BLOODY LOVE'S
Episode 228's

The Argentites were already scattered hidden behind the tall shrubs and grass of savannas. People have to search carefully and see them. The horse carriage was returned to Bjork so as not to make any suspicions. Marco was lying on the ground, waiting. The dried grass pricked his back and head, making him itchy, but it was only a minor distraction from what they were going to be.

I wish he was that fast, he thought, if the train was fast, he wouldn't see us hiding.

"You should be in the back or middle row" commented Mr. Stuart, who also lay flat on Marco's side, looking at the wide sky above them. He groped his coat pocket and found the pack of cigarettes he was looking for. "If Sir William gets you, won't he be able to perform the rituals he wants?"

"The leader must always be in front. Their confidence is important to the success of this plan." Marco turned his head, received the one cigarette offered, observing the brand writing on his paper. "After all, it's not easy to get me."

"Wrap on Lady Chantall then," Mr. Stuart chuckled. He burned the tip of the cigarette and started smoking it. "You promised to go back to her, right?"

Marco frowned. When he promised Lady Chantall that, Mr. Stuart was gone and there was no one around. "Where do you know?"

"I'm Raymond Stuart" said the man in astonishment. "I can even make the grass talk if I want. How could it be that kind of thing I don't know."

Marco smiled knot. He was not interested in lighting a cigarette. His eyes scanned the sky, wondering if there was another place up there, far above the sky that shut them up like a dome. "I signed a blood contract with the dynasty" he said. "With the queen herself."

Mr. Stuart is silent. He knew that the Argent Family had a backing in the palace because all this time all the football lunge Marco even the most brutal never get a reprimand or punishment from the palace. He has also heard rumors that Marco and the Queen have had a special relationship in the past. But Mr. Stuart did not expect the two things would be related. "Blood contract?" tanyanya.

"The name is so because we swear on the blood of our descendants" Marco said calmly. "What I'm doing is actually just continuing what my predecessor started. We built Albion, protecting it from below. And this covenant will continue to be renewed by our descendants."

"You mean, direct descendant?"

"Yes, the first child in the first child." Marco thought for a long time, remembering. "When I knew that I had been trained and prepared to replace what Lord Argent had done before, all I thought about was that I had to stop this. I want to get my family out of the cold chain of contracts that curse us." He sighed. "Unfortunately, I did the same thing to Jose. In the end I'm the same as my predecessor."

Mr. Stuart puffed his cigarette smoke into the sky, wondering for himself why Marco suddenly wanted to unlock the secret. He listened in silence, waiting.

"At the time of renewing the agreement with the dynasty— with the Queen, I've had a cold warning. People like us will drown in the mud of blood and the tears of others, many will curse and curse us to death. No one will love us. There can't be." Marco lit his cigarette, sucked it deep and puffed his smoke deep in a grey puff. "But Jeanne said she loved me."

There was a strange tone in the man's voice that made Mr. Stuart annoyed from the very beginning of hearing. Now he realized what it meant. "And even so, even if you finally get the one who loves you, you'll still leave her."

"Sooner or later it will happen" said Marco calmly. "Everybody will die."

"But not necessary today! You promised to go back to her! I know Argent never broke a promise."

"There is always a first for everything."

"You're playing him the same way" said Mr. Stuart coldly, not understanding why he suddenly became angry. It should not be the relationship of others, but he cannot stop himself.

Marco laughing. He rolled face down and took out his single binoculars to peer around. Everyone is still in their own position. There are no deserters. The wind blew violently swaying the ends of the grass, flying the strands of her hair. "I could have been honest with him and told him that I intended to bring that demon to death with me today. But what's the point of saying that? He'll be sad, our plan will be broken, and everything will be ruined." His black eyes scanned the sky in the distance, observing the speed of the strange black smoke loop speed there and calculating the speed of his arrival. "He's young, he'll forget me quickly."

Mr. Stuart shook his head. "You underestimate the memory of women, Marco," he said. "They never forget."

***

Jose laughs. "Leave it in the cart. We managed to destroy it. Uncle Marco's been out Bjork since."

Someone offered her coat back. Marsh accepts, but doesn't wear it. He was still hot because he had just gouged and destroyed every paving and stone in Bjork that stained with blood. His head creeped in disgust whenever he saw those horrible stains and inscriptions, so he wanted to go along with destroying them himself. "Then what now?" he asked when he got in front of Jose. "You're going south? Garnet must be lonely alone in there."

"Wouldn't it be necessary to send an additional bodyguard to her?" ask Clearwater.

Jose shakes. "Marsh, you better get ahead of town. Awake at the gate, in case Uncle Marco needs help. He only brought seventy men because some of our men were taken by my father to Aston."

Marsh nodded steadily. "Then Luke?"

"Luke better stand guard at Bjork. Looking at the Clearwater emblem will make people calm down." Jose circulated his gaze around, waving kindly at the little girl peering at him from above the balcony. The mother of the child immediately dragged him in and closed the window tightly. "Mary will be fine. He's tougher than he looks."

As soon as the last word slid from Jose's lips, one shot erupted from the south. The three men were silent.

"That's the direction Garnet went, right?" Marsh. Jose was not there beside him. His friend had run away and jumped up Run. "You said he'd be okay, didn't you, Jose?" exclaim Marsh tease. "He's tougher than he looks!"

"He's tough, but sometimes reckless!" jose responded deftly, letting Run pick up for a bit before spurring him south. "I'm sure he's okay, but I'll make sure!"

***

While trying to make calculations with Charles Hastings, William found that the man's mansion was filled with police and crowds. Charles Hastings and his men were brutally murdered. Arthur Spencer has disappeared without being identified.

Someone had gone before him hunting these people and William could guess who they were. Argent.

Why did they kill Hastings? William did not understand. He himself hunted Charles because the man was an accomplice of Frederick Ashington, the man who stole his necklace and brought it out of Romania. There might be a feud of its own between humans, he thought. Now is not the time to confuse that. There was something strange in Bjork. His link, the bond he made at Bjork, was somehow cut off.

The bond in question is the cluster of magic he made with the blood of his chosen ones. The circle is just a safety so that there is no more price to be paid when adjustments arise during soul exchange. No circle may not be a problem, but neither Maria nor Marco can now run away from Bjork. The other tumblings can go. That's obviously a bad thing.

And again, what is this? William stared at his own palm, observing in puzzlement the black particles that were leaking out from his body. These particles belong to the devil. These were the same particles that used to appear when he summoned his demons. But now William was not calling the demon appeared, so he wondered why so many black particles came out from the pores of his skin.

The black color was like the smoke of an extinguished candle, slid out from his body gently through the gaps and gaps on his carriage, soaring up into the sky.

What the hell is going on? William, for the first time in so many hundred years, again felt anxious. He lifted his stick and smashed the end into the roof of the carriage. "Faster!" yells. He had to see for himself what was going on in Bjork. Too many strange things happening at one time is never a good sign.

***