The Demon’s Bride

Ian thought he was the best in masking his expression contradicting his emotions but who knows when he saw her cheeks turning bright pink to the tips of her ears he wouldn't be able to hold back his smile. Elise waited for him to talk and noticed a man walking toward them in a hurry. By his grayish hair color, she perceived the man from a far to be Dalton Lone. Speaking of Dalton Lone, his surname reminded her of someone. It felt as though she had heard the name before in a place somewhere.

"Lord Ian." Dalton called and offered a gentle smile to Elise when he noticed the bright red haired lady standing beside the lord.

"You look in a hurry." Ian pointed, bringing the man back from staring at Elise.

"Mr. Anderson asked for me to call you my lordship. It seemed he found a clue in one of the burned houses." Dalton finished his words to extend his hand gesturing that he would show them the way to the house. Ian gave a small nod, giving a look to Elise to follow him and left the place.

Moving from the forest, her steps felt lighter than the muddy road of the forest. From what she felt, it seemed that rain came not long ago perhaps even yesterday and the rain to note was quite a large one as even though it was sunny enough for sweats to form down over her forehead, the ground was still damp. Walking only a few steps away to the village, Elise heard a sudden voice behind her. She snapped her eyes, gazing her blue eyes at the silent forest and tilted her head to the side. Was it her hallucinations? She felt to hear a voice that originated from the forest. But after taking a good look, there wasn't anyone there.

"What's halting you, puppy?" Ian asked, crossing his arm on his back. He went back on calling her with the same nickname he picked up since her childhood. "Nothing, Master Ian." Glancing once again to confirm there was nothing in the forest, she murmured and quicken her steps to stand only three steps behind the man. Dalton glanced faintly over Elise, thinking that the Lord was particularly kind to the lady and smiled.

The Churchmembers were a group with many beings, Elise thought. One could be a human at a plain sight but actually a hybrid of mythical beings, most of them however were vampires and humans. The pair of red eyes that the vampire had seemed to grew brighter to prove how strong their blood was. The brighter the red color it became a prove how noble their ascendants was, the purebloods vampire. Edward to note was also a pureblood vampire by judging at how bright his eye color was.

"I've told you not to touch things without gloves, didn't I?" Said a church member to his partner at the corner of the room. "I'm sorry." The man apologized back hurriedly. Elise blinked, realizing that she had entered the house which Dalton brought them to. She was too deep on her thought that she dozed off on her walk. It was a bad habit that she need to fix but as one said old habits die hard. The more she concentrate on things, she became out in her own mind. Rubbing his chin, Alex had a deep expression while hearing Edward's conversation. When he noticed the presence added in the house, his green eyes quickly sought for Ian. "You've finally come." A desperate note could be heard. "Come here and take a look." He pointed over the other room and his left side, specifically on the middle wall of a room that was once used as a living room with a tall fireplace.

"Hm." Ian sang a hum beside Elise, she wondered what made him to let out such a sound and when she entered, her eyes like any other who had just entered the room instantly locked at the writings on the wall.

'Fourth'

It was only one word but with how they used a messy red lines that she perceived to be created by blood, the room held a sinister aura. It was as if something horrible had taken place inside the room previously. Elise squinted her eyes, the memory of her family died in the house with blood splatters surrounding the room reminded her too much that it almost overlapped with what she saw at the moment. Covering her mouth out of shock she heard Alex furrowing his brows to ask. "What do you think?" Alex asked.

"How did you find the wall?" Ian pointed his first question.

Alex didn't reply and instead bent his knees to crouch on the ground and pulled up the dusted carpet that seemed to be hidden under a large couch before. Over the wooden floor that was hidden by the carpet, there was a hold that seemed to be freshly made by the church members. Pulling a knob that was attached on the bottom of the hole, the wall twisted slowly. Elise could feel the floor shook for the whole wall to turn a different brand new wall without a single stain.

"A villager's house with an advanced machine? That's why the writings wasn't washed out by the rain." Elise whispered to gain a full attention from all the people in the house.  Seeing their gaze, it wasn't a pressuring one but more of a questioning look that asked why would a woman would be here in a crime scene. Nevertheless for Elise who had never become a center of attention, it was too much. Feeling uncomfortable with the gaze she pursed her lips to a thin line and tensed up. She shouldn't have said a word, it seemed.

"That's true." Ian continued her words, not caring of the stares that people gave.  "What else do you find?" He tilted his head to Alex to see the man shrugging his shoulder. "A dead end. The wall had nothing but this. The propose of the wall itself doesn't make sense and as Ms. Scott has said, it's very questionable why a poor village who could not even cover their entire path with proper tiles would have such money to create an advanced machine."

"It didn't seem to be new and perhaps made along with the house, I roughly guessed it was made ten years ago." Paul another church member who stayed beside Alex added from the place where he stood.

"The timings is too odd." Edward murmured. "The message seemed to be too coincidentally placed on the wall that could disappear. As though they were giving a hidden mark."

Dalton hummed. "The question is to whom and what they want to achieve with this."

"The number four could mean anything, but they said fourth meaning they must have had something on mind while counting the number. If there's fourth, then the lower numbers are also there and the ascending too." Ian stated, placing his hand that was covered with the glove to touch the wall faintly. "If they are really counting for something we have to expect there would be a continuation. Also this seem to be written by a human blood, fresh to note. How amusing." He praised his word having a deep devilish sound in it.

"Fresh?" Elise asked to herself. "Yes. Perhaps it was made a day before." Ian replied.

"Also," Alex spoke again, his face a little stern before giving a look to Ian then to Elise in sequence. "There's something I have to show you." He spoke with a pressing tone that Elise shouldn't come with them. Understanding Alex's meaningful gaze, Elise tugged Ian coat sleeve. "Master Ian, I will be waiting outside."

"However don't go too far from the village." Ian left a little word and left with Alex to a different place in the same house. Seeing that everyone was busy and that standing at her spot like a frozen statue would be bothering the church member, Elise walked away, exiting the small house when she decided to search for clues to help the investigation. Marching to different places in silence so she wouldn't attract any attention or be in the way of others, she suddenly heard a voice echoing from the forest. The voice was faint but Elise was sure that she could've heard a distinct voice of a child. However, how could there be any child in such an abandoned place? Walking down the paved path, she continued to hear the voices getting more distinct each time she followed the mumbling.