"What were the words mentioned by your new-found friend back in Reliquiae again?"
"You know Blaze is not my friend." Eona corrected Wisteria while they're drowning themselves in books in the second library of Hillcrest Academy.
They have been working on their research paper and they still haven't gotten a hold yet of the information they wanted. In fact, they couldn't find the right book they needed. As if it was hidden somewhere else where no one would be able to find it. The teachers, especially their subject teacher, were acting a little bit strange every time they asked for their assistance and it seemed like they were completely directing their attention away from their subject at hand, which drove Wisteria to do what she was told not to.
"Monarch? Royal Blood? Wings of crimson? Blood War? Why can't we find a single book that tells us about them?"
"Maybe there really is nothing to it?" She said with uncertainty.
"Or maybe you two are looking in the wrong place."
Eona looked up from the book she was browsing and saw Kaien Cross, their school chairman in the flesh, standing there with a grin on his face. He is young. In fact, too young to be managing a school as grand as Hillcrest. Wisteria seemed like she did not see past his good looks, but Eona could feel the danger he possessed. Though she does not know what it is he does in the shadows, she can tell that he is not your ordinary human being.
Eona remembers clearly what Blaze told her on the train on her way back home from school a few days ago. "You just haven't found the book where everything about our past was written. Though we have in our possession the book that will give you all the answers, I'm sure Kaien Cross is safeguarding a few books that contain some of the information you need with regards to the answers you seek."
"Or maybe someone had hidden the books in a place only he can access."
Kaien smirked. Eona knew something. After the incident she went through, and after those two were not able to erase her memory, she was granted an audience with Cohen Lohengrin - one of the council members of Aceldama. She must have gotten her answers from him.
"Did a certain vampire tell you that?"
"No. But a certain Great Wolf did."
The grin on Kaien's face disappeared in an instant as he stared down at Eona, who looked like she was not going to budge. He intended to make fun of them because the topic they had chosen for their research paper had been tormenting their teachers who knew the secrets of the school, but what Eona said put a damp on his plans and she didn't look like she was kidding. Great Wolf is not just an ordinary name. For those who knew the secrets of the shadows, it is something that pertains to certain beings - Lycans who stood at the summit of their hierarchy during the Golden Age. And for Eona who had just learned about the existence of vampires not too long ago, to be mentioning that word like she knew something, is something Kaien did not expect.
"And here I am thinking you have no idea about the irregularities of this world."
Eona focused her attention to Wisteria. "I just came to learn about it."
"Then I guess it is safe to say that my family works for the Ducal House of Ahlefeldt. How about you?"
"Mine serves the Ducal House of Lohengrin."
"So, what is it about books and hiding them?"
"Why don't you ask the chairman? He is, after all, the one who did the hiding."
Both pairs of eyes stared at Kaien, which made him sigh and curse in his mind. "Follow me, you two."
Wisteria and Eona found themselves standing in a secret library inside Kaien's office where books regarding supernaturals were neatly arranged in different bookshelves. The books aren't fictions created by random authors. In fact, they are raw records of the past. With Wisteria's excitement, she left Eona standing there awkwardly with Kaien beside her.
"So… Who is this Great Wolf you were talking about?"
"Who are you, Kaien Cross?"
Kaien smirked as he went towards the oak wood table and picked a random book. "Behind the school's chairman's facade, I am a vampire hunter."
Eona raised her brow in question. "And yet your students are either vampires or associated with them."
"I am working with them actually. Just as long as our purpose is the same. So, back to my question."
"Why don't you find out on your own? I'm sure you have your way."
"Oh, I have a lot, believe me. But why don't you just tell me? You see, Noble Bloods aren't the only ones who disappeared without a trace after the Blood War. There is another race which also disappeared at that time. A Lycan race known as the Great Wolves."
"Noble Bloods?"
"Yes. Vampires who are unlike any other. Purebloods of their race, so they say. Beings who possess power that is out of this world and the other. Vampires who are born with distinct red eyes." Kaien further explained before he frowned when he realized that Eona kept evading his questions while he kept answering hers.
Eona was left in her thought. "So he's a Noble then?" She whispered out of the blue when she thought about the color of Aelvien's eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"You and I both know my knowledge of the other world is not vast and that I just came to know about the existence of supernaturals. But it seems like those beings you said disappeared after this so-called Blood War are flocking themselves around me."
"What?"
