Chapter 58: Finding Cassian (3)

Two vampires wearing a red cloak dragged Cassian’s limp body to the other side of the empty room. The floor was specially made of long panel woods that had been nailed to the ground, and there were many of them that looked alike, making it the best place to keep Cassian’s body without anyone recovering it.

Gently dropping Cassian’s body to the floor, the two vampires immediately got to work as they removed one of the woods from the ground. It creaked loudly as they had to force it open due to the nails, and what accompanied the wood were specks of dust that instantly assaulted their nostrils, leading the two vampires to cough out harshly.

Beneath the wood that was nailed to the ground, a hole was there, as though it had already been made and digged for a special event like this. The two vampires exchanged glances before proceeding to drop Cassian’s body into the hole like he was a dead body that was about to be buried.

His eyes were still blindfolded, and his hands were chained behind his back, just in case he woke up and tried to escape. Elijah wasn’t ready to take any risk with this test, and he wanted to make sure everything went according to his plan.

"We cover him up?" One of the vampires asked when he picked up the wood from the floor. His partner shook his head after staring at Cassian’s unconscious face and he chewed on the skin inside his cheek.

"What if he dies?" Questioned the vampire named Colten as he took off his Cloak, "he won’t be able to breathe once we cover him up."

"You heard the master." The other vampire named Lincoln shrugged. "We have to do as he says and there’s no arguing it. I do feel bad that such a fine young man gets to experience this torture, but life hasn’t always been fair to all of us. You and I went through this too, and look at us."

He covered Cassian up with the wood. "Hand me the hammer, we’ll have to nail it back to the ground so it looks like no one was here." He looked at Colten who didn’t answer him, and he sighed at Colten’s hesitation. "You saw what the master did last night, he won’t spare our rotten lives if we mess this up, so be the cold heartless vampire that you are, and get me those hammers."

Lincoln gestured for Colten to bring the hammer and nail. Dejectedly, Lincoln got to his feet and reached for the hammer and nail they had placed at the door side. He returned to Lincoln’s side, handing him the nail and hammer.

Lincoln got to work as he screwed the nails back into the ground so the wood would be solid firm to the ground.

"And we’re done." Lincoln got to his feet, but Colten still said nothing as he appeared indecisive for once.

"What is wrong with you, this isn’t the first time we’ve done this Colt." Lincoln reminded him. "We’ve got these hands stained many times, but we still do what we have to do regardless of it. If he survives this, it’s his goddamn luck, if he doesn’t, we’ll offer him a proper burial once he’s confirmed dead."

"But..." Colten turned to look at him. "What if he’s found?"

"I don’t know how to answer that." Lincoln shook his head as he stared into the Ruby-colored eyes of his partner. "We have to leave this place, come on."

Colten turned around to look at the body they had buried before shaking his head in remorse and followed Lincoln out.

~~~~~~

"What....what happened here?"

Those four shocking words left her trembling lips in a breathless tone, and she took two steps back away from the house. Madeline shook her head in disbelief at the terrible sight before her, not willing to jump into any false conclusion her mind had irrationally come up with.

The house that signaled a smoke wasn’t about someone starting a fire. The house itself was the one on fire. Everything about the house had been burned to ruins, leaving only the remnants of ashes and whatever layer of the house that could strongly withstand the fire that took place here.

Besides this, the rest was a total disaster.

Inna’s hands flew to her mouth in disbelief, also coming to a devastating conclusion until Madeline gestured for the morbid Inna to calm down and not react due to false clarification.

"I... I’m sure he’s fine, he has to be. If someone was in here, the people who stopped the fire would have seen the bodies." Madeline quickly stated to ease Inna’s frightened mind.

She knew Cassian couldn’t possibly be dead, her heart wouldn’t lie to her about such things.

It’s possible he never even came here. Maybe they got the wrong house, or Inna doesn’t recall the right address.... This could come off as an unfortunate coincidence but there is no way Cassian could be dead.

"Lady Inna!" The troubled voice of Amade made them turn to look in his direction.

Turns out he was surveying the burnt down house for any clues that could indicate if the young Lord had been here or not, and the look on his face turned ghostly pale when he brought out the two burnt cloaks he found lying around a corner at the back of the house.

"This cloak... it belongs to Lord Cassian." Amade showed them the half burnt brown-colored cloak he recognized very well. "As for the red one...." He showed it to them. "I don’t know about this one."

"A red cloak??" Madeline snatched the red cloak from Amade’s grip, trying to contain whatever shock that would forcefully try to overwhelm her as the person responsible for Roland’s death slipped into her mind.

Could it be...??

She examined it thoroughly when the idea of Cassian’s cloak and a ’Red’ cloak lying around a burnt house couldn’t come as just a simple coincidence.

What if Cassian isn’t in the house? What if he’s in bigger trouble?

When she looked at Inna with worry swirling in her dark orbs, it was obvious both of them had thought of the same thing.

"Amadeus, take us to the home of Roland." Inna gave the orders, and they quickly went back to the carriage.

Riding back to the upper west quarters, Amade stopped the carriage in front of Roland’s home, and Inna was the first to highlight from the carriage as she ran into the building to find Orson. Amade understood her situation, but if someone of her class is seen behaving so unlady-like as to actually run, then rumors would spread, and that isn’t what he wanted for Inna.

Looking at Madeline, she offered Amade a reassuring smile, and he could tell she knew what had gone through his mind. "I’ll be with her, you don’t have to worry."

Amade’s heart eased after Madeline had reassured him, and he watched her follow Inna into the building. Cassian made the right choice by marrying someone so thoughtful.

"Orson!" Inna called his name as she went through the stairs and opened the main door, her eyes searching for Orson until she finally spotted him.

Orson, who was standing in the living room with his gloves on and was examining a few objects he had brought out from the kitchen, swiftly turned around to look at Inna who had called his name with such alarm in her voice.

"Inna?" His brows creased into a frown when her presence had startled him, and he hurried to go meet her. "Is there a problem? Why are.....you both here?" Orson threw her a question right after Madeline walked in as well.

"We can’t find Cassian, and I get the feeling he’s in serious trouble." Inna quickly explained their situation to Orson whose expression went pale and serious at the same time.

"Cassian?"

"Did you by chance see him today?" Madeline asked with a concerned tone, and Orson shook his head, shattering their last hope. "No, I haven’t seen him today."

"What do we do? I was the one who gave him a note that led him to the house of the bladesmith. I warned him not to leave last night, but he didn’t listen and now he’s nowhere to be seen. This is all my fault." Inna suddenly blamed herself as she covered her face with her palm, unable to deal with the guilt that had overwhelmed her heart and mind.

"Don’t say that, it’s not your fault at all." Madeline quickly pulled Inna into her arms as she embraced the girl. Madeline was also shattered on the inside, but it wouldn’t be right to express her own fears when she had Inna to keep company.

"We need to act calmly." Madeline finally said something after taking a deep breath. "First we need to think about where he is and how to find him. Staying here won’t bring him back and we need to act fast."

"But how do we know where he is? We don’t even know who took him." Orson added, equally looking perplexed and everyone’s somber mood could be felt in the living room.

"Ex... excuse me." A voice at the entrance of the door snapped them back to the present, and an unknown man was standing at the entrance.

"Who are you??" Orson demanded as he stood before the two ladies, shielding them and the man quickly shook his head, seeing his presence had been misinterpreted.

"I’m not here to harm anyone." The man explained. "I know where Cassian is, and I’ve come to take you to him. His life is in grave danger so we need to hurry."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read