Eona was aware that she was inside a dream while she continued walking aimlessly in the world she woke up in. She was on a lakeside by the forest and the moon above was her only source of light. Its moonbeams reflected on the glistening waters of the lake. She couldn't hear a sound, not even a single hooting owl or a whispering wind. As if in that world, time has stopped moving. She couldn't remember how she ended up there. She could only remember what transpired in the forest after a vampire abducted her from the metropolis before she ended up unconscious in someone else's arms after falling off a cliff and that's it.
She didn't die. She was sure of that fact because she remembered what happened before she closed her eyes then. The Night Class student with those beautiful aquamarines was there and he held her ever so gently as if she is going to break if he didn't do so. She could not hear what he was saying then but she saw how miserable he was while looking down at her. Why would he be acting that way? They didn't even know each other. And his eyes, she was certain they were of different color at that time from the first color she saw them to be. She didn't have any idea what happened to her afterwards. All she knew was that she woke up in the middle of an unfamiliar forest after she was attacked by those vampires in the Northern forest. The place she is in at the moment is so vivid, like she's been transported into another place. Is that even possible nowadays?
She walked ever so slowly, painting everything she see on her mind, until she reached a place that exuded loneliness in a tragic way and an unfamiliar feeling settled deep within her heart. She was gripped tightly by sadness so strong that tears rolled down her face unexpectedly as if she lost something that couldn't be returned to her anymore. She felt like she had lost something in this place but she didn't even knew what. She breathed in deep as she tried to control her spiralling emotions and dried her eyes from tears. She does not know what is happening. She feels sad all of a sudden as she stares at what's in front of her. She is in a dream but everything felt so real.
Behind her was the forest where she woke up and right in front of her was a wide, abandoned and unattended estate. Beyond the garden, well what was left of the used to be garden, there is a palace which stood majestically. She walked further through the estate which was in ruins. It looked like a war had taken place there because some parts were deeply excavated as if something collided in it due to some force or power like a bomb had just exploded in that particular spot. It is surprising that the palace stood without any damage after all the ruckus that obviously happened right in front of it. The supposed to be flower tunnels were now but a mere barren brace as the rose vines were left dead and the flower boxes were now but a box of hardened soil. Dried leaves and branches were scattered everywhere along with the pieces of broken marble statues. If it was snowing, it would have looked more eerie and abandoned.
She looked around. To her, this place looked and felt familiar. Like she has been here before. But she couldn't find it in her memories as to why it is making her feel like that and in the first place, she is questioning as to why she felt that way towards this place. After passing through the wide garden, she found herself standing in front of the palace's main door. And to say that it was high is an understatement. It wasn't only high, it was huge that it made her feel like she's one of the dwarven people. Will she be able to open it with her frail arms and limited strength? But to her amazement, the door easily moved when she pushed it open. Fear of the unknown should be the first thing on her mind but her curiosity took over her senses. She was in a dream anyway. It will not hurt her if she explores a bit. Or will it?
Upon entering the palace, she left the door behind her open. She gasped as her eyes feasted on the things she saw in the palace's vestibule. She could see the interior inside with the help of the moonlight coming through the huge glass windows and the main door. She was not too keen on interior design but she knew the receiving area's design was a rococo. The biggest crystal chandelier she had ever seen in her whole life was hanging in the middle of a high ceiling. It probably shined beautifully back in the day. The floor was white marble and a red felted carpet was spread out from the entrance leading to the stairway which splits into two curved stairs leading to different parts of the palace's upper vestibule on the second floor. Even though the palace was obviously abandoned for a long time, not a single dust nor cobweb could be seen. Everything was just as it had been before when someone lived there as if the palace was enchanted to stay like that.
She went further inside, engraving in her mind everything that she saw. But with all the luxuries and extravagance surrounding her, what caught her attention most was the huge portrait placed on one of the palace's walls in the drawing room she ended up in. It was a portrait of the one who had always appeared in her dreams ever since she was a child though she had just come to recognize him recently. He was the one who saved her that night after she woke up in a snowy place without her memories of what occurred before it. He must have been the master of this grand place.
