Love & Loss

Chapter 49

He ran.

Slamming my door in a panic, he bolted into the hallway.

I was just about to finish what he started before a small hand took hold on my wrist.

The sound of the door slamming must have woken her up.

I looked down to see her eyes wide in unsurety and question.

The fact that I was basically halfway off of the bed and that my pupils matched a serpent's probably didn't aid in any comfort to her already shaken state.

Placing my hand over hers I spoke the only words that I could think of given the current situation.

"I'll be right back. Stay here."

Within a second, I was on the other side of my door, only stopping to hear the click of the door locking before beginning my hunt.

I just barely saw the boy run left before the door shut so that's where I began.

I ran at a normal pace, knowing that I could still easily catch up to him at this pace and that I needed to look carefully for any signs of him changing direction.

Having already experienced the sting of him nullifying his scent, my sense of smell was basically disabled for a few moments and I couldn't catch on to anything to follow.

So I had to rely on other things.

Judging by his panic, I doubted his escape route was going to be well executed.

That became even more clear with the evident shoe-skids on the marble floor.

Whoever he was, he was running for his life.

And for good reason.

In all honesty, I wasn't completely sure what I was going to do to him after some very heavy questioning.

I guess it'll depend on what he has to say to me

My planning was cut short as I turned the corner to a dead end and he wasn't there.

That fact didn't confuse me as much as the fact that there were signs showing me that he was here or at least that he had been within the last 15 seconds at best.

The only means he could have possibly had at escaping was the vent that sat on the wall.

There's no way he actually-

My thoughts stopped dead in their tracks the moment I spotted something.

A small part of the floor was raised slightly form the rest of it.

I very quickly recalled it as the intricate system of transport that my father installed on this floor and his floor almost three centuries ago.

It was designed for the slaves to get to the main areas of this floor by means of narrow hallways that were built underground or in-between the walls.

It was meant for faster transporting on the slave's behalf and an overall safer way to get around during the blood moons.

But the idea was abandoned decades years before Xander and I moved out, and I thought that the initial entrances were sealed.

Whoever this was wasn't even close to being born the last time this system was even mentioned.

How the hell does he know about it, let alone know how it works?

I tuned into my ears, figuring that this would be the best way to find him.

However, when I heard the sound of my door unlocking again my instincts nearly completely took over.