Cascading Empire

Chapter 26

               May was silent, panting in worry as her cold sweat dripped down the sides of her temples. "Mm.." She placed her hands on top of Callex's cold ones before pulling it down, her hands dropping to her side in one action. ".. Where's Saphire." The female's voice was extremely monotone but there was hidden wavering as her pupils shook in the darkness, the nightmare slowly approaching at the back of her mind over and over again. Callex sighed, brushing back his hair behind May. "Eric and Saphire is stuck in their room. I'm sure Eric has Saphire well protected." 

               "Fuck.. now these sound proof walls aren't of any help.." Saphire groaned, leaning to the back of her couch while tightly squeezing her eyes. While fighting with the hidden intruder, she had been grazed by a bullet on her shoulder, resulting in her dragging Eric into safety inside the room. Eric was worried but his eyes were wild, rage slowly eating him up inside. "Saphire, let's get you to May and Cale first.." Eric said, his eyes lowered with a little murderous glint in them while he focused on Saphire's bleeding shoulder. Her hand covered the wound while blood oozed out slowly down to her knuckles, before dripping down her fingernails and joining the puddle of blood on the floor beneath them. 

              "Yeah.. Let's go to them first. There's a hidden pathway in the walk-in closet. Hold on, I can help myself," Saphire rejected help as she used her right arm to lift herself up off the couch, and Eric immediately carried her bridal style. "Is it on top of the closet?" He asked and Saphire nodded, wriggling a bit in his grasp. He opened the door, glancing back to the one-sided glass and seeing the intruder wriggle the door knob a bit with a gun before dropping it completely and staring inside the room without knowing they could see him. 

              ".. I don't think.. that that someone is specifically someone who works inside this house. Maybe someone inside let him in but I don't think.. he works inside the house," Saphire said while Eric kicked open the door and continued, "If he did, he would've known that May and my bedroom have one-sided glass. Only we are able to see outside to the room, but someone who is outside will not be able to see inside." 

              Eric hummed before getting Saphire's ladder and looking up, seeing nothing on top of the wide cabinet top. ".. Where... is the hidden passage..?" Eric asked in confusion after a few seconds of silence and Saphire chuckled, before groaning in pain, cold sweat gradually rolling down her paling face as her blood soaked in to his cloths near his wrist. "It's a secret for a reason.." Eric's face dropped. 

               She really was still in the mood to joke around in this situation.. if she was to be killed she would probably laugh it off and ask them to kill her in a less painful way. 

                She groaned one more time before whispering to him, "It's on the bottom of the bookshelf.. just reach your hand underneath and touch the top right corner, and pull it towards you." Eric crawled a bit more before touching the bottom, and feeling nothing but smooth wood, before something dropped and he felt a handle. He gripped the handle and immediately pulled it towards him, the wall in front of him opening about a yard. 

                "Wow.. this is such a nice security system. What if someone accidentally touches it?" "They can't," Saphire let out a laugh as Eric began crawling through the hole, and a light lit up the rest of the hallway, "The machine remembers hand prints. I already put yours in the system along with Callex's." The door closed behind them silently without a sound as they turned to the left. "Stalker much?" Eric chuckled, clutching to Saphire gently as he began to walk down the stairs and was now able to start walking normally with his height. "I had to know about my future business partners okay.." Saphire pouted and Eric leaned down to kiss her forehead before continuing on. 

                 "Ow.. Eric, stop." Saphire commanded and Eric looked down alarmed before gently kneeling down and placing her softly to lean on the wall. He looked at the wound, seeing that it was much more than it had imagined. It seemed more like a intentional cut from the way the bullet completely went through the edge of her arm, resulting in a long wound. Saphire bit onto the edge of her cloth on her right hand before ripping it off with a little help from a concerned Eric, before beginning to wrap it messily. 

                 Eric watched in silence, completely infatuated and a bit angry before taking it silently and wrapped it nicely, tying it off with a nice knot. "There.. next time be more careful," He said sulkily and Saphire laughed, her face getting more pale as her eyes began to close. ".. Eric.." She mumbled, her eyes closed while her hands gripped onto Eric's. Eric hummed in reply. ".. Let's rest here for today. I lost too much blood.." Saphire said and Eric hummed quietly before holding her hand a bit tighter, watching the blood soak into the ripped cloth. "What's that square?" Eric asked all of the sudden and Saphire cracked open her eyes before her eyes sparkled a bit. "Oh yeah.." She giggled weakly, "We had first aid kits all over the house because we often get injured a lot and can't afford to go from the basement floor to the third floor all the time." 

               Eric laughed a little, rubbing her head while studying her face. She was smiling weakly, her eyes kind while infatuation was obvious in her eyes, with her long eyelashes adding charm to her already seductive eyes. Saphire's long hair wrapped around her shoulder, and while he adored her, she did the same. Saphire gazed into his kind eyes, seeing how obvious it was that he was slowly melting for her inside. His middle part was messy and his dark brown hair was a bit sweaty, along with his double eyelids and long lower eyelashes gazing gently at her. His thinner pale lips curved at the corner, revealing his tiny dimple at the side while his large, warm hands gently caressed the side of her head. "Just sleep," He said, closing his eyes as he rested his forehead on hers gently, "I'll take care of everything. Just rest for now.." 

               Hearing his purposely lowered voice, her conscious began to fade away, barely making out his last two words, "..Trust me."