Babysitting the Bad Girl's Brother: Who do you protect?

21) Pursuit of Justice

Red riding hood pushed through the canopy, with the wolf following in pursuit.

In this scenario, I was the wolf.

God, I sounded like a predator.

I navigated the bushes of people, hiding my presence through weaving in and out of the crowd. My skeletal costume was bland enough that seeing it a few times wouldn't stand out too much in a crowd of like-minded idiots that hadn't cared about there costume and just picked a popular type. Skeletons were around in spades for me to seem like one in the many.

As much as films would depict the act of tailing and blending in to be a swave experience through the use of a charismatic protagonist that could shimmy there way behind a conveniently placed bush or jump up to a roof to do a more covert operation. I had no such luck. I was trapped to the confines of a cramped house -surprising considering its size, but there were a lot of people here.

When it came to spying from afar, it was currently impossible. Even if I did find somewhere to watch Caylnn from, I wouldn't be able to see her from a distance on account of me not bringing my glasses. I didn't want them getting lost or broken due to drunkards potentially knocking them off on account of their lack of sobriety. I'd only been able to keep note of her thanks to her sharply red hoodie that pierced my blurred vision.

Following Caylnn had been going well so far on account of her traversing the living room. As she travelled up the spiral staircase, I noted something that I hadn't been paying attention to on account that I had only been following Caylnn from behind. Now, as she ascended the spiral structure, I was able to glance at the person she was walking behind.

The steed had been stolen from the queen's possession as Deroc travelled ahead of Caylnn, his emotions unclear due to him still wearing the horse mask he had yet to take off. Yet I knew it to be him, everything was too coincidental for it not to be.

Isabella was here, and even though she had only talked to them once, she was here.

Downstairs, Isabella was talking to everyone close to Deroc, furthering herself into his inner circle and his ensnaring serpent's wrap. Her only interaction with any of Deroc's group was when this night was being planned. She had been alone with Brendan, Simon and Deroc whilst I had rushed off to get Jacob to bed.

It would make sense! She went partying, Deroc and his heathens mention a Halloween party, she agrees. They had the group theming down by the time they caught up to me!

Deroc had thought fast after meeting Isabella. He used his cards to win a hand in Isabella's favour. The damn bastard.

My anger over Isabella and Asher being here still hadn't subsided. I didn't want it to. Deroc had seized his opportunity and now he had pocketed my new friends for his own! How he had found out about Asher was still beyond me but the 'How?' didn't really matter at the moment. It was a lingering nuisance that pecked away at my mind, but I had to ignore it for now.

For now, I had to figure out why Caylnn was following Deroc.

Ascending to the upper floor of the house, I watched as the two glided across the crowd. The populace was surprisingly larger up here than downstairs and the crowd was a personal annoying struggle to squirm through, whilst the two I tailed weaved around everyone like nothing. Deroc's movements were confusingly stiff at points, but he clearly had a better experience than I did when it came to navigating cramped places.