Pride vs Prejudice

Chapter 13

"It's one of them" Ria muttered quickly, under her breath, without taking her eyes off the man in front of her. She wasn't going take the chance of being caught off-guard

Shiv looked around her, towards the man. He was a big man. The darkness in the courtyard and the light coming from the house accentuated his dark complexion. The man was wearing a white vest and white pajamas. He had gold chains around his neck. All in all, Shiv could guess why Ria was scared. The man did make a scary impression.

He walked around Ria, towards the man. Ria widened her eyes and pulled him back "What are you doing?"

Shiv sighed "Look calm down. Let me have a quick word with him"

"Have you lost your mind? We need to run away from here, not talk to him" Ria whispered urgently

"Stay here. I will handle this" Shiv told her calmly

"What do you mean handle this!" Ria exclaimed

"Ria! Butt out!" Shiv said firmly

Ria opened her mouth once, but then closed it. "Fine! See if I care if something happens to you"

"Thank you. That will be wonderful" Shiv said as he walked to the man

Ria stood rooted at the spot. A part of her wanted to rush off from there. Another part wanted to see if Shiv needed to be saved from himself.

Shiv spoke to the man for a few minutes. The man looked at her critically before going back to Shiv.

What the hell was Shiv talking about? What if he decided this wasn't worth it and handed her over to the goon? Why was the goon looking at her so weirdly? Could she really trust Shiv? He had helped her but could she really forget what he was like? Ria felt her head reel from the questions that were popping up.

"Come on" Shiv said, breaking her thoughts

"What?" Ria asked him, confused and apprehensive.

"We can use the night-watchman's room. The watchman is out today." Shiv told her plainly as he started to walk away

"And you agreed?" Ria asked following him cautiously

"He doesn't like us enough to give us his house and stay in that room himself, if that is what you are asking" Shiv said

"We are playing into their trap" Ria said walking besides him

"And what trap is that?" Shiv asked

"He is trying to be nice to us and once we go to the room, he will lock us in and then get the rest of his friends to attack us" Ria explained seriously

"Right" Shiv said rolling his eyes "And then I guess they will drug us like in those books and the movies and we will wake up to find them staring at us. Of course they would have tied us up before that, correct?" he asked shaking his head

"Fine! Joke about it. They will have the last laugh" Ria muttered

"Right, the evil laugh. How could I forget that?" Shiv commented

"You are going to regret it. He is one of them" Ria repeated again

Shiv could feel his headache coming back full force "Ria! Stop judging every book by its cover!" he snapped at her

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ria asked annoyed

God! She was infuriating! He couldn't do this. Not right now! There was a part of him that wondered if he could kill her, and save himself from reaching the point where he wanted to commit suicide; but he didn't want to be thrown in jail for her murder. Besides if he really wanted to die, there was an executioner, every ready to do the deed, back at home; why go to lady Dracula?