To His Hell and Back
Chapter 54: Hungry Creatures-II

Chapter 54: Hungry Creatures-II

When he had lifted his head to look at the pitch black sky, the moon had disappeared, engulfed by the clouds that were gray and dense. Cassius was used to the darkness, but usually, he wasn’t accompanied by a clumsy human girl who kept falling behind on her steps. She was more sluggish than usual, her hands rubbing to her knees that was a little scratched.

Arabella, who had seen him walking too fast, spoke up, "Where did you go earlier?"

"Somewhere, you aren’t usually curious," he answered her and she furrowed her eyebrows.

"What do you mean? I am always curious," she then brushed his words, running to walk side by side, "Was it about this town? I don’t know why but ever since we entered, I have this feeling as if we are being watched, don’t you agree?

Cassius turned behind him, narrowing his eyes as he tilted his head slightly while watching over her, "Do you always get this talkative the more you’re scared?"

She frowned, "This is how I usually am... but maybe whenever I’m scared... just a little? But it’s not odd that I ask you questions, don’t you agree?" She didn’t look at his eyes and took the lead of walking this time. "We have to finish this quickly and find what you needed to search so I could go back and see my sister."

Cassius stepped his feet again to the ground, When he exhaled, white haze appeared from his mouth, and he stared at Bella, who was walking in front of him, hands on her back as she trailed off, leading him with the scent of blood. When he walked by the well, his eyes shifted to it faintly before turning back to the Arabella walking in front of him.

"Don’t you think it is weird?" Arabella spoke up again. She looked around the place, feeling the oddness that she had found since earlier. "Everything is too dark. I know that usually when it’s dark, everyone would blow their candles out, but they would usually put out the torches in front of their house in case of emergency, but all there are so many torches that aren’t lit up as if... there is no one inside at all."

Cassius doesn’t say anything. Crossing his arms. he also noticed this from a long time ago.

"This place feels abandoned," Arabella whispered, though even speaking felt like an intrusion in the silence.

Cassius finally spoke, his voice low, measured. "No. Not abandoned." His gaze swept over the empty street, the shuttered windows, the doors that remained tightly closed. "This isn’t neglect. It’s fear."

Arabella stiffened, his words sinking into her bones like ice. "Fear of what?"

A breeze stirred, carrying with it the faintest scent of something acrid: burnt wax, old blood, decay masked by time.

Cassius turned to her, his golden eyes gleaming like a predator’s in the dark. "That," he murmured, tilting his head slightly.

Arabella followed his gaze and froze.

She could see what he pointed to. Down the street, at the very edge of the darkness, a single torch flickered to life, the flame weak and unsteady, as though struggling against the very air around it.

And then, a shadow moved.

Not like a person stepping forward, but something shifting within the darkness itself, something watching them.

Arabella’s breath hitched. "Cassius..."

"I see it," he said, his voice quieter now but laced with something dangerously close to intrigue.

The shadow remained still for a long moment. And then, with unnatural ease, it slithered back into the blackness, vanishing as if it had never been there at all.

The torch sputtered and died.

The street fell into absolute silence once more.

Arabella took a step closer to Cassius, her fingers brushing his sleeve. "We need to leave."

Cassius doesn’t move immediately. Instead, he exhaled, slow and deliberate, before his lips curled into the faintest smirk.

"Oh, birdie," he murmured, eyes still locked on where the shadow had been. "Now, why would we do that? We are so close to the truth. Didn’t you say that we need to finish this so we could see Ariel?"

"That’s true but-" she fearfully retreated behind him, "It’s too dangerous. What if-"

"What if-"

"Cassius!"

Before he could continue her words with a grin, Bella had seen the shadows moving toward them and alerted him. Almost instantly, Cassius raised his hand, catching the moving shadow, which turned out to be a human man’s neck.

The man was as thin as a kite, as if his skin was sticking to his bones, leaving not even a small inch of flesh underneath his body. His veins crawled all over his limbs, crawling up from his neck to his face until it centered around his eyes, which had turned milky white. His mouth drips with drool, and in disgust, Cassius, who has taken enough look of him, throws him across the ground, causing the man to be knocked on the wall, which then shatters into a large hole.

"Ew," he commented as if something had slithered around his knees, which made him utterly disgusted.

He looked at his palms, that was slightly wet, and brushed them aside.

"W-What was that?" Bella let out a yelp as she looked at the human who had been thrown across the floor to slowly lift his body again.

"A failed experimentation," Cassius concluded. That wasn’t enough information, but it was enough for him to make a some kind of guess.

He was in war for such a long time that he had seen many things. It had started with humans who had the power akin to vampires, and then people who could use magic and called themselves as witches, sorcerers, or enchantress. Each of them was able to use the power of magic or potion that could change the course of nature in exchange for something.

Their power stems from the supernatural, but he was never scared of it, knowing well that he himself is a part of that "supernatural" creature.

"A failed experimentation?" Bella squeaked, confused. She doesn’t know what he meant, "Of whose?"

"The one who had slipped into this town, the one who had demanded for vampires, and maybe the same person who had been distributing potions all over Versailles in hope of turning vampires against each other," Cassius rubbed his palms down his shirt, clicking his tongue, "Seems like they have more companies with them."

When Bella’s green eyes followed him, she was taken aback to see that there was more of the same thirsty creature that had stepped out from the darkness between the pitch black house. As if that wasn’t enough, there were more of them crawling on all fours on the top of the roof.

"They’re all here."

"Get behind him," he demanded and when he reached out his hand, black liquid dripped from his palms. However, it didn’t drop down to the ground, instead, it rose up, materializing into his sword. "Don’t move at all costs."

Bella didn’t know what had happened, but she nodded eagerly, holding her hands together as she squeezed her eyes shut, peeking through her lashes slightly to see the creatures that had launched forward as if they had just seen the perfect dish for their hungriest stomach.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.