Eternity in the darkness - Chapter 74

“Are you sure?” Ruka asked me as he drove the car from Benjamin’s mansion.

“Yeah, hundred percent,” I said sitting next to him while I petted the rabbit’s head gently on my lap.

“I’m just making sure,” he chuckled to some unsaid joke and I looked at him suspiciously, wondering what made him chuckle. He was making sure about me taking the rabbit home.

Simi, the little girl I had met had given the rabbit and a kiss which made Ruka playfully demand a kiss from her. The funny thing was she said a no giving a reason that he was a big meanie for not letting me take it home with me. Ruka then had to give in to her many ‘please’ and said an okay. The rabbit was so damn cute; it was grey in color and was of the breed called mini loft. I don’t know why but I had the sudden urge to hug it.

“Easy, love. You might squish it if you hold it any tighter,” Ruka said as he parked the car. I gave him a childlike smile and opened the door.

Gathering it carefully in my arms, we walked towards the main door. I looked around and saw at the other side of the wall there were some scary looking trees. Not just because it was huge. They had hollow eyes in place with a creepy looking smile. I heard a strange voice coming from other like someone was crying. I gulped hearing it.

“What are those?” I asked while we passed it.

“They are the ritual trees that come alive once in a decade. They draw the negative energy towards them due to which they have an appearance as you can see now. Never annoy them as they can get quite scary. Fascinating creatures,” he said taking me inside. Going near it was the last thing on my mind.

When we went to the drawing room, I saw Sebastian and Aiden playing chess. Louis had his headphones on while he read a book. Lizzy was looking at the wall unblinkingly, deep in thought.

“How was the party?” Sebastian asked us looking from the game but his expression changed from serious to a grin, “Well, what do we have here?” he asked.

Hearing this, Aiden who was busy wondering which chess piece to move turned behind to see what Sebastian was talking about.

“Is that a rabbit?” Lizzy asked and Aiden replied to it.

“It looks like one,” he said getting up to get a closer look, “Are we gonna build a barn soon? A rabbit stew sounds good to me,” he asked jokingly.

“Benjamin’s niece gave it to me as she couldn’t take it to home and didn’t want to leave it there. It’s a mini lop,” I explained knowing the breed as I had googled it in the car.

“Oh my god it’s so cute,” Lizzy gushed coming to take it from my arms. Louis who was sitting on the couch had a weary look on his face and hadn’t spoken yet. He kept staring at the rabbit with a frown on his face as though it was something evil. When it nuzzled closer to Lizzy, he scrunched his nose.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him, his behavior towards the small fluffy animal was weird.

“Strangely, Louis doesn’t get along with rabbits. It freaks him out,” Sebastian answered laughing and he turned towards the door. His face expression turned from gentle to serious, excusing himself he went out of the door.

“Keep it away from me, Lizzy,” I heard Louis warn her as she brought the animal closer to him.

Later, Ruka and Louis went out to talk to someone who had come home. Lizzy and Aiden had taken the bunny with them. I looked from the window to see Leo and one of my new teacher, Matthew Jenkins who had literally fried two students and another person whom I didn’t recognize. The atmosphere seemed a little tense as they spoke.

“….It isn’t that easy to find the emerald. Having the charms that have been put into it’s hard to find it,” I heard Matthew speak frustrated, “I haven’t felt it even though I have been teaching there for four decades. They have put the spell where no one can feel or see it.”

“Is that even possible?” Louis asked Ruka and I heard my fiance sigh.

“Yeah, it is. Getting the right person with the right power, precious stones or not, they can be modified,” he answered and my fingers reached the necklace I was wearing, “Now that they have two of them they are short of two stones. The question is which one helped them to get the Onyx because it wasn’t the princess of Lark.”

“That gives us five suspects,” Leo said nodding his head in agreement to what Ruka said, “We checked out the West region near the camp route and found some information regarding the Naxals,” he said. What is Naxals?

“There’s no trace of them around the town so everything is clear for now,” the other person spoke.

I then moved back and went to the dining hall. Dinner was delicious while Aiden complained he wanted to have a stew of a small animal looking towards Bunny, the rabbit. I made a note to myself to keep him away from Bunny. After washing my hands I was going up the stairs when I remembered I had forgotten one of my book in the library. Once I retrieved the book I was walking out of there to hear some voices. At first, I dismissed it as voices in my head but when it became more cleared I slowed down my pace. Dismissing the thought of Ruka calling me Dora I followed the source of voices.

“Why are you leaving?” I heard a voice I knew. Peeking a little through the door I saw Sebastian caging a girl. They seemed way intimate with the position. I recognized the girl was the maid who had visited my room when I was sick.

“I-I..was…” I heard her squeak. Why was Sebastian terrorizing the poor girl? I narrowed my eyes, don’t tell me he was behind her for-

My mouth was closed by a warm hand before I could say something. Turning around I saw Ruka who shook his head. I frowned looking at him and he walked us to our room.

“You have nothing to worry about the girl, sweet Eve. That’s his soul mate,” he said and my eyes almost popped out of the eye socket.

“Mate?” I asked him and saw him nod, “Oh my god, he found his soul mate!” I said excitedly jumping out of happiness and saw Ruka chuckle. And something lit inside my head, I was heading towards the door when it suddenly closed. Damn Ruka’s powers.

“Come on,” I whined and saw Ruka smile shaking his head.

“Interrupting them hmm, let’s give a little time, love,” he said and I pouted at it. When I finished taking bath and came out, I saw Caesar intently looking at Bunny. Oh no.

“Bad Caesar,” I scolded him and took Bunny in my arms. Caesar growled a little at the gesture and barked.

“Well, now not only should I share your affection with Caesar but the rabbit too. You should let Caesar have him,” he suggested with a crooked smile. On cue, we heard a knock and I opened the door. It was Lizzy who had come to the rabbit and Caesar followed her. Hopefully, Caesar didn’t try to eat him.

“That’s mean,” I said.

“I’m not mean, sweet Eve. I understand Caesar’s feelings well because I feel the same,” he replied and I looked at him confused. Don’t tell me he wanted to eat Bunny?

“You want to eat him too?” I asked him bewildered and he pulled me closer to him. I felt my chest touch him while he moved my hair away.