Hung by chains

17. The slide back

Once the window was shut, Solace gripped the stones of the wall strongly and started her way back into her room. Her hands chafed by the rough bricks, she sometimes let one hand go to shake the pain off once the rest of her limbs were stable. She passed by Kasvald's room window. The room was now empty. It was spacious, and when taking a closer look, one could see that his bookshelves were full of dark romance books. Something about the room called to Solace, as if it had to be discovered, and soon.

Sadly though, the doorknob twisted, so she hurried onto the other side of the window. She was not one to fuck around and find out.

"Nope! Nope. Nope!" Solace thought to herself, trying to go as fast as possible. She finally reached her room window. She tried to enter, but she saw something emerge from the shadows. Solace quickly tried to get inside, but tripped almost fell to her death. By some sort of miracle, someone caught her, and that someone was:

"'Daijah?!" gasped Solace, still quietly enough to not be noticed, knowing that they'd be in far more danger if she were to alert the other vampires.

Esvidaijah smirked confidently through the struggle, his grip strong yet careful. Solace grabbed onto his arm and pulled herself up with ease. When they finally collapsed inside the room, they both tried to catch their breath. Solace from the shock, and Esvidaijah from the strain.

She looked up from the ground and at the man who saved her with confusion.

"Why are you here? It's very dangerous!" she exhaled.

"I... had to... hah..." he panted. "I saw you going... to that woman's room, and... I had to talk to you... hah..."

Solace's eyes widened: did she say something she shouldn't have? Did she possibly put them all in danger?! What went wrong?!!

The woman gulped "W-well... what is it?"

Esvidaijah incorporated himself once his breathing was regular once more.

"Solace... you do realize that you sneaking out the window is insanely dangerous? Not only because you could've fallen to your death, but also because, if you were to get caught, all guests would be suffering the consequences."

Solace looked down, before realizing what Esvidaijah implied.

"Wait..." she mused. "So... the vampires will get punished too?"

The dark haired man nodded. "During the two weeks the Gursif preparation lasts, anyone who transgresses the rules, regardless if they know of them or not, will be severely punished. Information about their horrors mustn't reach the outside world. Were it to happen, everyone involved would die."

"God damn it..." Solace muttered under her breath, massaging the bridge of her nose. Why did it always have to have something to do with death?

"SOLACE?! OPEN THIS DAMNED DOOR!!" shouted Kasvald from outside the room while banging on the door, startling both Solace and Esvidaijah. "WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?! I HEARD YOU TALKING TO SOMEONE!!"

Shit shit shit shit shit! Solace had to evacuate Esvidaijah. She looked back to where he was supposed to be. It was empty, while the window was open. She quickly scrammed to shut it before opening the door.

Kasvald barged in, shoving Solace away to examine the room. She used her arms to break the fall. The reflex caused some pain, but it was a small price to pay to not hit her head.

He started turning the entire room upside down. Solace watched with horror as the man ravaged the room, checking every single spot, even if it lacked sense for a person to be there, with frenzy. The violence in his movements hid something other than rage, something sadder. Despair, distress even. It felt as though he was hoping to find what he wanted to be there. He threw, smashed, and even disassembled many objects in the room with such a loathing Solace had only seen when she told him he was trying to manipulate her. He crouched down to check under the bed, wiggling his way underneath as if a simple glance wasn't enough to know if there was someone under the bed.

Just as Solace was about to snap out of the initial shock, seeing how ridiculous he looked writhing to reincorporate himself out of the bed, Vexx arrived.

"Kasvald?! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" He reprimanded the auburn haired man, concealing his true intentions perfectly: to distract him and divert the attention from the two women he had formed an alliance with as much as possible. Kasvald knocked his head with the bed and squirmed out, sitting on his knees and glaring at Vexx. Dust and lint rested within his red locks, on his face and shoulders..

"Weren't you supposed to be downstairs?!" He accused. "I can handle a pair of pests on my own, why don't you fulfill your duty for once?!" He hissed.

They both glared at each other for a moment, until finally, Kasvald scoffed and got up, glaring at Solace while he walked to the door, as if to threaten her. When he finally turned his lint-covered back on Solace, he stopped in front of Vexx, glaring down at him. Vexx glared back. After a few seconds of what could only be described as a moment of reproaches from the past through defiant glowers laced with a hint of sadness, Kasvald stomped away, almost crushing the floor beneath him with the sheer force of his steps. Before disappearing from her line of vision, Vexx lets a small vial full of a green liquid fall from his pocket and looks Solace directly in the eyes for a mere second.

After a moment of stun, Solace scrammed to the door and shut it with a heaving chest. She then picked up the vial and investigated it. It was nothing like she had ever seen before, but it smelt strongly through the cork. A clammy and cold feeling invaded her, and the realization hit: this had to do with the fog she found her first day at the mansion.

Her knees started to buckle and quake as she realized this. But why? She had only found a connection, not seen a mutilated corpse.

Why was she so afraid?

Was it the liquid that caused this?

She inspected the vial and found a small label stuck to it. It wrote: "ξόρκι του σωτήρα"

Luckily, since she used to know Latin from being at the church, she learned some Greek as well when she was younger (the two were languages with a history that interlaced in ancient rome). She barely managed to decipher the writing. It read "Savior's spell" in a Greek that seemed as if it were taken from Google Translate.

This must have some sort of connection to Soja-gif and Anthem's deal to save the Haki-jazz legacy... or whatever their names were. It wasn't easy to remember so many complicated names.

Solace then thought about how, no matter the time of day, Scaffold and Cascade would go on with their normal activities. If they could be given immortality, then that must mean that protecting them from sunlight mustn't be impossible. And if they kept the vials on them, like Vexx did, it must mean that they must have at least one vial per vampire. It could also mean the vampires took it periodically, but that still didn't have enough evidence to be supported.

Judging by her reaction to having merely inhaled its scent, it must have some sort of side effect of the individuals, as if Soja- the deity with a far too complicated name was influencing the beliefs of the consumer.

"..."

"OH MY GOD. IT INFLUENCES BOTH THE VAMPIRES AND HUMANS." Solace thought to herself, the pieces snapping into place at last. That's why everyone was so on the edge about Hakashim: since she was the one in charge, she must be the one to administer it!

If both the vampires and humans were being drugged, then that meant more people needed saving.

And she had to act quickly, for the simple reason that...

...The Gursif was in two days.

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HOLY MOLY MACARONI ARE THE STAKES HIGH HERE. And I'm not only talking about the story, I have very little time to finish writing. WISH ME LUCK!!!