Call Of The Dark

Maeve looked at the maid with wide eyes with disbelief. "Run away?" she squeaked.

The maid nodded her head like a toy monkey. "Yes, m'lady! Lord Lazarus says that he couldn't find her on the bed this morning. Since he can't find her in this bright sunlight, he has asked for your assistance."

Maeve got up from the bed with a lot of effort. "Then can't he ask the guards to find her?"

"He has already asked them. They've been looking for her for almost an hour, but they have given up. Lord Yul has come back from the south and he has taken charge of finding her," the maid replied with a worried expression.

Maeve gritted her teeth. Yul had come back? That would mean that she had to be extremely cautious when Ailill came over. Yul had a penchant for sniffing wrong in the palace. Her worries were only piling up. If Emma managed to escape, there was no way she would be able to hold any longer. Maeve knew that she would have to possess another body but that would mean that the girl would die in a few months. Gladys, Yul, Emma… her head started aching.

"Will you come, Lady Maeve?" the maid prodded her again.

Maeve looked at all the blood that had seeped from her body on the bedsheet. It was awful. "Get warm water for me and get the healer as soon as possible." She removed the blanket for the maid to see what happened to her.

The maid gasped and after asking the guard to send the healer she hurried to the bathroom to get warm water for her. Using a soft towel, she cleaned the area that was ruptured. "M'lady, this wound looks terrible. I hope it doesn't get infected."

"Just do what I am asking you to!" Maeve grunted. She didn't even want to hear about infection.

The healer came in. He looked at the infection and pursed his lips. He applied poultice and bandaged it with fresh linen. "That rupture looks bad, m'lady," he said. "You will have to be very careful. Don't expose it to the air and if possible, don't walk."

Maeve clenched her teeth in anger. She had to go and find Emma. Ailill was coming and he was very demanding. "I have some very important work to do. I have to walk. Just make sure that the blood doesn't come out."

The healer added another layer of bandage. "That's all I can do. But this poultice needs to dry down so that it fills the ruptures on your skin and heals it internally. Your magic doesn't allow it to dry."

Maeve ignored him but on the inside her heart was thundering. She couldn't use her magic to find Emma. What if Emma was untraceable? As soon as the healer left, with the help of the maid, Maeve walked to Lazarus's room.

"You look like a very old woman who needs all the assistance, Maeve," Lazarus remarked when he saw her entering with the maid.

"I am very sick," she said to Lazarus. The maid helped her to sit on the couch and she wheezed to catch her breath. "This is getting out of control. You can't even take care of a bloody mortal. That bitch keeps running here and there all the time. How long can I use my magic? This body is unable to take it anymore." She lifted her gown to show him the wounds.

Lazarus scrunched his nose. "That stinks as hell."

"Yes!" she cried. "I don't know what to do. My body is not able to take it anymore. Only two days are left. You have to find Emma. Use all your guards. I am sure that even your family would help."

Lazarus crossed the floor to reach his bed. He sat down with one leg up and one hanging down. "My family is against me, Maeve. Have you forgotten that? They won't help me. Didn't you see what Gladys did to Emma?"

Maeve gritted her teeth. "Where is Gladys?"

"In the dungeons," he shrugged. "Why do you ask? Do you think I have freed her?"

"No!" she said. "It's just that I was curious."

He raised his eyebrow. "That seems like a dull question. Not expected from Goddess Maeve."

She sucked in a sharp breath, knowing fully well that he was insulting her, but she passed it. "So when did Emma leave? Is there any lead?"

Lazarus rested his head on the pillows and closed his eyes. "She left an hour after Gladys was taken to the prison. She is very scared and my guards believe that she is still in the palace. If she is in the palace, I would like that you cast a spell around the palace boundaries so that she is unable to escape. It would be easy for my guards to find her."

"Are you mad?" Maeve retorted. "I just showed you what happens to me when I use magic and yet you are demanding that I use it? If I use it, I am going to be bleeding to death before the ritual."

Lazarus shrugged. "Your wish, Maeve. I won't force you, but that girl is a sly wench. She knows her way out of the palace and I am afraid that if she escapes, it is you who would suffer the most."

"Me?" Anger blasted in her chest. "What about you, Lazarus? Won't you be affected as well? You need me beside you as the queen of Wilyra. It is your duty to protect me!"

In a nonchalant voice he said, "Like I said, my guards are already finding her and are unable to. And I am not forcing you. You can take your call." Saying that he closed his eyes. "I am too tired after keeping an eye over Emma last night and so I will be sleeping. You may leave." The only eye that he kept on her was on her sex which he had devoured and then some more. He had taken her again and again and the lusty little piece wanted more. Eventually by the morning she was so sore that she was unable to walk nicely.