They were walking down the other side of the stairs that led to the tailoring room which was never used by her family or the servants. The mansion that now belonged to the Adams", it was a huge one where many rooms went untouched and were rather locked after putting sheets on them to avoid the acc.u.mulation of dust. Though Belle grew up in this mansion, there were certain parts of the room she wasn"t comfortable walking in or near it. It might be because of her memory where she once imagined seeing a ghost who had a skeleton looking face to follow the bones of the neck and disappear into the clothes. It was a distant, unclear memory that kept her curious self away from this side of the mansion.
Belle being part of a vampire felt the temperature turn only colder as she walks through this place and she asked,
"What do evil spirits like shadows do?"
"They try to take you," she was looking at the walls where the lights of the torches spilled themselves around it and turned her head to look at Lucas, "The spirits are creatures who crave life in this realm. They want another chance and they search for a body or a vessel that is compatible enough to keep them in there. Usually, a human"s body is the most feasible one to get into. That is where you come to hear stories of how people were possessed."
Belle was nowhere happy to hear this information. It wasn"t the first time she had felt or seen a shadow move without the need of light to guide it.
"What do you mean when you say feasible?" she asked him.
"Some souls are weaker than the rest. They are either born weak or they turn weak because of emotions," he said, giving her half information, "They try to latch on to something and right now it looks like there is more than one shadow that is trying to get to you."
"How many?" she asked in dread.
"At least fifty of them."
"That"s all?" Belle asked to see the butler chuckle, "It feels like death is everywhere."
"Death was always there, milady. It always accompanies us. Fortunately, your ability will let you see things much clearer which others can"t see," Lucas answered her before placing the torch on the wall as there was decent light ahead of them that pa.s.sed through the windows.
"So the exorcism is for these shadows?" she tried to confirm.
"That"s right. They must have followed you back with your visits to the land of the dead and have been waiting to take over your body, waiting to weaken your soul and emotions. I borrowed some potions and items from people and placed a marking in a way the spirits won"t escape but would go back to where they came from."
"I want to exorcise too," decided Belle, and this time it was Lucas who halted his steps to turn to look at her.
"I would ask, milady to sit in her room than involve herself-"
"I want to do it," Belle said firmly. By the look on his face, she could tell that he wasn"t pleased with the way she had interrupted him. This involved her and it was only right for her to do the exorcism, "You can teach me how to do it."
"Things that concern to the land of the dead are delicate. It isn"t easy," Lucas responded to have Belle stare at him.
"You are the teacher, you teach me and I learn." What if one day Lucas wasn"t here and she had to get rid of the evil spirits?
Lucas" lips twitched. This insolent child, "Alright."
By the time it was the time of night where everyone had gone to bed, Belle and Lucas stepped out of the mansion. Standing out of the circle.
"Remember. Once you start the spell, you need to complete it because the spirits who had been in there will come for you while breaking the enchantment that has been placed."
"I thought spells or words were meant only for the witches."
"It is what the first generation of living made people believe it to be. There are different forms of spells which work for some creatures and for the rest it doesn"t," answered Lucas standing behind her with a lantern in his hand. The lights inside the mansion had been mostly blown away.
It was the first time Belle was doing something like this.
Lucas placed the lantern next to her side and stood straight with his arms crossed against each other to look at Belle who sat down on the ground in front of the black line. He found a perfect day where there would be fewer chances of rain. The chances of Belle succeeding were less but it would also help in having an insight into her ability. So far all they knew was that she could see death but there should be something more to it, thought Lucas to himself.
Belled touched both her hand"s palms of her hands together and then placed it on the lines.
To her surprise, the entire line started to give a blue glow which she hadn"t expected. It started from her to move on both ends to connect with each other.
"Do you hear that?" Belle asked looking at the mansion with a small frown. There was whispering in the air that came from the mansion.
She saw how the mansion in front of them started to turn darker and darker and the ground slowly started to turn black because the spirits were coming out that had hidden inside the mansion. The shadows appeared to be bigger and darker, taking strange forms who lowly growled at her.
"You woke them from their slumber, Miss Belle," the line that was drawn didn"t stay blue for long and it started to flicker. With her palms on the wet ground, she said the words to see the shadows starting to disappear one after another until there was nothing in front of them, "Not bad."
She felt a strange sense of relief by sending those shadows back to where they came from. She wondered if Lucas worked in the church which was why he knew about these things, after all, the church members were the ones who worked in exorcism.
Getting back inside the mansion with the lantern, Lucas closed and locked the main doors ut before they could go on their separate ways, he informed her,
"You received the letter from Edmond"s family to join them for lunch tomorrow."
"I don"t want to go," said Belle for the butler to say,
"Going out to meet others would do you good, Miss Belle. It was also your mother"s wish that you go meet Mr. Edmond"s son who returned back to Bonelake a few days ago. According to her, you are at a marriageable age and it would be right for you to settle down."
It was true that her mother was trying to get her to settle down with a decent man but it wasn"t what Belle was looking for. She wasn"t looking because she had already found a person to her liking.