Chapter 172 - Little Brother- Part 1

Every time Belle turned to look at Baltimore, his eyes would be looking in front of them but when she moved her own eyes to look at the front, the path that was there in front of her, she could feel the man's eyes moving back to her. It was unnerving and Belle didn't know what to do in the current situation but take this Grim back home. 

In haste, she had left the mansion to find out if she was Evelyn as they looked same, and indeed it was true. Belle had died and had been reborn in a time where the fate of stars was going to take part in stopping the black witches. Neither did Belle nor Lucas knew about it, and if it weren't for her ability to see death and look into the past, she would have never come to know about the truth of what happened decades ago. 

"It is unsafe to walk in the middle of the night. Especially for a girl like yourself," on Baltimore's comment, Belle turned to look at him. A look of displeasure with the choice of his words. If he thought Belle was a shy girl who would flutter her eyelashes as others did and talk sweetly, then he was gravely mistaken. 

"Excuse me?" Belle raised both her eyebrows, "A girl like me?" she stopped walking, ready to drop and dismiss the man from following her back home. 

Baltimore chuckled, "Not in a bad way."

"Which way were you speaking?" she asked him, "Do not think girls are weak, Sir. At least not me."

"Of course," Baltimore agreed, "I never said you are weak but there are things that lurk outside. People have a lot of tricks up their sleeve, you never know what will happen," he waved his hand for her to continue walking.

"It feels like you're warning me," Belle said, starting to walk and Baltimore joined next to her, "I might not be as strong as you are with your capabilities but I am sure I can hold my ground," better than compared to her past where one of the Grim's had killed her with little to no sympathy.

"My apologies if you found my words to be rude," though Baltimore gave his words to apologize, Belle felt zero concern coming from him, "Where do you live?" he asked her. 

"Two villages from here," she answered him. 

He gave her a questioning look, "That is a long journey. You must have been in great urgency to fetch and receive help from the church. Have you no carriage in your mansion?" What a nosy reaper this one was, thought Belle to herself. 

"I do. I didn't want to wake up my coachman and like you said I didn't think, I just wanted some assurance. But I think he will be alright. After all, which vampire falls sick and dies, isn't it?" Belle asked. And the next moment, she decided to ask him the questions instead of being asked, "Where do you live?"

"I live in the town we just left now."

Belle gave him a nod before asking, "Didn't you say you were passing by the church and town?" she looked at the man, the distance between them still big where three people could fit.

"I did?" Baltimore asked, slightly surprised as he recollected on what he had said to father Connor. 

"Yes," Belle nodded her head, trying to confuse and get the answer from the man.

Baltimore smiled, "I doubt I said that. I think you must have misheard my words. I needed some air from my house and was passing by the church."

"I see," she responded back, looking around them which was filled with quietness. The villagers were asleep and there was still time before the tower bell would ring. Belle realized that evading this reaper was not possible anymore and she would have to go through it. When she saw a raven perched on the tree before flying away, she felt a calmness in her heart. 

That was undoubtedly Lucas' bird. 

At least she didn't have to worry about being attacked and being dragged into woods. But then, this reaper was interested in seeing where she lived and she could tell he would search for a little boy. Belle wondered if she should make lies that her brother ran away from the mansion while she had left to see the assurance of help from the church. 

"Tell me," the reaper started to have Belle's attention, "When did your brother fall sick? How long has it been?"

A vampire couldn't fall sick out of the blue. Their body was built with good immunity. The Grim reaper who brought sickness was needed but he was supposed to have gone missing. At that time, Belle wondered why a reaper was humouring her unless he knew the people who had fallen from their positions in the land of the dead. 

No reaper had free time to go chat with a person like her, but then, did he perhaps smell something familiar on her which was why he was following her home. She had tried to refuse him but she found it hard to give a firm no. 

If something went wrong, Lucas could always put the reaper in another stuffed toy that was in her room. That's right and with that thought, she answered the question he had asked, 

"It has been a few weeks. It started very slow," she said, trying to remember when the maid had died who was infected by Barron, "He will be fine," and Baltimore gave her a nod. 

The Grim reaper was older than her to know when a person was lying. She might be an excellent lier but he could sense something under that tone of hers. When they reached the gates of the mansion, Baltimore commented,

"What a lavish-looking mansion. I feel like I have been here before."

"You have? I doubt I have seen you before," Belle's reply was quick and the reaper's eyes looked at the girl. This one was indeed not someone easy to fool as she happened to cross-question with her statements, thought Baltimore to himself.