NIGHTS OF HALLOW

A gentle whisper of breeze whistled around the forest, bringing a cooling sensation to the skin of the trio inside the forest. The sun which had been mild earlier slowly was changing as the weather began to show signs of an incoming snow.

Following Sthena’s words was Perdita’s chuckle that sounded as though she just heard the best joke of her life. Getting no response from Sthena got her laugh to slowly die down.

She skeptically asked, ”You are joking, aren’t you?”

”You laughing makes it a joke which I don’t find myself chuckling like you did,” Came Sthena’s swift reply, his expression showing no sigh of amusement.

At this moment, Perdita couldn’t bring herself to say anything, she was too dumbfounded to speak. Who goes digging up graves of people who died two decades ago? Only Sthena did. How did she forget so soon what a crazy man he was?

”Now, we are on the same page of no smiling,” Sthena commented, chuckling at the end as he couldn’t help himself from staring at the horrified look on Perdita’s face. He said, ”Relax, green eyes, we are not doing the digging today. There are other things which you can help us achieve now.”

Perdita’s shoulders which she didn’t know had been stiff relaxed as she heaved a sigh of relief, glad she wasn’t going to say hello to the skeletons of vampires. ”What am I going to do?”

”Follow me,” Sthena instructed, going back to the open grave. ”Touch the tombstone,”

”For markings?” Asked Perdita as she bent on her knee. Staring at Sthena once more who hummed a yes to her question, she placed her hand on the tombstone which felt cold to her touch.

”There is no marking,” Perdita voiced removing her hand from the tombstone. ”I don’t think this person dug this grave.”

”Or perhaps, they were too shy to leave it where everyone can see it,” Sthena replied, staring at the space next to where Perdita placed her hand. When she turned, there was a similar scrawly drawn marking.

”The person was here,” Perdita uttered, realization hitting her at the same time. ”This could mean that what you said was true. They are digging graves to create dummies.”

”And the only way to fully confirm it is by digging up to check what’s in the graves. If the skeletons are there or not.”

Perdita stood from where she squatted dusting her hands. Still staring at the grave, she said, ”But we don’t have anything to dig with. Like shovel. Can we get one from this town?” She questioned, turning to Sthena only to find him missing from the spot.

”Sthena?” She called out, confused at what happened. Where did he suddenly disappear to? ”Emily, did you...”

Before she could finish, Sthena apparated back to his initial spot, however, with a company in his left hand.

”Oh my good Lord, Sthena. Today is not a good day for the pranks.” The fear in Perdita’s voice could be heard. She spoke again rather in bewilderment, ”Why do you have an owl with you?!”

”Found this little one a little late,” Sthena smiled, his hand nonchalantly touching the head. Meanwhile, he wasn’t merely touching it, he was drawing invincible marks on it which had the owl curl its toes. He drawled, ”Isn’t it beautiful?”

”Doesn’t explain why you caught it,” Perdita stated eyeing the bird in Sthena’s hand. Looking at the eyes felt bewitching for some reason. How can a bird bewitch a witch? Perdita internally smacked her head to the question in her mind.

”Should we keep it as a pet?” Sthena probed, smiling like a young boy who caught his first pet.

”Certainly not, Sthena.” Came the quick response from Perdita. She turned to stare at the bird once again, feeling as though something was off. Sthena wouldn’t catch a bird for fun, would he?

Sthena frowned, dramatically placing his hand on his chest. He remarked, ”But you got yourself Pokie as a bird pet, why can’t I have one myself?” Though Sthena continued to nonchalantly speak, his hand on the bird’s head hadn’t stopped moving while his grip was strong, stopping the bird from escaping.

”Hold on,” Perdita murmured, a thoughtful look marred on her face. ”This owl, this mark. Oh, my goodness, Sthena! We are being watched.”

”Waited so long for you to discover what I did,” Sthena smiled, his fangs coming into view.

Alarmed at being watched all these while, Perdita gasped, ”Now the markings make more sense. It has all been pointing to one thing which is this owl. This is their way of telling us they are watching us.”

”What a smart woman you are,” Sthena complimented, his lips pulling into a grin. ”What more did you discover, darling? Tell me while I work on this beautiful one.”

Perdita’s eyes darted around the forest, her gaze going back to the mark that was still on the forest floor. She expressed, ”This marking and that owl are the same thing. The two circles at the top represent the eyes of the owl, and the triangle in the middle is the nose. Then—” She paused, trying to make out what the last marking represented.

”The last marking, darling, represents the mouth. The way the lines are crossed over each other comes from a popular quote of the witches which says; OWLS DON’T SPEAK, THEY WATCH.”

