After leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind him, Adam let out a sigh of relief in managing to survive his ordeal in almost being fully possessed again by that beast; leaning his back from the thought of having it take control of him in succeeding to brutally murder his loved ones much to his horror.
He closed his eyes for a moment; he could not imagine himself if the situation had failed for him, causing his friends to die with him knowing the outcome but unable to control himself when turned into a werewolf. It's a terrifying what-if scenario, though he will try not to think about it because it's a grim reminder of how he can lose himself by letting strong emotions get the better of him.
He is better than that; he cannot afford to be a victim and simply sit down, accepting defeat and letting the beast do whatever it wants with his body. This is his life and choices, not anyone else's fault nor his responsibility. Besides, there are people that he has to protect. He can't lose or die; his friends are counting on him.
Flashing open his eyes, the first thought that entered his mind was what he was supposed to do—almost forgetting something important like going back to go for someone, even though he had forgotten at this point after his rough time with himself and that thing. Yet Adam managed to snap out of it, recalling what he should do.
"Lilim..." He almost lost his objective in regards to his beloved daughter, currently in danger of being held hostage by a bunch of lunatics and freaks doing god knows what to her, all while also wanting to tear their heads off with his bare hands and kill them if they did something horrible to her. "I need to keep going, he said, encouraging himself to press forward, knowing full well that his daughter is still waiting for him to rescue her from these madmen. "Don't worry, sweetheart, father is coming."
Forcing himself to move his legs once more and making a turn on the hallway towards the kitchen and then the front door of this cabin, Adam released another breath of fresh air from his lungs and finally made his way through this place, first making his way to the said kitchen, expecting at least someone.
To his surprise, no one was in the cabin; in fact, he never heard or saw anyone throughout his walk in this cabin, finding it strange to be empty even for just a while, never bothering to knock on their doors or check other rooms due to being in a hurry to get Lilim back as fast as possible. It's quite bizarre for someone to just be gone like that with no sign of disturbance in this house, leaving the whole situation very odd to him.
But he could be overthinking about it; he's sure they are simply in their rooms or presumably outside, likely visiting the town not far from here doing shopping or simply spending time with each other, the latter likely less probable for the fact that most of them barely know each other rather than having interacted.
Regardless, Adam has no time for worrying about them; they are alive and safe, and that is all that matters to him the most. However, his daughter isn't, and this alone is a problem he must fix before it's too late for her. He's sure she's alive; anything better than being dead is fine by him, but having Lilim killed or murdered is nothing short of a horrifying thought for him, knowing he wouldn't allow it to happen even if it meant giving up his own life to save her.
"Come on Adam," telling himself to snap out of it and keep moving forward, "Lilim is counting on you," reassuring himself with her face in mind, reminding him that he had a daughter that needed rescuing from a bunch of crazies who would regret taking her away from him, "Don't fuck this up," he whispers to himself, trying to avoid having second thoughts on what to do next and make sure to stay focused on what is important now. "I am coming," he says with conviction.
And so, Adam proceeded to walk to the front door of this wooden cabin, firmly holding the knob with growing determination in saving her: "I can do this, I can do this," quietly repeating mantra to motivate himself: "Please be alive," begging as he turned and opened the door, causing the sunlight to attack his fragile eyes like needles.
Squinting and slowly opening his eyes after several seconds to let them adjust to the light and gain full view of his surroundings, everyone except Vesh was standing a couple of meters away from him, staring at Adam with a look of worry and concern for what he was planning to do. Seeing this unexpected scene before him, he sighed, knowing where this was going to lead.
Alucard alerted Garnet, Cain, and Vesh of his suicidal plan to enter a forbidden cavern comprised of cultists ready and prepared to tear him from limb to limb. It is an unfortunate fate for any ordinary person to encounter such people, but no normal man and not even death itself will stop him from getting her back.
He hopes they can understand that when this whole mess is over, Adam just wants the best for himself and the friends he made along the way; it's a decision he's willing to make in order to keep his own sanity and humanity beating inside him. "What are you guys doing?" Pretending to be clueless as to why they are all standing in front of him.
Seeing the worried expression on his face, she responded, "We want to come with you," surprising Adam from what she said, "it's the least we can do for helping us and putting up with our antics." He wanted to tell them it wasn't necessary, but before he could even speak, Garnet cut him off with, "What my mistress said!" Her arm crossed in protest, giving him a peevish look that was easy to resist.
Cain also spoke up next: "It doesn't feel right if we let you go alone." His calm and deep voice was soft enough to reassure him but hard enough to convince him: "These girls are your friends, aren't they?" The immortal man added, giving him a smile of respect and camaraderie, "You can't always rely on yourself to get things done; it's important to have people with you in difficult times."
