Amaranthine

22: Like a Dream

TRAVELING WITHOUT THE JOESTARS WAS SO NICE. There were no Stand attacks, no sudden inconveniences. I had to say, flying was much better without being forced to hold an evil baby while sitting squashed between two burly men. Even better: the plane landed in a perfectly safe and normal fashion.

I started searching for Dio as soon as I left the airport. Perhaps he'd found some abandoned place to squat in like before. Then again, he seemed to have more devoted followers this time, so maybe one of them would have given him a nice place to stay. Either way, it was a safe bet that Dio was in a spacious, private location. Possibly a building with drawn curtains or boarded up windows like a typical vampire.

After 2 days of searching, I became frustrated. Where the hell was he? I'd asked around, but of course no one had seen Dio. If I had Joseph's resources, I was certain I could have found him by now . . . I sighed. I could just wait for the Joestars, but they'd probably barely manage to make it in time thanks to the constant Stand attacks. I didn't even know where they were anymore and I had no way of contacting them.

But the world suddenly decided to throw me a bone in the form of a familiar man. Not who I was looking for, but surely he would be helpful. I grinned. This should be easy. I took a couple deep breaths to get myself into character, then quickened my breaths until I felt a little breathless. At that point, I started running.

Hol Horse heard me coming and turned just in time to dodge me. The plan was to run right into him and fall, but I'd underestimated his reflexes. He dodged, and in my surprise, I actually tripped and fell. I played up the pain and Hol Horse remained calm despite his confusion.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "That was quite a tumble."

"Yes, sorry," I said. My voice was soft and wavering. "I wasn't looking. I just . . . I'm such an idiot." My eyes began to water.

"Don't cry," Hol Horse said. "Foolish men are not worth the tears of a pretty girl."

I blinked at him in genuine surprise. The story I was going to tell him was that I was a young girl who'd just had her heart broken for the first time, but it seemed that he'd already guessed that. Was my acting that bad? Or maybe it was so good that he'd instantly been convinced of what happened.

"I can tell that your tears are genuine," Hol Horse sighed. "Please let me help you up," he said, offering me a hand.

I sniffled a bit, pretending to hesitate before taking his hand. "What a gentleman," I said. Hol Horse smiled a bit at the compliment and tried to pull his hand back, but I wouldn't let it go. Instead, I held it between both of my hands and pulled it closer to my chest in a somewhat pleading gesture. He froze. Predictable.

I gave him the biggest puppy eyes I could manage. "I flew here to visit my boyfriend, but . . . there was another girl. I didn't know what else to do, so I ran. But I don't know this city. I'm afraid I'm lost and I don't have anywhere else to go. Do you know someplace I could stay?"

My Stand activated a second after I asked the question. Memories flooded my head. Just as I'd thought; Hol Horse had been in Cairo to see Dio. And it turned out that he'd tried and failed to assassinate the vampire before deciding to follow him after all. What a fickle man. It made sense why he wasn't much of an adversary in battle.

Hol Horse's grip on my hand tightened slightly as the memories ran through his head. I'd practiced showing memories to the Joestar group, but they'd never seen my Stand. Hopefully, Hol Horse would be the same. If I was lucky, I could get information out of him. I could tell he was a little confused why he'd thought of Dio, but he didn't seem to think anything was amiss.

"There's a hotel a few blocks from here," Hol Horse said. He gave me the address and pointed me in the right direction. Coincidentally enough, I was already staying at that hotel because it was in a central location. That was good for my cover story, if anyone decided to check. We parted ways and I headed in the direction of the hotel for appearance's sake before doubling back towards Dio's mansion.