The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Everyone around stared at the vampiress who breathed in and out.

"Lucy?" called Theodore, but Lucy didn't react to his words. At the same time, the colour of red in her eyes was filling back.

Paschar, who witnessed this, frowned, not knowing if the girl had died or had been resurrected back to life, which was not possible. If the Salvette Mortem was here, it only meant it had come here for her. Like Calhoun, the angel had heard the words that had been uttered from the creature of the death.

When pain started to contour Lucy's face, Paschar stepped forward and crouched in front of her. His hand reached out towards the injured girl, but Calhoun's hand caught Paschar's wrist before the angel could touch her.

"What do you think you are doing?" asked Calhoun. If there was something he had learned, it was the distrust against people, especially when it came to angels and fallen angels and the only exception in it was Madeline.

Paschar had known Calhoun for many years, which was why he didn't smite the vampire. "You asked me to fix it. I am only going to do that. I mean no harm, Calhoun," he assured while keeping eye contact.

Glaring at the angel with his intense gaze, Calhoun finally let go of Paschar's hand. Keeping a close eye, he watched the angel place his hand on Lucy, who was again being consumed in pain. "It looks like Madeline has been using her abilities. She tried to heal and stop Lucy from turning dead, putting her in a frozen state."

"Is that possible?" asked Ethan with wide-eyed while he stood leaning against the wall.

Paschar turned his head to the side, realizing the one who spoke now was only a vampire. Someone who was not supposed to know about things like this. People in the living realm were left ignorant about the existence of the angels and demons, but as days passed by, it was hard to hide it because of the demons and fallen angels who liked to cause trouble.

"Yes, it is. For a person with angelic abilities," answered Paschar. He moved his hand across Lucy's wounds, and a golden light appeared from his hand. The injuries started to heal, but Lucy felt more pain, and she screamed before falling unconscious.

"What happened?" asked Theodore, worried.

Paschar pulled his hand away from Lucy, and he got up. "You should take her back to the room and let her rest. I speeded the process of healing, a little angelic ability is bound to have repercussions," he then paused and turned around, walking to where Ethan was leaning against the wall.

Ethan looked startled and asked, "W-what are you doing?"

Paschar didn't answer, but only placed his hand on the vampire's head. Both their eyes turned completely white. In less than ten seconds, Paschar pulled his hand away from the vampire. He said,

"I don't think the Salvette Mortem that spoke to you was the same creature that had earlier come to take the girl's soul away. They were two different ones. The one who had come to take her soul was chased away by Madeline, delaying the process and the one who had disappeared a moment ago only came to take a look at the girl if she was alive or dead."

Calhoun furrowed his eyebrows, and he saw Theodore pick up Lucy in his arms. "Does this mean the Salvette Mortem will return for Lucy again?" questioned Calhoun.

"Unless she is dead, she should be fine. I don't even know how Madeline did it," answered Paschar.

"She has wings," stated Calhoun. Though many of them believed Madeline to be a fallen angel with immense powers and called a dark angel, Calhoun had always doubted why Madeline had received a pair of angelic wings that the fallen didn't possess. In the back of his mind, there had always been a drop of worry about what it meant.

"What?" Paschar appeared genuinely shocked.

"Her wings have come out like a newborn baby from her back," said Calhoun and he gave the nod to Theodore to take his sister to be tended.

"The last time when she had wings, the bastard Walter and her shitty grandparents got it burnt and threw her in the coffin and nailing her down as if she was dead."

This was something Paschar was unaware of. "When did the wings appear again?" asked Paschar.

"A day or two ago," replied Calhoun. "What if she turns out to be like you? Not fallen anymore as she has angelic wings." This was a question that had been hovering in his mind.

Paschar's eyes moved to look at Ethan, who had been listening to their conversation, and the angel placed his hand back on Ethan's head, "Forget everything you have heard since the last hour and heal your wounds that has been received by the demon." For a moment, the vampire's eyes turned white before he fell unconscious on the ground. The angel then turned to face Calhoun, meeting his burning gaze. "Then she doesn't belong here. She belongs to the heavenly realm."

Calhoun had a blank look on his face, and he then smiled, a smile that didn't reach up to his eyes, and Paschar was well aware of it.

"You aren't thinking of taking her away from here, are you? She was born in this world, Paschar," said Calhoun to the angel.

"An angel cannot associate with the living, not the way you want to, Calhoun." It was a different matter when Madeline was only his child that his lover had conceived years ago. He had come to believe that she was a human with abilities like the fallen angels, but he didn't know she was transforming into an angel.

Calhoun bit the inside of his cheek, drawing blood out. "What you are saying is, making her forget and leave the life she once used to have here. Before anything else, Madeline is my wife, then your daughter because seeing how meticulous you have been in protecting her, I would say you have lost that right to call her your daughter."

"We have rules to follow," Paschar lost his cool, and the ground beneath them shook slightly. The angel's eyes narrowed at Calhoun.

"You should have done something then," Calhoun was unfazed by Paschar's ability. "Like the rules in Heaven, there are rules when you fall in love and have a child. You should have protected her no matter what."

"Don't test me, Calhoun," warned Paschar. He pulled out a trident from the air and held it in his hand. "If Madeline is an angel, then the life that she has spent here doesn't matter. God will cleanse her mind and soul, and she will stay where she rightfully belongs."

"You can try doing that and see what happens," challenged Calhoun, not backing down even for a moment.

"Calhoun!" someone entered the corridor, and both the men turned to see that it was Raphael. "I found this!" said the card reader, who held a note in his hand.

Calhoun took hold of it, reading what was written. Raphael said breathless, "They took Lady Madeline away."

"I think I know one of their hideouts," Paschar offered his help to find Madeline. He knew it because it was only a couple of days back when he had tried to find what Luther and Lilith were up to in the middle of the night, when all the villagers had fallen fast asleep.

Calhoun sighed, running his hand through his hair. As if one problem wasn't enough, things kept piling up nonstop, he thought to himself. He read the words that was written in the note:

'We are taking the dark angel with us. Don't try to search for her because you will only find her remains in the end, after we are done with the sacrifice.'

"Where is Beth, Raphael?" questioned Calhoun.

"She transformed into a werewolf, and I tried looking for her everywhere, but there is no trace of her." When Raphael completed his words, he finally realized what Calhoun's question meant. "They didn't take Lady Madeline, but Lady Elizabeth?"

"Which means we have two people, who have been abducted from the castle," said Calhoun looking back at the place where Madeline had stood before disappearing.

While Calhoun and Raphael discussed, Paschar smelt something in the air which he hadn't taken note of earlier. With the number of people who had entered the castle and with the amount of blood shed, most of the smell had been lost. He sniffed the air before his eyes turned wide as if knowing who had been here a couple of minutes ago.