Mirrors & Shadows

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈

գ 𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔥𝔰 𝔭𝔯𝔦𝔬𝔯~ 𝔰𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔟𝔲𝔱 𝔡𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔩y

Ruby red eyes gleamed in front of her like two hollows in the paleness of Lucinde's profile. A snide smile played on her crimson lips. Luna felt sudden rage surge within her before bursting. Glass shattered. Shards flew like knives. Luna turned. There before her, the couple lay in a field of glass like in a meadow of daisies, their hands entwined, their blood-stained cheeks sprinkled with shards of glass and their dreamy gazes looking up as if they could see past the ceiling, past the clouds into the clear blue sky while a gentle melody streamed in the background, singing Don't worry be happy. A hot tear slipped down Luna's cheek. Her heart stung as if the shards had pierced her skin and reached their ultimate target.

She tried to close her eyes. Instead, they snapped open vividly. The scene vanished instantly. She was now sitting up tensely in her bed. A big black dog was licking the salty tears from off her cheeks.
"Cerberus. Stop!" she begged, trying to push herself apart from the walloping mass of curly black fur. At last she managed to stand up in the blurry room. She noticed the blood bag attached to her IV and made sure to take it with her as she walked. Someone could be heard whistling a light-hearted tune. She followed the sound to a small kitchen, Cerberus padding enthusiastically behind her. A blurred figure whirled around.
"Good morning." Arthur greeted. "I'm making porridge," he announced cheerfully. Had she really spent the night here? She stared down at the liquid substance floating in the boiling pan and had to approach him closely in order to properly see him. His left eye was swollen and his left cheek was stained purple and yellow though a few freckles were starting to reappear.
"I haven't made any since 1890," he confessed while running his hand through his ginger hair.
"You really didn't have to," she replied shyly.
"To be honest, I was just really really bored," he grinned guiltily. "Why don't we settle ourselves at the dinner table?" he suggested. She watched him pick up the hot pot of porridge and nearly stumble over as he limped toward the dinning room.
"Here I'll take it," she offered.
"No worries. I've got it," he insisted.
The dinning room was spacious, occupied by a rectangular wooden table. A life-size painting hung on the wall opposite the door. Luna walked over to the other side of the room to have a better look. A widow's cold eyes gazed back at her. She wore a black dress and her beautiful dark hair was arranged into a sophisticated bun. It was Marie-Élise. Except for the clothes, her painted version was identical.
"Kind of creepy right?" Arthur teased. 
Luna noticed a tiny slanted signature at the bottom. E. De Revel.
"Edmond painted this?" she blurted out.
"Yes. Painting has always been a hobby of his. You should see the house in Revel. Centuries of painting. We don't know what to do with them all. Erm... how much porridge would you like? I don't really have much of an idea of how much is actually filling."

She sat at the table trying not to grimace at the watery lump of oats Arthur had dropped into her bowl. Indeed, it was insipid. It seemed to be more water than oats or milk. Cerberus sat and stared at her avidly and it was very tempting to just give it to him but aware of Arthur's hopeful gaze, she gulped it down regardless.
"It tastes awful doesn't it?" Arthur inquired disappointedly.
"No no..." Luna quickly countered, "I've actually never tasted anything like it!" she exclaimed, (which was kind of true) taking another scoop of the gooey liquid and dumping it into her bowl to prove her point.
"Where is Marie-Élise?" she asked between mouthfuls.
"She's usually out at night. I'd expect her to come back soon though."
"What about Henry?"
    "He's gone searching for Edmond."
Luna stilled.
    "Hey, look there's no reason to worry." He smiled reassuringly or as reassuring as you can be when half your face looks like it got hit by a truck. "Henry will find him."
    "Henry's blind," she pointed out.
    "And that's probably why he's the best person to find him. He knows better than anyone how to navigate in Nox. He is not disoriented in the dark and knows how to use his other senses."
    "What is Nox exactly?"
    "Nox Aeterna. Literally speaking, it means Eternal Night in Latin, though we use the term to describe the network of underground tunnels unknown to humans connected to Paris's sewage system." His lips pursed and his gaze wandered. "Some of us, I mean vampires, live down there."
    "How come no humans know about it?"
    "It's surprisingly simple to hide in plain sight, you know. People will only see something if it aligns with their idea of reality. Present them with a reality which goes beyond their idea of reality and they simply won't see it. Pretty neat no?"
    "We see only what we believe."
    "Precisely."
    "But someone must have found out... or else there wouldn't be so many fictional stories about it."
His brown eyes glinted playfully.
     "That's the ironic part. Someone probably did find out and started the rumors in the first place but the more our true nature was portrayed and talked about the less plausible the idea became. Oddly enough, making us known worldwide actually helped us hide."
Luna frowned.
    "So... why stakes?"
    "The myth is in some ways well founded. Although a full-fledged vampire won't die from a stake in the heart, as it is long, the vampire will struggle to remove it easily therefore if you manage to hold the stake in place for long enough, they will go unconscious. Might I add, if the weapon is still embedded in the wound, it won't heal unless it is extracted."