”What are we going to do now?” The panicked voice of Perdita resounded once more, her hands gripping her sides. If these witches were watching them, does that mean they have found out who she was?

”Keep calm and allow them to act first,” Sthena replied. ”They used this owl as a medium to be able to see everything from their portal or mirror, whatever they are using.”

”Never did I imagine that the number of people watching my every move would be added. Did they do this to bring me out? Perhaps, the rumor of the vampire-witch siblings is out in the open already?”

”I never thought you to be an overthinker now, darling, are you?” Sthena shook his head in disapproval to hear her say.

”Don’t you find it suspicious that this same mark is in the Warden’s office? It couldn’t be just a visit, what if he is working with them?” Perdita reasoned, her hands crossed over her chest in thought.

”We shall find out if he is involved,” Sthena asserted. He had already thought of all these possibilities and one thing was clear to him. He was going to find out those involved, and death shall be a simple punishment for them.

He turned to Perdita once more, the serious look from earlier vanished from his face when he spoke to her, ”Come, why not hold this beautiful birdie for me?” He flashed her a smile to ease the apprehensive look on her face.

She gingerly reached out and took hold of the bird while wondering why Sthena asked her to hold the bird. She voiced her question, ”Why did you ask me to hold it?”

”Watch,” Sthena responded assuming a squatting position. He used his finger to draw markings on the floor, then turned to beckon at Perdita. ”Bring it over here.”

Perdita did as she was instructed, stopping a few feet away from Sthena. She saw him take out the silver box earlier, uncurling it to reveal the knife. The next thing she saw was Sthena taking the bird from her and cutting the foot of the owl making it let out a howl.

Blood sipped out and fell into the marking but then Sthena wasn’t done. ”Your hand, darling.”

”What? What do you want to do?”

”To misintercept the connection they have with this bird using your blood that has a witch’s potent in it. Consider it a favor to the bird by freeing it from their evil custody.”

Even though Perdita was unnerved at first, she still gave her hand to Sthena who cut her palm with his nails. He allowed the blood to drop into the same marking. He turned over his head and brought Perdita’s hand closer, and he licked the spot he cut open clean.

Perdita gasped, drawing her hand back to her side with a mortified look on her face. On the other hand, Sthena unabashed by his behavior remarked, ”Your blood tastes quite delicious. A first to leave me wanting more.”

”F—focus on what you are doing!” Perdita already red like ripened tomatoes hurriedly spoke. To think that Emily was at the back watching and listening, perhaps entering the open grave was more than an open invitation to her now.

Sthena chuckled, clearly amused by Perdita’s reaction. ”Here you are feeling mortified when you have had your lips twice on my neck and how many times on my wrist?”

”I was unconscious when I bit you on the neck, and the second time was because I slipped. Also, you offered your wrist to me to drink from!” Perdita blurted trying to save some shame for herself.

”Oh?” Sthena tilted his head backward. ”It doesn’t change the fact you almost molested me last night too.”

”I—I was drunk,” She defended already feeling hot all over by Sthena’s accusations one after the other. ”Besides, how am I sure you didn’t make that up?”

”You can ask your handmaid the position she saw you when she walked into the room last night. All snuggled in my arms,” Sthena said, making sure not to leave out any detail.

At this point, even Emily couldn’t maintain the composure she always had. She quickly turned away to avoid seeing the two exchange more vulgar words.

Perdita on hearing what Sthena said tried not to speak more. No matter how hard she tried to counter Sthena’s words, he would always come back with more embarrassing things to say.

Putting on a brave face while she attempted to tone down the heat rushing up her face, She snapped, ”You speak as if you didn’t enjoy any of it.”

Sthena’s brows rose in surprise, not expecting such words from Perdita. Given his sly nature, he didn’t dare let the comment slide by not responding, ”You are right. I did enjoy every bit of it. Perhaps, we should try it once more?”

”T—the marking is glowing!” Perdita quickly interrupted to stop Sthena from speaking more.

”Oh,” Sthena drawled standing to his feet. ”It is over. Where are you going?” He asked the retreating figure of Perdita walking away.

”To where you wouldn’t see me,” She snapped.

”Oh, happy holiday with the witches who want to capture you then,” At his words, Perdita shouted back, ”I’ll blow their heads off!” Bringing an amused smile to his face.

”Always easily embarrassed,” Sthena murmured before following behind Perdita.

A/N: The character profile for Sthena Acheron has been uploaded. Go now to view and please, vote too. Thank youuu