Monster King

Chapter 72 - Alone

-Casey's perspective-

I sat back against the sand that bordered the small pond and stared intently at Nova who rested in the water. The slow rise and fall of his chest moved me to ease. The healing salts that floated in the water thankfully were doing their job and I could just watch his wounds start to mend themselves back together. I took a quick glance back at the girl and saw Fred blocking her path from the blood. I didn't know what would happen if she ate.

I'd imagine if she got a taste she might begin to aggressively crave more. So I needed to be careful here. She was staring at the corpses much more intensely as time went on. I closed my eyes and sensed for Cupcake, who I managed to find skulking about the border. Thankfully she only found one wandering wolf, and they were dealt with swiftly.

It's funny, I thought seeing dead bodies again would freak me out. But it hasn't bothered me in the slightest. I reached up and wrapped my fingers around the necklace dad made for me. I hope everybody's okay. Just then, Nova's eyes opened up and he jolted from his spot in the pond and started to cough. I moved into the water and moved my arms around him. However, he immediately shoved me away.

"What's going on?" He coughed out. "Did they run away?"

"Not necessarily." I answered and sat up in the cool water. The healing salts making me slightly energetic. "You were jumped and I took down the last few. That wound on your back was gushing blood."

He growled and glared at the water. "You'd think after weeks of getting jumped by vampire I'd get used to it by now."

"Wait, this has been going on for weeks!?" I shrieked.

"Did you seriously think this was just luck you were here to help me or something? This has been almost daily." He groaned and started to rub his neck. "Granted, the Abrio Vampires are new, but it's not like I haven't seen vampires recently."

"But why?"

"People think I'm in a guild or something with your mate Nyx. So they assume I'm tryna become an Acolyte." He answered and stood up. "Plus, I killed the Lycan kings best friends a few months back. He wasn't pissed enough to come get me himself, but other wolves have been on me."

"Nova, you should really be sitting down." I insisted and stood up.

"Don't worry about it." He turned back to me. "Why did you help me? Even when I said don't?"

I looked back into his eyes. "Because I wasn't gonna just watch you die. I was useless before when you and Nyx needed me. And I'm done with that, with having regrets. I'm gonna be there for you, whether you like it or not."

His eyes went wide for a moment, then he relaxed again and turned away.

"Then don't get mad if you get hurt in the process." He said and walked over to the kid and Fred.

I got out of the water and walked over to the little girl with him. Nova sniffed the air and looked around. "Is that your Chupacabra?" He asked.

"Yeah, Cupcake is watching the bordy for us." I said.

He nodded. "That's smart, you can talk to the girl right? Can you find out if she has a home to go back to?"

I nodded and walked over to the little girl. While Nova grabbed her head and spun her around to me forcibly. She was biting her lip and looked extremely nervous.

'Is he gonna kill me?' She signed.

I smiled and shook my head. However, I remembered the moment Nova plunged his hand into that vampire's heart and ripped it out. As I thought it over some, the little girl was visibly getting concerned.