Friends...he pondered for a moment the thought of them being his friends; he was already aware they were his friends and considered them; even Cain and Vesh deserved his friendship or camaraderia for simply helping him, but was it the right thing to do? What will happen if they get hurt, killed, or, worst of all, captured by these evil people? He knew they wouldn't blame him for letting them help, but Adam doesn't want to be responsible for the deaths of anyone he knows or cares about.
Closing the door behind him and moving forward before stopping a few meters from each other, Adam spoke, "You people..." A stream of water fell down from his eyes, smiling sadly from this revaluation, "I don't want to lose any of you three." It's the truth; he doesn't want to lose anyone dear to him. He fell down on his knees with a small groan while wiping off the tears with his sleeves, "not now...not ever."
A strong hand came down. "You won't lose us," Cain stated, placing his other hand on top of Adam's shoulder to give him some sort of comfort and understanding that everything will be alright. "We are here for you, he said, nodding at what he said, still staring at this old man with his green eyes. "If we don't go together, then our friendship is just as meaningless as one another."
That statement was something that could change Adam's mind completely about taking them with him, turning his attention to the troubled faces of that pixie and her young mistress, fully aware that if he selfishly goes alone, they will nonetheless go with him one way or another, refusing to comply unless he psychologically forces them to.
"Okay," he breathed heavily before grabbing the man's hand as he was lifted off from the snowy ground, "okay, you three can come with me." The final statement was like a promise of never letting them go from where he stood; their faces beamed with relief and satisfaction of agreeing to their terms: "Just don't die, no matter what happens." They agreed with an answer of their own.
"You betcha!" Garnet raised a thumbs up towards him and said, "I'll make sure to do all the work in kicking their asses!" The little pixie gave a cheerful smile that showed how confident she was of completing this task; her eyes had an overflowing sense of determination and excitement in coming along with him.
"Don't worry about me dying, beloved," smiling confidently while gesturing her rapier at her waist, "my blade shall protect us." Alucard bowed respectfully with hands clasped together, speaking formally with her best wishes. "Your life will be protected, I swear to you," she replied in her best attempt to mimic aristocratic speech.
The flying pixie, however, jumped in the air with a hysterical and surprised display, "Eeek!" Blushing uncontrollably and trembling at her young mistress response, the bright shade of red on her face had grown, continuing to get more flushed with each passing second. "My mistress said it!" Her small wings flapped faster than usual and flew downward onto Alucard's confused expression.
"Said what?" The girl said, confusedly, "That my blade shall protect him?" That statement made her servant more embarrassed, making her comment on this response, "Oh my gosh! My mistress has spoken!" Fainting due to overwhelming shame, her head hit the snowy ground, and others went into a laughing fit; Garnet still had a big smile on her face while Cain smiled, and Adam felt annoyed by this scene.
Grabbing her from the ground and bringing Garnet closer, he said, "Out with it!" A vein popped up at the mistress's forehead, anger and perplexity shown in her face. "What are you trying to say to me?! That I'm a moron or something?" Losing all patience for her little friend's teasing, she was ready to squash her before the little fae finally said it.
"You...." Placing her raised hand near her own mouth as she spoke, "...called him your beloved," the answer caused her poor mistress to exhale a steam of smoke from her ears, her red face getting even redder when she stared at her down in disbelief and horror; the young lady began to think about it once again about this.
"I didn't said that!" As much as she tried to deny it, there was no denying the truth: she did say that she had feelings for him, feelings that he never returned. If not for that, why would she call him beloved? Even if it was only by accident, she did call him her beloved, "Your simply lying!" This only caused Garnet to giggle menacingly.
"Fu fu fu fu," mischievous laughter emitted out of her mouth, "we heard you, there is no denying that..." A slight pause followed up next as she was preparing to drop the bomb on her: "You have confessed your feelings to him!" After finishing up, the young mistress couldn't help but become enraged with boiling anger at this moment, screaming like a banshee and attacking the laughing fae mercilessly when it teleported out of her grasp.
"UGH, YOU!" Alucard swung her arms madly around, trying to grab her teasing servant from the air, but it was all futile; her tiny best friend would always be too fast for her to catch. "Curse you, curse you, and your cursed self!" Another angry scream came as she dropped her arms and stumped on the ground, embroiled beyond belief with tears of frustration streaming down her red cheeks.
Cain could only watch in amusement: "Those girls mean a lot to you," gentle pat on the young man's back; "are they really that special to you?" Looking kindly into Adam's eyes and seeing how his neutral expression speaks of happiness behind the mask, even though it was clear as day, it still wasn't enough to tell him how the boy truly felt.
"They mean everything to me."