"Someone has been keeping me safe since I was a child. His eyes were a dark red. And he is friends with the Great Wolf who told me you have the books we needed that will answer our questions in your possession."
Kaien stared at her hard without blinking to see whether she was lying or not. Eona stood her ground. She is only telling him what she knew because she somehow felt like she could trust him. She knew she could trust him. Kaien looked around to see where Wisteria went and then turned his attention back to Eona when she was nowhere to be found near them. She must have gone towards the shelves on the back.
"Do not tell anyone what you have just told me."
"Why?"
"Because if they are what you are saying they were, naturals and supernaturals alike who have been looking for them for a long time will surely target you. They will use you to lure them out because they hold the answers to questions that have never been given an answer to. And if you are under their protection, they will not hesitate to come out of hiding if you are ever put in danger. Do you get what I mean?"
"Yes."
"Are you going back to Elstein again?"
"Cohen actually planned to bring me to Laudicea before the soiree."
Kaien massaged his temple. He partially sat on the edge of the table before looking at her directly. "Do not, by any means, mention their existence nor their connection with you, especially to the vampires residing in Aceldama. They will either detain you or kill you on the spot if that happens."
Eona stared at Kaien. He looks so serious that all she can do is nod in agreement.
***
Eona couldn't sit still in the carriage while they were on their way to Laudicea. After Cohen and Eona returned to her mother's shop that night when she went to Elstein for the first time, he asked her mother's permission to take her with him to the capital city of Aceldama two nights before the soiree and Helena agreed, as if there wasn't anything she could do. Maybe it's because she couldn't say 'no' to her employer. Who knows? And with Eona's curiosity taking over her doubt and fear, she went along with Cohen believing that he alone could guarantee her safety from his kind because, let's face it, her, a human being, going to Laudicea is a risk and a suicide.
"Eona, will you please settle down? Your life won't be put in danger. I guarantee you that."
She held her hands together in her lap. "I'm not even sure if it's fear or excitement I'm feeling deep down. I mean, how many human beings were allowed to visit that place leisurely?"
Cohen chuckled.
"I only actually expected to meet you, get answers from you and that's it. Not meet you and visit your kingdom's capital city a week after our meeting."
"I'm not exactly taking you to just visit the city. I'm bringing you with me to the capital of blooming flowers to officially meet the crown prince, Rouen. It just so happens that he is back from whatever place he has been the last couple of years."
"Capital of blooming flowers?"
"You'll see when we get there."
The trip from Elstein to Laudicea is roughly five hours. Eona did not expect it to be quite far and fell asleep on the way. If only they had used a car rather than a carriage, they would have arrived there already. But according to Cohen, the carriage is the only transportation allowed in the city due to the fact that vampires living there prefer to live like it was in the olden times.
Cohen gently shook her awake upon reaching the entrance, which was a large stone bridge over a river. After the inspection done by the sentinels deployed to watch over the entrance, they were immediately granted entry to the grandiose city. A dropped down flag with the color of red and black is hanging at equal distance on each lamp posts on their way. In the middle of the red flag must have been the country's crest - a crescent moon entangled with a vine of a blooming rose, while the symbol on the black flag must have been the kingdom's sentinels' coat of arms. It was a knight holding two swords crossed in front of him in the middle of what looked like a shield.
Cohen told her to open her window and she did. It was then when different scents of flowers assaulted her nose when the wind blew in their direction and she glanced back at Cohen with awe and astonishment written clearly in her face after she saw what was surrounding their way - a field of flowers being illuminated by the moon above. They were still a little far from the palace but she could already see it towering above the city grounds. It is a sight to behold. Something that can only be seen in the movies. The palace stood majestically on the hill overlooking the city grounds below it.
"Now, do you see the reason why they call Laudicea the capital of blooming flowers?"
Eona nodded. The place is beautiful. It looked like it literally came out of a painted landscape. No one would actually think that beings who live off of drinking human blood live here. After passing through the city itself, the carriage they were in drove towards a road leading straight to the palace. The beauty of the place is really captivating no matter where she look. It was so peaceful that no one would think beings who drink blood lived in such a place. She breathed in deep. Each blow of the wind brought the scents of the flowers surrounding the place closer to her. It made her feel at peace for some reason.
"Come, Eona. Let us give our greetings to the king and queen."
