«"She's gone." Damien murmured.
"She?" I asked, surprised.
"A cloaked figure, yes. It was that of a female, but it seems to have used a potion to vanish."»
|Kor|
In the total darkness of the four walls of my Chamber, I sensed the lingering scent of a hovering presence, probably watching me when I couldn't open my eyes no matter how hard I tried. At first, everything was blank and it seemed like I was in the middle of a dark nowhere until the full moon suddenly lighted the sky and illuminated a part of the room. All I could now see were shadows.
But there was something else, something at that extreme end, a shadow casted.. casted on the illuminated wall. It was the shadow of a human, only that all I saw on the wall was the head and body which was entirely covered by a cloak, a black cloak, it should be. Is this the presence I'm perceiving? It certainly should!
However, it moved, moved from the lighted part of the wall to the part where the darkness casted and I could see it no more. I then felt light touches on my sensitive skin, perspiration dropped from every pore of my flesh and soaked the bed sheet which I laid on. I tried to talk, but I couldn't, what was this? I'm certain I'm awake, yes, I'm awake, but I couldn't open my eyes, neither could I talk. I only saw the images in my mind and perceived the presence.
Everything seemed to turn around when the fingers moving slowly on my slick skin didn't stop, I shivered as it moved downward from my muscled arms to my broad chest, then to my taut, six packed guts. It stopped there for a moment and when I expected the smooth fingers to move further down, it was suddenly gone.
Within myself, I could hear my own groan. This personality behind the cover of a black cloak was back again, hunting my dream and torturing my flesh so sweetly. It had been four days since it last happened to me, why now, why did it return?
I felt myself being pulled back to reality and I woke up startled as I suddenly heard my door burst open. My bulging eyes dart to the door to see my last brother, Damien, leaning on it with his arms crossed on his chest. He watched me as I tried to catch my breath, his expression depicted that of uncertainty, as well as surprise. I looked around the room, the moonlight still casted on the part of the wall where I saw the cloaked shadow, but it was no longer there, nor did I still perceive the scent of the presence.
“Someone was here!” Damien announced after a moment of silence, but I had no reply for him. Instead, I came out of my duvet and slid my legs down the bed. My silver, long, wet hair fell over my face and stuck to my sweaty forehead. Though it seemed to be just a dream, I still felt the effects of the smooth fingers that felt my skin and the tip of my fingers and toes itched sweetly like every other time I experienced this.
Damien me and sat beside me on the bed. From the look he gave me, I could tell that the words that were about to exit his lips would be a thorn to my eardrums, or something like that, “Just take a look at yourself,” He uttered, “You look like a human who just rounded off a marathon.”
I sigh, obviously not ready for his tantrums, though I'm a lot more relieved that he came in to save me from the sweet torture. “If you hadn't just come in, I'd think it was you hunting me in the dark!”
Damien's head fell back as he gave out a dry chuckle. When he stopped laughing, he reached out to remove the strands of wet hair that had almost covered my face, but I slapped his hand away. He then smirked, raising his hands as a surrendering gesture, “Don't you ever sleep?” I ask.
“You should know Vampires don't sleep, unlike you who is easy to sleep.” Damien grinned.
I palmed my forehead and sighed, carefully taking out my silver strands from my face and shoving them to my back, “It's been a long time since I experienced this.” I mutter, crossing my legs and placing my elbows on them. I turned to Damien to realize I had the latter's beady eyes glaring at me, he looked as if he had something unpleasant to say and I was right, he did have!
“Should I consider you as an abnormal being?” He asked and my brows creased, this wasn't what I expected. “I mean, unlike the rest of us, you're the dreamboat, the Adonis who catches the attention of all the maidens in Coral shore. And as if that's not enough for being too different, you're also the only one who's the target of some invincible being in a Castle of four Royals!”
Fuck it! “Must you rub it in the face?” I said with a sigh. Though he didn't mention it precisely, he was technically stating how weak I am, that I couldn't fight off what he saw as a fragment of my imaginations hunting me while I'm asleep at night.
It's a pity he isn't aware of how real it feels to me whenever I awoke. He's expecting me to have the minor ability of demons in tracing a dream or nightmare back to its origin to find out the cause. I've tried that, but I couldn't, neither could other demons do it for me since it's a man-for-himself ability.
Damien stood up and walked to my window where one could clearly see the full glory of the moon, his hands rested on the sill. “Should be two hours past midnight.” He muttered and I didn't reply.
“You know,” Damien turned and crossed his arms again, leaning on the wall, “I'm still trying to figure out why the presence immediately fled the moment I came in. Is it that it's so scared of me or that my presence would be a hindrance to making you a pawn?”
