We last read Chapter 27, in which Mavis Ladair a.k.a. Red Fang successfully makes it back to Romania's shoreline after escaping from Prince Boripedes's island.....while still carrying an incapacitated Garson over her shoulder the entire time due to the sheer intensity of the adrenaline coursing through her. Upon reaching the sand, she collapses from exhaustion—and Garson alongside her—and she attempts to get Garson back up. Initially unsuccessful, she persuades him to awaken after teasing that she won't be paying for the couple's evening snacks, which immediately jolts him back up as she had expected. Mavis is then quick to update Garson on what happened under Prince Boripedes's island since he got knocked out, from the revelation that Prince Boripedes is Mavis's alleged uncle to the prince's attempts to both lure her to his side and lie with her, much to Garson's deep anger and Mavis's immense unsettlement. The pair resolve to head back to the Vermillion Enclave and confront Mavis's father, Lord Balfort Ladair, about Prince Boripedes's existence and why the former supposedly hid the latter from Mavis for countless years, at which point they both pull themselves to their feet and resume moving.
Meanwhile, Prince Boripedes recovers from being defeated by Mavis, and Virulis reveals itself once again, remarking on how its "master" has apparently been injured. However, Prince Boripedes merely shrugs it off and instructs Virulis to bring the Bloodstone to him.....before effortlessly using its magic capabilities to heal his burned skin within a matter of seconds. Virulis then suggests giving chase to the fleeing Mavis and Garson.....but Prince Boripedes rejects this offer, confident that the couple will return to them in due time.
This time, on the way back to the Enclave, Mavis and Garson—like Lily and Theo before them—discuss another unrelated recent event in which Garson was also incapacitated, though that one was a much scarier time indeed.....
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-Vermillion Enclave Outskirts, Vermillion Enclave, Transylvania-
"Come on, dragul meu (dear)! We are almost there!" Mavis Ladair said to her husband Garson as they exited the wooded overgrowth surrounding the Enclave and began closing the remaining distance between them and the vampire sanctuary. "It will likely not be too long now!"
However, Garson looked visibly shaken from his recent experience at Prince Boripedes's island, specifically about how he had gradually felt more and more fatigued after consuming Boripedes's dinner before falling unresponsive entirely. He didn't quite know that Prince Boripedes himself was responsible for his incapacitation, but it looked like he had been afflicted with PTSD and was having an episode right that second; on top of that, he was falling significantly behind Mavis, as though there was something distracting him.
Without hesitation, Mavis doubled back and checked on him.
"Is everything quite all right?" she asked him softly. "We can stop and recover for a bit."
"No....." Garson declined. "I.....I'm fine."
He tried to continue advancing forward, but kept having brief and horrifying flashbacks to a different point in the Vermillion Enclave's history; one where he had also been forced into an unconscious state by some outside force. Ultimately, he couldn't bring himself to keep going for the time being, and he sat down against the thick stump of a tree to gather his bearings.
"That does not look like 'all right' to me," Mavis lightly snarked before sitting down near him as well. "We are not moving until you feel okay to do so. Until then, you simply must tell me what is on your mind."
YOU ARE READING
Red Fang II
Vampire~PARAGON CINEMATIC UNIVERSE: PHASE 3, BOOK 3~ *This novel serves as the 3rd novel of Phase 3 and a sequel to "Red Fang".* "My brother was weak. He favored optimism over realism.....when deep down, he KNEW that wasn't how the world worked. Am I suppo...
