Chapter 87

87 Strange Difference In His Demon Bite

Striding past the upstairs hallway, Anna’s mind was preoccupied with some deep thoughts as she forced her feet to move. She couldn’t afford to lose her guard since these men were cautiously tailing behind her.

‘But what if it doesn’t work?’ she worriedly thought to herself, absentmindedly biting the skin in her left cheek while knitting her fingers together at her front.

She only came across the solution to Demon bites in one of the books at the library back in Viscarrian. She really had no idea what pushed her into reading it but she did.

Maybe because getting to know more about Demons turned out to be quite interesting and frightening at the same time.

She hasn’t tried such a healing method before and this would be her first time treating a demon bite.

‘What do I do? And Roshan has refused to help me with this.’ one look at her face and it’d be easy to detect her anxiety. She appeared lost, confused, afraid and somewhat upset too.

She couldn’t possibly handle this alone, she needed someone by her side, even if it’s to build up her courage or assure her everything would be fine, but she was going to face this alone.

She let out a soft sigh when suddenly, a painting at the left side of the wall caught her attention. An impulse that couldn’t be ignored made her look up to see the painting.

‘Dragon?’ she silently uttered. It was no ordinary dragon but a black dragon. The artist made sure it stood at the top of a mountain, with a blazing yellowish-orange fire burning bright behind it like it just finished creating a never ending chaos. It looked realistic in the painting, giving a high accordance to the artist and it was something admirable.

.....

But why did it give her the chills?

The more she stared at it, the more realistic it turned out to be. The expression on the dragon’s face showed extreme fierceness, it’s golden eyes were filled with terror, anguish, a deadly warning as though making a silent promise only she could understand.

She wanted to avert her gaze, but found it impossible to look away. Instead she had the urge to run her fingers through the painting, wanting to confirm if the dragon on the wall was real or if it was an actual painting.

“Miss, can you hear me?” And Anna was quickly broken from her trance as she instantaneously met one of the guards expressionless stares. She only realized they had stopped walking after being brought back to the present and her anxiety slowly grew worse.

What was it about that painting?

“We’re here.” The guard said to her before pointing at the door in front of her. Anna’s gaze followed his hand and stopped after sighting the big red door in front of her.

“Should I....?” She made a gesture on whether it’d be necessary to knock or she should just enter at their orders.

“Enter, the Mayor’s son is unconscious anyway.” William spoke from behind. After gaining their permission, she twisted the door knob before giving it a gentle pull.

It quietly creaked open and when she took a step into the lit room, the three maidens who were tidying the place up paused at the presence of someone.

William followed suit and stood in front of Anna.

“She’s with me.” He assured them while trying to boast his own authority in the Mayor’s mansion, “if you’ll excuse us.”

At his words, the maids politely nodded before stepping out of the room, but their questionable looks hadn’t left Anna yet till they were out of the room.

“He’s over there.” William pointed at the big mattress that was beautifully draped with transparent white curtain.

Anna slowly approached the bed, her soft footsteps made a clicking sound to the tiled floor. She reached the edge of his bed and gently pulled the curtains to one side.

The young looking man she was staring at had his eyes sealed shut as he laid unmoving on the bed. He looked sickly pale, the color of his lips had faded a bit leaving it somewhat dry like that of a dead person. He was currently sweating due to the effects of the demon bite. Anna didn’t need anyone to tell her the bite wasn’t something of recent.

“It’s gotten really worse.” She felt his forehead with the back of her palm and took notice of the quick rise in his temperature.

“Where was he bitten?”

“On his left arm.”

Anna raised his sleeve with lots of care and stopped after sighting the wound close to his elbow. The demon bite mark she was seeing here was a complete contrast to the one on her neck. It was obvious the poison had spread because his veins had turned a shade dark, like the venom was slowly absorbing his energy.

“Can you heal him like you said you would?” William didn’t hide the doubt in his tone. “The best physicians in Arkville have tried their very best in healing Nicholas and getting him off this suffering state, but nothing worked. What makes a mere mortal capable of doing something we can’t?”

“It’s actually very simple sir.” She politely said while turning around to look at him. The man before her barely reached her shoulder but it wasn’t something that bothered her much.

“It’s all about gaining more knowledge, it is possible that the physicians in Ark Ville know the herbs used in treating Demon bite, but aren’t particularly sure on how to use it.”

Williams’ hairy brows furrowed at her words, “meaning?”

“Demon bites vary as they tend to be different species of them, so their healing methods are bound to have some differences. I’m just saying but if I’m not mistaken, this doesn’t look like any normal Demon bite.”

She turned to look at the demon bite in his arm. The one on her neck has just too tiny holes caused by Roshan, but the one on his arm has up to four holes, did he get bitten twice?

“If I succeed in treating him, will I be free to leave?” She had to be sure that they weren’t going to turn their backs on her after making use of her knowledge.

William nodded with full honesty. “The Mayor never goes back on his word, as long as you succeed in treating his son, you’ll be free to leave Ark Ville.”

That reassuring response calmed Anna’s heart a bit, “Okay then, I’ll need some herbs, is it possible to get some Golden Anise, Dicria root, vechi leaf smoothly pounded with uhm some hazel spice....” She kept on listing the necessary herbs and once she was done, William nodded.

“It can all be arranged.”

“That’s good then, but can you hurry up with them please? Delaying much further will only slow the healing process.”

William’s half concerned stare shifted to Nicholas, it took a few seconds before he responded with a nod of his head.

“I’ll assign the maids to get them ready.”

He left the room after that.

Ten minutes later, Anna was given the herbs she had asked for. She stared at the yellowish-brown substance in her palm before gently applying it to Nicholas’s injury.

She wiped the sweat that ticklishly rolled to her chin, using the back of her sleeves and a tired sigh left her lips as she continued to treat him for almost twenty minutes now.

“Come on, respond.” She silently prayed in her head, hoping to get some response from him but he remained unmoving.

“Why aren’t you responding?” A worried expression masked her pretty face as she sank to the ground, feeling tired already. It couldn’t be it was too late, or could it?

If only Roshan was here to assist.

“Thinking about me?” The velvety deep voice that spoke behind her, jolted Anna back to the situation before her and her head instantly whipped to the direction of the door.

Roshan stood there, leaning against the edge of the door as he waited for her response. The same expressionless stare of his was something she had gotten used to and a happy smile slowly crossed her lips without her even realizing it.

“Roshan, you’re.... you’re here.” She got to her feet and hurried to go meet him, surprised to actually see him standing before the door post.

But how is he here?

“Where are the guards meant to guard the door?” She asked while stealing a peek at the empty corridor, but a surprised gasp left her lips when Roshan grabbed her arm and pulled her back so she could meet his gaze.

He took notice of the tiredness in her face and flicked her forehead.

“Don’t be this foolish next time, learn to accept the fact you can’t do this without me, I hate to see my human getting worked up for someone else.”