Chapter 39 39: The Risk
Through the small windows, Lancaster noticed two red-eyed Vampires coming toward his house. It wasn\'t normal to see the Vampires in this neighborhood. Even when the invitation letters were distributed in the neighborhood for the selection, it was done by the men of the two great Families.
Before long, the Vampires disappeared from his view.
Knock~
A knock was heard coming from the door.
Hearing the knock, a grim expression shrouded the face of Lancaster as he looked at Atlas. The Vampires were actually outside this house.
"Do they know about you?" Lancaster asked Atlas, keeping his voice low.
"I don\'t think so. I\'ve entered this place as a human. And my eyes don\'t give away my identity generally," Atlas responded. "I don\'t think they are here for me."
"One of them even had the Carlisle Clan symbol. He is an important member. He shouldn\'t be here if it weren\'t important. I think you should hide in the back. Let me see what it\'s about."
Lancaster walked towards the door. Instead of hiding, Atlas followed him.
"Why aren\'t you hiding?" Lancaster asked, stopping in his tracks.
Meanwhile, the knockout continued, only intensifying. It was as if the door was about to be broken if no one opened the door.
"If they\'re here for me, they already know I\'m here. Hiding won\'t help. And if they\'re not here for me, it won\'t matter even if they see me. So I\'ll accompany you," Atlas responded.
Lancaster wanted to respond, but the knocking didn\'t give him much time. The door was about to be broken. He left Atlas on his own and ran to the door.
He swiftly opened the door, noticing two Vampires before him.
The Two Vampires looked emotionless as they observed the man from top to bottom.
Lancaster swiftly went down on his knees. This was a direct Carlisle Family Vampire before him. He needed to show courtesy.
Not wanting to go down on his knees, Atlas stood behind the door, hearing the conversation but not being seen.
"Are you Lancaster?" The Dark haired Vampire asked grimly.
Lancaster nodded. "Yes. Sorry I was taking a shower and couldn\'t open in time. Can I help, my Lord in any way?"
"You are accused of poisoning Lady Yovana. You are to come with us." The Vampire grabbed Lancaster by his collar. Without even giving Lancaster a chance to talk about his innocence, he was dragged by the Vampires.
Atlas took a step but found Lilith blocking his path.
"Atlas, I told you! You can\'t afford to fight. The Vampires have him! If you go there now, you\'ll only get in trouble! Remember your goal!" Lilith warned Atlas, closing the door.
Atlas clenched his fist in rage. "Yovana was walking perfectly fine the last I saw her. Since then, Lancaster has been with me! There is no way he could\'ve poisoned her! He\'s being framed!"
"I know he is, but we can\'t do anything about him. It\'s his bad luck. Let him go. Stay away from his mess!" Lilith retorted.
"Stay away from his mess? He was willing to help me! I can\'t let him be killed over a lie! I need to help him!"
"Atlas, I know you\'re getting emotional after hearing his story and reading that letter. But don\'t think with emotions. Think with a clear head! You can\'t help him! You yourself need help. You\'re in no situation to help others!"
"Lilith, aren\'t you forgetting something?" Atlas let out, frowning. "He knows our truth. If we abandon him, don\'t you think he\'ll also abandon us and tell the Carlisle Clan about me? We need to help him! It\'s not just my emotions saying but also my brain."
"Now step aside. Let me help him. Moreover, I am a witness. I can prove his innocence." Atlas pulled the door open and stepped out.
The two Vampires who had come here weren\'t there in the forest, so he didn\'t need to hide his face. Still, he kept his cloak as he left the house.
The Vampires and Lancaster had already disappeared by then. He asked the people nearby where they went and started running.
Along the way, he understood that Lancaster wasn\'t being taken to Carlisle Castle, which was a good thing. Instead, he was being taken to the restaurant, where he was fired from.
By now, he had understood everything. Apparently, after Lancaster was fired, Yovana went into that restaurant where she was poisoned, and the blame was tossed at Lancaster by the restaurant.
As Atlas couldn\'t show his real speed, he ran slowly, only as fast as a human could, but it was evident that he wasn\'t going to catch up to them at this speed.
