Allure Of The Night

Music Recommendation: An interesting proposal- John Powell

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The drop of blood lay on the piano bench, which none of the women noticed as they locked their eyes. Eve said,

“I have already discussed this with the Marchioness, and closed this matter. What are you really doing here, Lady Camille?”

Eve found this to be a trivial matter. Discussing it now seemed pointless when Rosetta wasn’t living in Skellington anymore. Lady Camille took two steps forward and stated,

“I believe you already know that Vincent Moriarty and Rosetta are going to marry each other one day. It is already in talks and I wouldn’t want someone like you coming in between this.”

Eve didn’t know what Lady Camille had heard, but she said, “I have no interest in who marries who, and I don’t know what Rosetta meant with my approval. She must have joked about something. Wouldn’t it be better if you ask her than ask me? Because I don’t have the answers you are looking for.”

“And risk scandal?” The older woman asked with narrowed eyes.

Lady Camille knew the importance of a letter. A letter could make or break things, and if someone came to know that Rosetta was interested in another man, it would be easy for families like the Moriarty to outrightly reject her niece, which wasn’t good. Her brother and sister-in-law wanted this to work, the union of the Hooke and Moriarty families.

Eve looked at the clock and noticed it was near her time to leave. She started to put things away in its rightful place in the room. While the vampiress continued to glare at this human, who continued to hide her niece’s affair.

“If money is what you want, I can arrange the sum,” stated Lady Camille, and Eve paused what she was doing and turned to the vampiress.

“I have complied with the Marchioness’s words of not reaching out to Rosetta. But you cannot blame me if Rosetta reaches out to me or sends me a letter,” Eve repeated the facts. “This is something you need to monitor and not me.”

Lady Camille wondered if the human’s words held any truth. If Rosetta didn’t meet any other male from what she knew, what did her words mean? Why take approval from this human? Unless this woman was in love with her employer and just thinking about it, her eyes narrowed further.

She wondered what was so great about this person that her niece was so attached to her. Always meeting this person and being excited about it when Meadow held nothing but filth.

“Let us hope your words are true, and be hopeful that my brother or sister-in-law don’t catch your letter,” Lady Camille’s red eyes glowed in warning to Eve. “If you find or understand what Rosetta’s words meant, I want you to come to me. Tell me what or who she was talking about.”

Eve only stared at the vampiress. She wondered why the vampiress was so insistent about the matter with her when the matter could be forgotten. It was as if they wanted to marry Rosetta to Vincent no matter what and were taking precautions. She put the books back in the rack.

Before Lady Camille could leave the room, her eyes fell on the two knitted wool patches.

Lady Camille commented, “It seems like you are good at knitting,” she paused for a second before adding, “You must be used to sewing patched clothes after all, unable to afford.”

Eve smiled at the woman’s arrogance and replied, “I don’t know when you last visited Meadow, but the town I come from can afford decent clothes, milady. And I don’t need to show off anything, I have a family to take care of and I am content.”

Eve’s words struck a nerve in Lady Camille, not knowing what the human even had that she was throwing back her arrogance as if she was in a better position. She looked at the younger woman from the corner of her eyes before shifting her gaze back to the wool. She was ready to leave when she noticed a drop of blood.

Lady Camille softly harrumphed. It seemed like the human wasn’t that good at knitting if she pricked her finger. She walked towards the bench, leaning and her hand stretching forward. Her finger swiped the blood that was in the process of drying, and she then put it in her mouth.

Eve was done with putting the books back in their places. She picked up the knitting items and placed them on the table. Noticing the vampiress hadn’t left and was still in the room, she said,

“You do not have to worry about Rosetta involving herself in the lower society. I won’t be sending or responding to her letters.”

But Lady Camille stood still, with one of her fingers in her mouth and a stunned expression on her face. Eve wondered what had happened.

“Lady Camille?”

The vampiress pulled her finger out of her mouth, while her eyes shifted to look at her. She whispered,

“You are a…mermaid.”

Eve’s face turned pale. She put up a calm smile, regulating the pace of her heart and replied, “I am a human, Lady Camille.”