“Damien..” I growled. I knew where this was heading to, but he should just shut up instead of spilling nonsense. If this person wanted to make me a pawn, then it should have happened a long time ago.
“What?” He slightly raised his voice, “among the three of us, you've been the weak one. Even your hard breaths during sleep wouldn't let me think straight!”
“Damien!” I yelled this time. Now I'm wondering if I've woken Lucerne up.
“What, would you dare to fight with me?” Damien challenged. Of course I won't dare, fighting with him wouldn't change anything, he's always been like this after all. Though I wouldn't blame him, He was right. Among the three sons of Master Gastro, the Demon Lord of the Coral Shore, it is only I who is unable to shift to my true form and master my ability.
When Mother was alive, she began to teach us at a very young age; transforming to our true forms, exhibiting and controlling our strengths. Lucerne is the eldest and is pure Demon, he was able to change. Damien was a Vampire and everyone knew it from the moment he was born, but I remained Human for three decades with only the ability to partially use the four senses which everyone thinks to be a special skill since Demons don't possess such abilities. Due to this, Damien now saw me as weak and disabled.
“Maybe I was not destined to be powerful.” I mutter as I get myself up on my shaky legs, trampling my littered history books to the window. I saw Damien roll his eyes, then he sat on the bed and rested his back against the headboard, his Cobalt orbs glaring into my Amber ones, I immediately looked away.
“Hope you didn't wake Lucerne on your way here?” I asked as I fully faced the moon which seemed to be smiling at me.
“I wouldn't, 'twould be a sorry sight seeing a pathetic you, so sure he'd treat you like the baby which you aren't!” Damien spat, but I snorted and shook my head.
I thought of this experience which I started having close to a decade ago. Honestly, I was so excited when I ceased to experience it four days ago, but now it's back, it was never gone!. It always made me worry, what did this personality want, was it connected to my disability to transform and possess my full powers like other Demons? Or is this person trying to convey a message to me?
“What if in the end, you realize you are literally a Vampire?” Damien asked and I knew he was obviously joking because. . .
“I don't crave for blood.” I snapped.
“Right!” Damien stood up and came to stand beside me. He sniffed in the cold air as his eyes closed momentarily, “Someone is still hanging around here!” He suddenly said and, his eyes snapped open.
But whoever that was, the figure in the cloak? Whatever!, a harsh wind came from the blossoming trees in the woods and Damien and I hurriedly looked down the window. Damien must have seen something in the dark because he immediately pulled me and jumped down the Castle window. We landed at the foot of the Castle, just before the woods, but there was total silence and no one.
“She's gone.” Damien murmured.
“She?” I asked, surprised.
“A cloaked figure, yes. It was that of a female, but it seems to have used a potion to vanish.”
My brows creased as some of Damien's words rang in my ears — cloaked, potion, vanish. “Could she be. . a Witch?” I asked and Damien looked at me.
He rubbed his palms together and placed them on both sides of his cheeks, “I thought so too.”
>
|Lucerne|
I had changed from my nightwear into a pair of Khaki Slacks and a brown top, then slid my feet into its leather black Boots, getting ready as I usually do on some mornings to tend to the Castle garden. As I got up from my fourposter Bed, a knock came on my door and Sage, my handmaid, walked in. She curtsied before me, stretching the neatly folded black cloak out to me, “My Lord.”
“Thank you, Sage.” I said as I took the cloak from her and wore it on myself, “Get me my tool box, and gloves too.” I ordered and Sage did as I said, she gingerly moved to my drawer and brought out the box filled with my tools for tending to the garden, and then the gloves. I took the gloves from her and wore it on, then proceeded to leave the room. But I met the apologetic faces of Anastasia and Sofia when I opened my door.
“My Lord.” They curtsied in unison.
“Why are you here, aren't you supposed to be with my Brothers?” I asked.
The two girls exchanged glances and immediately dropped to their knees, pleading, “We have been incompetent, My Lord. Please have mercy, we came in this morning and realized that they weren't in their Chambers.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed, “It's not your fault, rise.” Of course I won't blame the poor ladies. Leaving the castle at early mornings and late nights was like a custom to Damien, and Kor might have probably fallen victim in Damien's hands. All I had to do was proceed to my own interest until they returned. So I smiled at the two girls and nodded.
“T.. there is something else, My Lord.” Anastasia stuttered.
My brows creased, “Which is?”
“The Master is seriously ill, he demands the presence of you all at once.”
I blinked twice, were they joking or what, My father. . Ill? That was close to impossible, I won't believe. But on a second thought, these maids wouldn't just come up with something like this to tell me at this early hour of the morning, so it wasn't possible that they were lying, “Since when did it begin?” I asked to be sure because I'm certain Father was super healthy before bed last night.
They replied, “Just this morning, My Lord.”
