Pov. Valentina
Sometimes I wonder how I can be so cold, but then I remember why every night and day without sleep, every time I was exhausted and my mother told me that I could only eat when I could master this skill definitively. I've never had an affective bond with anyone but my mothers, Emma the woman who gave birth to me, super protective and thoughtful, she taught me everything about magic, especially healing, she masters healing magic as no one would be able, besides her and the woman who taught her everything almost everything she knows, she has her Wolf and vampire genes, but she prefers to avoid direct combat unless it's totally necessary. Already Genevieve and the opposite, boss and addicted in battles, she created me to be the perfect killer. Each skill level I had to learn to master completely before going to death training in Germany. Since I was five years old I have learned that feelings are a waste of time, that this would only lead me to failure and sink the legacy of my family, that my birth was a gift to the evolution of our clan.
This gift sometimes seems more of a burden to be carried.
And seeing how other kids could have a less rigid life just made me think even more that way.
And digging this grave now is somehow creating a great internal conflict in me, I think it's here alone, it's making me lose focus of my goal, of my mission, of my promise to my mother not to falter and not to throw the family name in the trash. I feel furious when the shovel reaches the expected point, I see the coffins side by side and my heart accelerates for a moment, but I go deep and take control again.
- Öffne es. - I say and the coffins open revealing the bodies of the lavely ballard.
Hum.
How strange.
These injuries should have disappeared and their bodies should have been regenerated, but this did not happen. I touch the face of the female cadaver and I feel something strange in its facial skin, it seems to have something in its mouth, I touch the lips and I feel them more rigid than I should, so I carefully move away the pale lips and what I see leaves me on alert, but I do not retreat, I only open my mouth further seeing that the tongue had been ripped out, I take the parchment that was in place of the tongue and when I open it the cadaver of the man sits down quickly.
Drugs.
I should have thought about that.
I can't think of anything else because I'm thrown back by the male corpse letting the parchment fall, when my back hits the tombstones I hear a bone noise breaking and I can only think that if my mother had been here I would be punished for total carelessness. When the healing process makes my ribs return to the correct place, I lift my blouse and I can see the movements of the bones, down the blouse and I get up ignoring the pain. I look forward and I see the two corpses standing and taking something from the coffins, and when I can see what it is, I flip my eyes.
Great.
Depraved souls.
But I prefer to call them butchers.
They are nothing more than sobranturals beings who have committed unacceptable crimes and on their deathbed pray to the reapers and ask to become their servants and so they return to life as abominable beings enormous feats made of skin and bone, their skins are marked by autopsy seams like those of human corpses, their eyes are sewn, their noses are pulled out and their mouths are also sewn together so that they can never utter a word again. They eat human corpses and roam the cemeteries at night in search of carts that attempt to find graves; they are also tasked with protecting the secrets of supernatural bodies from beings like witches of the night.
- What a nice scythe, too bad I'll have to use it to cut your neck. - I say seeing them raise their huge sickles.
What a beauty.
I was right to suspect that there was something wrong with the death of Isabelle and Nick's parents.
And now I'm sure.
Without any defensive weapons, I think the only way I have to fight these two and deflecting their attacks and ripping out each member. I see the fake skin fall off giving way to their normal appearance and I make a face with so much ugliness. Without waiting for an attack, I leave on top of them that turn the sickles and then throw them towards me one behind the outea making me have to jump back getting rid of the first one that came towards my legs and deviate from the other falling to my knees and lowering the head. I get up quickly to see one of them make a motion to call the sickle back and use my speed to appear at his side and hold his hand that looked more like claws. I break three important points of the movements of the arms of any being.
Pulse, elbow and shoulder.
When I am going to break the other arm I am pulled by the other and pulled away again, but this time I fall on a knee and use my hands as a support by driving my werewolf nails into the ground to regain control. The one who threw me calls the sickle and my battle instinct makes me retreat behind some high headstones and it doesn't take long for the sickle to hit the headstone a, breaking in the middle and passing very close to my head. I quickly use magic to summon one of the weapons most used by my family, better known as the profane current. A chain that was forged in the flames of hell itself long ago and used to imprison the cause of the first supernatural war in the history of our people. My great-great-grandfather Hector created this chain after winning a bet from a demon and thus gained access to the flames of hell and with a unique material he came or is chain there that became the trump card of our family.
He was the most honorable of our clan.
He survived the terror in Germany and was one of the founders of that city and of the blood pact among the ten surviving families.
I see the tip of the chain in the palm of my hand and I smile reminding myself of why I chose that the chain would come out of this place.
A beautiful tribute to the character of mortal kombat.
Scorpion.
