Beauty and the Immortal: It started with a dig - Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Blood on map
“You’re serious?” Mallory asked, her eyes wide. Another woman in love with him? “If that’s true, I don’t think we should be asking for her help.” She wasn’t sure if Ivy had done it on purpose, but she didn’t want to risk it with a witch involved.

“Relax, monkey,” Hadeon replied calmly. “I was being sarcastic. You need to learn to take a joke.” He started walking again, a sly smile playing on his lips.

Mallory glared at the pureblooded vampire. Catching up to him, she said, “I thought you didn’t joke.”

“What are you saying? I always joke.” Hadeon softly huffed, then playfully chided her, “You haven’t been paying attention. Besides, did you not see the love and affection shared?”

Mallory murmured, “Something tells me your definition of love is quite different from others,” thinking of the witch who had attacked them with poisonous spikes.

“What gives it away?” Hadeon grinned, eyes twinkling with mischief.

The witch would be sane not to be in love with him, thought Mallory to herself, because he could drive anyone insane. Once they entered the house, she saw how there were tons of potions sitting on the shelves. Was the witch not worried about being found and killed?

While Morwenna cleared the wide table, clearly annoyed by Hadeon’s presence, she asked, “How did you wind up before his eyes?”

It took a second for Mallory to realised that Morwenna was talking to her. When her eyes briefly glanced at Hadeon, he looked rather elated by the question. She replied to the witch, “I opened his coffin…”

“Huh, good luck,” the witch said not so subtle with the trouble in hand. Her eyes then fell on Mallory’s neck and she said, “I wasn’t aware Elisa had children.”

“She didn’t. Elisa only raised Mallory,” Hadeon hummed, who had now turned his back at them while inspecting the potions left on the shelves.

“But she wears your cross…” Morwenna’s eyes narrowed. The witch had seen her sister carry the cross around her neck for several years, even after the pureblooded vampire went to sleep in the coffin.

“That she does. Mallory is very special. She can aparate,” Hadeon turned to look at them with a proud smile.

“And I thought we were keeping it a secret,” Mallory murmured under her breath.

Hadeon turned around and waved his hand, “Morwenna is a dear friend.”

“I am your enemy,” Morwenna glared at him, but Hadeon was barely bothered by her words. She then asked, “How does a human have the ability to aparate? Unless she isn’t a human to begin with.”

The witch then pulled out a large map and then rolled it open on the table. Picking up candles, she lit them up and placed them around the table.

As Morwenna finished setting the table, Mallory asked, “How does this work exactly? With spells?”

“Usually, locating a living person is easier than finding someone who’s dead. I’m guessing your mother has been dead for a long time?” Morwenna asked. Mallory nodded quietly. “I’ll be using a combination of spells, atmospheric energy, and spirits. More importantly, your blood.”

“A drop of blood?” Mallory asked, ready to comply. But then the witch clarified,

“Your blood needs to drip onto the map continuously until it solidifies and stops.”

What if they didn’t find her mother quickly? Mallory wondered, gulping nervously. But it seemed there was no other way, and this was probably the quickest method to get answers. Taking a deep breath, she nodded, “Okay. Let us do this.”

On one side, there was a boiling pot, where the witch added things into and the air around the room turned thick. The witch began to mutter spells and Mallory noticed how the flames in the candles flickered.

“Now your blood.”

Mallory raised her hand, and before Morwenna could use her dagger, Hadeon smoothly took the former’s hand, saying, “Allow me,” offering her a calm smile. But he had no dagger in his hand.

When Mallory’s attention shifted to Hadeon, she winced in pain. He had made a cut on her palm, deep enough to keep the blood drip on the map now. The room filled itself with spells that held a touch of echo, and then the room went still in silence. The blood that had fallen on the surface, slowly began to move, which shifted Mallory’s attention away from the pain.

The objects in the room began to shake and the flames grew bigger. The direction of the blood moved the side at first, before it changed its path, moving upwards in the map. It then stopped at one place named ‘Bellbourne’.

“She’s here…?” Mallory asked, staring at her blood.

“It looks like they took her with them,” remarked Hadeon, leaning forward and smearing her blood across the place’s name as a highlight before putting his finger into his mouth to lick the blood off. He then turned to Mallory and offered, “Let us heal the skin before you lose some of that precious blood of yours.”

With those words, Hadeon pulled her hand towards his face. But before he could lick it, Mallory had quickly retrieved her hand from his hold. Her cheeks tinted pink, she said in a rushed voice, “That’s fine. It will heal.”

Mallory could sense Morwenna’s curious gaze on her and Hadeon. Focusing her attention back on the map, she confirmed, “Bellbourne is in the north, isn’t it? The place where the royal family resides?”

“Mhm,” Hadeon hummed in agreement, before saying, “It seems that we have a lost royal member.”

“There has never been a report on a lost prince or princess in the kingdom so far,” Mallory shook her head in denial.

“Not everyone airs their dirty laundry. Especially not the royals considering how stuck up they are,” Hadeon stated in a nonchalant tone. “Bellbourne is where the royal’s cemetery is located, which isn’t far from the capital. Also, my little birdie friend told me that the current king’s sister passed away a few years ago. The time line same as your age. Coincidence? I think not.”