Thankfully that kid didn’t run that fast, and I caught up to him almost immediately. However, he ignored my presence and continued on his way, deeper into the facility.

“Where are you going?” I asked as I jogged alongside him.

Part of me wanted to simply pick the kid up, and make a bee-line for the exit. But, even if he didn’t attack me if I were to do this, such actions would not inspire him to trust me.

“None of your business.” He replied.

His voice sounded annoyed and I couldn’t figure out if it was because he hadn’t managed to lose me in the hallways, or for some other reason.

“That is the opposite way to the exit, quite literally.” I told him, insisting on the exit.

Suddenly, I heard voices coming in our direction. I reached out my hand to grab Cain so we could hide together, but he dashed in the direction of the voices and vanished behind a corner. I pulled out my gun and promptly followed him.

When I turned the corner, I couldn’t help but gasp at what I saw. There were two bloodied bodies laying on the ground. A third, terrified, guard was pointing their gun at Cain. The kid seemed to have tried shifting into an animal form, but all he had managed was to grow claws and wolf ears. He held up his guard, clearly ready for the armed person opposite him to attack.

In a split-second decision, I aimed my own pistol at that guard’s leg. The bullet silently cut through the air, and the guard dropped their weapon before themselves falling onto the ground with a pained cry.

Cain snapped his head towards me. He once again had that unreadable expression painted over his face. I quickly rushed to the guard whom I’d shot. They tried to reach for their weapon, but I kicked it aside with my foot before knocking them on the back of the neck with a well-practised sword movement. I then quickly checked that the other two guards were still breathing. Their open wounds had closed, as their luck points seemed to slowly return.

“You can’t leave a trail of blood behind.” I spoke, trying to keep my voice calm, and not to think that thick could have as easily been me laid half-dead on the floor. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s very easy to follow.”

“They aren’t dead.” Cain said in a neutral, if not disinterested, voice.

“But they would have been, had your MP been higher.” I said as I turned towards him to meet his eyes.

As dangerous as he was, Cain was also a child. And I hoped that taking this authoritative approach would have some effect on him.

“We need to go now, really. I’ve been here for hours, and they probably noticed that you were gone-”

“Don’t worry, the security here is bad.” Cain simply said before turning around and once again heading towards his own destination.

“Then why are you still here?” I called, hoping to talk some sense into him.

In my mind, it didn’t make full sense either, but that was something that could be sorted out later, once we were back in my flat in Paris, and not here on the other side of the Alps.

Cain turned around and gave me an angry glare. Then, he took off again.

“Hey Cain – kid, wait up!” I called out before once again running after him.

***

I could not fantom how, but it looked like Cain had regained some MP since our last ‘chase’ through the corridors, as this time I struggled to keep up with him. At one point I could have sworn that I saw a smirk on his face as if he was taking pleasure in toying with me in this way.

It hadn’t been more than a few minutes since we’d met, and yet those few minutes had been enough for me to question my whole plan. Yes, I was immortal in a way, but so many people had seen me, and I had no doubt they could, if they really tried, trace me all the way back to France. Plus, if Cain refused to go with me, which started to look more and more likely, I wasn’t sure what I would do. These risks were all worth it if I were to get a powerful bodyguard out of this situation, but if I were to come home alone this would all have been a massive waste of time and resources.

Of course, there was also the possibility to take him by force. But that would only work against me in the long run, since I’d have to convince him that I did it for his own good. Whereas if Cain followed me of his free will, that would have been half the issue solved. The other half of the issue was getting him to stay with me afterwards, as he seemed to be more stubborn and head-strong than how the book had described him. In the novel, he’d follow Huáng Yǔháng to hell and back, painting the road red along the way. But loyalty was something I was willing to compromise on if a reduction in bloodshed was what I would be getting in return.

“Do you have a key card?” Cain said as he stopped in front of a large door with tinted windows.

“I do. But you have to tell me what’s in there.” I said as I started reaching into my pocket before quickly stopping myself. I didn’t want Cain to snatch the key card form the second I’d pull it out. I also needed to know what was in this room, in case the keycards might not work.

But I never got a proper answer. All I got was a pair of red eyes glaring angrily at me.

“Didn’t you say that you wanted to help me?” Cain asked, with a tone full of disdain.

“I said I was getting you out of here.” I corrected him.

He scoffed.

“There’s quite a lot of nuance there, isn’t that right?” He said, with an accusatory tone.

His reaction didn’t feel right. I was willing to overlook many things, for the sake of hasting our escape, but this wasn’t how a 12-year-old spoke, was it? This was making me question my whole presence here, yet again. But once more I could not back out now.

With a sigh, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the key cards. If they didn’t work, I would always have another go with my sword. This door didn’t seem to have any extra layers of security, be it electronic or runic.

I glared at Cain.

“Really?” I asked him.

“What?” He glared back at me. “Open the damn door.”

“Don’t tell me that wasn’t you.” I responded as I withdrew the key cards further away from the keypad.

“What?” He asked with increasing frustration.

He didn’t try to deny it last time he’d attacked me, and the earnest expression on his face only further confirmed it. It hadn’t been him. Which meant that we had finally been spotted by someone competent.

“Get behind me.” I said as I readied my gun and opened the door.