CHAPTER 423: TOO MUCH POISON

The girls huddled together and remained close to Katherine as well as her sisters. Aside from the entertainers, the daytime maids accompanied the lot since Ada and Abigail were friends with many of them.

Watching their every move from afar, Lauden needed but one opportunity to set his plan into motion.

Allegra had caught most of his attention and as such, when the maids split from the group to head for the performance square, he kept on tailing the party that included the vampiress in it.

Listening to their conversations earned him no leverage or springing board upon which to propel his own agenda and so, Lauden quickly gave up on absorbing every word out of their mouths.

All of that giggling and chirping did his sanity no good anyway.

The idea was simple enough on paper; isolate Allegra from the group without drawing the attention of her sisters.

That way, no matter if things went north or south, none of them would link him to whatever would happen.

It wasn’t until they’d finally exited Kallum’s shop that the golden opportunity presented itself before him.

Some of the humans expressed the desire to join the maids at the town square and thankfully, only Katherine and Grace had volunteered to go with them.

Allegra, citing fatigue, decided to head back home before the rest of them.

Since she was a vampire, nobody argued her separation from the group, despite her sister’s concern hanging clear upon their pretty faces.

After all, what could happen to her? She would very well defend herself should anything arise in her way, wouldn’t she?

Even better for his interests, Allegra chose not to take a carriage to go and instead went on foot.

Was the universe on his side all of the sudden? If yes, why did it take luck so long to smile in his face?

In any case, Lauden wasted no time on such existential wonderings and seized his chance while it still beamed at him.

He waited patiently for Allegra to cross the bridge leading in and out of KasselMoon before acting.

Upon entering the nearest forest, the vampire cast her way what he’d been holding onto that entire time.

A small pouch, so thin, it threatened to burst at the slightest touch.

Fortunately for him, the layer holding it together did not break in his hands as that would have been quite the muddle to clean.

It popped right by Allegra’s feet who hadn’t noticed his lurking beforehand due to the discretion spell Elphaba had, for a handsome sum, concocted at his request.

The vampiress collapsed to her knees, grasping at her throat through which she desperately gasped for air.

Fully red in the face and as the veins beneath her skin turned progressively black, Lauden took his time to saunter her way and tower over her agonizing figure.

"Don’t worry," he sneered, glaring down upon her, "It is nothing but simple Yuniper extract. Strong enough to stun a vampire your age but not so much to kill you," he chuckled, "No. That is the last thing I want to do... For the time being, at least,"

"What... Why?" through sheer perseverance alone did she manage to utter those words.

In response, Lauden so very slowly crouched down to her eye level, an everlasting grin on him, "Why indeed," he seemed pensive as his hand extended to push a strand of red hair out of her face, "Allegra Dragomir," he declared, staring straight into her soul.

It was quite surprising for him to note that her eyes managed to open wider than they already had.

"It does roll off the tongue, doesn’t it?" he paused momentarily to relish the pure horror her features expressed, "Yes, I know your little secret, Allegra. So, that to me begs the question; what did he promise you in return? Or did you just agree to do his bidding for the simple bond you two share?"

Allegra provided no answer. Too busy gurgling and coughing her lungs out in a hopeless attempt at expelling the yellow fumes that had snuck through her airways.

"Don’t exert yourself too much," Lauden wiped at the tears that had trickled down her cheek, to which she responded by slapping his hand away. All to earn nothing but another chuckle out of him, "Don’t be so feisty. You know as well as I do that our bodies can’t recover from Yuniper that quickly,"

Her features locked to render the most twisted of glares, her bloodshot eyes bore into his as if hoping stares could kill.

Unfortunately for her, that ability remained out of her grasp.

"I do have another question," he continued, "Why, after all this time, would you stop reporting to your father? Did he say or do something that irked you? Was it perhaps the fact that he’s replaced you with his new child? Or..."

Lauden’s eyes narrowed, going over Allegra’s figure again and again, sweeping every visible inch of her, "No...," he practically whispered, "It wasn’t that, was it? Something else happened, didn’t it?" his grin reached from ear to ear.

Allegra still had no means of answering as her throat must have been burning with the unscratchable itch that the Yuniper left in its wake.

Lauden very well knew that her vocal cords had been fried for that time being and so, in reality, he expected not a word from her.

He was satisfied enough by hearing the sound of his own voice as his cogitation were uttered out loud.

Furthermore, her squirming in torment brought him more content than he cared to admit to himself.

"I have so many more questions for you, my dear Allegra," he sighed, "But for now, let us get out of the way where anyone can meddle in our business. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?"

A glint flashed across her teary eyes at those words. Allegra hurled herself back in an attempt to stand upon her feet and escape, but there was no fighting nature.

Her body was plagued with too much poison for her motor functions to perform without many hitches.