"No one wonder the stench is so strong," Jamien murmured looking at the body.
Emma’s body was in the process of the decomposing stage and though her face was faintly recognizable, her skin was half there and not there, showing the rotting tendons and muscles.
"You guys can go to the quarters and don’t speak a word of this for now until communicated so, aye?" Canrart instructed the servants as they looked at the bodies wearily. Bowing their head they took their leave not wanting to stay here anymore. Canrart then turned to my friends and Jamien, "Children can go sleep while we have something to discuss. Hurry along," he said clapping his hand and I didn’t miss the annoyed expression Jamien threw at him as he left.
"Two of them have been attacked gruesomely while the third one has a vampire bite, just a little deeper than usual," Elvis said bending down to look at them and then glanced at Emma.
"Was she not completely dead?" I asked him. How could a dead body move when it was dead for so long? It didn’t make sense at all.
"She was, Lilly, but someone must have woken her up from the dead. A soul stays in an intermediate unstated way sometimes until it passes on to the next phase of leaving this world," Elvis explained as he touched Emma’s face, "Dark untouched magic that is used by the dead."
"Alos?" I questioned him.
"Father dearest seems to be very persistent," Luke said gingerly and I felt his hold tighten on me.
"But it could be someone else too," Canrart commented.
"Even if Lilly’s father awakened Emma by sending her here and attacking two of our servants that didn’t answer why there is a bite mark on this one though she looks injured. All the guests had left and the guard made sure to count the number of in and out visits today were equal in number," Elvis spoke touching the wound on the neck.
A normal vampire bite would have two dots with blood but the wound here looked deeper and bloodier like an animal attack. Then its something snapped in my head. The weird man.
"There was someone I met at the wedding who said Alos was there in our presence but didn’t say where he was and he also said not to mention about him to anyone. He seemed to know me, " I said remembering the man.
"I think I know this one," Luke replied looking at the bodies and then the forest. Something fleeted across Canrart’s face at that moment and had a look of realization dawn on his face.
"I’ll send some of my men to put these people in tightly fitted coffins while we go back to our rooms so that we have nothing to worry," Canrart said and I saw Elvis about to argue, "Luke will handle the rest," he said patting his brothers shoulder with a reassured smile and on queue Luke gave a wide smile which definitely didn’t look genuine to me.
I went up to our room and was halfway successful in pulling my gown when Luke entered the room making me stumble and push my dress down again.
"Luke knock!" I scolded him. He raised his hand to his side and knocked the door with a wide grin, "That is before you enter not after," I muttered sitting on the bed.
I saw him walk towards the closet and open it to pull out clothes from there.
"Change your clothes, Lillian, we are going out," he said opening a drawer and I heard a clink sound as he took something from there.
"Where are we going?" I asked him and my eyes drifted towards the wall clock before drifting my gaze back to him.
"I gave you my word that I would tell you few things when the clock strikes one," he said walking around the room, "Go get ready, darling," and he then went to the bathroom to change from his wedding clothes.
Once I changed into a pair of jeans and a baggy shirt, I pulled out the pins from my hair as I stared at myself in the mirror. Right now was supposed to be my wedding night, not that I wanted something to happen but I hadn’t even been kissed at my wedding!
No, I wasn’t complaining, I shook my head as I took the last pin out of my hair. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t hear Luke coming out of the bathroom until he went back to open the closet again.
"Do you know who-"
I began to only stop talking when I saw Luke standing in a pair of jeans and a V-neck shirt. That wasn’t what caught my eye though, it was the helix ring around his right ear that was followed by another cuff ring. And I swear his hair grew longer than what I had seen moments ago. The shirt he wore exposed a good amount of his smooth and strong chest. His clear forest green eyes stared at me as I looked at his features, turning to a darker shade and I felt myself swallow nervously when he slowly walked towards me.
"As much as I would like to devour you right now in my bed, we have other things to do. Let’s go," he said making me blush furiously at his words.
