Chapter 278: Foul play
Arabella’s eyes remained on her feet as she ran down the dungeon stairs in order to avoid tripping over her dress.
Silas made his way there first, but a sound traveled to her ears before his figure appeared. A haunting one. That of labored breathing, the heaviest and deepest of gasps the young woman had ever had the horror of witnessing.
The sight of Katherine brought no solace. On the contrary, it made Arabella halt dead in her tracks and clasp both hands over her own mouth.
The vampiress’ body lay utterly limp, only her chest heaved and fell ever so slowly... Agonizingly as she drew each breath to save her life.
The poor thing looked like she was begging for scraps of air to grace her lungs, for some desperately needed mercy.
But her eyes were the worst part of that image; open wide and sharp as thin, red, popping vein lines covered the eyeballs from every side and end.
"Oh! Dear Lord! What’s happened?" Arabella cried.
"Stay where you are!" Silas held a firm hand in her direction.
He didn’t need to repeat himself as the young woman was rooted in place regardless, her legs failing every motor reaction expected of them.
Silas opened the cell door with great caution and immediately shut it behind himself then approached Katherine’s figure with more heed.
After seconds that felt like long minutes, he finally towered over the vampiriess.
It was then that her irises finally moved, darting from the lost corner they’d been soldered upon and onto Silas.
No other motion was made or noted besides the haggard breathing that filled the entire dungeon space.
"Is she truly awake?" with a shaky voice, Arabella murmured her question.
"She is," Silas knelt beside Katherine’s face, his glare never softening.
"Can we summon a doctor?"
"They are all asleep as all of them are vampires," he stated calmly.
All the while, Arabella’s gemstones not once left Katherine. Still, on her back, against the cold hard ground she lay, the only moving parts of her being her chest and eyes which then flickered towards the young woman.
"May we call upon Ada?" upon noting the look of confusion Silas gave her, she quickly elaborated, "She is no doctor, but she knows things. She was the only one to note my condition when I came back after the abduction. She may see something we don’t," Arabella pleaded.
"I see no harm in that, but if that means she has to come closer, then I am not allowing it," his cold glare finally left Katherine, "She’s still unpredictable," he gestured towards Katherine.
After those words, Arabella merely nodded and neared the cell bars before sinking to her knees, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks.
Ada, still in that sublime gown, ran down a few minutes later. Very similarly to Arabella, her entire body froze with the first glimpse of Katherine she’d taken.
"Oh! Ada!" Arabella leaped to her feet, "Do you recognize the symptom of anything from here? She’s awake but the sun hasn’t yet sunken!"
Once the initial shock seemingly wore off, Ada applied herself and focused on Katherine’s position.
"For your own sake, I can’t allow you inside," said Silas as he stood by her side, "Find out what you can from here or we will have to wait until nighttime," he cleared his throat.
Ada kept her eyes on Katherine for what felt like hours, her eyebrows furrowing with every second that passed.
"Whenever an organic body does something it isn’t supposed to, it means a mutation has occurred," she took a deep breath, "Mutations don’t only happen at birth, they can be introduced and their effect can be permanent or temporary,"
"What’s the meaning of this?" Silas’ eyebrow rose.
"Your body is unique," Ada turned towards Silas, "You were born with a mutation that allows you to withstand what others of your kind cannot,"she marked a short pause before continuing, "But this here means that something in her has changed. Something has been introduced to Katherine’s body that affects her uniquely,"
"Since no one else is sick then this could mean that she was targeted just like I was with the hypnosis spell," Arabella had a distant look about her, eyes glued on Katherine, "But what do you suggest?" her gaze then snapped onto Ada.
"She’s already been isolated but I wonder who handles feeding her and checking on her," Ada looked at Silas again.
"Allegra and Grace by night and Madame Arumina by day," he stated.
"Can we move her upstairs?" Arabella wiped at some more tears that escaped her control.
"I can’t in good conscience make that suggestion. My only advice is to monitor her state as well as whoever interacts with her. She’s been deteriorating for over a week now...," Ada trailed off.
Nothing else was said aside from Arabella begging to stay for a little longer as Silas refused to remove Katherine from the dungeons, stating instability as a reason.
Ada was asked to leave but she in turn requested to stay by Arabella’s side if just for a short while.
Silas agreed and ascended the stairs with a heavy weight on his chest, leaving the two young women behind.
Poor Katherine had no other option but to lay still, utterly helpless and stare back at them from her spot.
Arabella even wondered whether the vampiress was attempting to communicate something or was simply out of reach.
"Katherine? Can you hear me? Can you give me a sign? Any sign, please:" she cried.
"Vampires’ bodies have known many mutations throughout the centuries, but most of them were clocked at birth," Ada seemed pensive, "I’ve never heard of anything that causes confusion and then aggression before complete collapse like this," she shook her head.
"Perhaps research and studies have advanced since you’ve been shadowing your father in his practice," Arabella half asked.
"Yes, of course but...," Ada bit down on her bottom lip.
"But what?" the young woman’s twisted features, shifted to reflect perplexity.
"Personally, I suspect foul play," there was no hesitation in Ada’s voice.