Veronica and Terros faces broke with excitement They looked at the leader of the leaves in great anticipation.
Elva smiled brightly. "Excellent! Where is that place? Take us there!" she said excitedly.
"Um... there's a problem goddess..." the leader said.
"What is the problem?" Elva asked..
"The place where we found Lord Graven's scent was located in an abandoned warehouse. It's more like big barn, we found a coffin inside, his scent originated from that coffin. We checked the box it was half open but there was no body inside," the leader said.
Elva's brows furrowed and looked at her companions. "They found a coffin with Graven's scent but without the body? That's weird! We should check the place now!" she told them.
"Agree," Terros replied.
"Can I come along?" Veronica requested.
"Sure! Wait for me here, I'll get something from my room before we head to that place," Elva said and went back to the house.
Veronica saw Terros's happy face. "We're going to find Graven, soon!" she said in a thrilled voice.
"Let's hope for the best!" Terros said happily. "By the way, what is the condtion of Luke's body as of today?" he asked.
"His body is still fine, nourished by Elva's powerful medecine. We take care of him everyday," Veronica replied.
"Thank you," Terros said. "I wonder where is Luke's spirit right now?"
"I hope he didn't perish together with the castle," Veronica said.
Terros sighed, they were so focused on finding Graven, they have almost forgotten that Luke's spirit was also missing. "I hope Luke's spirit is alright somehow," he said.
When Elva returned to the terrace, she was already wearing a black flowing cloak together with a mask covering her face. She handed the same attire to Veronica and Terros. "If this is a trap, then it's better to hide our faces," she said.
Terros gave Elva a thumb up and donned the black cloak along with the face mask.
Veronica donned the black attire as well.
A few minutes later, they're ready to go.
Elva addressed the leaves. "Take us to the place!" she ordered.
"Aye, goddess!" the leader of the leaves replied.
A few minutes later, Elva and her entourage arrived at the one-hectare farm. They landed on the grassy ground in front of the barn. The wooden structure was surrounded by trees in all directions.
The front door was padlocked.
The leader of the leaves leads them to the back where a small door was located. The rest of the leaves surrounded the barn just in case someone comes along.
Elva and her entourage scanned the surrounding area.
"I saw the coffin inside," the leader of the leaves said.
Terros grasped the doorknob and opened the door.
They stepped inside.
They roamed their eyes around the area. The interior of the barn was filled with sacks of hay and nothing else.
Then they saw the coffin in the middle, they rushed towards it.
Terros removed the lid and placed it on the ground.
Elva and Veronica stared at the empty coffin.
"I can smell Graven's scent emanating from the coffin. How about you girls?" he asked.
"Yes, I can smell Graven's scent as well!" Elva confirmed.
"Me too!" Veronica spoke.
"I can declare with 100% certainty that Graven had stayed in this coffin for at least a day," Terros said.
Elva nodded her head. "Yeah, But who owns this barn and this land?" she asked.
"The owner of this property probably hides Graven's body," Veronica said.
Terros nods his head in agreement. "I will investigate further about this issue," he said.
"Let's find out what happened to Graven," Elva said. She waved her hand and chanted a spell.
A moment later, the magical book floated in the air.
Elva addressed the mystical book.
"Magical Book show me what happened here and to this coffin in the past few days," Elva ordered.
The pages of the book began flipping on their own.
A few moments later... the vision appeared.
They saw men wearing black cloaks putting the coffin in the middle, they let the lid open halfway then left afterward.
The book suddenly stopped showing the vision and vanished from their sight.
Elva sighed.
Unsatisfied, Veronica asked, "That's all?"
"Yup!" Elva replied. "It seemed the coffin is not originally from here. As we can see in the vision, those people brought the coffin inside the barn and put in the middle. It's either they dumped the coffin here because it's no longer needed or they intentionally put it here to lure anyone that is looking for Graven. And what is their purpose in doing so? I have no idea..." she said.
Terros can feel something is not right. She looked at the ladies. "Girls, go back now to the Windless Mountain, before we alert the one who set this up," he said.
"How about you?" Elva asked.