She followed Cohen without a word. Upon entry, she could feel gazes from every direction and she knew a lot were giving her judgemental looks while others might be questioning why was a human being like her is walking freely in the palace floors with one of the vampire council members but she didn't give a damn of what they think of her. This world calls out to her for reasons she doesn't know and she's going to find them one by one. The butler guided them inside the enormous palace until they reached a room which was being illuminated by the moonlight. It was filled with different flowering plants like a greenhouse inside the palace itself. The couple must have been expecting them or that Cohen was a very close friend of theirs because the butler left right after they entered the room.
"I can't believe you, mother," an enraged voice exclaimed. "I just came back after having been gone for so many years and you have already arranged for me to meet someone?"
Even without seeing the one who said those words, Eona could tell that he was enraged. And for her to be here to meet someone, she must be the one on the receiving end and the person talking is the prince Cohen wanted her to meet.
"Rouen - "
"No! That girl could go to hell and I wouldn't even care."
"Rouen…" Mikhail intervened in a fatherly tone as he held his wife, who couldn't counter the angry words of their son close to him.
Rouen breathed in deep as he tried so hard not to let his anger out because he knew he would end up destroying something. "You know I don't want people meddling in my life. It's the very same reason as to why I disappeared for such a long time."
"It won't hurt if you just meet the girl Cohen is bringing with him."
"Is this about the prophecy again?" Rouen asked in annoyance, but his parents remained tight-lipped. He sighed. Of course, it is. What other reasons could there be?
"Can you blame your parents? You are their only son and a prophecy accompanied your birth."
Three pairs of eyes looked at Cohen who was walking towards the royal family, but then those very same eyes drifted towards the direction of the girl behind him. Mikhail and Austria were astonished. The beauty of the girl is being reflected under the moonlight, like she is not human at all. She stood regally as if she was born to be while looking directly at them. Fear is nowhere to be found in her violet eyes. Instead, deep curiosity swims in them.
Rouen was rendered speechless. He was surprised. What is she doing in his world? Eona was the girl his mother wanted him to meet? Did they learn what transpired in the world of the living? That his blood is right now running through her veins?
Cohen subtly observed and watched his godchild's reaction. Surprise was written all over his face upon seeing Eona, but fear slowly etched its way into his eyes a little while later and Cohen knew the reason why. Once Rouen's parents learn that his blood is currently running through Eona's veins, she will be immediately executed before he will be put on trial. Sharing their blood with a natural without the council's approval is forbidden and the prince himself broke that law.
Rouen breathes in deep as he tries to hold the chains that is keeping his awakened state restrained inside him. His subconscious is starting to see everyone as a threat towards the girl he saved and he wants to be let out as his protective instinct is slowly trying to make itself known.
Austria gave Eona a warm smile, unaware of her own son's dilemma. "What's your name?"
"Eona…" she frowned, not knowing whether she'd address the queen formally.
"I like your hair. And your eyes… they're beautiful."
"Thank you, uhm… "
"You can call me Austria," the queen told her before she gestured at the men beside her. "This is my husband Mikhail and my son Rouen."
"How are you, child?" The king asked with a smile.
"Why are they so friendly?" She thought. Aren't they supposed to be… she didn't know, more predator-like? "I'm fine?"
Austria softly laughed at her uncertainty before walking towards her. She didn't know the reason why, but she somehow wanted to hug the girl. It must be because she had always wanted to have a daughter, probably younger than Rouen, but they were only gifted with a son. To everyone's astonishment, Rouen growled as he bare his fangs in warning. His eyes completely changed color along with his presence, which literally screamed danger.
"This is my order to you. Do not take one more step towards her."
With widened eyes, Austria stopped walking midway as if something was keeping her stuck. She tried to resist the order which her son gave but somehow she couldn't. It was like she was bound with chains right on the spot. Cohen became alert immediately. This is not the Rouen they knew. He's an entirely different one, given how his mere presence could threaten them all.
"Don't move, Austria. He's seeing you as a threat." Cohen informed the queen, not knowing that he, too, was included as a threat towards the girl standing behind him.
Mikhail and Cohen prepared themselves to restrain Rouen if needed but they knew they wouldn't be able to if it would come to that. They could tell he was not the same prince they knew from many years ago when he last came home. He's now an entirely different vampire than he used to be. When did he awaken?
"A threat to whom?"
