Luckily for Philip and everyone else in the team, once the Sky Changing Wyvern plucked the rabbit—it flew back up and didn't chase down after them.
For a split second though, Lukas thought it made eye contact with him… or maybe that was just his imagination.
Lukas didn't actually remember Iolathane mentioning anything about a wyvern that changed its scale colors, but it seemed like the others didn't as well.
What was up with that?
"We… we survived." Philip gasped.
"No thanks to you." Anthony massaged his forehead, one hand holding the crossbow.
"I'm more surprised that Matthew here is still knocked out dead." Philip said. "I'm not actually holding a corpse am I? Check his pulse, Anthony."
Lukas finally turned to Philip and shot him a dead look. "Just wait for Matthew to wake up, he's going to be alright, okay? I have a girlfriend who's been asleep for more than a month and it's got nothing to do—you know what nevermind."
"See? I told you not to bother him too much." Anthony said, but then glanced at Lukas. He was confident about the results with Matthew even with the young man's current state—there really was something secretive going on, but chose to hide.
"I'm sorry, not everyone of us can keep our wits together." Philip scowled, but sighed. He finally remembered about Lukas' girlfriend thing and though it didn't change things, it did suck to hear about nonetheless.
"Should we now carry on or something? Stay away from open clearings. We don't know how much more of those things are out there." Anthony asked.
He didn't know why he was waiting for Lukas to answer about it, but somehow it felt more secure and safe to get agreements from him nonetheless.
"That sounds like a good idea, or we can stay put here and enjoy the rabbit. Grab some firewood and start a small cookout." Philip said, temporarily putting Matthew on the grass then sitting back against a the tree.
"Don't you think that's going to attract more attention. Fire and everything?"
"Do you recommend we eat it raw?"
"That's…" Anthony glanced in Lukas' way, still waiting for a response.
"If you guys are feeling hungry and tired, then we should rest here for a bit. This place seems safe for now so let's take advantage of that and recover our strength shall we?" Lukas said before he plopped down on the ground.
He planted the dagger on the ground, rolling back his shoulders and sighing. It was crazy. Things were crazy.
'I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't want any of this—I just wanted to what…? Live with my girlfriends? I wasn't even in a relationship before all of this Vampire thing happened so I feel like I'm out of my league. But all these people are relying on me. I mean, Philip probably has a point about getting back to Nyx and I'm just insisting on my own way again.'
Philip gathered sticks on the ground while Anthony picked up some stones.
"You know what guys… if you'd like to get back to Nyx, I won't stop the two of you. I'd like it if you brought Matthew along since he wasn't able to give an answer, but the choice is with you guys." Lukas said.
"That's…" Anthony exchanged looks with Philip.
"There's probably the rescue team, you know? Necklace beads and all. It makes sense to stay with someone who can actually fight in the meanwhile." Philip shrugged as he placed the sticks together.
"That's… I'm not really a fighter." Lukas said.
"And I'm not a Vampire." Philip rolled his eyes.
Lukas paused and glanced away from the Dhampir, making sure that he wasn't too obvious. It was easy to pretend that things were okay and that worrying wasn't going to get them anywhere.
But sometimes it just happened.
"Even if you're not actually a fighter, you seem to have that killer instinct with it. Like Matthew really." Anthony pointed out. "So we don't know why you're trying to push us away unless there's a reason for it."
Lukas paused and glanced at Anthony.
He'd already been honest with them about Rhea, the Blood Servant and even the Sanguise House dagger, so why hide the reason?
'You guys are from this game called Vampire Nightlife—so really, it's all just bytes or something. I don't think you guys exist? Nah, I've already went through that line of thinking before, this is the real deal. As real as anything I've experienced in my life and I won't be dismissing it any longer.'
"Well the thing is that… I think, no, I'm certain that we have a possible ally here in Ilstad Mountain and we just have to find them." Lukas said.
"Certain?" Philip said. "Bold choice of words—Anthony give me those stones. How are you so certain anyway? It's not like you've been here before."
"Well that's…" Lukas ground his teeth and looked away. "It's going to sound crazy."
"We already think you're kinda crazy." Philip said. "Right, Landel?"
"He sometimes got proof though?"
"Like what? Him saying that he made a Blood Servant and has his hands on a noble bloodline relic of all things?"
"I don't think someone would just make it all up."
"Unless they're delusional and everything. Damn it, this is hard." Philip struck the two stones together and closed his eyes. "It's just hard to believe someone nilly willy."
"I haven't even explained why I'm crazy though?" Lukas said. "And besides, I am giving the two of you, and Matthew the option to leave me behind. I'll be free to do what I want and you guys don't get to deal with it… doesn't that sound good?"
"Should sound good, but there's a way for us to determine if you're actually saying the truth or not." Philip said.
"We do?" Anthony said, but then blinked. "Ah, we do."
"You don't know do you, Landel?" Philip sighed then jerked a thumb at Matthew. "We wait for him to wake up and see if he's actually gotten stronger."
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