I get up ready to face those two. I see the two looking for me and with my free hand I pull the chain out of my hand and turn it up and then I throw it in the direction of what threw me, I wrap the chain in his neck is the thrust to me, the second comes with the sickle running to me and tries to hit me, but I turn without releasing the chain that hangs the other. I see the moon at the most visible point and I am sure that it is already midnight, time for the meeting, that it is better to end it soon. Deviation of another attack and slide under the legs of the ugly, then correct the three important points of his leg, knee kneeling, ankle and division between the thigh and buttocks making him kneel, do not waste time and do the same in the other leg and he releases the sickle, take the sickle and cut his head seeing the disgusting worms leave the body of the butcher and without time to enjoy his death. I wrap the rest of the chain in the other one and with the tip of the sickle I undo the seam seeing the tongue cut, take the fallen parchment and put it back and it returns to the appearance of Isabelle's mother. I fix the seam by holding the parchment back in its mouth, make a cut in my hand with the tip of the knife and use the blood to make the symbol of the Lavely Ballard clan and summon the spirits of the couple, but when I finish the last sentence of the invocation ritual the bodies begin to turn into just worms.
So I was right to follow my intuition of checking the corpses.
They are not the bodies of the Lavely Ballard.
I venture to say that their bodies have never been in these coffins.
I get up and walk to the coffins and see the symbol of the spell of illusion and prison.
Whoever is with the bodies of Lavely Ballard and arrested those butchers here with a spell of illusion to fool everyone during the funeral bearing in mind that the butchers only attack at night and only the troublemakers of the dead, living humans do not interest them.
There's really something very wrong with this city.
- Zu reparieren. - I recite the spell of repair and see the destroyed tombstones returning to what they were and the worms being dragged back into the coffins.
The coffins were closed, the earth covered them and grass was reborn leaving everything as it was. I run out of the cemetery towards the grotto seeing that I am already fifteen minutes late and as soon as I arrive I see the torches lit at the entrance. I walk calmly until I am inside and the secret path reveals itself to me, I calmly listen to altered voices and stop near the entrance to listen.
- Why are we here ? - asks a clearly irritated male voice.
- Why did fergus call us ? - I hear another male voice.
- This advice was dead for everyone here, so why do we come here tonight ? - I hear a female voice.
- Calm down, I am still the leader of this council since the ballard decided to neglect the pact. So I send them and I call them whenever I want. - I hear my uncle reply arrogantly.
I see Griffin come up to me and analyze me.
- I see you rolled on the sand. - mocking and I show him the middle finger and he bites.
- idiot, I'll still throw you off a cliff. - I say and he shows his teeth as if he were laughing.
What a mother's son.
He was there watching everything.
- You are not the leader of your clan, so you cannot command this council. - I hear the woman say.
- Do not say nonsense I... - I decide to reveal my presence by making my uncle shut up and everyone looks at me curious.
- Who are you ? - asks a tall black man.
- I am someone who wants answers and you will give me all of them. - I answer calmly when I see Griffin approaching me by my side.
- Your face seems familiar to me. - says a Latin man with green eyes.
- Because Lavely Ballard's children don't know who they really are ? - I ask ignoring the questions.
- What makes you think we would tell you something about them ? - asks a blonde woman.
- Do you really not know who she is ? - asks fergus and the four representatives deny.
- Maybe I should introduce myself, I am Miguel Hernández, leader of the lesser dog clan. - says the Latin man with green eyes that seems familiar to me.
He extends his hand for a greeting and I accept, then a brunette woman approaches making the same gesture.
- I am Anaya Ibrahim. - says the black woman and I smile in a restrained way.
- I have heard very well of your abilities with healing magic and your phoenix clan. - I say and she smiled but her hair showed confusion and curiosity.
- Thierry McGregor, leader of the greater dog clan. - says the suspicious brown.
- I'm Kate, my last name and my clan is not necessary, you seem to know more than you demonstrate. - says the blonde and I shrug my shoulders.
- Valentina, enough is enough. - says Fergus they seem angry and I face it.
- Shut your mouth and tone down when you go to talk to me. - I say walking to him who cracks his teeth. - I heard all your ego and your ambition wanting to take care of something that is not yours. - complete and he opens his mouth.
- I was just putting order here. - he says and I turn my eyes.
- Spare me, you know very well that you have no power over this council, your last name is useless if you are not the leader of the clan. - I say staying with the entity. - Those two chairs at the tip can only be occupied by the leaders of the clans of the main founders of that city. - I continue walking to one of the chairs and sit in the one that has my last name. * Nicholas Lavely Ballard first and Héctor McGauthier Leblanc. - I say looking all.
- Now I remember. - exclaims Miguel. - Guys, this is the heir to Hector's legacy, one of the two chosen children. - complete and I smile.
- Now that you've spoken, she really looks like Emma, my first elite apprentice. - says anaya with a nostalgic look.
- Now that you know who I am, tell me what I want to know and to begin with, tell me why Nicholas and Isabelle do not know anything about who they really are. - I say and the blonde denies it.
