36. Lady of the Castle

Yumino's next destination had been decided.

"Oh? To what do I owe this pleasant morning visit? Aren't we seeing each other too often lately? Someone may get jealous~."

"Is this your way of speaking when you're nervous?"

"Pardon?"

Looking at him from the other side of the room, Yumino slowly walked towards the lord of the castle with an arrow in one hand and his bow in the other.

"I think it's about time you stopped acting. That vampire who attacked me outside, it was by your order, wasn't it?" Yumino asked.

"An attack? In broad daylight? Who would do such a thing? Don't they know the name you've made for yourself around here? Ah, but maybe that's exactly why they aimed for you—"

"I think that's enough beating around the bush, vampire."

"Ah, Yumino, your way of speaking hurts me deeply. What could possibly make you think that I would order an attack against you?"

"I also want to know that..." Yumino answered. "I guess elves and vampires really can't get along."

"Yumino, what made you think that suddenly? Didn't I help your elven darling recently?"

"By sending whom?"

"Why... Garron, of course. You've thanked him already, after all."

"Garron went on no rescue mission. Same goes for Gavin and Velmira."

Silence fell over the empty hall. Yumino's gamble had worked; he caught the lord lying.

"I really wanted to trust you, Lucien. I wanted us to be friends; maybe I could have found a way to even spa—"

"To spare me? Is that what you wanted to say?"

Yet Yumino had also made a mistake in his choice of words. He blurted out something he shouldn't have.

"Do you think I don't know about your little 'missions'? Do you think I don't know that you're going around killing vampires?"

The elf, caught off guard, didn't give an answer.

"Tell me, Yumino. Who really is the one who can't get along with the other?"

"Don't give me all that!" the elf retorted. "It was your vampires who attacked me that day! I didn't start anything! You did!"

"Hah..."

Out of nowhere, the lord changed his attitude.

"Ahahahahaha!"

"What's so funny?" the angry elf asked.

"This whole discussion… What's the point of bothering with it now? Elves and vampires—who cares which is which? Soon, there will be no elf left to speak of!"

"Join you? Don't tell me, is that why—"

"Ever since that expedition, Yumino. You went on the mission that sealed your own fate. Only you left to deal with, and then I can finally finish what started ages ago!"

Yumino stared in disbelief at the crazed vampire.

"To turn us all into vampires, was that your plan?"

"My plans are way beyond your grasp you, boy."

Yumino had heard enough. With a scoff, he raised his bow and pointed it at the enemy.

"Good thing I kept Nima home for this one."

But Lucien didn't shiver at the silver arrow pointed at him. Instead, his grin turned wider and wider, making him seem almost inhuman.

"Oh, how wrong you are, my loyal subject."

Just as Lucien said that, Yumino's chest started to burn again.

Now's not a good time... he thought, pressing on his scar with the hand that held an arrow.

"Ah, but I did mention that I should present you to one of my trusty friends," Lucien said, staring down on the elf from up the stairs.

As the vampire spoke, the pain in Yumino's chest got stronger and stronger. It was clearly not a coincidence, but the elf didn't understand how and when his scar could have been tampered with.

Still, the pain was not enough to stop the elf, so he went ahead and aimed his arrow at the lord, taking advantage of the fact that the hall was empty.

"Not bringing guards with you on the day you decided to make me your enemy was your gravest mistake!" he said, ready to let go of the arrow.

That's when he finally saw her, coming into view from behind the stair.

"Let me present you the most recent member of our family, a lady in possession of all the qualities needed to keep you at bay."

Wearing the same dress as the day before—a dress that Yumino failed to recognize early enough—there stood a girl with shoulder-length hair that failed to turn black like other vampires'. Upon seeing her, Yumino was taken aback, his eyes widening in shock as his fingers refused to release the arrow he had readied.

"Her name is Nimera, but you may know her by another," a grinning Lucien said.

Frozen in place, Yumino couldn't take his eyes off of the lady standing next to Lucien. She, who wore a prideful smile Yumino had seen time and time again, was dressed in the dress that had brought him so much trouble already.

Only his lips moved, spelling out the name of the one most important to the elf, the man, the hero, the avenger.

"Nima..." Yumino's lips spoke, yet his voice couldn't follow.

Seeing the elf distracted, Lucien quickly took the hand of the lady, and with a pirouette, he graciously placed the vampire who chose to stay silent in front of himself, blocking the way of the arrow.

"Now, let's see if you can continue your crazed hunt with her standing in your way!" Lucien mocked the elf.

"Yumino, it's time to go!" a voice in the back of his mind spoke, but he didn't pay attention to it.

"Hm? Don't tell me that's all it took..." Lucien continued.

"Well, if you're not going to make a move, I guess we can serve ourselves. Nimera, if you will."

With a gracious nod, the lady pulled out a familiar dagger from her tall boot and approached the elf.

"Yumino! Get yourself together!"

No matter how loud Gauntmere screamed, Yumino wouldn't budge. Only his eyes followed the face of the lady—a face that always managed to bring him both calm and distress, all within the span of a couple of hours.

"Yumino!"

Only when the vampire was right in front of him was Yumino able to speak in a low voice.

"This is a joke... You aren't Nima..."

The lady wasted no time before putting her blade to his throat, grabbing him by the hair on the back of his head as she whispered back.

"You've told me you were in no rush, so I went ahead by myself, hero~," she said, licking her fangs as she slowly slid the blade.

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

But before she could take the life of the scared elf, an invisible force slapped both of them, pushing them away from one another.

"Run!"

Finally snapping out of it, Yumino was only able to listen to the last thing he was told to do.

His mind went from clouded to blank, so he ran. He ran out of the castle and towards the place he had been calling home.

*****

"It can't be..."

He wouldn't fall for it.

"It can't be..."

He didn't want to believe it.

"It can't be..."

He had to check for himself.

Thousands of thoughts were running through Yumino's head as he looked for an explanation.

"It's makeup!"

But her voice was the same.

"It's magic!"

But she behaved like Nima.

"Acting isn't hard!"

But Yumino had already noticed. What she said about him being in no rush fit too well. That was a conversation only the two of them knew about.

"Witch! Tell me how they've done it!"

No answer came from the spirits.

Lost in thought, Yumino ran with all of his might until he finally reached his home.

"I heard her scream this morning! She was looking for me! She has to be here!"

Thus, Yumino smashed the entrance door open and found himself in the middle of the empty living room.

"Nima!"

Nobody answered, so he didn't waste any time and went straight for the door to her room.

"Nima! Where are you?"

"Yumino! You can't stop here for long!" Gauntmere finally spoke, but he ignored her.

"Nima! I don't care what you're doing! Please, answer me!"

He desperately searched every room of the house. Every nook and cranny, but Nima was nowhere to be found.

The last place he didn't search—the forbidden place in this house—Nima's wardrobe stood right in front of the elf.

"Yumino, stop it..."

"This isn't the time to hesitate!" he said as he opened the wardrobe.

"Yumino... Don't hurt yourself more..."

He flung open the wardrobe to see nobody there, just her clothes—all of the ones he knew, except one. The red dress was missing.

Without saying anything more, the elf gently closed the door of the wardrobe, closed the door to her room, and got out of the house through the hole he left instead of an entrance.

Defeated, Yumino fell to his knees.

"Nima, please... Please say something..."

Right then, he heard the soft voice of the girl.

"Welcome back~"