My Servant Is An Elf Knight From Another World

Chapter 416 - The Impostor In The Room, Part 3

There were many things, many, many things I've still yet understood, and I know for a fact, my ignorance was showing here, my presumptuousness, but no. It can't happen. If he's still in there, Harry can't die. Nick, Hayley… I can't do those two like that.

"Look, I've assumed you've tried everything you could think of already to stop this, didn't you?" I said, turning to Irene. "That means you think there's a chance."

But to my utter surprise, Irene slowly shook her head at me. "There's no chance, no remedy. I knew from the start there was no hope for him, something like this - once it starts, it can't be stopped. The only way to rid of the parasite is to rid of both souls completely. He has to die." 

"No, no, wait," I was shaking my head now too, frantic in my movements. "Then… why were you even trying, then? If you knew there was no chance from the beginning, what were all those days for? If it's for nothing, why were you even trying to help him?" 

"Because… it's what you would have done," She told me, her voice and stare, both dwindling gently. "I thought, even if I knew there was no chance, I could still try… because you would have done so anyway, knowing or not knowing… because that's how you are."

"A bad influence, she means to say," Amelia remarked unimpressively. "Oh, just how love deludes and blinds us all, remarkable… and yet reality stays ever unchanging. You've given optimism a try, but now it is time for the harsh reality of the matter - he must die." 

"No," I raised my voice, speaking firmly, snapping over, marching a foot closer to the vampire who stared back with a scowl. "I know you think it's stupid, and I know you think I'm wasting time - "

"You are wasting time," She interjected. "Spare us your stance, if you would? I could hear it already. He has a family? Loved ones? A life worth living? That's all gone the very moment that Magus planted a fragment of himself into him. Face it, understand it, watch my lips, heed my words - He is already dead." 

I took another step forward, I didn't know what I was about to do, but I was going to do something, anything, I just - but then Irene reined me back, placing a firm hand on my shoulder. 

"Look, I understand where you're coming from," She said with a gentle calming voice. I really do, sincerely. I wish there was something we could do, but there just isn't. It's time we've - "

"Subjugation," I said immediately without thought. "I could subjugate him, that fragment of Jay, I could subdue it, couldn't I?" 

Irene could see, hear my desperation, and shook her head a little more frantically. "No, no, you can't - "

"Why not?" 

"It's just not possible, you aren't adept enough - " then before I could interject, she hastily added. "It's two souls fused into one! You need to be precise otherwise you'd just end up imposing yourself onto the other and speed up the process anyway. He'll end up dying either way."

"I can try."

"No, you can fail," Amelia said, the annoyance in her voice more prevalent than ever. "This is not something akin to your prior ventures! You do not have the - !" 

"Kill him if I can't do it, I won't stop you!" I flashed her a glare, and I repeated myself, speaking through heavy breaths. "Kill him. You have my word, you can kill him. But give me this chance, give me this try, won't you? I just… I have to do something, alright?"

Amelia considered me for a moment, assessing me through narrowed eyes. I didn't know what she was thinking, but whatever it was, it had to be something amusing, for once more, the glint of her pointed fangs were glimmering through her curling lips.

"Yes, you always do, don't you?" She remarked, then looked over at Irene. "Like father, like son, don't you suppose?"

"Not really," She muttered back, looking away. 

"And you, Irene?" I asked, whirling myself around towards her. "Will you give me this chance?" 

"If I just kept to thinking the way I usually do, he'd have been dead already, I'd have pulled the trigger days ago, and I'd have thought myself right for it," She said, slowly shifting her eyes back over at me, a bit of sternness brimming within them, a bit of hope. "You better hope you're right here, otherwise, I'll just go back to being that cold-hearted bitch from before."

I nodded relieved, smiled gratefully, if only faintly. "Well, we wouldn't want that now, would we?" 

"You got five minutes to prepare," Irene stalked away, coating her voice with a tone of authority. "Amelia, a sound barrier, please? I don't want anybody to get curious." 

"Oh, by the Divines, here I am going along with whims so naive, I can't believe I…" 

Amelia continued to grumble more under her breath as a peculiar presence began to permeate around her body. I felt it radiate and spread, the invisible, the intangible, but my focus was being strayed elsewhere - in the corner of my eyes, someone else was watching me.

"So, you're going to subdue, are you?" Harry spoke calmly, and it was then I noticed just how creepily casual he was about everything. "Sounds hard, dangerous… do you think you can do it?" 

Does he not have any other emotion? Or does just not know what other emotions are?

"I'm gonna try anyway." 

"Ah!" His eyes widened slightly. "You have to be the one then, right? The guy Jay was referring to. The one he's so curious about, sorry, that WE are so curious about." 

"So you do know me, then."

"Yes, indeed, I do, sorry I didn't recognize you before! I tried asking the detective a few days back, but she wouldn't say. So glad to finally meet you," He flashed a smile, one that showed too much of his gums swollen and glowing red. "He's told me a lot about you. The things you've done, the plans you've delayed…"

"What plans?"

"The Elf you stole," He continued, his words suddenly sounding malicious. "He's going to get her back, you know? You're going to give her back. You can't stop us." 

At that, I felt a wave of anger start to bubble, and I growled, "Over my dead body." 

"If that's what it'll take," He grinned again, speaking so whimsically. "In time, all in due time… things will be exactly as they'll be." 

"Yes," I narrowed my lips. "They will."

Talking to him was infuriating me, so I stopped. Right then, I needed to focus, I needed to prepare. I only had one shot, I needed to make it count. 

I didn't know much about Nick, or Hayley even… but they were nice people, good people, Nick included. They didn't deserve this. From what little I've heard, things seem strained between their family already, and I can't imagine what a dead parent would do to them both.

I won't do that to them.

"By the way," Harry spoke again. "Do you think Jay putting me in this body was simply coincidence? Or do you think there's more to it than meets the eye?" 

My eyes found his, that squinted, weathered gaze staring back the way Jay does ever so often the instances we'd meet. It really was like I was looking at that bastard right now.

"Don't mind me," He said again, shrugging his words away. "It was just a thought." 

Five minutes soon went and gone, and the office was cleared of every object in the way. Irene's desk in the furthest corner, empty chairs placed in another, and somewhere in the commotion, Adalia had also roused back from her slumber. 

From faint mutters, I heard Amelia briefly filling in her sister with all the happenings prior, and as always, her eyes continued to stay in their usual pensive, dreamy stare, but at a certain point, she turned that gaze over towards me.

Her misty eyes, thought distant, seemingly barren, said it all - could I do it?

Subjugation. It was one of the first few things she tried to teach me way back when. I failed then, told myself never again… hopefully, I'll be able to live up to that promise.

The presence from Amelia stopped ebbing and flowing, and she spoke, "There,  no one is able to now hear your futile efforts. Go on, go do as you claimed, go show us your delusion made real, and -"

"Sister…" Adalia surprisingly, hurriedly, cut across from her, sounding more than her usual gentle self. "You are… annoying…"

"Oh…" Amelia's smarmy smile instantly flipped upside down. "I-I didn't mean to sound… I was merely - "

"Do not… speak…" Adalia said, her stare staying on mine. "I want him… to do his… best… so... please…"

Somehow through meek and quiet words alone, she managed to turn the crude, belligerent vampire docile, slinking into the shadows of the darkest corner with nothing more than a submissive nod, "Very well… if that is what you wish."

Complete and total faith, this Adalia.. She should be aware of the high and nigh-impossible odds, and yet… thanks, Adalia.