She did not bother getting near the portrait. She just stared at it from where she was currently at. She could see it clearly from there anyway. His hair, which was arranged in a messy way, was as black as the night sky and his piercing eyes that looked like they could penetrate a soul were a dark red. His nose was aristocratic and his lips were sealed shut, though not in a grim line. He's handsome in a mysterious kind of way and he's the sole image of perfection. His elegance exceeds that of the norm. Even though he's not smiling and even though he's not displaying any emotions at all, his eyes tell otherwise. The expression his face was lacking could be found in them if only one would look closer. He must have been one of those they call a royal. After all, he is wearing a crown. It's not the typical crown you see nowadays which is put above one's head. Instead, it was a gold diadem worn at the back of his head with red gemstones adorning it. He also had a lone silver helix earring with red stones that hugged the sides of his left ear like a vine down to his earlobe.
But the more she stares at the portrait, the more the image of a phoenix behind him becomes more visible. As if the phoenix is guarding the man on the portrait - daring anyone to hurt this certain being it chose to protect. And the longer she stared at him, the more recollection of memories came crashing into her at once, making her unable to determine which of them was her own. Her head suddenly felt like something was cracking it open until she felt dizzy and fell on the marbled ground. With blurring eyesight, she thought she saw the image of the phoenix in the portrait moving before she heard a voice in her head.
"You are not yet ready, child," an unknown voice whispered in her mind. "To open the door of your memories forcibly will either cause you your life or the life of those around you."
She groaned and asked no one in particular. "W-what door?"
"Wait for the one who holds the key. Until then, you have to bear everything."
What does that even mean?
The more she questions everything, the more her head hurts like hell until she loses consciousness. When she woke up for the second time, she found herself in the middle of their living room. Her headache was gone like it had never happened but she remembered the words she heard at that time in the palace. Eona looked around. What is happening? Is she still in a dream?
She glanced towards their house's main door when she heard it being opened. It was her mother Helena, who was accompanied by her grandmother Lauren. She remembered her mother telling her that they'd be coming home late, so she found herself looking at the clock hanging on the wall. Five minutes to eleven. Only three hours passed since the incident where she had been involved in took place, but for her it seemed to have felt like forever. She tried to call out to them but they didn't react at all. They obviously couldn't see her standing there, which could only mean one thing. She's there with them but her body is not.
"Why did Eona choose Hillcrest out of all the schools out there? The only thing that's keeping her away from those beings is the department she's in."
"Your daughter has her reasons for choosing that school, Helena. Academic standards wise, the academy is the best out of every school out there. Do not make decisions that will suffocate your daughter. You're already keeping her in the dark about many things."
"Are you telling me it isn't wise to keep her from things that could endanger her life? That I should've given her the answers she sought even though she could get killed if she delved in deeper?"
Eona frowned. She doesn't have a choice but to continue to listen. Besides, she might be getting the answers she sought right at that moment.
Lauren sighed. "But did you have to lie when she asked you about those things that are making her question reality itself?"
"What good will it bring her if she comes to know that I work for a non-human employer? That I work for someone who finds solitude in the darkness of the night? A vampire that once became your employer too, and so did our ancestors before us? Living as a blood donor has been this family's curse. Our family's contract to Cohen states that one female from our family must serve him as a blood donor. That when the present blood donor's time has ended, another should take her place. And in return, our family is being paid with money one can't imagine how much and protection no other being could provide. But I will make sure that the cycle is going to end with me. I can't have Eona shoulder the same fate as the rest of us. I will make sure that my daughter will never be entangled with them."
Eona froze. What is she hearing from her mother's mouth? Non-human employer? Vampire? Blood donor? Contract? Those words could be easily understood but Eona seemed to be having a hard time comprehending them because she would only reach a single conclusion… her family straight out lied to her from the beginning.
Helena was not sure how she was going to do what she said. After all, her daughter has always been interested in things that are out of this world since she was young. She even told them a few times that she dreamed of them - vampires. But every time Eona questioned her about their existence, she would always put a lid on the conversation until Eona stopped mentioning them altogether as she grew up.
"Then you should prepare yourself, Helena. Because I know, one day, Eona will seek the answers she's looking for by herself if given the chance. Especially now that she's starting to doubt us. She's already at the age where she'll start suspecting things that are happening around her." Lauren advised before she excused herself and went towards her room first.
