NIGHTS OF HALLOW

”There you have it,” Sthena commented, a contended smile lighting up his face like everyone else’s.

”Oh, My Lady, this is unbelievable!” Emily gushed, staring at the scene before them. On the other hand, Perdita stood motionless, her mouth agape mirroring the shock that overwhelmed her.

Before them stood the enormous tree, standing tall and strong. It wasn’t like the other denuded trees with no leaves on them. However, it was also looking different from what it usually looked like when it had its leaves on it.

The tree which had been in flames caused by Perdita’s power now had the most beautiful fresh leaves on it. The most enchanting part of it was that it not only had leaves on the branches, one could see the fruits on it looking more beautiful and juicy than the berries they had seen.

”I can’t believe this actually happened,” Perdita mumbled finally, slowly coming out from her shock. Her feet slowly glided across the snow-filled ground towards the tree not breaking her gaze.

Sthena who followed behind her expressed, ”What a touch from you can do. More than a magical touch,” One could hear the pride in his heart towards Perdita’s achievement on her first day of training. It showed how a fast learner she was and she was quite brave.

”Today is going to be an unforgettable day in my life. I’m glad I made this memory with you beside me to encourage me. And Emily too, I can’t thank you two enough.” Perdita turned towards Sthena, her eyes prickled with unshed tears while Emily smiled and bowed at her.

She reached out, touching the leaf of the tree. The work of her power of bringing life to it. She was thrilled to be a reviver of life rather than a destroyer. ”Does this mean I can bring life to anything? I mean non-human and human?”

”Hold your horses, darling,” Sthena shook his head disapprovingly and remarked, ”In as much as we are all thrilled that you just discovered another ability of yours, we don’t want you using up your energy so soon and dying.”

”Oh,” Perdita mouthed, disappointment nagging at the back of her mind that she couldn’t use her ability the way she wanted. But it was good enough she had it, one can never know what life would bring.

”This ability, can I also use it on myself?” She continued to question, turning back to stare at the tree once more, the beauty captivating her.

”We wouldn’t know unless we test it out, but no, don’t even think about hurting yourself,” Sthena chided in a low tone, further declaring his disapproval over it. He walked forward to pluck a fruit from the tree and slid it into his mouth. ”The sweetest fruit I have come to taste until now. You should consider becoming a gardener. What shall we name the fruit?”

”Perhaps, I should,” Perdita nodded with a chuckle. ”I don’t know, Flammy Lumin. The Flammy means the flames which I caused and then Lumin means life-giving fruit.”

”Flammy Lumin it shall be called,” Sthena smiled, turning around to inscribe the name on the tree using flames he conjured.

”That is beautiful, Sthena,” Perdita praised staring at the flame-looking name on the tree. She turned to her side and called out, ”Come on, Emily, why not pick some for yourself?”

Spending more time under the tree before leaving got the three holding a handful of Flammy Lumin in each of their hands while heading back to where their carriage was damaged hoping the Coachman had fixed it.

”Do you think we would find this witch who killed the headless woman?” Perdita quizzed, biting into her fruit.

”With you the great witch of all here, there is nothing or anybody that cannot be found,” Came Sthena’s response that had Perdita shake her head.

”It’s not like I have discovered all my abilities or mastered the ones I know.” She said, turning abruptly on hearing a scream from Emily.

”My Lady!” Emily screamed, her hands flailing as she was mere inches from being swallowed by the forest floor.

”Emily?!” Perdita quickly rushed over, catching hold of Emily before she could slip downward. Sthena held onto the other hand of the maid and effortlessly pulled her out of the hole.

”Oh, my goodness, Emily. Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?” Perdita’s panic as she swirled around Emily who sat on the floor recovering from the shock was evident on her face. ”Who would go digging holes and covering it with snow?!”

”No, darling,” Sthena waved his index finger to a no. He went near the hole where Emily had fallen into observing it with keen eyes. ”It doesn’t seem like this is an ordinary hole.”

”What do you mean?” Perdita questioned quickly coming to look at the hole too.

”This, darling, is a grave,” Sthena revealed, using his hand to clear the snow that covered the floor near the open ground. ”Your guardian witch got an invitation to the grave but escaped by a mere second.”