Since the day of his coronation, Luke seemed a little different in his behavior and in his physical appearance. Physically he had turned to an exquisite male who could be found in only one’s deep dark fantasy. Behaviorally he was the same in his timely sarcastic remarks and charms but bolder and open with what he thought like now.
"I didn’t know you wore cuff rings," I said softly as we entered the forest.
"I had sworn not to wear it until you were mine to call when your soul was lost," he said walking deeper into the woods, "The man you spoke about, what did you two converse about? Did he hurt you?" Luke questioned me seriously.
"No, he didn’t. Just told me not to tell about his visit to anyone else he would hurt one of my friends. Who was he?" I asked him, avoiding a branch of a tree that has fallen on the ground.
"Someone I didn’t want you to meet so soon," he muttered lowly under his breath
We were deep inside the forest and I stayed close to Luke as we walked. The mist had begun to appear on the ground as silence filled the atmosphere. Somewhere far away I heard the cry of a wolf which made me jump out of my skin. From the corner of my eye, I saw something slither past next to us but it was hard to see what it was with the density of the mist increasing.
"Close your eyes, Lillian," I heard Luke’s voice as he held my hand. Once I felt him get closer to me, suddenly the air changed to a much warmer temperature.
When I opened my eyes, I felt my eyes widen looking at the giant walls and doors that were in front of us now. The entrance held statues at the sides, which had horns and tails on them. The gate old and rusted, creaked slowly as we stepped inside.
This place was old, I thought to myself. I stared at the giant like pillars that held bowls of red fire burning in them.
"Welcome to the hell, Lillian," Luke said dryly while he stood next to me and not a second later we heard someone speak behind us.
"Master has been waiting for your arrival. Follow this way," a small shabby creature stood holding a bundle of parchments in its hands. It had a sharp nose with cat-like ears. I noticed a tail at its back when it turned around to lead us to its master.
As we crossed the long empty hallway with pillars holding the bowl like fires, I noticed there was no one around. It was more or less like an abandoned mansion that was haunted by vile spirits. The place sure looked peaceful for it to be called as hell.
When a large door opened I saw a man standing with his back at us. He waved his hand for the creature to leave which bowed before leaving us three alone.
"Welcome back Lucian, its good to see you back in your attire and such an honor to have you here Lilly," the man said turning around with a sly smile. He was the weirdo I had met a few hours ago, "It seems you have come here for something. How can I be of help?" he asked us even though it was written all over his face that he knew why we had come for.
Luke carelessly went to take a seat least bothered and crossed his legs as he looked at the man in front of me. The man walked across the room to sit in front of Luke now. I on the other hand who wasn’t sure as to what to do, kept my back on the wall as I looked at them.
"Enlighten me as to why there were four dead bodies decorating my land," Luke asked calmly as he checked his nails.
"Hmm, four bodies? Let me see..." the man said thoughtfully like he was trying to remember it and then smiled, "I was taking a quick stroll when I saw a woman attacking two men. I was quietly fascinated by looking at a dead person fight but then I realized something was wrong. You already know what was wrong therefore let’s skip that one. To join the little party another one joined and got hurt in the process. I being a nice guy," he said placing his hand on his chest to emphasize his words, "Killed them and took their soul as a parting gift with me."
So when the creature said his master was waiting for us, he was talking about this guy. Luke said this was hell ground and obviously there was only one ruler of this place. Was this guy whom I think he was?
"The servant could be saved yet you drank her blood and took her soul with you," Luke deadpanned with his eyes narrowed as flames grew brighter as he spoke.
"As I said, I was taking a stroll and one gets thirsty after that," was the man’s excuse.
"How can you take an innocent soul when they weren’t the one to start the killing?" I asked him to receive a big smile from him.
"Because I can," he replied. Heartless bas-, I almost said in my head and saw the man look at me with a tilt. Crap, I totally forgot he could read my mind, "You didn’t introduce us, Lucian."
"Lillian this is Satan who rules the underworld known as hell," Luke introduced him in a bored tone.
"And?" Satan prompted excitedly.
"And also my father whom I don’t get along with," he added.
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