The Duke's Passion

759  The night of the regression III

A part of Florence wished Rufus would save her for once. In her heart, even though she was angry at him, she hoped he would value her in times like this. She was his empress and he must've known that despite being a vampire, Florence… was scared of many things.

Her heart stopped beating as the footsteps came closer, and it dropped to her stomach, almost jumping when the doors of the closet flew open. With shaking, wide eyes, she gazed at the man looking down at her dangerously. Right then and there, her brain went blank as her entire body was frozen on the spot. She knew this man. This man… claimed her lips without her consent. He was that person who pressed all her buttons and got away with a smile. He had this smile on his face that looked so annoying for reasons she couldn't understand. However, that smile was absent. All she could see was a man with blood on his face. His clothes, although she didn't pay attention, were also soaking with nothing but blood. He reeked of blood and death. Turning her stomach in a way, she felt like throwing up.

Three seconds… that was just how long since their eyes met, but for her, it felt like it was over three days. The dread that felt like gnawing under her skin reached her heart, clenching it tightly until she couldn't breathe. Her mouth fell open, about to let out a loud scream. But alas, just as her lips parted, a bloody hand grabbed half of her lower face. Her eyes instantly went huge as her screams were shoved back down her throat, nearly choking her. Fabian placed a finger in front of his lips wordlessly, staring deep into her shaking, wide eyes. His finger still had fresh blood.

"Quiet," he whispered, making her gulp nervously. "If you want to live, then don't make a sound. Understood?"

Tears shone in her eyes, nodding out of fear at this guy. There were many questions in her head, and one of them was: 'would he kill me?' Fabian was Rufus's brother, but it looked like this man was the villain and not the hero. Fabian's eyelids drooped as a dangerous glint flickered across his eyes. He stared at her for several seconds before withdrawing his hand from her mouth. "I told you." He smirked. "I will visit you tonight."

Her brows rose, watching him straighten his back. Before she could say or even think what he meant by that, Fabian hushed and closed the closet. 'What's going on?' she wondered, still shaking uncontrollably. Her question was answered soon as she heard more footsteps and then followed by the sound of woods breaking and porcelain shattering. Florence instinctively covered her mouth to muffle her screams, flinching when a loud thud came from the entrance of the closet. It was as though something landed on it. Even so, she kept quiet as instructed. No matter how terrified she was at the noises outside and the increasing scent of blood.

When the noises subsided, Florence gazed at the shut door in dread. She flinched once more when it flew open, revealing the familiar butler. This time, there was more blood on him and she didn't know if all of that blood was from the enemies or his. Fabian bent over, planting a hand on top of her head. "Good girl," he praised while patting her head. For some reason, Florence felt slightly reassured. There was something in his pats that soothed the dread in her heart. It was ironic that Fabian terrified her right now, but also, her instinct told her he wouldn't hurt her. "What's going on?" she asked, barely forcing a voice out of her throat. Fabian arched a brow and glanced over his shoulder. He slowly retrieved his hand from her head, scanning her silently. "I… don't know," he answered. "Do you?"

"How can you not know?" her voice cracked, clutching her hand even tighter. "How can you not know?" Fabian returned the question to her with genuine wonder in his voice. "I simply came here since I told you 'it will happen again,' but apparently, you had… visitors."

"What?" Fabian narrowed his eyes as he caught the crumpled paper in her tight grip. He raised a hand, clipping the end of the paper in between his fingers.

"Can I?" he glanced up at her.

"This…" Florence clutched the paper tighter, but giving him the benefit of the doubt, she reluctantly let go. As Fabian straightened out the paper, she squeezed herself inside the closet as if she wanted to become one with it. "Hm… interesting." Fabian rocked his head in understanding, folding the parchment, and handed it back to her. "You received this…?"

"Just now." Her answer was quick with a tinge of panic. "I don't understand and I haven't… I haven't processed the context well when I smelled the scent of blood."

Florence lowered her head and snuck a look at him. Her brows furrowed, seeing him narrow his eyes as if he was mulling about something. "Is there… do you know something about it?" she blurted out when over ten seconds had passed and he was still silent.

"No… but some things I heard from those nightwalkers seem to make more sense now." He breathed out, snapping his sharp eyes ever so tenderly. He then offered his hand to her. "We should go, You."

Florence held her breath as her teeth clenched, gazing at his hand which was still dripping with blood. Her brows furrowed. "You're injured?" she looked up, wide-eyed.

"We should go," he repeated, this time stressing his remarks. "But —" Florence bit her tongue and clutched his hand. When she loosened her grip, she clasped his hand and allowed him to assist her out of the closet. To her surprise, the second she laid her eyes upon her chambers, multiple corpses were scattered on the floor. Blood had tainted the broken walls and floor, severed flesh everywhere she looks, and just a complete disaster. Florence covered her mouth as her stomach turned, feeling sick at the sight she wasn't ready to behold. Noticing this, Fabian snapped a finger in front of her to get her attention. When she looked up at him, he asked;

"Do you need a distraction?" "What…?" her eyes went wide as he suddenly bent over. Florence held her breath, frozen on the spot, inhaling his deep breaths that were hitting her upper lip. "Do you need a distraction?" he repeated; his face and lips were only an inch apart from hers. "No – no."

"How unfortunate." Fabian drew his head back, smiling until his eyes were squinting. "Now, shall we?"