All eyes fell on Eona, who stood still where she was at. She was unmoving. Not because of fear, but because she didn't know what to do. For the second time, Austria tries to resist her son's power that is currently binding her in place, but it only angers the devil that is Rouen at the moment. His eyes glistened dangerously when he focused his attention on his mother before Austria felt the air she's breathing suddenly being restricted.
"Rouen, stop it! You'll kill your mother!"
The king tried to do something to help his wife but to no avail. His son's power is forbidding them to use their own against him. They never thought he could be this strong once awakened. Is this the power of the Golden Blood who is going to stand in the prophesied war?
Cohen glanced at the girl he had brought with him. "Eona, please stay back or you'll get caught in Rouen's power too."
"I told you not to get closer to her."
To everyone's horror, when Rouen raised his hand towards Cohen, frost engulfed the latter faster than they could imagine. It was then when the door to the room they were in was forcedly opened and in came Sin, who cursed with the situation that met him. He just knew that his friend had lost himself to the newly awakened devil inside him again. And because of the very same reason he lost himself for the first time. Eona.
"Rouen - " before he could finish what he was about to say, a strong force threw him back on the wall the second Rouen looked in his direction. Sin groaned in pain as he stood back up and pieces of the broken marble wall fell from him as he dusted himself off. He just did not expect that.
Eona knew she had to do something because she was the only one Rouen didn't seem to be hostile to, even if at the beginning he didn't like the idea of meeting her. It's like someone took over his entire being. She didn't know what was going on in his mind, but he seemed like he was protecting her from something. She walked towards Rouen without thinking and ignored the words of those around them. Everyone feared for her life aside from Sin, who only stood watching on the sidelines because he knew she was the sole soul Rouen wouldn't hurt when he was in that state. Eona stretched out her hands and gently held Rouen's face as she forced him to look her in the eyes. She didn't know what exactly happened or why she was doing that. She just felt like she needed to do what she was about to do.
"Calm down," she whispered when she looked him in the eye and he did so without sparing a second.
The frost that almost covered Cohen vanished and the queen was released from whatever it was that was keeping her in place. When Rouen came back to his usual self, shock filled his heart. He didn't know what was happening to him and he could not understand why the devil in him would go to such lengths to the point of hurting his own family just to protect this girl in front of him. With much hate towards the woman he saved, he stepped back, away from Eona. He saw how pain made itself known in her eyes, but he didn't care. They did not even personally know each other, so she shouldn't be feeling such things towards him. They're not even acquainted.
Cohen, on the other hand, was now convinced that Eona would play the greatest part in his godchild's life. The reason why she is being called by their world even though her family tried their best to keep her away from it must have been because she was meant to stand beside the vampire born to be their next king.
And Sin? He has his doubts about their connection but chooses to keep it to himself. He knew Rouen could feel her but something was restricting him from recognizing her.
Cohen looked at Rouen's parents. "Rouen's blood is hostile towards everyone aside from Eona. I think it is better if we leave them for a moment until your son gets hold of the devil inside him."
Mikhail and Austria left the room with Cohen though worry is clearly visible in their eyes.
"Scream bloody murder if he starts to suck you dry. I'll come to your rescue immediately," Sin reminded Eona before he too left the room completely.
The two are standing far away from each other but they're watching each other's movements. When everyone but them were left in the greenhouse, Eona could not find the right words to break the silence between them. She could feel the conflicting emotions of the prince and it was affecting her for some unknown reason. Rouen didn't look like he was going to speak anytime soon and she found herself sitting on a bench facing the indoor fountain while Rouen, who was now staring at the moon through the glass ceiling as if it gave him some sort of peace, remained standing.
"You did not want to meet me," Eona finally stated when she found the courage to do so. The silence was suffocating her and she needed something that would make him talk.
"I didn't know it was you."
"So if you knew beforehand that the one they wanted you to meet was me, you'd agree to do so?"
Rouen was silent for a few seconds before he finally looked at her properly. His eyes were vague about what was really going on his mind. "No, I still would not want to meet you."
"Why?"
"I just don't want to."
Does he really have to answer in a way which always hinted at halting their conversation?
"Why did you save me that night?"
"I didn't have any other choice."
"So you'd let me die if you just had a choice?"
Rouen may not be able to read her mind, but at that moment, he could literally feel her emotions which did not feel right to him. In his annoyance, he flashed towards her, which made Eona jump in fright, but he held her sitting still. He never liked to be around chatty women, more so when one was questioning his decisions like she had the right to be doing so.