"I'm not gonna tell my daughter anything." Helena whispered to her own, not aware that her daughter was there in the living room with her. "It was for her own good anyway. Being connected to vampires will only bring her pain. It would bring her great sadness and I can't have her experiencing all that."
Even though she's an apparition, Eona starts to hyperventilate. She didn't know what to do after she'd been left alone in the living room. She was stunned. Hearing the truth from the ones that lied to her shook her world like never before. Eona started to shake as her breathing became rapid. Her mother had been lying to her all along and it was hard for her to accept it. She felt betrayed. All this time, they deemed her crazy when she insisted that vampires exist and that she felt like the ones howling for the moon at night were not normal wolves but beings who could turn into one. It was her mother who told her those beings weren't real, that they were just a myth and that their existence was only a result of her wild imagination. Helena lies straight out in her face while she's working for a being that is not one of them and has been for a long time.
The room she was in faded at a rapid pace as darkness enveloped her surroundings before she felt herself being submerged in deep water. It was icy cold and it made it hard for her to breathe. She didn't know how long she was under the water. She just knew she was falling deep into it as she started to lose awareness of everything.
"Agapité (Dear one)... " A gentle, male voice which sounded familiar called out to her in the dark. She had heard the language once, in her dreams. And she could still somehow understand it. She had also heard that voice before, but how come she couldn't put a face on it?
She opened her mouth to answer, only to feel the water immediately penetrate her lungs. It was painful.
"Agapité (Dear one), open your eyes…" the stranger asked of her.
She wanted to, but somehow, she couldn't. It felt like a black satin sheet was tied tightly around her eyes, making it hard for her to open them and see the light. And something is keeping her submerged in the water, preventing her from swimming back to the surface. She did her best to do what he asked of her until she lost all hope and just let darkness consume her. It was then when she felt someone pulling her out from where she was at. A pair of strong hands held hers until she could finally breathe. Eona gasped when she finally opened her eyes, taking in that needed air as if she hadn't been breathing normally for a long time. Everything was blurry at first, then it became clearer. She was in her room, back in her body. She glanced at the digital clock on the table situated beside her bed. 23:51 was glowing softly in white light. The night hasn't even passed to another day yet.
"Agapité (Dear one)... "
She glanced at where the voice came from. So it wasn't a dream. Someone really was calling out to her in a language she didn't know but somehow could understand. Without sitting up, she focused her attention in the direction where the same gentle voice that prevented her from completely drowning came from. There was a man standing by her bed and the moonlight enabled her to see his profile clearly. He is beautiful, like a god that came to life. But what captivated her most were his red eyes, which seemed like they were gently glistening under the moonlight. A thought came into her mind. She recognized him. She had always seen him in her dreams. He is… real. Maybe he is also a part of her forgotten memory. It was also at that moment she realized that he was the man beside her friend Shaun when he saw the latter in the hospital when she was still there recuperating. Shaun disappearing all of a sudden must have something to do with this person. She knew she was supposed to feel frightened. It is a human's normal reaction when someone sees a stranger in their room, especially when they are presently incapable of defending themselves from them. But, she's not. Her heart was at peace and she knew, though he was obviously not human, he would never hurt her.
He sat down beside her and softly touched her face with the back of his forefinger. She blinked. He smiled sadly as he gazed down at her. His gaze is full of longing, as if he'd never seen her for such a long time. But there was also regret written in his beautiful eyes.
"Synchóresé me, agapité (Forgive me, dear one)…" He almost whispered.
Before she could ask him anything, he disappeared without a word. It was then when she felt something trickle by the side of her neck, but sleep immediately overtook her senses following his sudden departure.
Morning came and Eona woke up like nothing life-threatening happened to her the night before. She sat up immediately as thoughts of last night came crashing down her mind. She knew the injuries she suffered from falling on the cliff were real. She felt the agonizing pain of having her bones broken. How was she home after falling from that height that should have taken her life away? What did that Night Class student even do after she lost consciousness? It took her everything to stop herself from freaking out, especially when she saw her should've been bloodied things arranged neatly by her study table - not one thing is missing. Beside them was the opened box where the crystalized flower was sitting as if she opened it herself. She breathed in deep to calm herself, but then another thought struck her harder than the first.
