Chapter 170

170 A Slip-Up

The young man, however, kept on denying the fact that he was a spy sent from Xanmar.

“Please! I am telling you that we are not spies.” That man crawled on his fours and fell on the vampire soldier’s feet.

He grabbed that vampire’s leg and literally begged for mercy, “We are the villagers. We’ve been living in Sorvando for generations. You cannot do this to us! You cannot misuse your powers on innocent and powerless humans.”

The woman was by now choking so badly that she could barely breathe. She was kicking her legs on the ground and was trying to scratch that vampire’s wrist in order to get out of his hold, but to no avail.

No matter how much he pleaded, it didn’t look like that vampire was going to let go of his friend.

That man couldn’t bear to hear his friend gasping for air and fighting for her life. “I told you we are just villagers!” he screamed at the top of his lungs and dug his teeth into that vampire’s hard skin.

However, all he did was barely put his saliva on that vampire’s trousers and did nothing more than anger that soldier even further.

“You filthy animal!” that soldier left his grip on the woman and instead pushed that man back to the ground and strangled him. He gritted his teeth and furiously roared at that man, “You know that I am the one with power here. Spit out the facts, or you two will be nothing more than mere casualties if you keep this up.”

The young man’s eyes looked all big and red as if they were going to pop out of his head at any second now. His friend was busy coughing and catching her breath, and wasn’t able to fight for him at all.

.....

“Calm down, Scott!” Commander Jasper leisurely walked towards the area where that struggle was happening.

The man thought that he was going to be saved when he heard a mature voice, probably someone from a higher rank, asking his oppressor to calm down. However, his hopes of surviving crashed underwater when he heard what that man said next.

“Don’t kill them the wrong way. If you are going to kill them, why not enjoy their blood first?”

Scott looked into that struggling man’s bulging eyes and gave an evil smirk. He loosened his grip around that man’s neck and said to his commander, “You’re right, commander. It would be a waste to kill them just like that.”

He then lifted that young man by grabbing the collar of his shirt and threw him beside his previous victim.

That man bent down on his knees and began to cough violently. His friend wrapped him in her arms and immediately began to cry at their misfortune. The two of them didn’t even dare to run or even crawl away because they were very well aware by now that it was going to be fruitless.

Scott straightened his back and then went to stand by Jasper’s side.

Jasper asked without taking his eyes off of that couple, “So, tell me more about them. I got words that you had detained some spies.”

Scott also turned to glare at that poor couple. Then he explained everything that had taken place, “I spotted them sneaking around in the forest and heading towards the village area. At first, I thought that they were some random young couple who came to the forest to have some fun.”

“They could have been doing that. Kids these days...” Jasper snorted and shook his head while examining the couple’s clothes.

Both of them were wearing the types of clothes that humans from Sorvando normally wore. And judging by their light brown hair and pale skin, they looked like they were the natives of Sorvando.

He wondered if Scott had made a mistake and had detained the real villagers.

However, after a few incidents that had happened in the past, Jasper had decided to stop doubting Scott’s accidental luck. He had a tendency to solve most of the issues by accident, or rather, things would somehow automatically fall into place when he was involved.

So, before doubting Scott’s claim that those were the spies from Xanmar, Jasper wanted to hear Scott out, “What made you doubt them? What gave way?”

“They wouldn’t have started running away from me if they had nothing to hide. The moment their eyes fell on me, they turned on their heels and ran.” Scott then suddenly wrinkled his nose in disgust and also said, “When I caught them and got close to them, I could smell a foreign scent that was utterly disgusting.”

“Really?” Jasper furrowed his brows skeptically because he couldn’t smell anything bad on them. He got closer to them and bent down to take a whiff.

The couple hugged each other tighter and cowered in fear.

Jasper looked back at Scott and said in a little disappointed voice, “All I smell from them is the dirt and your scent.”

Scott bowed and replied, “That pungent smell was very subtle though. Maybe it wore off because of the struggle earlier.”

Jasper sighed because he now believed that Scott had made a poor judgment this time. “Humans do run from us when they see us at night, Scott!” he mumbled assertively.

The commander was now thinking of letting them go.

But the woman took that moment of silence to speak for herself and her friend, “We weren’t doing anything bad. We were simply picking up wild berries for our cookies.” She even took out a few squished berries from a small pouch around her waist and pleadingly asked, “Why aren’t you believing us?”

“Where’s your home then? And what’s your relationship with that man?” Jasper held his arms behind his back and asked in an authoritative voice. He thought that it was only fair to ask them a few basic questions before letting them go.

The woman sniffled and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her gown, and then she replied, “We live right there in the Nether Creek. And he is a good friend of mine, who is also from the same village. He was helping me to pick the berries.”

Jasper didn’t understand why they needed to pick berries at night when the forest would be crawling with wild animals as well as a few vampires who loved taking strolls at night.

Thus, he asked that woman, “Why do you need berries that badly though?”

Without being fazed or waiting to think for a second, she replied, “I am leaving for my aunt’s house tomorrow. And I wanted to bake some cookies to take as gifts for her.”

Jasper nodded understandingly. “Nothing like the home-baked cookies, I heard,” he commented, and then casually asked, “So, where does your aunt live?”

“She lives in er...” that woman closed her eyes and knitted her brows for a split second as if she was trying to recall her aunt’s address. But she immediately opened her eyes and confidently answered, “She lives in Silver Keep.”

Jasper was quick enough to catch that hesitation and subtle change in her expression. And when she mentioned that her aunt lived in Silver Keep, his eyes slightly widened with interest.

The seed of doubt had now been planted in his mind. He cleared his throat and then tactically asked while making it sound as though he was simply curious, “Oh, your aunt lives in Silver Keep? That town is really close to my house so I go there quite often. I might even know your aunt. What’s her name, by the way?”

The woman stole a quick glance at her friend and then answered that friendly-looking vampire, “Her name is Trisha Thompson.”