Chapter 870: Silent steps Silver, Leo and Nate had been following Ham for a while now, the truth was when Quinn had last called, Nate wasn’t completely truthful about the situation they were in. It was true that Ham had recognised the way he had come from and they were heading towards the direction, but the reason they were slow was mainly due to the frequent breaks Ham would take. "Do you even care about your master at all!" Nate loudly complained. "This is the fifth time we’ve stopped because of you!" The group was waiting by a large rock along a river. Ham laid on top of it lying on his back, with his belly pointing upward. "Of course I do!" Ham shouted back. "But do you want me to tire out like I did before? And if I pass out, what happens then, then we have no way of finding them." While Nate and Ham were bickering backwards and forward, Leo started to walk upward against the stream of water. He could hear the sound of the crashing water getting stronger, and as he fine tuned his senses further he could hear water crashing down violently. "Ham, did you not mention that the cave was in some type of water fall?" Leo interrupted the two. At the moment, Nate had grabbed Ham with both hands by his belly, and looked like he was about to chuck him a mile away deep into the forest. Meanwhile, Silver stood there frustrated with a vein bulging out of her forehead, but still hadn’t interrupted the two just yet. "Yeah, when I came out of the cave, it was from behind a waterfall." Ham replied. "It looks like we’re close then, you might not have to lead the way anymore." Leo stated, and now the group was following him. Rather than move up the river, the group was moving through the forest by its side. The reason for this was that the base was apparently filled with Crazed Bloodsuckers according to Ham. Moving through the river would just make the enemy aware of their position. Their footsteps were light treading through the forest, as they attempted to make as little noise as possible. At least most of them, Nate was the one who was having the most trouble and would constantly step on twigs and leaves now and again, eventually Silver had enough. She turned around and grabbed Nate by the collar pulling his face next to hers. "Look, I stayed silent when you were taking out your anger on Ham, because I partially agreed with you, but if you make this much noise and they find out that we are coming, and it affects finding my brother in any way. I will kill you, and make you bring him back from the dead for me! "Now do something about those footsteps of yours!" Although Nate was a skilled martial artist, and could perform complicated footwork, something like treading lightly was never his forte, which was why he had gone for the hardening ability in the first place. However, right now, he couldn’t really think straight, as a beauty like no other was right up in his face. Letting go, Silver stood there waiting for Nate to do something, if he didn’t, she wasn’t going to let him come with them. No matter the reason Quinn had asked them to take him. ’Man, she’s serious, I don’t want to be left out again.’ Nate thought, then came up with a brilliant idea. Activating his shadow, he placed them on the soles of his feet. He attempted to walk, and when doing so, it made his footsteps almost silent. Nate was talented, so he had more Mc cells compared to the others when it came to using the shadow. Still, he didn’t have the best control or skill, but doing something like this was achievable. They continued to move along the river, and eventually the others could hear the sound of the water fall as well. "It’s here!" Ham shouted, and Silver, near enough pulled Ham from the sky and almost ripped out his wings. ’Oh, right don’t say anything, but I miss Fex.’ Ham thought, on the verge of tears, if he knew his tears could make no noise at all he would have cried there and then. What they didn’t know, was even though Leo told them to stop, it wasn’t because the enemy was near, just that he could sense them from far away. He gave a hand signal to tell the others to wait there for the moment while going in on his own. Silver, and the others agreed and stayed. ’Wow, she’s letting him go on his own?’ Ham thought. ’I’ve never seen Silver trust someone so much. This bald guy must be quite special if she trusts him. She nearly does everything herself.’ Just on the outer edge of the forest, Leo could see that there was a large lake where the waterfall would fall into. On the outside there was no one, but on the inside it was a different story. Returning to the others, Leo and the others went further back, just far enough so no one could hear. "So is this the right place?" Nate asked. "Yes, it has to be." Leo answered. "So far while running I have only been able to sense the presence of beasts. Yet here, I can tell in the cave that there are the same creatures that attacked the tenth castle. What you guys call bloodsuckers." "How many of them are there?" Silver asked. "There are around fifteen or so in total. If this is their base, it seems like most of them were used in the attack on the tenth castle. Also, although the bloodsuckers are strong there is no one outstanding. However, there is one inside that is just as strong as you." Leo stated while looking at Silver. "Not just that, but they don’t have the same presence as the bloodsuckers, they feel like just another vampire." "Could you tell if Fex was in there?" Said Nate. "No, but Ham confirmed this is the place. My aura couldn’t reach that far, so there may be more inside the cave then what I could sense, and that might be where Fex is." Leo explained. Hearing that there might be someone as strong as Silver, perked up her ears a bit. Yes, she wanted to save her brother but at the same time she wanted to find out who was responsible, and she was hoping this vampire that was with the blood suckers might be an important figure, possibly a vampire knight of one of the other families. Nate pulled out the mask and attempted to contact Quinn. This was the protocol for when they reached the cave like Quinn had asked. It rang a few times, again and again, but there was no answer. "Should I try someone at the castle, maybe they know where Quinn went?" Nate asked. They tried calling the Castle, and the one that had answered was Paul. Paul informed them that Quinn had gone off to do something, and maybe he was too busy to pick up at the moment. "Should we wait for Quinn?" Nate asked, but he could see the look on Silver’s face. Now that they were here, she wanted to rush in and try to save Fex, to see how her brother was doing. "I believe we are strong enough to take them on." Leo suddenly said. "Due to my ability I have a good idea on their strength. I will take responsibility for this. Quinn will not be needed. Also, we don’t know when Quinn will be free and the more time spent here, could mean Fex is closer to his death." Nate didn’t like it, he could imagine an angry Quinn telling him off, but telling off Leo, that was something that was hard to imagine. "Well, you’re my vampire knight right> so as long as you say so, then sign me up." Nate cheered. With the three of them ready, it was time for them to act. ****