Her family lied to her about so many things and she was not sure how she was going to face them after knowing all about it. Her mother imprinted into her mind that vampires do not exist, but it turns out she's presently working for one. How many lies have they fed her all this time? One after the other, thoughts filled her mind at a rapid pace until she remembered something. She stood up and immediately went to her bathroom to check her neck. Her reflection stared back at her through the vanity mirror and her violet-colored eyes were obviously looking for answers which she hoped would not be hidden from her this time. Her white-blonde hair was in disarray so she pulled it up in a messy bun only to gasp in horror. The wetness she felt last night turned out to be a trickle of blood. She pulled her blouse away to check where it came from. There, in the crook of her neck were two bitemarks which looked like they had just been healed overnight. She could also see filigree lines drawn in the faintest color of red at the side of her neck which looked like a fading tattoo, one without a shape. Or is it starting to take a form? She does not know.
Instead of asking herself a series of questions which she knew wouldn't be answered, she walked out of her room even though she knew it was still too early, but she came to a stop upon hearing her mother and her grandmother talking in the kitchen when she ended up downstairs. She frowned. Have they always been this early?
"Cohen will be hosting a soiree next weekend. I won't be able to come back home for a few days before that." Helena said in almost a whisper, as if she was afraid someone might hear her.
Eona padded silently towards the kitchen's entryway. She was careful enough for them not to notice her presence. Her heart started thumping loudly as she continued listening in on their hushed conversation because she knew deep in her mind that she'd be hearing things which they'd kept hidden from her for so long.
"Is the Royal Family going to attend?"
"Who knows? Even though Cohen is a member of the vampire council, the king and queen might be the only ones to appear, since the crown prince isn't actually fond of attending such activities. Everyone knows he hates the crowd. Besides, the prince has been missing from the court for a long time and no one knows where he is at the moment."
"Isn't it dangerous to be around that many vampires, Helena? Not all of them were actually fond of human beings' presence in their midst."
"Cohen is still my employer. If he requires my presence, then I'll be at his side without a word. And you know that in every soiree, blood donors of the vampires who are invited to attend are obliged to bring with them their blood donor because of the bloodletting they hold at midnight at every soiree being held."
Lauren was about to say something but stopped midway when she noticed her granddaughter standing by the kitchen's entryway. Her eyes widened in fear and words left her completely that it made her speechless. Helena followed the direction she was looking in and saw her daughter with betrayal written all over her face. Eona's mother and grandmother looked like they'd seen a ghost. Probably because they were surprised she was already awake, but it was more because they knew she had heard everything they just said.
"Who's Cohen?" Eona asked with much indifference.
Helena didn't know how to redirect her daughter's attention away from the topic until she saw the dried blood on her blouse and the bitemarks on her neck. Bitemarks they knew whose from at first glance - a vampire's.
"What is that on your neck?" Helena asked, horror was written all over her face.
The thing she feared was now staring at her through the bitemarks on her daughter's neck. It's as if it was mocking her - that even if she tried her hardest to keep Eona away from them, her daughter was just destined to meet them.
"Yesterday, I was with a Night Class student…." Eona started and the way her mother paled was actually quite funny. "Though I don't have any recollection as to what happened afterwards." They remained silent so she decided to continue. "And, someone was in my room when I woke up before midnight. A man with those mesmerizing red eyes. He was there for a minute then disappeared immediately the next. But it's not like one of them gave me these bitemarks now, is it? Because if one of them did, then he'd only be none other than a vampire. But you told me yourself that vampires don't exist. That I only created their existence with my imagination. So what happened last night must have been my imagination, too. And that these bitemarks were actually a result of me injuring myself in my sleep. I must have stabbed my neck with one of my hairpins while I was asleep."
Lauren, whose heart was beating faster than normal inside her chest, could only glance at her daughter Helena, who seemed to have gone more paler. This is what she was talking about. She knew Eona had been suspecting them. She may have stopped talking about vampires but Lauren knew her granddaughter had long been doubting them. And she is only looking for a chance to force the answers out from them. And that chance presents itself to her now.
