Chapter 196 The Poisoning
Chapter 196 The Poisoning
Halfway there, she spotted the man in black and white—the invisibility spell, without a doubt. The darkness surrounding him was matched only by the darkness of his soul.
He was pouring something into the Vampire King's glass, taking advantage of the moment Sebastian was greeting the demon delegation.
Blanche recognized him by the skull icon hovering above his head, thanks to her Shadow skill.
A necromancer.
What was he doing here? She had read on the Dark Web that their presence was forbidden in the Tower! Punishable by death!
When she saw Sebastian raise the glass to his lips, she let go of Erik and took off running in her heels, much to the astonishment of everyone else in the room.
Her speed was nowhere near that of a Drakionne who had not yet mutated.
"Blanchette!" Asmodeus greeted her when she reached him. "Is everything all right?" he continued, noticing her agitation.
The demons greeted her with nods. Many were surprised to see their Queen at the gala, considering they had not seen her in a century.
But Blanche was far too busy snatching the glass from her host's hand—before he could take a sip—to notice whether any of them had actually spoken her true title aloud.
First surprised, then outraged, and finally utterly stunned, Sebastian stared at the young woman who had just stolen his whisky.
She downed it in one gulp.
She knew she wouldn't die from it. She was immortal, after all. And besides, this was a unique opportunity to rapidly increase her poison resistance.
When Seb opened his mouth to comment, Blanche's hand trembled.
She had underestimated the poison.
It was far more potent than she had expected.
The contents of the glass—or what little remained of them—spilled onto her dress. Immediately, the highly corrosive liquid attacked the threads holding the pearls in place. They came loose and rolled across the floor.
The entire thing sizzled, releasing a whitish smoke with a foul, nauseating smell.
"Poison!" Matt shouted, immediately pushing the King behind him.
Worse still, Blanche, dizzy and disoriented, felt liquid trickling from the corner of her mouth. She wiped it away with the back of her hand.
Blood stained her fingers.
"Shit!" the young woman muttered.
She staggered as Kiyan, Erik, and Asmodeus rushed toward her. Jeremy, Argy, and Phoenix immediately joined them.
In the face of adversity, masks fell away.
Winter tried to reach her, but Jax, Jen, and Saphir stopped him.
There were already enough people around her.
There was nothing he could do.
"Blanche?" Kiyan asked anxiously, while his best friend—Erik—noticed that she wasn't the only one affected by the poison.
Something invisible beside her was also releasing smoke.
Fortunately, the liquid had splashed onto the invisible man.
A second later, Erik had drawn his sword and held it against what he correctly assumed was the man's throat, while restraining him from behind.
The man materialized, revealing a surprisingly handsome face disfigured by a large scar across his cheek as he muttered a spell.
Apparently, he couldn't do two things at once.
All the vampires immediately went on high alert.
But the spell fizzled out without producing the slightest effect.
The necromancer, startled, tried to identify the assassin behind him, but couldn't.
"Move and you're dead," Erik whispered.
"You're the one who should be dead!" he exclaimed nervously. "Why aren't you dead?!"
If the necromancer had no idea why Erik hadn't died, Blanche did.
Of all the spells he could have chosen, he had picked a lethal spell...
Against an immortal.
At least, in this world.
Too bad.
"By Babylon!" Kiyan exclaimed. "Gag him, damn it!"
But it was too late.
The next spell, faster to cast, allowed him to teleport.
Unfortunately for him, he reappeared only a few meters away.
The vampires' protective wards were too powerful, and he had exhausted much of his resources with his various spells.
The hunt began immediately.
Blanche collapsed into Kiyan's arms, unable to use her time-rewinding spell to turn back the last few seconds.
Doing so would have caused even more damage.
Asmodeus stood right beside them, perfectly still, but his aura had changed.
There was no trace left of the relaxed demeanor he'd displayed upon arrival.
The Demon Prince was now watching every movement with icy attention.
Kysten and Saphir immediately positioned themselves around Sebastian and Argy, forming a protection that was both instinctive and effective.
Kysten, bow in hand, never took his eyes off the room's blind spots, while Saphir intercepted anything attempting to cross their perimeter.
Farther away, Matthew had become little more than a blurred streak.
The second-fastest vampire in the room, he leapt from one guest to another at an almost impossible speed, aided by Erik, who anticipated trajectories and neutralized attacks before they could even reach their targets.
Because the bastard wasn't attacking at random.
He was deliberately targeting the youngest guests and the women.
The least prepared targets.
The ones least likely to understand what was happening to them.
A magical bolt tore through the air toward a young girl.
The DarkNight appeared in front of her.
His rapier swept through the air in a brilliant arc, and the spell exploded against the blade in a shower of sparks.
Another projectile immediately shot toward a woman desperately trying to get to safety.
Matthew vanished.
A fraction of a second later, he reappeared in front of her, grabbed her around the waist, and hurled her behind a column before disappearing again.
"Stay down!"
Screams mingled with shouted orders.
Guests ran in every direction, some trying to defend themselves, others simply trying to survive the chaos.
The guards struggled to contain the damage.
Winter, meanwhile, had completely lost his composure.
A roar of rage and fury rose from his throat, so powerful that several people froze in place.
"GET HIM!"
The necromancer had attempted to escape again.
Another rift opened behind him, black and trembling, but he didn't have time to cross it.
Asmodeus simply raised one hand.
The air seemed to contract.
The portal wavered.
Then it slammed shut.
The necromancer stumbled backward.
He had just realized that he was no longer being pursued solely by the King's guards.
He was now being hunted by a Demon Prince.
He attempted another attack anyway.
Jeremy rushed toward Blanche, taking advantage of the chaos to heal her.
For him, she was the only thing that mattered.
"Don't move!"
He placed one hand near her wound and immediately attempted a healing spell.
Magic gathered around his fingers.
But before he could go any further, another energy coiled around Blanche.
Argy.
He had reacted without thinking.
A wave of magic burst from him, precise and incredibly powerful, neutralizing the poison that threatened his mother.
Blanche felt the pain subside almost instantly.
She looked up, surprised.
Argy had already moved on.
No one seemed to notice what had just happened.
No one except, perhaps, Phoenix.
Everyone was far too focused on capturing the necromancer.
Even Sebastian hadn't seen it.