- We can not, we made a blood pact with Nicholas and Emily Lavely Ballard. We can only tell why they did it to someone with a pure heart. - says the blonde and I sign.
- I understand, if they break the pact they will die. - I say thoughtful. - In that case, I declare this meeting closed. - I say and Fergus comes to me furious.
- You didn't really believe that, didn't you ? How can you let them go like this. - complains and I get up.
- It is closed, if you do not agree, then do not appear in the next meetings, your opinion is not important here. - I say and walk away with Griffin by my side leaving all the rest behind.
This idiot.
So blind that he could not see that they did not want to speak in his presence.
They don't trust fergus and I'll find out why.
I walk quietly back home thinking about what I find out today and what I will find out, that alone is enough to make me exhausted. I think of Isabelle and for some reason the possibility of the girl knowing that she did not veil the real bodies of her parents makes me uncomfortable, thinking about how much she would be devastated makes me weird. When I finally see my house, I see the girl who was present in my thoughts sitting on the balcony with her guardian sleeping next to her, I try to go back more I see her eyes stuck in me and curiosity stamped on her face. I look at griffin who understanding my dilemma takes a step for me and runs towards the girl, so what I have left is to go after. I walk calmly towards the girl who caressed my guardian and when she lifts her head and smiles at me, I feel a strange feeling that bothers my chest with every step I take.
- What were you doing in the forest Maria Chiquinha ? - sing and I get confused.
- What ? - I ask and she laughs.
- Nothing, sit here. - answers hitting the empty place next to you.
- What are you doing outside here ? - I wonder sitting next to you.
- I'm sleepy, Nick went out with Anne and so far has not come back, so I decided to wait for him here while I appreciate the beauty of the night sky. - says looking up and I look at the time on my wristwatch.
- One hour, it's already very late. - I say and settle it. - You should not be here alone at this time. - complete and she looks at me with her green eyes rising.
- Then stay with me. - it says and for some reason the air gets stuck in my lungs. - If you stay, I will not be alone. - continue and for an instant everything around me seems to spin. - Are you ok ? - ask and I sign.
- Yes, I'm just a little tired, I ran with Griffin in the forest and ended up falling and banging my ribs. - I answer quickly and she opens her eyes.
- Wow, let me see how it is. - she says and when his fingers touch the bar of my shirt I go back. - Sorry, I just wanted to help. - it says with a sad and upset mullen.
- No, I'm sorry. - I ask and she looks up and it bothers me. - Isabelle. - I call and she answers with a nasal sound, so I put my hand on her chin and make her look at me. - Isabelle. - I say firmly looking into her eyes and she does the same.
- What was it ? - ask with your breath out.
- I am not used to this type of contact with affective care intention. - I answer and she opens her mouth to speak, but I won't let her. - I had a creation different from yours, I have a scar where you touched and I don't want to tell you how I got it. - full serious feeling my body tremble and she hugs me.
- You don't have to tell me, just let me give back a little of what you've been doing for me. - she says and I hug her back reminding me that she is the first person I hug in life.
I have never received a hug from Genevieve, only Emma gives me such affection when the other is not around, which is rare since she hardly leaves me alone, Genevieve is always after me, poking, complaining, imposing rules on me and making me train day and night. She didn't want to let me come here by myself, but after Emma threatened her with whatever, she allowed me to come and take care of everything by myself until they finished all the unfinished business in Germany.
For me it was a relief.
Having a time where only I charge a lot of me is being good.
- Where is the poorly educated girl I met ? - I ask her in fun and she moves away.
- She just told you that she will no longer take care of you, because you are an idiot. - she answers by crossing his arms and I smile and scratch my shoulder in his. - Your little slut, she rolls around with the Wolf and doesn't even take a bath. - mocking and I take my jaws and shake in front of her. - Valentina ! - complains about picking up the nose.
- What was it ? - I ask cynical and she pushes me making me hit my back on the floor. - Then you like a more aggressive, interesting footprint. - I say and she grabs the jaws and throws them hard at me.
- I should beat you. - she says lying next to me.
- Can beat, beating love does not hurt, it is affection in disguise. - I say funny and she elbows me to get me back. - Okkay, this hurt, I want this violent love of yours no more. - I play and she laughs.
- It's gone, you can't go back, you're stuck with me. - it says funny and I smile.
I look at her and she looks back at me, we stay like that for a few seconds until she looks at my body and notices something.
- What tattoo is this on your rib ? - curious question.
- And the constellation of Orion. - I answer and she touches the mark that my entire clan carries, but for her it's just a tattoo.
- It's very beautiful. - says and I sign.
- Maybe you don't do something similar ? - I question and she settles.
- Who knows. - he answers smiling at me and I reciprocate.
If you knew that the constellation of Andromeda is in you it will not be long before you can see the imprint of your clan carved into your body, Isabelle.
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