Sthena’s dark humor wasn’t much appreciated by Perdita given that her guardian witch almost got hurt. And it didn’t match the gravity of the situation that they might be standing on a stranger’s grave which was now open.

As Sthena cleared the snow off the floor, there on the tombstone was the name of the owner of the grave.

”This is a graveyard?” Perdita’s question came more as a statement than a question to which Sthena confirmed with a hum.

”It is unfortunately a graveyard,” Sthena said staring at the tombstone as though it was a certain treasure.

”Then we should close it immediately. It’s disrespectful to the dead,” Perdita said, using her hand to push snow into the grave in hope of closing it.

”Not so fast, green eyes,” Sthena held out his hand to stop Perdita from continuing what she was doing.

”Why? What do you want to do?”

”Don’t you find it suspicious that a grave dated back to two decades ago is suddenly open?” Sthena questioned back, his lips quirking up into a crooked smile. One of his favorite ways of welcoming his unnerving nature and this told Perdita that something was cooking up in the brain of the Vampire King.

Perdita’s brows furrowed into a frown, confusion also gnawing at the back of her mind. She asked, ”Why should I find it suspicious? Graves sometimes open up because the coffin decayed allowing earth to move in to close the open space.”

”A very plausible answer,” Sthena agreed, but still went on, ”This here, my dear is no grave which would suddenly open up. Firstly, this is a Vampire town and the people in it are wealthy. No rich family would use a cheap coffin to bury their family.”

”Secondly, this grave is old. Perhaps, one of the first graveyards in the town, and checking the location, this graveyard isn’t used anymore.”

”So, you are saying that this was opened by someone?” Perdita’s question came again while she thought about what Sthena had said. The suspicion that Sthena had mentioned earlier now coming to mask the confusion in her brain.

”Exactly,” Sthena confirmed. He stood from his squatting position and walked some steps away from the grave before saying, ”If I am not mistaken, that name on the tombstone sounds familiar.”

Perdita also stood up, not wanting to be near the grave of someone she didn’t know lest the ghost gave her an invitation too. She helped Emily stand too, glad she didn’t incur any injury. She repeated Sthena’s words in a question, ”Familiar? You know the owner of the grave?”

She was still trying to make sense of everything Sthena had been saying. Was this person perhaps someone Sthena offended in the past and had now come to seek revenge on him?! Perdita’s eyes widened still finding the situation absurd.

Sthena turned to face them once more and answered, ”Yes, I think I remember this person. We once had an encounter several years ago.”

I said it! Perdita shouted in her head. Sthena had offended this dead Vampire! Did he perhaps kill him?

”He was a pureblooded vampire,” Sthena continued. ”Which makes me wonder why someone would choose to open a grave belonging to someone of the highest hierarchy. Unless—”

”Unless what? You are confusing me,” Perdita confessed wiping a sweat from her forehead. Her presumption did not match what Sthena was saying. She was wrong after all? If he didn’t kill this Pureblooded vampire, then what happened?

”Their plan after all was to create dummies,” Sthena completed, his eyes shining like he just hit the nail on the head. He explained to Perdita who was tired of asking questions after the other.

”I am linking my presumption of this person responsible for cutting off the head of this woman to this open graveyard. I presume that they are digging graves, old graves to be precise, and taking the skeleton of those inside to create dummies.”

”Dummies?” Perdita skeptically asked, unsure how Sthena came to this conclusion.

”Yes, dummies.” Sthena replied, ”And who else can do these if not witches? And the best people to target are the skeletons of Pureblooded vampires knowing that some of them possess abilities which doesn’t go away easily even if they are dead. Taking their skeletons will create a greater medium to make them come alive and act like normal people.”

”Why would they be creating dummies? People that don’t exist but then exist later on? And also, how do we know that this presumption is correct and not false?”

Sthena’s face held a thoughtful look as he replied, ”There is only one way to find out,”

”Which is?”

Sthena’s lips pulled up into a wide grin again, which made Perdita stare at him with narrowed eyes. He said, answering her question, ”By digging up the graves.”