Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 124: The outing

Silas had buried his head among the many maps laying upon the desk of the map room. The date that he, as well as the other Lords and Ladies, had picked to go seek the underground tunnels approached at high speed.

The vampire sought to dot his i’s and cross his t’s beforehand, thus lumping all of the old maps from that era together, making sure to include the ones Arabella had marked with the unsealed tracts.

Speaking of the devil, or in her case, the angel, the question that truly kept his mind busy was whether to bring her along or otherwise not.

Since other vampires would join the party, the trip would have to be taken at night and it was hard enough for her to navigate what was in front of her in broad daylight, let alone at night.

He suspected even moonlight and torches combined wouldn’t spare her from the many falls and twisted ankles in the works.

Tuning her voice out had never been harder as when he was so aware of it. Before that, Silas had been able to simply focus on his doings and seek her whereabouts around the manor from time to time, just for comfort and peace of mind, but after their last feeding session, things seemed to have changed. At least they did to him.

Her on the other hand, appeared to have returned to normalcy, if one could call it that. The Mirari still did not affect her in the slightest and she ran with the belief that the interest he carried for her was simply due to his cravings, which was true in a way, but not in every way.

The tendency to search around for her and eavesdrop on her discussions was certainly exacerbated by his thirst for blood, but Silas had to admit it, even if to himself alone, that there had to be a spark that grew, feeding off of his vulnerabilities.

After all, never did he ever obsess over a blood provider in that fashion before her.

"Oh no! I am afraid I can’t read them that well,"

There it was! Her voice! Traveling to him even though he hadn’t gone out of his way to find it.

The vampire shut his eyes and tried to block it out, but despite his best efforts, it persisted. Even bringing a second familiar voice along.

"I have never seen the map room!" Ada chirped, "But naturally, I have never had any reason to be there," she added sheepishly.

"Well, that is alright. You are coming with me today,"

Sure enough, their words held truth to them as their voices drew nearer with every step they took.

When the door to the map room finally cracked open, Silas merely stood there, map in hand, staring back at the moving wood.

"Oh dear!" Arabella’s face peaked through first, "I am deeply sorry, Master. I was not aware that anyone would be inside, but I should have knocked either way,"

Her hand had let go of the door which swayed further open, allowing him a full view of the two women.

Ada stood frozen and wordless in the background while Arabella kept on stuttering through her apologies, face red as a beetroot. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

In the end, they both bowed and walked back, trying to get a hold of the door in order to shut it.

"Stop," Silas’ frigid tone iced them in place, "There was something I needed to discuss with you anyway," he said before turning to Ada, "You may take your leave for now. You will be summoned at a later time,"

"Yes, Master," Ada bowed a second time then, with a glance Arabella’s way, she left.

Arabella’s mouth opened and closed a few times without ever making a sound. She maintained a straight stance and exuded as much grace as was possible, never once locking eyes with Silas.

"The outing for the purpose of locating the unsealed tunnels you’ve indicated has been scheduled for the first day of Ostara," he held a map higher in his hand, "Or in five days from now,"

She nodded, "Understood,"

"I’ve been debating whether to bring you along with the party or not," he turned towards the desk.

"Oh...," she trailed off momentarily, "The decision is yours to make, Master," her eyes darted from one sprawled map to the next.

"I know that," his tone came dry at first, then softened upon continuing, "But would you like to accompany me or not? I still wish to know if you’d like to go before making my decision, ultimately,"

In response, her eyes darted even faster from one place to another, heart pounding a tad stronger against her chest while her lips folded and disappeared in her mouth, forming a thin line as a result.

From that reaction alone, he knew her answer was a resounding yes, yet for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to utter it.

"I suppose confidence only comes to you in waves,"

That scarlet red shade on her face had barely had the time to fade that his words brought it back in an instant.

"I’ll take that as a yes, however I have to inform you that the expedition will take place at nightfall so, if you do want to come, keep that in mind,"

"Understood," she nodded, repeating that word.

"I must also ask you if you are skilled at horseback riding,"

"I wouldn’t dare say skilled, although yes, I have received lessons for it," she shook her head slowly then nodded in a similar fashion.

"Wonderful," he declared without a sliver of joy, "In the likelihood you do join us, we’ll have to touch upon your ability before the due date. To sort of refresh your knowledge on the matter as well as see how you carry yourself in that environment,"

"Of course," she looked down.

"With that out of the way, what was it you needed in the map room?"

"Oh! It’s not important," she chuckled awkwardly, "I’ve been doing some reading on fairies and there was something about a map that explained the distribution of their villages across Umbraria as well as the reasons behind it,"