Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

"I wouldn't advise going in there alone," turning around to Maria's voice, Liliayana let go of the handle and stared at her with squinted eyes.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, watching her slowly getting closer.

"Stopping you from getting a glimpse of a past you're better off not knowing," Maria answered.

Her hands folded on her side, the ex-queen kept her gaze glued to the door instead of the girl talking. Through that look alone, Liliyana knew that Maria was aware of something sinister lurking behind the door. But exactly what it could be? And why hadn't she shared it yet? Those questions were haunting in themselves. Read new adventures at m_v-l'e|-NovelBin.net

"What are you talking about?" Moving her body in front of the handle, Liliyana gripped the handle with her tail. She didn't want to stop, not after being on the cusp of knowing the morbid secret of the mansion.

Stopping in front of the fae devil, Maria stared at her for a while.

"If you want to see what's down there I won't stop you beyond a warning, but I don't want you to tell the others," closing her eyes, Maria pondered over her past for a moment before opening them back up and revealing what lay behind that door.

"A vampire had cursed me when I was young, Raven and his friends killed him, but I suspect the Edne Runes were more involved with him voluntarily than I was."

"What vampire?" Liliyana asked, frowning.

"Vlad, the floating head in the witch's shop, remember? He used to be a vampire lord forcing me and many other royals to do as he pleased," Maria explained, moving Liliyana to the side to show what lay beyond herself.

Letting go of the handle, Liliyana let Maria take charge of the situation.

"Vlad used to offer me blood so I could drink it to stay alive, but these two wanted toys for their sick pleasures," she said, twisting open the door's handle.

"And you offered them your daughters?" Liliyana asked, genuinely surprised that a mother could be so blinded by her hunger for power.

As the door creaked open, Maria turned her head sideways to look at Liliyana. There was but a flicker of pain and doubt in her gaze, but beyond that she knew what kind of mother she was.

"That is why I told you not to tell the others, for all I know Raven will kill me and my blood will be on your hands," she was no stranger to her crimes, but after the punishment she'd been subjected to and even made to watch Rudeia and Roswalt's fate, she had no intentions of returning to that degenerate life.

"I'm a devil and a fae, do you expect me to feel bad about a situation you created for yourself?? I don't much care what you did before, Maria, but if you keep hiding stuff like this then nobody will ever trust you, even less than they do right now!"

"Then why didn't you tell them already?" Shutting the door momentarily, Maria decided to confront Liliyana after all. "I knew it from those darting eyes of yours that you saw this place for what it is! Then why didn't you tell the rest of them?!"

Pressing a finger against Liliyana's chest, Maria brought her face closer to fae. Both angry at each other had their teeth gritted shut to back curses.

"I didn't wanna alarm them!" Liliyana retorted, gripping the doorknob over Maria's hand.

Shifting her gaze to the handle, Maria moved her other hand on top of Liliyana's and tried to get it off forcefully, but the devil refused to let go, which only made the ex-queen angrier at the situation.

"Fucking fine! Do what you want but since we're here, you're not gonna twist this to make me look worse than what my contribution actually were in this whole mess!" Fearing Liliyana might attribute too much of the horrific acts to her, Maria decided to let go and finally led her into the basement.

The first thing was the vile scent of rot, it was pungent enough to make them wonder if their own lungs had been filled with maggots. But powering through the rancid entrance, they dragged their feet along a muck of flesh and blood. Worms swam along their strides as their steps disturbed the maggot infestation on the ground.

Neither of them wanted to be there, but at least once they were past the blood puddles, their feet landed on solid ground. Before them lay the harrowing sight of a hallway'; entombed with humans reaching towards each other from both sides. Wives reaching for their husbands, mothers to their children, and every possible relation, they were all trapped within those mummies of clay.

"Do you hear that?" Maria asked, moving her hand in front of Liliyana's chest.

"Hear what–" Right as she was about to ask, the devil heard it as well.

The voice of a crying child–no! Not just one! It was coming from every direction, from the front, the back, and even the ground and the ceiling above. And as the two were done trying to discern the source of the sound, their eyes turned to the front and their bodies froze then and there.

'They moved!' Inches from her face, the hand of an entombed woman right in front of her eyes. Glancing sideways at Liliayana with quivering lips and eyes, she saw the devil quivering with a man standing inches away from her face.

It was time to leave, but how could they? Without at least one of them not looking away…