CHAPTER 30 – THE QUEST FOR RESURRECTION

Reuben 's eyebrows raised a fraction higher. "Firstly, your wife was a Nightstalker. I'm not sure if the spell would work on her. Secondly, I need the blood of a human who has slept with a Nightstalker. But you're no longer human."

"We can at least try!" Dexter insisted. He wouldn't give up until he had exhausted every revival spell in the world. He needed his beloved Tabitha back; without her, he was nothing.

"That's not such a good idea," Scarlett countered, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why not?"

Dexter was surprised by the quick support from Reuben , whom he had not expected to agree so readily.

"We have plenty of time and nothing to do," Reuben explained. "There's no clue regarding Dreadwind's whereabouts or his employer. Let's make our little slave happy, and perhaps we'll find something along the way to Klennar."

Scarlett snorted derisively but didn't object. Dexter was puzzled by her behavior. Since when had she become so opposed to searching for Tabitha?

"In that case, we should leave right away," Reuben said. "I'll hide the rest of our supplies, instruct Bartholomew to oversee the silver production in my mines, and make the stairs to the magic chamber disappear..."

Muttering to himself, he left the room, and Dexter followed him resolutely. At last, he had a chance to resurrect his beloved Tabitha, provided he could find her.

A short time later, they were on their way to Klennar. It was a quiet night, illuminated by the moon and countless stars in the cloudless sky. Dexter looked toward the mountain where the tragedy had occurred.

Back then... If he thought about it, it hadn't been that long ago. But the time he had spent as a blood-drinking monster under the rule of a madman without his beloved Tabitha felt like an eternity.

Regardless of whether the other two followed him, he landed on the narrow ridge in front of the cave entrance. Hopefully, she was still there. Dexter couldn't bear to think about what that insane Nightstalker might have done to her body.

"You won't find her in there," Reuben 's voice sounded behind him just as he was about to enter the cave.

"Why not?" he asked, trying to remain calm. He was so close to the place where Tabitha had been murdered; he couldn't wait any longer.

"I don't smell anything," Reuben replied.

"And?"

Dexter glanced back and saw Reuben rolling his eyes. "If there was a body inside, you'd smell the blood from here."

Dexter's undead heart sank. Reuben was right. He genuinely couldn't smell anything. "I still need to go in," he responded determinedly. "Maybe we'll find a clue, something..."

He was about to continue down the cave when the wind shifted, carrying the longed-for yet dreaded scent into his nostrils.

Old blood.

Mid-motion, Dexter froze. "It's coming from up there," Scarlett said from behind him. Dexter looked up and examined the silhouette of the rock against the starry sky. He had a bad feeling about it. In his mind's eye, he already saw Tabitha's lifeless body defiled and torn apart by crows. After some internal struggle, he transformed into a bat and flew to the top of the rock.

The sight that awaited him there gripped his insides like an icy claw. Almost instinctively, he resumed his human form and fell to his knees, feeling weak.

A rope hung Tabitha's body in the gentle wind from a single tree. Her lifeless eyes stared into nothingness, a sword's hilt protruded from her chest.

"No," he whispered without intending to. His mind told him that he should not have expected any other sight, but the despair threatened to suffocate him. A piece of cloth brushed his cheek, and someone said something beside him, but he didn't care. Dexter sprang to his feet.

"No!" he shouted out his boundless grief and his hatred for her murderer. He blindly rushed toward her. Her body was as cold as ice and unpleasantly stiff. Dexter had to muster the will to touch her again to remove her from the tree and pull the sword from her heart. It surprised him that the rigor mortis still persisted. He wasn't a healer, but Tabitha must have hung there for weeks. Her body should have gone limp a long time ago, and decomposition should have already begun.

Dexter shook his head; it didn't matter now. All that mattered was bringing her back to the world of the living.

"Someone went through a lot of trouble," Reuben remarked, arching an eyebrow.

"Reuben , don't be so tactless," Scarlett scolded him and turned to Dexter. "I'm terribly sorry..."

Dexter paid her no attention. Neither Reuben 's mocking comment nor Scarlett's pity could bring Tabitha back to life. But something else could. He mustered all the strength he had left and looked up. "Let's perform the ritual!"

Reuben snorted. "It's on your head. Let's go into the cave where we won't be disturbed. Plus, it has a certain dramatic flair, don't you think? Your mindless love slave started the futile resurrection attempt where she lost her life... I should write a book about it."

Dexter brushed a strand of Tabitha's hair away from her face. "Soon, my beloved Tabitha... Soon, you'll be by my side again."

Together, as transformed bats, they managed to carry Tabitha's body safely into the cave. Once inside, Dexter gently placed Tabitha on the cave floor. He looked expectantly at Reuben .

"You do realize that you owe me even more if I bring your beloved back, right?" Reuben asked, retrieving a book with a battered and worn cover.

"Stop thinking that way," Scarlett snapped at him with furrowed brows. "You owe me this and that... We need to stick together!"

Reuben only snorted and started flipping through the book. "I need the blood of a person who has slept with a Nightstalker."

"We've already discussed this," Dexter replied impatiently. "We need to try it with my blood! After all, I was a human who had slept with a Nightstalker until recently..."

He gently stroked Tabitha's cheek. She was surely enduring agonies at the level of blood spirits while Reuben was already seeking an argument.