Vivian didn"t have anything to pack as no matter what the would, she doubted she would be able to take it along with her if what Everest was trying would work that is. There was a high possibility where what the ghoul had thought and planned for years wouldn"t work but sometimes hope was all one relied on. The ghoul ha indicated it would come tomorrow to fetch them, to see if they could cross over which gave her and Leonard only a few hours before they would have to say goodbye to everyone who belonged and had been acquainted in this world.
"Do you think it will work?" she asked Leonard in the morning where she sat with him on the same couch while their family sat in there having good family time. She wouldn"t be able to see these faces except for the portraits which hung in Carmichael"s mansion.
"I wonder it myself. We have been here for years, close to a century?" Leonard wasn"t sure about it, "If it works it works, if it doesn"t, it is fine. We will still have each other here," he squeezed her hand which was in his that was lying on his lap. He saw his mother look their way, her eyes holding the same warmth as it did before. A sweet smile on her lips, "We should have asked about the mansion. It was just us, back then."
"Lord Nicholas must have kept it safe. I doubt he would let anyone use it," Vivian smiled to see her husband nod his head, "How do you think the world is now there?"
"Maybe better than what we had, I doubt it can be worse. Nick got a wife," he said in disbelief, "I wonder who the woman is. For someone like him to be married to someone."
"So that"s what shocks you more than the ghoul taking our bodies from the grave, hmm," she hummed, leaning on his shoulder where she placed her head looking at their family, "I will miss them, Leo. If everything goes well tonight, this might be the only time," there was sadness in her voice as she said it.
She felt him press his lips on the top of her head, "We"ll have the best of memories, Bambi. And if you ever feel sad, you can visit them with your found ability," he was right, thought Vivian in her mind. At first she hadn"t been able to read the memories and it seemed like a lost cause but eventually, it did return. Just like it had delayed in the real world. And though she was in advantage, the same couldn"t be told about Leonard. Unlike her, he couldn"t touch or see things by getting into the past. It made her wonder if she would ever be able to harness such ability where she could allow someone else to see what she did.
Since the time of their childhood, Leonard had always been a strong man. For someone who took out his anger on things or people, he had turned to a matured, sensible man.
She still remembered the time of how some humans along with herself had questioned his ways of doing things. She had been angry at him, killing people without mercy. She didn"t understand his ways but he had only meant to protect what was his and take responsibility in his work without being bias towards his feelings.
Sometimes when she remembered the past, it hurt her. The way Paul had died had been far worse than anything but as if to prove her feelings wrong she had seen Charlotte"s death. Her dear friend, Leonard"s cousin who had been open wide to mock at the pureblooded vampires. With everyone present in this world, all those felt like they had been part of a nightmare. But the truth was that that was a reality and this place was a dream. A perfect place.
His untamed anger that she had only heard was something she had never got to see. He had loved her in ways where the doubts had disappeared while showing for the man he was.
Unfortunately, even if there was sister Isabelle in this world where they were living in, the white witch didn"t know about it nor much about the black witches. But then if one were to think it could be because the lady wasn"t presented in a situation where she would need to acquire in-depth knowledge on it. This trouble-free world made it so easy that the knowledge here was limited.
She hoped that one day she would be able to expertise herself enough where she could sharpen the skill to the fullest.
Pulling herself away from his shoulder, she leaned forward and pecked his lips, "Everything will be alright," and a smile came up his lips.
"Yes, Bambi. He himself leaned forward, placing a kiss on her lips which lingered more than hers had before, "It is time to tell them goodbye and go where we belong," he whispered on her lips where he saw her eyes that were close.
At the time of night when both Leonard and Vivian had spoken to everyone who they would miss dearly, they had left the mansion behind to walk to the nearest forest where the ghoul was waiting for them behind a tree. Like a phantom of darkness, it came towards them to stand tall and proud.
The ghoul turned to its side, raising its ragged cloaked sleeve which looked tattered at the ends. Its bony fingers up in the air, Vivian saw it move from up to down and then from left to right before making a circular motion as if it had made a mark in the air.
Soon a cloud of smoke started to appear which was black and grey in color similar to clouds before a heavy rain. The smoke grew bigger and bigger with every pa.s.sing second which enveloped the ghoul in it slightly to make it look part of it.
"I will first go," spoke Leonard looking at the dark door which awaited them. It was the possible portal where they could return but not sure if it would work well, he wanted to first test it out himself before Vivian did it. After kissing her on her temple, he started to walk.
Vivian was unsure yet, she stood there looking at Leonard who walked through the smoke before disappearing behind it. Her heart thudded loudly, once he was out of sight, the ghoul turned to look at her as if to indicate that it was her turn.
She took a step forward, one after another when she felt the ghoul hold her wrist to stop her. Confused she looked up it wondering what happened, "What"s the matter, Everest?" she asked it. The ghoul for several seconds didn"t move or respond which got her anxious. She heard it garble and she wished she understood at this time what it wanted to tell her.
The ghoul loosened its hold on her wrist but didn"t let go of her hand. Stopping her from crossing through the smoke to go to the other side.
It turned around her hand, it"s bony fingers touching flat on her open where she started to go back in the time of memory before she had first met the ghoul. The ghoul had fought with its brother, she saw them fight at the open portal which looked very similar to what was waiting for her right now in front of them. Everest"s brother Narcissus appeared angry as it attacked him over and over again until it finally pushed ad dug its fingers into the other ghoul who was Everest. It seemed like only the ghouls could hurt each other and no else as they belonged to a whole different world. Creatures that only lurked in the shadows.
The scene moved forward where she saw her little self with the ghoul in the middle of the night but suddenly the scene moved back. Like a memory that was moving behind where she finally came to see the ghoul pa.s.sing through to step out of it before being fought.
Before she could pull herself away from it she saw and heard the terror in people"s eyes, their screams over the pain the ghoul gave before they were killed. Looking up at Everest who stood still waiting for her to return back from the sea of its memories, her lips parted to speak,
"Narcissus doesn"t like you going coming in here? Does he know about this place?" The ghoul when garbled she didn"t know to take it as a yes or no. It looked like even Lord Nicholas wouldn"t know about this place. She wished she understood what the ghoul was saying, "I need you to nod your head for yes or shake your head for no, Mr. Everest. We have a lot of communication gap," her eyebrows had furrowed in question to see it nod its head which somewhere looked like a nod.
"He knows," she confirmed to see it nod again. She still didn"t understand why exactly they fought as the most she could do was speculate and it seemed like the ghoul wanted to show her to the question she had asked it the previous night.