章 21: Protected You From This
"This reunion is nice and all, but now that we have all seen the precious bride of Frankenstein, can we go back to what is important? My mother has completely disappeared, and unless I am completely mistaken since there is no such thing as magic, she needs to be somewhere around here," hissed the woman.
I could tell by her voice that she hadn't moved from when she was ripping Dimitri's team a new one, but I also wasn't going to waste any wish energy trying to see what she looked like. I decided that I had gone long enough being blind that I wasn't going to abuse the privilege of seeing again.
"You're wrong." The words escaped my mouth before I could call them back, and I could feel everyone's eyes turning to me.
"Excuse me?" asked the woman. Her footsteps were nowhere near as silent as the military precision of the guy's footsteps. The heels clicked in irritation as if they were echoing their master's mood. "Does your village know its idiot is missing?"
Cocking my head to the side, I replayed her words over and over again in my head as I tried to figure out where the insult was.
"She's calling you dumb, Ma petite," purred Lust, and I could hear Dimitri's soft chuckle beside me.
"I take it you don't like that voice?" he asked, as his nose brushed just under my ear. Raising a single eyebrow, I looked down at him. "Even if you don't say anything, your face comes it subtitles. It is the cutest thing I've ever seen."
Shaking my head, I looked in the general direction of the woman. "I'm not sure. Did you notify anyone before you left home today?"
This time, Dimitri wasn't the only one chuckling.
"Cute," replied the woman. "But my mother is missing, and those… things… are after us. I think we have bigger things to worry about than a child pretending to be an adult."
I still couldn't quite grasp what she was trying to say, and I just shrugged my shoulders, no longer caring.
"Your mother is a grown woman, I think she can manage to find her way back from wherever she disappeared to," announced the man in front of me. "Right now, we need to find a place to settle down for the night."
"Not before I get home," replied the woman, once again stomping her feet. Deciding that her new name should be Thumper, after the bunny in one of the movies I watched as a little girl, I went back to ignoring her.
"You are more than welcome to leave," announced a new voice, seemingly from behind me. "But me and mine are going to stay here. We don't know what is out there right now, and we will be going in blind in the dark."
There was a murmur of agreement coming from behind Thumper, and I found myself nodding my head with them.
I was tired and done for the day. It seemed like I killed Pere a hundred years ago, but it was only a matter of hours. Plus, I needed to figure out what my next step was going to be.
Ha!
As if I didn't already know that I was going to be doing whatever Dimitri and his team told me to do. Plus, since Luca was clearly part of said team, it worked out even better for me.
"Why don't I take Short Stack to the bathroom and get her washed up?" suggested Luca. Patting Dimitri to let me down… because it was at this moment that my bladder decided to remind me I hadn't used the washroom in a while, I was surprised when I went from one arm to another, my feet never touching the ground.
"We can't have the Princess hurting her feet," murmured the voice I recognized as belonging to Luca. He must be the one holding me because I could smell the peppermint on his breath as if he was chewing a piece of gum.
"Greed?" I asked, confused. Why did this guy smell like Greed? Did that woman give me enough power to bring Greed to life? Was that what happened?
"I can definitely be greedy, Short Stack," murmured Luca, gently kissing my ear as he spoke to me. "And I will answer to whatever you want to call me."
"You really are the village idiot, aren't you?" sneered Lust, and I really wanted to punch the demon in the face. "As if Greed would be in a meat sack right now. We need a lot more power for that to happen."
I wanted to ask a hundred questions, but because it was Lust talking to me right now, I refused to open my mouth. I would wait until Greed came back before asking.
Wrapping my arms around Luca's neck, I let him carry me off to wherever he wanted me. I mean, seriously, who wouldn't want to go with him?!?
I heard the squeak of door hinges protesting as he opened the door and brought us both into the washroom.
"I'll stand guard," explained Luca softly as he gently put me down. Surprised to find that I was still clutching Teddy in my hand, I brought him closer to my chest. Teddy will definitely protect Luca from everything I wanted to do to him.
It was a good thing for my white knight to have protection.
Nodding my head, I let him guide me into the stall, and I did my business before tapping around for the flush. Before I could leave the stall, Luca was already standing in front of me, his hand gently gripping my elbow as he led me toward the sink.
It was no wonder I mistook him for Greed; they were both attentive and compassionate in a way that the others weren't.
Luca picked me up around my waist and placed me on the counter. Hearing the water running beside me, I cocked my head to the side, wondering what he was doing now.
The feeling of a cold, wet paper towel startled me as he washed my face like I was breakable.
"Ah, Princess," he murmured, his voice sad. "I wish I could have protected you from this, too."
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