Belle could feel something was more than not right here. It reminded her of the time when she had fallen unconscious where the creature had told it had been waiting to eat her soul. Was this the same place? Whatever dream her mind was conjuring it gave her a very unsettling feeling.

She took a step back and Marie’s face changed in anger, “Where are you going?”

“I need to go back home.”

“Home?” Marie uttered the word as if a home was an imagined word, “Home is right here, Miss Belle. I am sad that I had to die. I was a young girl,” her words broke as if she was barely trying to contain her emotions.

“You are still a young girl, Marie,” Belle stated to see the girl shake her head.

“I had dreams, I had a life I was looking forward to. Did you know we can trade soul, a high-quality soul for one’s life,” Belle softly gulped hearing this. Marie didn’t look like she was listening to her and she continued to speak, “I was a young girl, and I can be that girl again. I can get back my life. For yours.”

She didn’t know this girl. Marie wasn’t like this and this whole place, Belle didn’t know where she was. Marie then suddenly started to run towards her, her legs were twisted as she ran and Belle took a couple more steps before she started to run back in the path she had come from but there were shadows that were creeping in, shadows that started to turn the path dark and Belle picked up a sharp stone that was on the ground to bang it against her hand as hard as she could.

Seeing it didn’t work, she continued to hit her hand over and over again to feel the numbness slowly turning to pain, and then she breathed loudly as she laid on the bed with her eyes wide awake.

Her forehead was covered in sweat. It was a dream, said Belle to herself closing her eyes and letting her heart settle in her chest which was beating against her chest uncontrollably.

Sitting up on her bed, she placed her hand on the surface of the bed to flinch with the pain that erupted through the palm of her hand. When she brought it in front of her, her breath turned short again on the sight of the wound on her skin.

It seemed that what she had dreamt was not a dream after all.

The wound was the same and it was oozing with fresh red blood. Pushing the covers away completely from her body, her delicate feet touched the cold floor of the room and she made her way to the bathroom. Going to the sink, she turned the faucet for water to fall on her hand, turning the water to a red color as it fell down.

She couldn’t keep it for too long as it stung too much. Turning off the faucet of the water close, she searched for the first-aid kit but didn’t know where it was. Even if she did wrap a cloth around her hand, the cloth would only continue soaking itself in the blood without holding it back.

Turning her head to look at the closed windows, she saw how it was still night where the logs of wood that were burning before she had gone to sleep had turned quiet and cold along with the rest of the room.

Stepping out of the room, Belle made her way to the kitchen and looked for the ice knowing it was stored somewhere in there, while she was still looking for it with a single candle that she had brought along with her,

“What are you doing?” Lucas’ voice startled her.

“Lucas!” she whispered after she had turned around to see him holding the candle stand that had five candles burning brightly that lit the kitchen better than before, “Do you know where the ice is?” she asked him.

“Hmm. Take a seat,” he hummed and his eyes went to her hand that she was holding in another hand of hers.

He placed the candle stand on the old table that was in the kitchen for years that had not been replaced. He walked towards a wooden box and pulled out its lid which was surrounded by water. Picking up the ice he came back to where Belle was and sat next to her.

“Give me your hand,” he asked raising his own hand.

There were times when Belle found it hard to refuse him. Though she was the mistress and he was her butler, she often compiled to his words without a question. His features were dark because of the shadow and the light that came from the candles. She placed her wounded hand in his own.

“The wound looks deep. What happened?” he asked her, without looking at her, he placed the ice on her hand to hear her wince. He had broken the ice to a smaller piece and rotated it on the wound gently.

“I myself don’t know what happened,” Belle muttered under her breath. She was confused about what had happened.

“You should be careful with yourself. Where you decide to walk and what to do. The wound looks deeper than I had expected. It will need to be sewed,” he said getting up and going to another shelf in the kitchen he brought a box that had a needle in it with strings.

“Tell me what happened,” he said as he readied the needle for her and pushed it into her skin. Though Belle was a vampire, she was still a person who could feel pain and the wound didn’t exactly heal on its own, “Tell me what happened.”

“It is hard to believe…” and when she said this, Lucas who was tending to her hand, his eyes shifted to look at her.

“I will believe anything you say, Miss Belle.”