Chapter 11: Chapter 9. The After-party

To me, the party was not even worth mentioning. There are only a few occurrences that I stored to my memory. First of all, was how well the arrangements of the party was since of course, it was my arrangement. The theme of the party was fire. Artificial fires were displayed everywhere and what fits most to this theme is the very painting I had prepared for Lady Rebecca. A painting of a man burning in fire. People can feel the heat by merely looking at it. They will feel as if their own skin is on fire, eating away their sanity. Of course, the painting was a symbolism to my own burning back when I was a child. That distant memory that I can still vividly recall.

Other than this important fact, another thing that bothered me the most was that during the party, I was constantly bugged by the little demon and his two cousins not to mention Lady Rebecca herself. She insisted for me to see her collection during my next visit. At the time, I thought of Devon’s artwork as well. I am curious but I hesitated to ask about Devon’s collection and he also didn’t offer me to see his so I refrained myself from asking.

Now, the most anticipated part of the night is the after-party. The game master, Devon, amusingly chose hide and seek as one of the game. Lame? Yes, isn’t that lame? It perplexed me as to why he put forward such childish game for the adults left in the room but the rest of the guests who are obviously intoxicated from their drinks and drugs looked pretty excited. I wonder if there’s a catch to the game?

Of course, there is. The motive is vague but I can’t deny that I sense the catch should be sexual or sadistic in nature. There will be more than one ‘it’ and the rest will hide. One ‘it’ will be looking for only three of those who had hid. Once found, the ‘it’ will tie all of those found together with one rope. If he found one, he will carry that person around until he finds the other two. Now with the size of this manor, the places to hide are endless. This game will only be held in one hour and if the person who hides are not found within one hour, he or she will have to return back to the banquet hall where the party was held. We picked our roles from a box. I, unfortunately, became an ‘it’. None of the Klauses are ‘it’ so in given time, they all set to hide.

This is good.

To me, this is an advantage.

I don’t plan to seek those who hid. I feel that it is useless to join this childish game but I’ll only play it on the surface. My real motive is to track down the painting. My blood and soul. My original sin. The painting that marked my deal with the devil.

I follow its’ scent. I know that it’s here. I can feel it calling me.

~Adrian... oh Adrian...~

I went out of the main house and walk pass through the garden. The garden will reconnect to the other part of the house. I heard thoughts. I knew that there are people hiding in the garden but I choose to ignore them. I won’t be looking for them. They’re irrelevant.

As I reached the other door, I realize that it is a sliding door which is the back door to the kitchen. I slide the door open and enter the empty kitchen. All the servants are in the banquet hall at this moment. It was quiet and dark, inviting all kinds of terrifying thoughts. Simple shadows appear to loom over like they’re alive and trying to catch you. But I have no fear of the darkness. I’m hollow. So I made my way through the darkness and enter the dining room. The dining room is connected to the basement, the kitchen and a hallway that will lead to a play room.

The seduction of the evil aura coming from the painting convinces me to head down to the basement. I turn left and let my feet carry me down each step of the creaking stairs. As I reached the lowest ground, I feel cold wind gushes through my body. I switch on the lights and the narrow hallway is illuminated immediately. There are two doors to the left and two adjacent to them. There’s another door at the end of the corridor as well which I believe is the cellar where they keep their collections of wine.

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I place my palm on the wall to my right and close my eyes to take in the aura of the painting. I follow the scent of malign with my fingers along the wall, the door, the wall, the door... my eyes are still close. I feel as if I’m getting closer to the evil force but I was interrupted when I bump into something made of flesh right in front of me. I hurriedly open my eyes.

“You found me,” he said. And I stand there, fighting the urge inside that keeps telling me to just bludgeon the kid in front of me to death.

I charmingly smile at him. “Found you,” I reiterated calmly. ‘You weren’t even hiding!’ So I took out the rope from my pocket to tie the little demon’s wrist to mine.

He smiles back. He also looks calm. “Do you need help?” He asked.

“No, it’s okay, I know how to use a rope,” I replied rather elusively sarcastic.

He chuckles a little and lets me tie up his wrist to mine. “I’m not talking about the rope,” he indicated. So I look up to his eyes to question his meaning. He reaches out his hand to pinch a few strands of my hair as he displays a sly smile on his face. I was too surprised to react to his action. He leans closer to my face. “I’m talking about helping you find the thing that you were looking for,” he whispered to my ears.

I don’t like this. At all. I push him away gently and calmly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied and gave him another smile as I shrug my shoulders. “Let’s go find the others,” I suggested. “I think they’re hiding in the garden.”

He didn’t push the matter further. He just follows behind me as I pull him with me roughly. “Oh! Sorry. Mind your steps,” I pretended to be sorry for pulling him aggressively but he just nods at me like he is aware of my hypocrisy. I silently curse his existence in my mind. ‘Fine... you want to play this game? Let’s play this game. We’ll see who will bleed at the end.’

I might not be able to read his mind, but that won’t stop me from doing everything I could to bring an end to this brat. He chooses to be a barrier between me and the painting. It was his choice. So he can’t blame me for eliminating him. I am in a hurry to find the painting but I won’t let that make me act impulsively. I need to plan this carefully. I also need to be closer to the enemy.

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NEXT UPDATE: 2022/12/13

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