Blood Trade│Vampyre Series #1│DISCONTINUED

Blood Trade : Chapter 27

Chapter 27

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'Shit!'

The state that Aura was in, went beyond shock or the surprise a normal human would have felt. No, she was frozen in place, unable to move because of the discovery she had made. For a moment she even regretted visiting Maria or trying to solve the mystery that surrounded Gisela, maybe then she wouldn't have been so moved or shocked by what she had found.

Her eyes swept the room once again, searching for something more, for more proof to support her theory. And she immediately found what she was looking for.

Hidden behind the floral wallpapers that were torn at some places and hastily patched up at the others, she could see more of the charcoal paintings. Some of them were just vague lines while the others were more elaborate drawings, of the man standing in different positions, smiling in one and holding on to a jacket in the other.

Aura walked over to one of the walls that was completely devoid of the annoying wallpaper. On it, still faintly visible, was the same painting, the same man looking down upon her with a serious expression on his face. It seemed that the workers had tried to wipe it off the wall, but the stubborn painting had stayed put on the blue wall, which had been later covered by the floral wallpaper. She noticed a stack of clean bed sheets near the crooked dressing table, which was covered with dust and had the same charcoal murals as the walls.

The closer she looked the more she found the same man, the same painting on each and every inch of the room, as if Maria had completely surrounded herself by this man. Even though he was not physically present, she had cleverly filled the void with his face, with his paintings that covered her from every side. Was this the reason why the workers had given up cleaning this room, even if it was of Mrs. Emerson's? Even though they were supposed to take good care of her? From what she had discovered of this woman, Aura knew the old lady was somewhat stubborn and came to conclusion, that even if her room was cleaned every single day, she had probably cover it with paintings by next morning.

Aura chuckled. Maria Emerson was definitely a handful if that was the case.

The vampire went back to staring at the paintings, focusing on one particular painting, which showed the man with a slight subtle and a serious expression and her mind immediately returned to the shock she had felt before.

She knew there was a particular reason behind the way they were fixated on Gisela. Aura had never understood back then, why they had specifically selected Gisela as the girl to be placed under her watch. There were others too, other Purebloods, who even though in minority, lived their lives in secrecy and away from the piercing eyes of the Elders. If they had found Gisela who wasn't even aware of her abilities, they could have easily combed out the rest of the dwindling population of Purebloods through their sources. But no, they wanted her, he wanted her.

Sometime after Aura had come into contact with Gisela, she had found it strange that one particular Elder, him, was keeping tabs on Gisela without her knowledge. She had found out about it later on but let it go, thinking it was just out of curiosity. But of course, it wasn't. He was the only Elder who had ever shown interest in the betterment of mankind while the rest of the vampires lacked it. His visits to the human world had always been under suspicion, but no one questioned him because he was one of the Elder. Even Aura herself, who had been his personal bodyguard wasn't aware of his outings or who he met outside the Gates.

He always insisted on going alone and would laugh at Aura's concern for his life. If she had known that he was secretly slipping out to meet Maria or watch her from afar she would have raised the alarm herself. Aura would have stopped him from being so attached to a human. But she hadn't known about it, not until now.