milena back to the present moment, and she turned to him, "Actually... I couldn't sit still after what happened..."

Ellias chuckled.

"Of course you couldn't. So, what is it?"

Milena blushed a bit but tried to keep her train of thoughts.

ual protocols would have allowed, and they were talking softly to each other. If the Duchess and the Human Prince got together, it was like a mysterious

mpire, and the only transformed one. Father and daughter both died before anything happened, looking like this."

e, she wasn't a vampire anymore. The corpse is being studied at the moment, hopefully, we will have more clues later..."

d. It wasn't like Milena to be distracted, but now, she was clearly thinking of something else, her eyes wandering away and with the frown he always found

sure.

"It may seem odd, but those people's appearance reminded me of something I had read about in a book, a few years ago."

It was Ellias' turn to frown. Milena was as much of a bookworm as himself, but for her to actually raise such a detail up meant she already knew it was relevant. What kind of book could be of use to them...?

"It was in some very ancient alchemy book. To be honest, I've been agonizing trying to replace where I had read it of borrowed it from, but nevermind, I will keep looking. Anyway, it mentioned a creature very... Very similar to what that woman looked like. A human, all skin and bones, with an appetite for animal, vampire and human flesh alike, and no recollection of their past."

"It does sound similar..."

"In that book, the creature was a legend, something like a vampire's body woken up by some ritual of some sort. It would attack anything alive, like some beast. Its strength was that of a vampire, and it couldn't feel pain... Damn it, if only I could remember where I read it!"

"It's okay, Milena, we will replace it together. Did it say anything else?"

The Duchess frowned, trying her best to gather her memories. Had she missed something?

"Those things... I mean, those creatures, they had a name. The author pretended they had met a few, and named them. Back then, I thought it was some fiction story, like the adventure books I always read about! But this was some alchemist' biography or anthology about his discoveries on blood, I think... It was an old book, very old... What did he call those things again... Oh, the Wendigo!"

Ellias was a bit surprised. For once, he had never heard about something at all. Whatever that thing was, he had never read about it... Milena was nodding.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was it. Do you know about it, your Highness?"

"No, but I'll make sure to do my research when I can..."

THey both agreed to look for as much information as they could, though it would be easy. Between the two of them, Milena and Ellias had easily read hundreds of books in the Imperial Library. If only the Lady had come across that word once, it would most likely be hard for them to replace it again...

Though, each of them had secret ways to obtain more information, which they wouldn't mention here. At least they had something concrete to investigate now.

"... Father is keeping Rayan under tight observation," finally revealed Ellias, much to Milena's surprise.

"What? Why? I thought it was odd h

"There's something... Strange about

rots."

"What? What the... How... How is tha Ellias sighed, looking at his hands. "Truthfully, I wish I knew exactly wh how long it will take Rayan to rise a Milena was unable to understand. V "It can't be... He should... I mean, if "Infected?" mumbles Ellias. "Yes, sc "No!"