Eternity in the darkness - Chapter 90

On the way to Lark’s mansion, Ruka asked me several times if I was okay and looked worried about me. At one point I kissed him to stop his worried thoughts, the dead being had touched me but I was fine. He changed the subject to how my fighting went, praising me how good I had been in the arena with a few pointers here and there. Sebastian had called Ruka to say Louis was conscious and he didn’t know what happened. He also added how he was in a grumpy mood because someone had knocked him unconscious. Louis had a lot of pride in him.

We went through the forest as the sky turned darker with every passing minute and covered with dark clouds. I could see small lightenings going on behind those clouds which looked like it was trying to contain the light in it. Reaching Lark’s mansion, I got down from the car with Ruka to feel like I was in a completely different world.

The Lark’s mansion in one word was shady, it was in the midst of the forest. I don’t think anyone would even know someone lived here by looking at the mansion. It was more than what Bella had explained to me in the theatre before. There were graveyards on either side of the mansion which was covered in either dust or dry twigs and leaves. As we walked through the stairs I saw dry creepers on the iron metal where it’s paint had come off years.

The main door creaked like an old man, whom I guess was the butler opened it for us, to let us in. His wrinkled face looked at me in question.

“She’s my other half Eve, Roger,” Ruka said and I saw Roger’s lips twitch faintly.

“An angel for a devil,” he muttered while he bowed his head and then looked up to speak more clearly this time, “Lady Lark has been waiting for your visit master Ruka.”

“Of course she has,” Ruka said placing his hand on my back as we walked. I saw few statues in the corridor as we headed followed the butler, the statues moved startling me. Ruka chuckled looking at my reaction, “They won’t harm you,” he assured me.

“What are those?” I asked curious looking at them. This place would be pitch dark if weren’t for the lamps that were lit on either side of the walls.

“They are part of Lady Lark’s decorative collections, Ms. Eve,” Roger replied to my question, “These statues consist of wandering souls that don’t find salvation.”

The place was dark and cold as we headed towards a room. He pushed both the doors with his hands and said,

“Lady Lark, master Ruka has arrived.”

“Thank you, Roger,” I heard a soft voice speak in the room. Where was the person? I turned around my face to see a curly haired lady in a black cloak. I couldn’t see her eyes as half her face was hidden under the black hood she wore but I could say she was everything Bella had described to me. “I was wondering when you were coming after you asked Louis to meet me. I heard about the note,” she said as Ruka took a seat on the wooden chair.

“There was an imposter today who looked like Louis and had slashed venom while fighting Eve. However, that is not the only issue. The school was rampaged with the dead beings from the land of the dead but it was a distraction. The actual intent was to get the stone,” he said.

“Did they take it?” She asked turning away from the window. Ruka looked at me and I saw her turn towards me. She walked across the room towards me, her hands bony and long fingers touched my wound.

“You never fail to impress me with your methods,” she said making me wonder what she was talking and she continued to talk, “Giving both of them to her was a good thing because only an angel can handle it but it might put her in danger Ruka.”

“I had the stone removed and had it replaced with a replica of it when I was teaching there a year back,” Ruka said with a sly smile on his face as he thought about it.

“But isn’t the school enchanted with spells so that no one steals it?” I asked him but Lady Lark was the one to reply it.

“All magic has loopholes. In this case, it was a stronger creature defying the spell. Ruka belongs to the strongest species in this world and has the ability to nullify the effect in his presence when he needs it,” she explained making my mouth part in awe, “But there are times when there are other creatures trying to shift the balance by untouched magic, therefore, he took the stone and crushed it, placing it within you.”

“How?” I asked looking at both of them.

“While taking out the venom from your wound I injected it with the powdered stone, love. Only an angel has the power to balance the stones,” Ruka answered getting up from the seat, making me dawn that that was the reason I felt the needle-like sensation before when he was taking the venom out.

My stomach made an embarrassing noise then, not once but twice reminding me that I hadn’t eaten anything since morning. Ruka let out a chuckle.

“I’ll ask Roger to get something to eat in the drawing room,” Lady Lark offered as she glided out of the room smoothly.

“Relax, love,” he said peppering kisses on my neck and I closed my eyes with a soft sigh.

“I wish time just stopped,” I mumbled and felt him smile on my skin.

“So do I, love. So do I,” he responded.

My eyes roamed around the room and caught sight of photo frames on the wall. It was of different girls when they were young kids. Then there were pictures of them of different ages, who looked really close.

“Who are all these?” I asked Ruka touching the frame.

“That’s lady Lark and her sister’ pictures. Look that’s lady Lark,” he showed pointing to a picture. She looked the youngest compared to her other sisters and I wondered why she had turned to such a dark look. I moved to get a closer view of the frames and one of the faces caught my eye.

“She…” I whispered looking at the familiar face in the photo.

“What happened, love?” I heard Ruka ask.

“I know her,” I replied as my brows furrowed.

“How do you know her?” I heard lady Lark ask me who was standing at the door.

“She took history class once and I met her today too before we left the school ground,” I said looking around at them. Ruka had a deep frown on his face while lady Lark’s hand gripped the door tightly, “Why?” I questioned and the next words that came from Ruka made me stiff.

“Evie, the person you’re talking about has been dead for many decades.”