գ 𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔥𝔰 𝔭𝔯𝔦𝔬𝔯~ 𝔰𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔟𝔲𝔱 𝔡𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔩y
Ruby red eyes gleamed in front of her like two hollows in the paleness of Lucinde's profile. A snide smile played on her crimson lips. Luna felt sudden rage surge within her before bursting. Glass shattered. Shards flew like knives. Luna turned. There before her, the couple lay in a field of glass like in a meadow of daisies, their hands entwined, their blood-stained cheeks sprinkled with shards of glass and their dreamy gazes looking up as if they could see past the ceiling, past the clouds into the clear blue sky while a gentle melody streamed in the background, singing Don't worry be happy. A hot tear slipped down Luna's cheek. Her heart stung as if the shards had pierced her skin and reached their ultimate target.
She tried to close her eyes. Instead, they snapped open vividly. The scene vanished instantly. She was now sitting up tensely in her bed. A big black dog was licking the salty tears from off her cheeks.
"Cerberus. Stop!" she begged, trying to push herself apart from the walloping mass of curly black fur. At last she managed to stand up in the blurry room. She noticed the blood bag attached to her IV and made sure to take it with her as she walked. Someone could be heard whistling a light-hearted tune. She followed the sound to a small kitchen, Cerberus padding enthusiastically behind her. A blurred figure whirled around.
"Good morning." Arthur greeted. "I'm making porridge," he announced cheerfully. Had she really spent the night here? She stared down at the liquid substance floating in the boiling pan and had to approach him closely in order to properly see him. His left eye was swollen and his left cheek was stained purple and yellow though a few freckles were starting to reappear.
"I haven't made any since 1890," he confessed while running his hand through his ginger hair.
"You really didn't have to," she replied shyly.
"To be honest, I was just really really bored," he grinned guiltily. "Why don't we settle ourselves at the dinner table?" he suggested. She watched him pick up the hot pot of porridge and nearly stumble over as he limped toward the dinning room.
"Here I'll take it," she offered.
"No worries. I've got it," he insisted.
The dinning room was spacious, occupied by a rectangular wooden table. A life-size painting hung on the wall opposite the door. Luna walked over to the other side of the room to have a better look. A widow's cold eyes gazed back at her. She wore a black dress and her beautiful dark hair was arranged into a sophisticated bun. It was Marie-Élise. Except for the clothes, her painted version was identical.
"Kind of creepy right?" Arthur teased.
Luna noticed a tiny slanted signature at the bottom. E. De Revel.
"Edmond painted this?" she blurted out.
"Yes. Painting has always been a hobby of his. You should see the house in Revel. Centuries of painting. We don't know what to do with them all. Erm... how much porridge would you like? I don't really have much of an idea of how much is actually filling."
She sat at the table trying not to grimace at the watery lump of oats Arthur had dropped into her bowl. Indeed, it was insipid. It seemed to be more water than oats or milk. Cerberus sat and stared at her avidly and it was very tempting to just give it to him but aware of Arthur's hopeful gaze, she gulped it down regardless.
"It tastes awful doesn't it?" Arthur inquired disappointedly.
"No no..." Luna quickly countered, "I've actually never tasted anything like it!" she exclaimed, (which was kind of true) taking another scoop of the gooey liquid and dumping it into her bowl to prove her point.
"Where is Marie-Élise?" she asked between mouthfuls.
"She's usually out at night. I'd expect her to come back soon though."
"What about Henry?"
"He's gone searching for Edmond."
Luna stilled.
"Hey, look there's no reason to worry." He smiled reassuringly or as reassuring as you can be when half your face looks like it got hit by a truck. "Henry will find him."
"Henry's blind," she pointed out.
"And that's probably why he's the best person to find him. He knows better than anyone how to navigate in Nox. He is not disoriented in the dark and knows how to use his other senses."
"What is Nox exactly?"
"Nox Aeterna. Literally speaking, it means Eternal Night in Latin, though we use the term to describe the network of underground tunnels unknown to humans connected to Paris's sewage system." His lips pursed and his gaze wandered. "Some of us, I mean vampires, live down there."
"How come no humans know about it?"
"It's surprisingly simple to hide in plain sight, you know. People will only see something if it aligns with their idea of reality. Present them with a reality which goes beyond their idea of reality and they simply won't see it. Pretty neat no?"
"We see only what we believe."
"Precisely."
"But someone must have found out... or else there wouldn't be so many fictional stories about it."
His brown eyes glinted playfully.
"That's the ironic part. Someone probably did find out and started the rumors in the first place but the more our true nature was portrayed and talked about the less plausible the idea became. Oddly enough, making us known worldwide actually helped us hide."
Luna frowned.
"So... why stakes?"
"The myth is in some ways well founded. Although a full-fledged vampire won't die from a stake in the heart, as it is long, the vampire will struggle to remove it easily therefore if you manage to hold the stake in place for long enough, they will go unconscious. Might I add, if the weapon is still embedded in the wound, it won't heal unless it is extracted."
She stared into her bowl of unfinished porridge. It wasn't merely the fact that Edmond had preferred getting stabbed rather than let her fall into Osiris's hands that tormented her. Or the feeling of his cold lips on her neck instead of the pain his fangs might offer. The mere thought of the wave curling mightily over the tiny man that ran from it, the mere thought of the glass shattering all at once and those two happy gazes staring skywards, unaware of their empty future terrified her now.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you that." A few red strands of hair fell over Arthur's eyes and he looked away embarrassingly.
"No. It's okay, I appreciate you answering my questions," she thanked him calmly. There was a pause. She continued to stare at the oat flakes floating in her bowl, watching them swirl about as she stirred the porridge with her spoon and then frowned again.