Lady Camille’s stunned expression turned into awe as she stared at the young woman, whom until now, she believed to be human.

A slow smile crept on the vampiress’s lips. Lady Camille said,

“I should have realised that something was up with you. Your appearance, it is striking for a human of low status. To think Rosetta and I were looking for a mermaid, when the mermaid was right under our nose,” she chuckled, her eyes falling on the place where the drop of blood had earlier been and Eve followed the vampiress’s gaze.

Eve clenched her hands. She tried to keep up with the calm facade and replied,

“You are mistaken, Lady Camille. I am not a mermaid but a human. Miss Allie was earlier drinking mermaid’s blood and must have spilt it.”

But Lady Camille didn’t buy it. She said, “How about I take a bite from you and confirm it?”

The vampiress would have considered Eve’s lie, but it was only recently that she had dinner with the Moriarty family and sipped the low-quality mermaid blood offered to her for supper.

Eve could feel the control of the situation slipping through her fingers. With a composed expression, she said, “Mr. Moriarty has ordered me not to let anyone take a bite from me, even guests. I am not going to let you bite me because of your false assumptions.”

Lady Camille didn’t stop smiling and said, “Your lie might work on others, but not with me. Just one bite shouldn’t hurt.” She took a step towards Eve, and Eve took one step backwards.

The room’s exit was closer to the vampiress than where Eve stood. She tried to rack her brain on what to do now. She couldn’t let Lady Camille confirm her words, but what after it? How would she get Lady Camille not to talk about it? What if the other people in this mansion came to find out?

Eve picked up the first thing her hand could grasp: the wooden needles she had placed on the table a minute ago.

“I do not want to hurt you. Please step away,” Eve warned Lady Camille while pointing the sharp ends of the needles at the vampiress, who only laughed.

Lady Camille said, “I still cannot believe that you are a mermaid in hiding. So free and out in the open and no one has found out about it.”

Eve tried to look for something better than just the wooden needles. Remembering the lean woman’s statue in the room with a sharpened head, she tried to move towards it.

“Go ahead and shout for help,” the vampiress smiled at Eve with cunningness, knowing the mermaid wouldn’t call for help, as doing so would only reveal her true self.

Eve ran towards the wooden statue, but Lady Camille jumped on her. This resulted in the statue knocking down, and so did the two women. The vampiress quickly bit into Eve’s neck, and it was nothing like Vincent’s bite.

Eve grit her teeth, stopping herself from shouting in pain while trying to push the vampiress off her body. Her neck felt as if it was being torn. The vampiress pulled away with her bloody mouth after a rip. Lady Camille licked her lips and laughed in excitement,

“Such good taste, it has been years—You bitch!” she turned angry.

Eve had stuck the wooden needles into Lady Camille’s shoulder.

Using all her strength, Eve pushed the woman and caught hold of the wooden statue before heading towards the door for protection. She could hear Lady Camille groan on the floor. All Eve could think was getting out of here. She couldn’t stay here for another second.

But Lady Camille’s will to drink all of the mermaid’s blood was too high, and she got up, stopping Eve from getting closer to the door. The vampiress turned Eve, opening her mouth and revealing her fangs, that were ready to take more than a bite from the mermaid.

Eve tried to stop Lady Camille, but it was as if the woman had turned insane with the taste of her blood. The vampiress’s fangs snapped near her face and neck, ready to scar her.

The next moment, Eve let the vampiress sink her fangs into her neck, but simultaneously, she took advantage of Lady Camille calming down. She clutched the sharp wooden statue and stabbed Lady Camille’s back, where her heart lay, pushing it as far as she could while hugging the woman.

The vampiress let go of Eve’s neck and flailed her hands to remove the wood from her back. Her face started to turn paler with every passing second.

Lady Camille tripped while moving backwards. When her back hit the room’s floor, the wooden object pierced further into her heart before coming out from her chest with blood. The vampiress’s lips parted with distant pain. The excited light in the vampiress’s eyes dimmed before her body stopped moving.

Eve moved backwards, placing her hand on her neck that was bleeding. Her breath came out uneven, and she panted.

She stared at Lady Camille’s lifeless body whom she had killed.