"It was the newly awakened devil inside of me that saved you. I was only obliged to follow. It sees you as someone important. I don't. I won't hurt you, but I will never save you. Remember that."
"I - "
"Go back home, human. To the mundane world you were born to." He whispered before disappearing.
Eona was speechless. What just happened? Why does he talk like there's an entirely different being inside of him and that it was the one who saved her and not him? Was she right after all? That someone took over his entire being that time when he protected her from the people around them?
She looked around. Rouen was nowhere to be found. He had just left her there. Did he ever consider that she, as a human as he so bluntly called her, was alone in a palace filled with his kind? An unrecognizable pain gripped her heart. She gently massaged her temples when she felt her head throbbing, hoping to keep the pain away, but it only intensified, which made her whimper. She closed her eyes but upon opening them back, her surroundings changed as if she had been transported into a snowy ground. She looked around. She is in the garden in front of the palace she saw in her dream. This time, the roses were blooming even in winter, but the garden was already ruined and flowers tainted with blood were scattered everywhere on the snowy ground. Her heart thumped so loud that she thought her ears were ringing. It was then when she heard voices somewhere and a laugh so sinister that chills made its way to her whole being.
"You have finally decided to stand before me as my enemy, Victor."
Isn't that Aelvien's voice?
"What can you do, Monarch? Your parents are gone. No matter how powerful you may be, you are currently chained. Therefore, you cannot raise a hand against me, your uncle and your blood."
"That may be so, but it doesn't change the fact that I have other ways to seal you. And until I release myself from these chains, you are going to have to sleep in a way that you're going to need a new vessel if you want to wake up."
"What?"
A sudden thundering sound echoed around the place before something exploded in the distance, followed by an earthquake. What is happening?
"Agapité (Dear one)..." She turned her head when she heard Aelvien's voice, this time, more clearer than the first. As if he's talking directly from her mind. He's using telepathy. "Keep a hold on your emotions."
"How can I - "
She yelped as she held onto the side of her neck when she suddenly felt pain at the part where the faded filigree lines were drawn. It is burning as if something is being carved into her flesh. She panicked when she felt a slick thick liquid pass through her fingertips. When she held her palm in front of her, she screamed in horror. She's bleeding!
"Agapité (Dear one), listen to my voice. You're seeing something from the past."
"But I'm bleeding!" Panic gripped her like a tightrope as she started to cry.
Aelvien chose to stay silent for a while before he whispered into her mind, "Koimísou, agapité. (Sleep, dear one.) You just need a little rest."
Like a programmable machine, her own body slowly shuts down. The last thing she remembered, she was lying on the ground before her eyes slowly closed out of her own will.
***
Sin watched Rouen, who looked like he hated everything at the moment when he entered the library a few minutes after they left him and Eona in the greenhouse inside the palace. His best friend somehow looked more irritated than when he learned his mother had arranged for him to meet a girl.
"We're leaving."
"What? Why? I thought we'd be staying here until the soiree? Where's Eona?"
"I left her in the garden."
Sin's eyes widened. "Alone?" He could not believe him. Did he hate her that much?
"She came here with Cohen. No one will ever dare to - " Rouen stopped talking midway when they heard a horrified scream.
Sin eyed him with accusation and Rouen cursed. Without mistake, that voice is Eona's.
"What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything!"
Without thinking twice, Sin and Rouen rush back to the greenhouse using their speed as vampires, but a couple of individuals already beat them into it. The fragrance of blood permeates the air. The sentinels are on alert. The queen looked troubled and so did the king beside her. It was then when Cohen stood up with an unconscious Eona in his arms, blood painting her hand and neck and for a moment, the hybrid in Rouen wanted to be let out but he held it in. He won't lose himself in his awakened state again.
"Sin, I need your assistance with something."
"Of course," Sin answered and followed Cohen out of the room.
Rouen glanced at his parents. "What happened?"
"Shouldn't we be asking you that? We left you here with her, "Austria countered with a hint of accusation in her voice.
His lips curved in a grim line. "She was conscious when I left her."
"Which, in the first place, is not something you should have done. She's human, Rouen. A fragile being. And you left her alone in a place filled with our kind."
He breathed in deep to keep himself from saying something wrong. "Is there any trace?"
"We're looking into it," the king assured him.
"Apologize to her when she wakes up," his mother, whose eyes were digging holes in his skull ordered. "We don't know what happened between you two but she at least deserves an apology from you."
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