"There are too many people here. I can\'t increase my speed here." Realizing his limitations, he changed his plans. Instead of running on the main streets, he turned to an empty alley along the way.
"Atlas, I\'ll tell you again. You\'re making a mistake. Please don\'t do it."
Lilith\'s words fell in Atlas\'s ears only to have no effect as Atlas stretched his arms. "I know what I\'m doing."
He climbed the dead end wall on the end of the alley, which was only eight feet tall. Standing on the wall, he jumped to the roof of the nearby building.
After climbing the roof, he looked at his surroundings to make sure no person was on the roof to see him.
By now, Lilith had given up on trying to convince him. She understood he was never going to listen, and she couldn\'t stop him as she was now. She could only complain.
Atlas began running on the roof, slowly increasing his speed. As he reached the end of the roof, he tapped his right foot on the ground, shifting his momentum as he jumped ahead.
From one roof, he landed on the other, but instead of stopping, he continued running. There was no one here who could see him running, so he didn\'t need to control his speed which kept increasing. It was as if Atlas was racing against the wind.
"You\'re wasting your energy for no reason. I am sure you\'ll regret it when the Blood Urge hits you. Don\'t come crying then," Lilith commented, following Atlas. As she was his Shadow, she was wherever he was, unable to go too far from him.
"I\'m doing it for myself, not for anyone else. I need his help to do what I want to do. You can\'t understand yet," Atlas replied, jumping once again, landing on another roof.
"Why don\'t you explain then? Let\'s see what you have in mind?" Lilith inquired, believing he was just bluffing.
"Lancaster is a Werewolf. From what I read in the stories, the Werewolves are supposed to be as strong as the Vampires. They are the natural enemies of the Vampires. Moreover, Lancaster is a Royal Blood. Even though he hadn\'t awakened his bloodline yet, the moment he awakened, he would be really strong," Atlas explained as he finally stopped at the edge of the roof. He looked down, noticing an empty alley.
He jumped down instead of jumping on a different roof. "With him as a friend, I would have a backup!"
"If I fail in the mission and lose myself, he can take over the mission after he awakens. He will be my backup plan. Even though he\'s not strong enough now, there will be a day when he will be. And that day is what I care about!" he commented as he landed on the ground in the alley.
He adjusted his cloak properly before he left the alley.
Leaving the alley, Atlas ended up right before the restaurant where he had met Lancaster.
There were many Human guards standing before the restaurant, surrounding it entirely. All the guards carried a sword on their backs.
Instead of focusing on the guards, Atlas kept his focus on the other end of the streets from where the Vampires were supposed to come with Lancaster.
Standing with the support of the wall, he waited for the Vampires to arrive. Fortunately, he didn\'t have to wait long.
The Vampires arrived with Lancaster. The Leader was walking in the front, holding one end of the rope. The other end was tied in the hands of Lancaster. The second Vampire followed behind Lancaster.
Lancaster had his head down, feeling a bit embarrassed as he was being paraded in the city like a criminal even though he was innocent.
"I am innocent. I didn\'t do anything," he said weakly, repeating the same thing for the tenth time. It was as if his words fell on deaf ears as he kept being dragged.
"Okay, there he is. Now how will you stop them? How will you save him? You can\'t just go to them and say that he didn\'t do it. They\'ll ask you how you know why they captured him. Instead of him, they\'ll also start suspecting you. Any plan to overcome that?" Lilith asked Atlas.
Atlas scratched the back of his head. That\'s exactly what he was thinking about. He was a witness that Lancaster was with him, but he couldn\'t just go there and tell them that without being asked.
Also, he couldn\'t let him be taken inside the restaurant as well since the guards of Yovana had seen him in the forest. Things could get messy. He needed to solve this problem outside.
"You don\'t have a single clue, do you?" Lilith asked in a mocking tone. "It\'s still not too late. Turn around and return."
"I didn\'t come this far to return," Atlas muttered as he took a step ahead, not away from the Vampires but towards them. "I hope the risk is worth it."