Mrs. Bartlebee's Garden

Worshippers of the moon

    Three women sat on their thrones of silver. One wore a see-through silver flaked dress that shimmered brightly. The moonlight flooded in through the windows in the ceiling and reflected off of it. The intricate little designs in the dress covered every important space, concealing her nudity. Another wore a long white, smooth dress that wrapped around her in a rivani fashion, complimenting her figure. The last wore a silver and white dress, she had the darkest skin and was the tallest in the room. Each of the girls long curly hair, and each of them had yellow snake-like eyes.
A three headed doberman stood in the dark, playing a violin softly in the presence of these queens. The witch, taking off her large sun hat, and the vampire bowed before them, Rocket quickly did as well upon seeing their highly decorated silver, feathered crowns, along with their white face paint.
    "You have come for questions for the moon, we; the messengers; Mesiac, Bulan, and Candramā; will answer for our gods." The tallest explained sternly, her strong nearly arabic accent ran through the trio's ears like silk. She wore the largest crown, and her hair was much straighter, she looked strong, independent. The witch lifted her head to speak, the three women nodded to her.
    "A mother was stolen away from just a meer boy, he does not come from our world but he needs our help. The council will not approve nor will help, can you show us the way to the thief? We must save the mother for her son!" Mrs. Bartlebee explained, her voice was filled with sorrow and dread, the three queens looked down at her and whispered to each other, their glowing snake eye were fixated on Rocket.
    "The moon shall provide a vision, this thief will most likely not stay where they are for long, we suggest you hurry on your way after you pray your thanks." Candramā explained sweetly as he sisters shut their eyes, humming rhythmically. She then followed them and hummed quietly. The vampire watched them, smiling softly as one of the three caught his eyes, he lifted himself from his bow, to stare at the second eldest, Bulan, she wore the nearly see-through dress, she sat in her throne, humming with her eyes closed. The sounds grew louder, as did the playing of the violin, more instruments were added as more multiple headed animals watched in the dark.
    "The thief lies in the badlands, sleeping in the shell of a home, a black haired woman is asleep beside them, she is very ill." The seers spoke in unison as a sudden vision filled everyone's eyes, they saw it. The hooded figure, curled into a ball, sleeping soundly, Rocket's mother passed out, propped against the wall, she was pale, scrawny, weak. The boy gasped, feeling tears begin to roll down his cheeks as he could only see the scene, it was almost as if he was actually there. He stepped forward, however it faded away. He was still in the silver temple, there were tapestries and quilts of people worshiping the moon, the three queens still sat where they were, and it was still night.
"It will take three days to get out of the badlands, you must hurry through it. That place changes all things living, it makes them evil, unkind, before killing them,, hey, please thank our beloved gods before you go." Bulan hummed peacefully as she opened her eyes, her tattoos glowed as she became one with the moon, along with her sisters. Venus quickly bowed and prayed loudly and enthusiastically, he occasionally glanced to the girl, who smiled at him. The other two he had travelled with prayed as well, however more professionally and quietly. Once they finished they headed out, approaching the exit. The vampire however strayed, waltzing up to Bulan's thrown. The animals in the room stood on edge, watching his every move, her sisters watched the boy carefully.
    "I see the universe in your eyes, you're a very fine, messenger of our gods, Bulan." Venus began with a respectful step backwards, kneeling down in front of her throne. He began to float uncontrollably, he blushed slightly as he received a quiet giggle from the young woman. He found himself smiling like an idiot as he reached a hand out to the seer, the three headed doberman released a loud bark just as Bulan began to reach out. She then retracted her hand and silently shook her head. "...why not?" The vampire politely asked, frowning slightly as he blushed even more, now feeling embarrassed as all eyes fell on him, and him alone.
    "I belong to the gods and the gods only, I must remain pure, a boy like you,, would make me break my oath." The curly haired woman kindly reminded, blushing slightly, she looked to the pale boy with sad eyes, feeling the same way he did. "I am sorry." Bulan apologized somberly, nervously glancing to her sisters.
    "She has devoted her life to the gods! They chose us, us three. You will not corrupt her and ruin the balance, fool." The youngest spat, standing up from her seat, the eldest raising her hand, silencing her. She quickly sat back down and shot a mean look to the vampire. "It is better this way, now leave with your friends before they leave you behind!" Mesiac added with a hushed tone, starting to despise the boy's presence.
    "Sister, please. Calm yourself." The eldest stated sternly as she turned her head to the other, she then looked back to Venus. "Love is not permanent, you should know this, vampire." Candramā implied, staring the pale boy in the eyes, his red, soulless eyes. He frowned and nodded in respect of the seers. He began to turn before he stopped, thinking for a moment. "You should leave, we are aware you mean well, but we don't have as much time as you. Although the gods chose us, it is only temporary. Don't waste what short lifespans we have." She explained, reminding the vampire of his immortality. Her face paint glistened along with her jewelery and silver patterns in her dress.
    "I understand,, but I'll be back, good night, my dears." King Venus countered with a sincere smile, he then respectfully removed the floating crown above him, bowing with it. His smile was seen as a devious smirk to the youngest and eldest girls. They scowled as the middle sibling smiled back. The vampire then ran down the temple, exiting quickly, catching up to Mrs. Bartlebee and Rocket. He smiled to them and began floating once again. "Let's go, we have a thief to catch!" He said enthusiastically, the other two looked at him, confused.
    "What took you so long?" Rocket asked as he sat on the broom, watching as it began to take off back into the skies, the witch glancing back at the vampire who followed, being more quiet than usual. "Did it have something to do with one of those weird girls?" The tanned, dirty boy added to his question, the other shook his head as a smug response.
    "Weird girls? Rocket, those are the seers! They're magical women chosen by the gods who live on our moon!" Mrs. Bartlebee explained, staring at the boy in shock before keeping her eyes ahead of her carefully, making sure that there was nothing she could crash into. The human smiled, glancing to the large pale blue moon. He then shifted his gaze back to the vampire, who followed in a reflective silence, holding his crown close to his chest.
    "Why were you locked away for so long..?" Rocket asked quietly, leaning back, towards the other boy. Mrs. Bartlebee purposely looked the other way, silencing herself, a regret pooling in her stomach. The edgy king of the shadows stared at the human, anger in his furrowed brow, however it softened when he stared down at the moving world below.
    "I'm a vampire, I have to drink blood to survive. I don't want to be evil but,, that's how everyone sees me. People started attacking me and one day a mob went after me,, tried to kill me. Mrs. Bartlebee, the only person who really knew me,," Venus began before quieting himself, thinking of how to phrase his next sentence. "She casted a spell on me and my island. No one besides her and people from your world could come near me, and I could never leave. It was smart,, but it hurt. You know,, she took an arrow for me. I bet she's got a scar to prove it in her back." The vampire explained somberly, holding his crown tightly. The human stared at him wide eyed before turning back to the witch.
    "You know I was always sorry for that, right? It didn't want it to get that bad,," Mrs. Bartlebee whispered into the wind, forcing herself not to turn around and hug the vampire boy. She kept her tongue as she continued to control the broomstick, she could feel the stares of the two from behind her. She sighed and wiped her face, feeling her face grow hot as tears began pricking at her eyelids. "...we'll be at the badlands soon." She stated calmly.