A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"They're all your wives?" the guard captain asked, raising an eyebrow, and looking incredulous.

Erik nodded with a small grin, "Yes they a—"

"No!" Seraphina instantly interrupted, seething.

"Well, some of them may still need a little convincing," Erik chuckled. He did enjoy poking fun at someone like Seraphina.

Seraphina snarled a little, but then just turned silent with an annoyed expression and arms crossed in front of her. She realized she was embarrassing herself a little.

Meanwhile, Astrid, Emma, and Emily all looked at Seraphina with various levels of amusement.

Astrid even taunted her a little. "Just give up, Seraphina. We all know you can't stop thinking about him. You probably have for the last year, right?"

Emily, too, tossed her own two cents in, by grinning at her old friend. "Don't you want us to be sisters, Sera? Just think of all the fun we could have!"

"You…!" the raven-haired vampire exclaimed while pointing defensively at both her attackers with wide eyes.

But, while Seraphina was thinking of a comeback, Erik decided it was time to move on. So, he indicated towards the castle door again, and started walking that way with the captain. Behind them, the girls continued arguing, under the confused gazes of the guards.

Before he entered, however, he suddenly heard Seraphina yelling behind him. "Hey! Don't screw this up, you hear?!"

Erik grinned and waved his hand without looking back. He knew Seraphina just acted out a little, because what she really wanted was to get Dimitri herself.

Unfortunately, she'd already lost the argument over leadership, and she was disciplined enough to know this wasn't the time to rehash that. She also knew she couldn't go with him, because that would leave Emma, Emily, and Astrid alone with all these guards, who were still somewhat battle ready.

Thus, all she could do was feel like she was having an impact, by telling him not to screw this up. And Erik didn't mind. After yelling at him, however, she continued defending herself against Astrid and Emily's taunts.

Meanwhile, as soon as Erik and the captain entered the castle, the man grumbled under his breath, "I guess you're no better than he is. It's no surprise you show up for each other."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Erik smirked a little with amusement, "Oh, I don't know about that. I haven't tried to seduce your guards yet, and I'd never go after a happily married woman. Unhappily, however…"

"The Lord and his wife are very happy!" the captain immediately growled defensively. Erik chuckled when he realized this was a sore topic for the man, who was likely extremely loyal to Alexandre.

Seeing him chuckle, the captain snorted and recomposed himself, before grumbling again, "Whatever. You playboys are all the same, and you deserve each other."

At this point, Erik just shrugged and decided not to engage anymore. He clearly had a stick up his ass about this.

"He probably had his love stolen by someone once," Elora giggled derisively in Erik's head. "Ignore him, my love. You are perfect the way you are. Womanizing and all."

"Don't pretend you're making some kind of sacrifice here, Elora," Erik chuckled through their bond. "I was basically a blank slate when we met, and if I've become a womanizer, then that's all on you. You love to see me messing with them a little."

Elora giggled playfully, "Well… You got me there. But you weren't a blank slate! You had plenty of good things about you! Determination was there, as was a desire to love. That last one I didn't appreciate enough back then, but I do now… Oh, and that slab of meat between your legs! I never had to enlarge that!"

Erik burst out into laughing out of nowhere, causing the guard captain to look at him like he was crazy. But Erik ignored him, and continued flirting with his first wife, "Well don't stop now, what else did you like about the original me?"

Thus, as a grumpy captain continued leading them through the castle halls, Erik and Elora continued flirting with each other telepathically.

Along the way, Erik was surprised at not coming across any kind of servants, but quickly realized that they were likely taking shelter in a panic room of some sort and stopped caring about it.

At the same time, Elora also swept her omnisense across the nearby rooms and floors. In the process, she found a few people who might be servants or guests, but no one who looked like the picture Katya had send them.

Finally, they arrived at a door, and the captain procured a set of keys with the clear intent of unlocking the door. The door thrummed with power, proving it held the sigils necessary to contain a second-ranked Runebound like Dimitri.

Only, Elora quickly noticed a problem that she shared with Erik.

Raising an eyebrow, Erik ignored the captain who was trying to find the right key, and snaked his arm around the man, to softly push against the door.

With a creak, the door swung open. Clearly, it was not locked.

The captain blinked in surprise and mumbled, "What the…"

"The door's open, and there's no one in there, captain," Erik growled threateningly. Naturally, Elora had also warned him that the room was empty. "I've been civil so far, but if you try to deceive me, it will not only be you who ends up hurt…"

However, the captain looked genuinely confused and panicked as he stormed into the room and looked around at the empty furniture. He quickly shook his head, fearful of the consequences for his fellow guards. "No, no! This really is the right room," he exclaimed quickly, with wide eyes.

Then, his face distorted in anger, "Where the hell did that bastard go?!"

Erik frowned thought and panned his gaze towards the windows, but they were covered with sigil encased metal bars.

"He couldn't have escaped through the windows," Elora mumbled at him telepathically. "Which means he left through the door, and someone let him out. But where did they go afterwards? They didn't leave through the front door, or we would have seen them…"

Unfortunately, Elora's omnisense was not yet powerful enough to sweep across the entire castle and surroundings. She could only see a few tens of meters of circumference around Erik.

Since Erik didn't particularly care who let Dimitri out, he focused on where they went afterwards. "Where could he have gone after leaving the room?" he asked the captain sombrely. "Is there a secret passage out of the castle?"

Still frustrated, the captain nodded gruffly, "Yeah, there is, but onl—"

But Erik didn't listen beyond that point, because suddenly, a voice sounded in his head. "Uhm, Master…?" Emma's voice sounded, with a hint of guilt and anxiety. "Something's happened over here, I think you'd best come back…"

Frowning, Erik stopped caring about Dimitri and quickly turned around. Emma wouldn't warn him like that if it wasn't important, so he rushed back the way he came, not caring if the captain was following him.

Less than half the time it took to get there, Erik was standing outside again, and blinked when he saw the situation there.