"I'll remain here for a few minutes, trying to analyze where they have taken Graven's body. I'll return to the Windless Mountain after I'm done here," Terros said.
"Okay, be careful! I'll leave the leaves here to accompany and assist you just in case someone will come along and harm you," Elva said.
Terros nods his head.
The women looked at each other.
"Let's go!" Elva said.
A few seconds later, Elva and Veronica vanished from the area.
Terros looked at the leaves. "Surround the whole barn and alert me right away if you see people coming to this place," he ordered.
The leaves obeyed and immediately left the area, exiting through the door.
Terros began pacing back and forth inside the barn. He began checking the hay hoping to discover anything that can help him in finding Graven's body.
A few minutes passed.
Still nothing...
He took a deep breath. He's not really expecting to find Graven's body lying somewhere in the barn. Whoever ordered the coffin to be dumped here already hidden Graven's body somewhere.
Then out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something darting behind the sack of hay. He ran after it and saw the black rabbit hiding behind the sack. He no longer pursued it, he was about to go back to the coffin when suddenly the ground beneath him shook and opened up, swallowing him whole.
Terros fell into the rabbit's hole, he landed on the ground below filled with hay. Two men wearing a black cloak and mask on their faces, threw a brown powder on his face, producing a foul smell so nauseating it rendered him unconscious after a few seconds of inhaling the powder.
The two men covered Terros's body with a black garment and put him in a makeshift wooden stretcher then took him away.
...
~Vampire Couple's Manor~
Sylvia and Nathan were enjoying the afternoon breeze on the porch when one of the men approached their location and halted on his tracks a few meters away.
"Madam, I have something to report to you," he said.
Sylvia stood up and went to the guys' side. "What is it?"
"We caught a big fish in the barn," the guy replied.
"Ah, okay. Where is the fish now?" Sylvia asked.
"In the underground, Madam," the guy responded.
"Alright, bring the fish here and put him in one of the rooms in the basement. Put the fish in the room # 5. After you're done putting him in the room, inform me right away," Sylvia ordered.
"Aye, Madam!" the guy said and took his leave.
Sylvia returned to the porch and lowered herself on the chair facing her son.
"I heard you mentioned about fish, mother? What is that about? Are you going to put a fish in the basement?" Nathan asked curiously.
Sylvia laughed aloud, amused by her son's innocent question. "No, of course not. We caught something... but not really a fish. You wanna see it?" she asked.
"Yes! I want to know what kind of fish your men caught, Mother," Nathan said.
"Okay, they will bring the fish into one of the rooms in the basement in a few minutes. I'll bring you to the room so that you can see the fish," Sylvia said.
Silence enveloped them.
The other day, Sylvia instructed her men to bring the coffin somewhere as bait. She had a nagging feeling that the guy who refused to wake up had families that are already looking for him everywhere.
If her grandfather had chosen the guy's body to use as a vessel in his great comeback then she has to protect the body and preserve it for his grandfather's returned to this era. She wants to meet the relatives of the unconscious body.
Are they a threat to her family? Or she doesn't need to worry about them.
She was curious about his origin.
A few minutes later.
The man returned.
"Madam, the fish is already inside the room tied securely to the chair. He's still unconscious until now," the guy said.
"Okay, I'll see him," Sylvia said and rose to her feet and looked at her son. "Are you still interested to see the fish, son?" she asked.
"Yes, Mother," Nathan replied and stood up.
"Alright, let's go!" Sylvia said.
They left the porch and entered the house. They opened the door near the living room and descended the stairs leading to the basement.
Their feet finally landed on the ground. They continue walking towards room #5. The two men guarding the room opened the door.
Sylvia and Nathan entered the room.
They walked towards the guy sitting on the chair in the corner, a black cloth covered his face, his feet and hands were tied securely to the chair, preventing any chance of escape.
They stood in front of the prisoner.
"This is the fish that I mentioned to you earlier, son," Sylvia said.
Nathan removed the cloth from the guy's face. He flinched inwardly after seeing the prisoner's face.
Sylvia stared at the old man bound to the chair. "I wonder who is this person?" she asked.