"Eona - " Helena started, but her daughter cut her.
"No, more importantly… what is he?"
Eona is not going to give them any more chances to lie. If she's going to get the answers, she's gonna get them now. She had eavesdropped on their conversation but she wanted to hear it directly.
Lauren sighed. "Why don't you get dressed first and we'll talk it over after breakfast?"
"Mom - "
Lauren focused her attention on her daughter, who looked like she wanted to refuse to tell Eona everything. "I suggest you give Cohen a call and tell him he's about to meet your daughter. It might be easier for Eona to accept the things we lied to her about if she sees them in their world."
"So they really are real," Eona thought bitterly before she went back to her room.
When they were all in the breakfast area that morning, the atmosphere was filled with tension. Eona could at least tell that from where she was sitting. She was actually surprised they finished their meal without a single word said from either of them. Helena wasn't the one who gave her the answers she sought. In fact, her mother never said a word. It was her grandmother Lauren who explained everything without a choice and it somehow hurt her that her mother still wanted to keep her in the dark.
Cohen Lohengrin. The present employer of her mother, past employer of her grandmother and those who existed in their family so many years before them. And he is… a vampire. A being which her family made her believe to not have really existed.
"So you're not actually working as a couturier?" Eona asked her mother, but Helena still remained tight-lipped.
"Your mother is a couturier. That is a fact. She owns a clothing line which has branches in all known places. But the main office has always been in Elstein. The only open city in Aceldama for those who knew it exists. It'd be easier for her to attend to Cohen if he needed blood."
Eona could only nod. It was hard for her to take in all the information her grandmother fed her all at once. At the back of her mind, she wanted to deny everything because it was instilled in her that the existence of vampires was not real. She was in conflict with her inner self. She now knew that they really did exist, but she too wanted to deny their existence. And she could only blame her own family as the cause of it.
"Who gave you those bitemarks?"
Eona looked in her mother's direction. "I thought you weren't going to talk to me, mom?" She asked back in a mocking tone, making Helena turn red in embarrassment.
"Eona!" Lauren scolded.
She knew she was being rude but she couldn't help it. Helena refused to give her the answers she sought, so how could she expect her to give away the answers she needed?
She sighed. "It must have been the one who was in my room last night. Though he disappeared right after I woke up. As if the only purpose of his presence in my room was to awaken me because something was happening to me in my sleep. He called out to me and pulled me out of the place in my dream which is keeping me submerged. In what way did he do it? I don't know. All I'm aware of is that he regretted doing whatever it was he did though he obviously didn't have any other choice but to do so."
"Do you want to see those beings in their world, Eona?"
"Do you want me to, grandma?" She asked back.
They were, after all, the ones who wanted to keep her away from those beings in the first place. Even if she wanted to, if they forbade her not to, everything would be in vain. Well, not everything, because she's sure she's going to have to do something if it comes to it.
Helena observed her daughter for a few moments before she finally gave in. If it was Eona's fate to be entangled with them, then maybe it was time for her to break her resolve. She pulled out her phone and dialled a number which she had familiarized with herself for such a long time.
"It's rare for you to call me on the line, Helena. Is there an emergency?"
"Cohen, I'd like to ask for your permission to bring my daughter to the soiree next weekend."
They were on a first name basis? Isn't Cohen a member of the vampire council? How could her mother address him so casually?
"Did Eona finally come to know of our existence?" Cohen asked.
Eona frowned. He knew of her?
"Yes."
Cohen was silent for a moment. "Then with your consent, I'm gonna be including her name on my guests' list. But I'd like to meet her in Elstein this weekend. Will you be able to arrange it?"
"Of course."
"I'm looking forward to meeting her again after almost ten years. Though I'm sure she doesn't remember me at all. After all, she just woke up from a coma back then when I visited her in the hospital after the kidnapping incident."
Eona stared at her mother. "We've met?"
"Almost ten years ago. He was there when you opened your eyes after having been in a coma for a week. Though only for a little while because you immediately went back to sleep."
So before, she had already had an encounter with their kind. Is that the reason why her mind strongly believes in their existence?
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