“Just in front,” Hayden said with his arms around Charles’ shoulders.
“Hayden, can you not drag me into things like this again?” Charles wearily laughed.
“Then who else would I go with? Drag Gibran along to have fun with the ladies? Julia is going to kill me! Cain? He’s been way too busy these past few days researching Cold Shadow City’s alchemical methods with Cessacioun and Yalina,” Hayden said with a smile. “Besides, I’ll take care of you.”
“Take care of me? When have you ever done that?”
Hayden put on a mysterious face. “That girl has a sister. Her face, tsk tsk, even Julia and Edwina pale in comparison!”
“Don’t compare those prostitutes to Julia and Edwina!” Charles unhappily said.
“Man, compare your temper!” Hayden curled his lips. “It’s a deal then. I’ll go have fun with that girl, and you can take her sister. Stop pretending to be so serious, haha… You’ll be even more excited than me once you see her.”
“I’m not interested!” Charles shook his head.
“Come on, you can decide if you are interested or not once you see the person. You can just go back if you are not!” Hayden lifted his head. “We are here. This is the courtyard.”
Hayden strode toward the courtyard door and yelled, “I’m here!” Before anyone could respond, he pushed open the door and walked in.
Someone on the other side also pulled open the door. Charles saw the girl he had seen last time standing by the door with a smile. As soon as they saw each other, they started intimately hugging. Charles could even see Hayden’s hands wandering all about her, yet she was not mad at all and actually started laughing.
“Whores!” Charles silently commented. At this point, he had no interest in the girl’s sister. Birds of a feather flock together; her older sister couldn’t be much better with a younger sister like this.
“I’ll pass. I’ll wait for you outside,” Charles shouted.
“Come in!” Hayden turned around and unhappily said, “Don’t ruin the mood for me!”
Charles hesitated. He and Hayden were brothers in arms after all, and he didn’t want to harm their friendship over such a trivial matter. After a moment of consideration, he finally unhappily walked into the courtyard.
They walked into the main house, and Charles saw two women sitting on a chair. Appearance-wise, this elder sister was indeed more beautiful than her sister, but her expression also showed an awe-inspiring intensity – something only those who were used to being in power would have. A woman like this was a prostitute? Charles was confused.
Suddenly, he heard a light noise behind him, and felt a chill at his waist. Something cold had stabbed into his waist, and he could see the tip of a sword coming out of his stomach. Blood instantly fountained out.
Having experienced life-and-death situations so many times, Charles instantly reacted. He immediately knew that they were being ambushed, and that he had just suffered a fatal wound himself. Realizing he wouldn’t have much longer to live, he grabbed the sword which was coming out of his stomach, dashed forward with all his strength, then turned around to yell. But what he saw froze him in place.
Charles wanted Hayden to escape. At least, one of them had to survive; they couldn’t both die here. Yet, when he turned, he saw that it was Hayden attacking him!
“You… Hayden!” Charles roared. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out from rage.
A shadow flashed, and a pale hand flicked across Charles’s neck, and his head immediately went flying into the air. It spinned a few circles in the air and painted a bright picture with its blood before falling to the ground. Even then, his eyes were as round as plates, the anger in them still clearly visible.
“Hayden, I told you to lure Sunier here. Why did you bring me this trash?!” the beautiful woman who had just attacked coldly said.
“Master, what could I do with Sunier? Go shopping with her? Then there’s no way I could escape.” Hayden bitterly smiled. His eyes looked everywhere, except at Charles.
“Sister Caroline, he’s telling the truth.” The woman sitting motionlessly on the side said with a faint smile, “Ordering him to lure Sunier out was a dumb idea to begin with.”
“You!” Caroline abruptly turned and angrily stared at the woman. “Betty, are you here to help me or to make trouble?”
“Ah… Sister Caroline, you were the one that thought of this plan? I thought it was that idiot Jocelyn.” Betty showed an apologetic expression. “I’m so sorry, Sister Caroline, I wasn’t trying to be rude.”
Jocylen’s expression darkened as she stood beside Hayden, but she didn’t dare speak. She couldn’t afford to offend either of them.
“Humph.” Caroline abruptly turned around again and stared coldly at Hayden. She couldn’t direct her anger toward Betty, so Hayden became her next target. “Even if you can’t lure out Sunier, you still have Moxinke, Cessacioun, and all the others! Any one of them would do! Why did you have to bring me someone completely unrelated?!” Caroline was truly enraged now. If she didn’t still have a use for Hayden, she would have killed him long ago. She had expected to finally taste her sweet, sweet revenge today, but Hayden had brought someone who was completely unrelated, which severely disappointed her.