"Arthur, tell me honestly. What am I?" She looked up at him. His eyes widened innocently, totally off-put by her question."I mean," she began to explain, "yesterday Lucinde was chasing me and... suddenly I got angry I don't know why. We were in this café and... the windows shattered." Although her voice was steady and calm, it sounded like a child was speaking, "There were two other people there. Next thing I saw, their bodies were on the floor. I did this didn't I?"
She remembered how Edmond's glass shattered inexplicably in his hands at Richard's Party. That was her too.
"What did I do? Are they dead?" she asked in a surprisingly contained tone although, her heart gave a jolt inside of her. Arthur may have heard it because he looked back toward her. "Arthur," she repeated, "what happened to those people?"
Alarm filled his soft brown eyes. He opened his mouth but paused immediately.
"Yes, they died yesterday," he announced slowly.
"How?"
He looked away from her again.
"How?" she insisted.
"The sound waves," he admitted reluctantly, "Autopsies revealed organ rupture surely due to exposure to lethal infrasound frequencies."
Sound waves can shatter glass. Sound waves can kill. Silent but deadly nonetheless. Luna realized. The bowl in front of her began to tremble. So did the lamp above the table.
"I'm making this happen aren't I?" she asked. But her words were pronounced without a sound. Nevertheless, Arthur nodded.
"Wouldn't people find that suspicious? Dying from low frequency sound waves in an ordinary Parisian café?" This time her voice came out muffled as if she were talking underwater.
"No, members of our clan were in charge of the autopsies. They'll make sure the news won't get out." Arthur's reply too sounded distant as if coming from the other end of a tunnel. Then, they watched as the bookshelf on the left side of the room began to oscillate madly, a few heavy volumes clattering silently to the floor. Luna noticed that she too was shuddering. Her heart was numbed. She was experiencing everything from a distance as if she had been disconnected from her emotions entirely and all that was left was the sudden weakness of her body. Arthur's pupils gradually dilated as he focused on the spoon that quivered in her grasp. His own hand settled abruptly on hers. A mingle of sorrow and fear swam in his gaze.
"I...I feel your fear," he mumbled as if in apology.
It was at that moment precisely that Marie-Élise entered the room as if the painting had sprung to life. Her thin eyebrows rose in a look of utter shock.
"Do you realize what you're doing?" she asked angrily, "calm down, will you?"
Luna was taken aback as a cold vampire hand smacked her straight across the cheek.
"Don't...!" Arthur protested before receiving the same treatment, leaving a red hand-shaped mark on his unbruised cheek.
"I'm sorry." Arthur mumbled. It pained Luna to see his usually playful features twisted into shame.
"Look at me." Marie-Élise ordered Luna. It was astonishing how such an elegant face could look so stern and harsh. "You can't let the panic get the better of you. Especially in front of Arthur." Luna remembered how the usually cheerful glint of Arthur's gaze had turned into a flicker of terror. He wasn't scared of her. He was scared of himself. Marie-Élise's cold eyes delved insistently into hers. "Listen. Inhale and count to five. Do as I say."
Luna was too shocked to protest.
"Then hold it for two seconds." She paused. "And release while counting to seven. Don't stop until your heart rate calms down."
She did as she was told. It reminded her suddenly of the big black gate of her first elementary school in Paris. It was the first day of school. She was clutching her mother's hand tightly. Luna hadn't fully understood what her visions meant at the time but it was enough to provoke an intense fear of crowds and school. Until she got to know someone better, any contact with them felt like it would strip her of her breath once and for all.
Breathe. And remember this breath isn't your last.
Her mother had reassured. Assuredly, she probably was aware of her daughter's visions even if she hadn't stated it explicitly. But now, it seemed, death went beyond the visions. She was no longer a simple spectator to its prediction. Now, she made it happen. She turned the visions into reality.
***
Hey, I just want to put this out there!! For anyone out there reading this! If you feel like you're not special. You're worthless in this vast world. I like to tell myself that all around us in people we see daily, there's unrevealed potential. And you might be that person that has an immense gift lying dormant that you've just never discovered. Or you might be that person that doesn't believe in yourself, in your own capability and decides to abandon a passion.
Actually maybe we should discard the word 'talent' altogether because maybe all we need is passion. I believe all that truly matters is the happiness you get from being able to achieve something. So who cares if you're good at it in the beginning or not if you love it? Chances are if you're passionate about something, you're gonna work on it and get better anyway.
"If you doubt your power, you empower your doubt." In other words don't let feelings of doubt prevent you from doing what you love or chasing your dreams ♥️
Just remember. Failure is not a destination! I like to take the example of a roller coaster: the fall is what gives you the momentum to go higher!
Thanks JK Rowling for this amazing motivational speech :)
I was also surprised when I discovered not so long ago that stress can actually have a positive impact on your health! (See video below)
I used to get overly stressed out before important exams that I would only sleep maximum 3hours the night before and turn up exhausted having to endure a 4hour long exam with no breaks... Later on, I slowly realized that maybe the problem was that I felt like I couldn't do better, that I was crap at it and couldn't improve even if I studied. In the end, you can have a fixed mindset and not even realize it. Something is only really hopeless if you decide it is! There is always room for improvement.
I'm struggling with this too and I have to repeat these words to myself. I figured that some of you needed to hear it too :)
Basically, the fall is what makes your ride sensational and exciting!
Sorry the A/Ns are getting longer than the chapters themselves. This book is getting to be more like: half a story about vampires and half a journal mixed in with a playlist dedicated mostly to Ed Sheeran's songs 😅
While you're at it, I'll let you enjoy Lego House 😊
Ps: By the way, where are all the potterheads? ;) out of curiosity who's your favourite character in Harry Potter? What house are you in?