Chapter 17 - A Development

LUNA ASTERBELLE’s POV

My life has been a misery ever since the day that I got out of the orphanage… or maybe, this had been written on my fate all along. I totally envy all of those other living creatures who have nothing to get in between their ambitions for their future. Mr. and Mrs. Asterbelle gave me a lot of reasons to be disappointed in them, instead of inspiring me to follow their path.

If right from the start, they informed me just how much they despised vampires like me, then I could’ve prepared myself mentally. If I knew that most of them would end up acting differently towards me only because of my identity, then I should’ve trained myself to be independent.

It literally sucks how I am being reliant on someone else’s strength, the man in hoodie, Eman, in specific. I have no clue when he would rather choose to ignore me whenever I need him, rather than to help me survive.

And speaking of survival, the last words that King Dawn mentioned earlier still bothers me.

Exactly what is he battling with?

He made it sound like he was struggling with something peculiar and ferocious that even someone powerful like him wouldn’t be able to withstand.

Anyhow, that’s none of my business right now as I solely have to focus my whole time on enhancing myself. I heaved out a sigh. “Where am I even supposed to start?” I asked myself.

“Should I train you?” a familiar voice whispered to my ears, which sent chills down to my spine.

“E-Eman!” I shouted his name the moment that our eyes met. He only waved at me as if his sudden appearance shouldn’t have surprised me any longer. “Where did you go?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I was roaming around the city and then I saw you here… as if you’re carrying all of the people’s burden upon you. I couldn’t prevent myself from approaching you a few minutes ago. You must’ve been thinking about something deeply, which explains why you didn’t notice me.”

Eman invited me to sit beside him on the bench that was under the tree. It was already midnight, so we didn’t necessarily have to hide from the sun rays’ exposure.

“Are you serious about training with me?” I questioned him as I was beginning to have huge trust issues with anyone. Besides, he might have also said it merely due to the spur of the moment.

He nodded his head once. “If you’re fine with having someone like me as your mentor, then I don’t see any reason why not?” He giggled.

I was caught off guard with those soft chuckles that he did. His aura was the only one illuminating throughout this dim place. I couldn’t even utter a single word for about a minute or two. “A-ah… S-sure. There’s no available reason for me to actually turn down your generous offer.”

Eman’s face brightened after hearing my response. It was definitely not the usual type of smile that I always see from him. I don’t know how I can turn my feelings into precise descriptive words, but one thing’s for sure…

“Stop drooling over me, Luna. Your face clearly tells me how you’re mesmerized by my laughter,” he awkwardly said, which brought me back to my senses. “By the way, Luna, have you heard what happened to your friend? I got to eavesdrop from somewhere on the way here that she recently joined the Dark Shadow Clan. Isn’t that primarily composed of vampires? If I remember correctly, she loathes you because of your existence as a half-blooded one, so why…”

I was kind of expecting that there would be rumors this quick, so I normally nodded my head as a form of response. “Certain things happened, the decision was inevitable. There was nothing that I could have done to change the outcome.”

“But, what about you? Didn’t you consider joining forces with that clan? It could have been the chance for the two of you to settle some matters. I don’t think that their leader would be so self-centered not to let you team up with them, even if it’d mean that they’ll be risking the whole clan’s safety against the werewolves.”

Eman’s words were convincing, but those wouldn’t be enough to actually persuade me. I know that they wouldn’t want to initiate a war with the pack that I belong to anyway. “I… I’m astray though,” I confusingly mumbled to myself. If I don’t have any pack that I am currently serving, then that implies that I have the freedom to join the Dark Shadow Clan just as Eman said earlier. “Do you have close connections with the vampires, Eman?”

I couldn’t resist the urge not to ask him about that. Ever since our first encounter at the cafeteria and back in the woods, I wasn’t able to shake off the feeling that he might have been a vampire as well.

No matter how hard I try to cast away unnecessary thoughts, I can’t remove the mere idea how Eman was the only one who showed no interest or whatsoever with my blood. As far as I’m concerned, everyone has their eyes set on having at least a droplet of my blood. There must be some sort of story that would ease away my curiosity.

“No, I don’t know anyone from that clan,” he coldly replied.

Eman’s sudden change of his tone based on my query made me believe that he’s really hiding an important piece of the puzzle, which I guess time would reveal.

“Shall we get going? It’s not safe out here in the dark. It’s not like I can protect you from over a hundred or a thousand creatures who are eager to annihilate you and take your blood with them.”

Even if Eman literally made it obvious that he’s escaping my question to prevent me from further investigating him, I just chose to ignore the sign and stood up from the bench. “I still don’t have a place to stay,” I said with a frown on my face.

Eman sighed, then stretched his arm forward with his right hand waiting for mine. “I’ll let you sleep over in my house for as long as you want, Luna.”

All of a sudden, I gained a lot of different outbursts of emotions to the point that I almost forgot to hold his hand. “So warm…” I commented.

The warmth that I felt from getting our fingers intertwined relieved every single bit of frustration that I had to endure the past days. And at the same time, in that very moment, I learned that Eman was definitely pure and innocent. Any sort of reason that would make me think otherwise can’t possibly exist.

***

After a few minutes of casually walking a great distance, I think that we have finally arrived at Eman’s house. It was the only one standing across the street that made it appear as if it was abandoned for ages. “Are you sure that we didn’t get lost elsewhere?” I worriedly asked.

Eman released my hand from his grip. “Wait here for a while. Don’t you dare to move away from your current location. Listen to my warning and only follow me inside once I have already given you my signal.” He left me all by myself just right after he blabbered about how dangerous it was outside when it’s already past midnight.

The cold wind that blew towards my direction created whistling sounds that resonated within my ears. It was quite loud and it was as if it’s purposely heading over my way.

My eyes widened in shock as the memory of a traumatic experience back in my younger years at the orphanage flashed right before my eyes. There was absolutely no freaking way that I could forget that sound.

“I’m sorry, Eman…”