“Master, Cessacioun is focused on his research on Cold Shadow City’s alchemy techniques; there is no way he would come out! As for Moxinke… I am quite close with him, but he always asks me to spar with him as soon as he sees me! I can’t do that, or else he’ll find out as soon as I make a move!” Hayden bitterly smiled.
Betty suddenly interjected, “Would Raphael care about this dead man?”
“You mean… Charles?” Pain flashed across Hayden’s eyes. “He would. If Gibran finds out, Raphael will definitely help him.”
“Then you can go back now!”
“I…” Hayden’s hands tightened around Jocelyn’s waist. He clearly didn’t want to leave.
“Get out!” Betty suddenly became vicious.
Hayden was greatly startled, and immediately stepped away without any more words.
By the time Hayden walked out of the door, Betty flatly said, “Sister Caroline, don’t say I didn’t warn you. An incomplete Blood Thrall cannot be trusted! He didn’t even look at his friend’s body, because he still feels guilty!”
“Who would he be able to fool if I completely turned him into a Blood Thrall?”
“Whatever you want then. I’m just here to help you after all.” Betty smiled. “But… Sister Caroline, us wives should remember our husband’s words. You still have a long way to go in that department.”
“Betty, what is that supposed to mean?!” Caroline coldly asked.
“He said you should fight your enemy’s weakness with your strengths. Strategy has never been your strength; your strength lies in fighting.” Betty lightly said, “If it were me, I would already be at their doorsteps.
“Alright then, go on. No one’s stopping you.” Caroline showed a contemptuous smile.
Jocelyn was immediately alarmed. It wouldn’t end well for her if either of the ladies were harmed. Worried that Betty wouldn’t be able to take Caroline’s mocking, she timidly interjected, “Second lady, you just arrived, so you might not know this, but Guevara just arrived. He’s with Raphael right now.”
“Guvera?” Betty’s face instantly paled. “Which… which Guvera?”
“Which other Guevara do you know?” Caroline coldly laughed. “The Guevara that made you scream and almost wet your dress!”
“You!” Betty’s face turned red. She abruptly stood up. “And were you much better, Caroline? Who was the one screaming for help?!”
The two viciously stared at each other, but also remembered that nightmarish scene. Guevara had wanted to infiltrate Black Raven City to assassinate Zaganide, but in all honesty, it shouldn’t be called an assassination. It was a battle; a one man battle!
The Black Raven City was mainly occupied by the Abyssal Race, and humans were usually lowly slaves. Guevara was discovered as soon as he entered the city, yet with just himself and his warpike, he bathed the street in blood and completely broke the morale of Zaganide’s army. Coincidentally, both of the ladies were accompanying Zaganide on vacation and ran head first into Guevara – the Guevara who was in his prime and had just picked up the butcher’s knife. That incident still hovered over their mind like a dark cloud.
“Why don’t you go to their door steps now?” Caroline mocked.
“I’m not going. I’m not the one who lost a son.” Betty suddenly calmed down.
“You…” Caroline started to shake from her anger and unconsciously took a step forward.
“Calm down, calm down. Your son is dead, but mine is still alive. Sister Caroline, in the future…” Betty slowly said, “There are many places where you can beg for my help.”
“You better watch that useless brat of yours, or a stray dog is going to eat him one day!” Caroline viciously said.
All vampires were born with natural power, and no matter how useless, wouldn’t be eaten by a stray dog. The ‘stray dog’ simply referred to having one’s body dumped in the wilderness. Betty of course understood the meaning behind the word, and a murderous light flashed in her eyes. However, she instead raced her head and said in a softer tone, “My bad, Sister Caroline. I’m just too used to fighting with you over the decades… You are my older sister after all, I should be more forgiving.”
“Hm.” Caroline humphed coldly, but her expression also turned soft.
“In truth… we shouldn’t be so afraid of Guevara. We tortured him for so many years that even his body had started to shrivel. I don’t believe he still has the power of a peak level twelfth-grade professional.” Betty paused, then sighed. “We should have killed him long ago!”
Caroline was silent. All three of them were at fault when it came to that. At the time, the scouts had found a secret deep within the Underground City, and they had all rushed to get there. It was then that they heard that the Riptide Regiment from Beitman was attacking Black Raven City, and Zaganide immediately left with only a few vague orders. By the time they remembered that they had left Guevara, it was too late.
“When did Guevara arrive?” Betty asked.
“A day before you did, Second Lady.”
“Then how…” Betty sounded confused.
“Second Lady, there is another extremely powerful professional following Raphael. The First Lady said he… might be the Left Hand of Darkness.”
“Gail?!” Betty blanked for a moment, then bitterly smiled. “Is that Raphael some kind of treasure? Why are there so many powerful professionals around him!”
