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Chapter 9
Although the drive was long, it was ending just a little too soon. My heart grew restless and panicked and I was afraid of what to expect. Damon had said that the witch wanted to see my future and my past to determine if she would help me. What factors would cause her to decline?
I watched seemingly endless trees turn into roads premiered by mountains and finally, we entered a busy city. I recognized it as soon as we entered because I had been wanting to visit ever since I was a little girl.
New York.
Odd how the circumstances have changed.
It was almost night time but the city was still alive. Cars and pedestrians lined the roads as if one. I watched shop owners sell fruit on the streets and wondered if they had any idea about the world that exists just a few hours away.
I realized how far away from home I was and grew sick. About twenty minutes later we had reached a more quiet area and the signs above the streets read Brooklyn.
We drove into an alley and the car suddenly stopped.
I turned to look at Damon who was already getting out of the car. I took a deep breath in and mirrored his actions. I realized that both the driver and the guard remained in the car.
"This is it?" I examined my surroundings.
Metal rusty stairs lined the gravel walls of the alley leading up to people's apartments.
"She lives up here in one of those," Damon pointed up towards a second apartment. I walked almost on his heel and followed him up the noisy stairs. He turned to look at me before lifting his fist to knock on the door but it flew wide open before he got the chance.
Behind the door stood a beautiful long haired brunette with dark eye makeup and maroon lips. She wore a long-sleeve crimson satin dress and her long black fingernails were pointy like fangs.
She squealed when she saw Damon and threw herself at him, her long olive-toned arms wrapping around his neck.
"Damon!" She screamed out, planting kisses all along his face," I'm so happy to see you!"
Damon returned the hug with less enthusiasm and I found myself suddenly wondering who she was to him.
"Luna," he greeted," it's a shame we have to meet under these circumstances."
They pulled back from each other and Luna turned her previously enlightened gaze to meet with mines. She looked doubtful and sarcastic.
"So this is the foreigner?" She asked Damon, still looking at me.
I gulped nervously. Damon took an almost nervous look at me and smiled at Lunda," yes it is."
"Well, come in."
Inside, her apartment was small and cozy. A black velvet couch took up most of the living room. Plants hung by pot holders dangling from the ceiling and about a dozen pillar candles lined the corners of the apartment.
I could see part of her kitchen in the back where a small black cat hid behind an appliance, watching me.
Following my gaze, Luna said," That's Jinx, he's friendly....most of the time."
I forced a smile and figured it be better if I behaved myself if there was any chance that she was willing to help me.
"He's adorable," I replied softly.
Damon took a seat on the couch and it was almost odd to see him in a setting that was so humane. He stuck out like a sore thumb and anybody within a hundred meters could tell you that he did not belong. I sat beside him and watched as Lunda opened up a bottle of red wine and poured it into some glasses.
She reached out to hand Damon a glass who took it without a second thought and she did the same to me.
"I'm not 21-" I began.
"Drink it," she insisted.
I nodded and took the glass from between her fingers, bringing it up to my lips and taking a sip of the rich and bitter wine.
"So Damon," Luna sat on the L-shaped part of the couch, facing me and Damon," I have to admit it makes me sad that you chose now to come to visit me, when you reached out I thought you had something else in mind."
She sipped on her wine and in her hands, it looked like a million dollars.
"I meant to reach out sooner, but things haven't been so smooth at the castle and what you see here," he pointed his chin in my direction," is an example."
"I assume it was Seth who got you into this mess."
Damon smirked slightly," Of course. He's turning eighteen in a few weeks, he had been trying out his new powers and she-"
"Was collateral damage," Lunda finished his sentence.
He nodded in disappointment," You see why I need you, father does not have much say with the witches ever since-"
"Ever since he tried to kill one of us for mating with a bloodsucker?" Luna hissed out.
Damon's gaze hardened," yes, so as you can imagine, it's a little difficult getting a witch to perform the Ritual of Obliteration. We have no more credibility with the witches."
"If your father keeps going at the rate that he's going, soon enough he won't have credibility with all The Underworld," Luna's words were almost like a threat.
"He's the King, you think that would mean something in this city-" Damon began but Luna cut him off.
"He's your King, not ours."
Damon nodded but remained silent. Luna's gaze trailed over my body and she looked me up and down, her eyes resting at the bites on my neck.
"Does she taste good?"
"I wouldn't know," Damon answered, sparing me a quick glance," that wasn't me."
She chuckled," Looks like someone else at the castle had enjoyed having her around, perhaps the King," she winked towards Damon.
"It wasn't the King-"
"Perhaps your rule-breaking brothers, or that mischievous Isabelle-"
My focus asserted at the mention of Isabelle's name and I was surprised to know that she knew Isabelle. I wondered what she meant by mischievous and if she knew how mischievous Isabelle really was. Damon cut Luna off before she could continue," Luna, can you help me or not?"
"Why does this matter so much to you Damon?"
The look in Luna's eyes was almost suspicious. Damon stared into hers without looking away and remained silent. I glanced between the both of them and wondered if I should answer for him.
Because the King thinks that it's Damon's fault I'm here because Damon took the blame for Seth. Because if he doesn't figure out a way to get rid of me soon, the King might decide to dethrone him. Because Seth and Isabelle are going to do everything in their power to make Damon look unfit to be King and Damon doesn't know it.
When Damon answered, it was almost as if he were King already.
"A foreign human in a castle of young and inexperienced bloodthirsty vampires leaves too much room for rebellion," his teeth weren't gritted but he spoke as if they were," if the Council were to find out of this, there would be serious consequences."
Luna's lips lifted into a smile," they might stake your brothers...or you if you continue to take the blame for them both."
I looked towards Damon with sad eyes and realized that this must have been a regular thing for him to do, taking the blame for something his brothers did. I wondered why he did it and wondered how his siblings turned out to be so different from him.
A sudden image of him twisting the wooden sword inside of the jester sprung into my mind and I reminded myself that maybe he wasn't too different.
"Can you help me or not Luna," Damon finally asked.
She nodded and stood up, setting her wine glass on the island of her kitchen," wait here."
She disappeared into the back of the apartment and Damon and I sat in uncomfortable silence.
"W-what's going to happen next?" I asked, almost afraid to.
"I'm not sure," his voice was soothing and I was almost relieved at the sound of it.
"If it works, will I just forget? How will I get home, would I pass out? M-my car-"
He cut me off when his cold hands cupped mines in a sudden movement.
"Don't worry about any of that. If this works, I'll get you home safely."
I simply nodded and became more aware of his hands on mine. I didn't want to look up at his face because I knew I wouldn't be able to look away. I tried to shrug off the part of me that was disappointed for having to finally bid this life farewell.
I knew I would miss Damon the most but I didn't know why. I also began to wonder if he had a personality disorder or if the stress of life was simply too much for him to keep a straight mood.
I wanted to bring up Seth and Isabelle again, I wanted to warn him but I knew it wasn't the time. I had already tried once and it didn't work. Who's to say this time it would. Maybe this time, because I'm not inside a wet and murky cell, I had nothing to gain out of telling him a lie. Maybe this time, he'd believe me.
Luna came out with a medium-sized black crystal ball and I thought about how much of the fairy tales they would tell us as kids were true. She placed the ball carefully on the kitchen table and to my surprise, it stayed put. She lifted up a long manicured nail and gestured for me to come.
Damon recalled his hands and I stood up hesitantly and walked towards the kitchen table.
"Sit," Luna instructed as if talking to a puppy.
I simply obeyed Damon began to stand up but he quickly sat back down when Luna snapped," You, stay."
She sat on the seat across from me," place both your hands around the ball, and when it starts to heat up, don't move."
I nodded and obeyed. My heart began to thud whilst in my chest and I grew nervous.
The smooth cold exterior of the crystal ball began to warm up slowly as it lightened in color. I watched in fascination as the colors changed, transitioning between dark purple and orange. Luna placed her hands across the side of the crystal ball, her eyes glued to the movement of color. I looked up to see that she was completely dozed off, the fiery shade of the ball reflecting almost completely in her eyes.
She held no expression.
I almost wanted to turn around and glance at Damon for reassurance but I didn't. I grew more nervous the faster the colors began to change. Luna's fingers started to quiver and I wondered if that was normal.
The flashing colors began to finally slow down and I watched in complete fascination as a drawing formed.
As if being drawn internally, a symbol formed almost resembling an arrow. When the drawing was complete, it glistening in gold and I could tell that it was indeed an arrow. Flames blared out from the tip of the sword. A burning arrow.
"Eros," Luna breathed out the word so slightly I could hardly hear her," The Mark of Eros."
Luna slowly removed her hands and the crystal ball reverted back into its original pitch-black color. I mirrored her action.
To my surprise, Luna had a slick smile on her face.
"I'm not touching you," she stated, almost wickedly.
"What, why?" I immediately felt the hope that I had begun to shatter," but you said-"
"What did you see," Damon was now up and standing beside me, his gaze locked with Luna," what do you mean you won't touch her."
"I mean I can't," Luna's expression had gone back to serious now.
"Why not," Damon insisted.
"The girl has the Mark of Eros," Luna stood up and grabbed the ball," she didn't enter The Underworld by mistake."
She disappeared into the back and left a confused Damon and I.
I wondered what the Mark of Eros was and if it had anything to do with the burning sword that had shown up on the crystal ball. I've never seen that symbol before in my life but it definitely resembled something I had seen in Greek mythology class.
"What's the Mark of Eros," I asked Damon," why can't she help me, what does it mean?"
He ignored me completely. Damon looked lost in thought and confusion. Luna came back out and he barked out," Are you sure that's what you seen?"
Luna now looked amused by all this," I'm offended."
"By who?" Damon asked," can you at least tell me that?"
Luna stepped closer to Damon and played with the collar of his shirt," He's closer than you think."
"Do it anyway," Damon breathed out," Perform the ritual anyway."
"You want me to upset every god I believe in because you want to get rid of your little human problem?"
"Please," Damon's eyes looked almost as if they were pleading.
"Sorry sexy," Luna turned to walk away from Damon," you were good, but no ones that good."
"What do I do now," he ordered," how do I take her back to the castle, proving to my father that I failed him once again."
Luna shrugged," Not my problem, and your father should be the least of yours. You've got a marked foreigner on your hands now, you need to worry about that."
"Tell me by whom, whoever she belongs to, she'll be their problem too."
"I can't give you the hint and the answer as well Damon," she sat gracefully on the dining room chair and sipped her wine," you'll figure it out sooner or later."
"Luna-"
"Now get her out of here before someone gets a whiff of her."
"Luna-"
"Now Damon," she raised her eyebrows as if challenging him to decline.
Damon looked down at me as if I was baggage and spat out," Let's go."
I scrambled to my feet and ran behind him as he almost tore the door of its hinges and marched outside and down the stairs. In the distance, I heard Luna's voice echoing with the words," See you soon."
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