Blood Moon

Venera's eyes sparkled with excitement. She felt like she was in a fairy tale.

What surrounded her was a sea of purple, as if a long, smoky purple velvet silk was encircling her body. Just not tangible. Like a dream.

This purple is also the same purple that she saw glowing in the vampires' eyes.

Below Venera were carvings that curved inward and covered the enormous altar that she and Caius were stepping on. The carvings on her feet reminded her of the flowers, the sea, the stars, the sun, and the moon.

These carvings form an intricate network of sorts, with complex foreign writings and elaborate patterns. Venera could see just how much time and effort were spent carving such a detailed thing under her.

All the vampire nobles crowded around the square altar.

Venera only blinked at the crowd, and her gaze immediately drifted to Caius when she felt her hand being squeezed lightly in his. She looked at the man beside her in question.

Caius himself was trying to reassure the little girl as if saying silently that he would always stay by her side so she wouldn't have to be afraid.

"Don't be afraid," Caius found himself saying aloud.

Venera shook her head, and a few strands of hair mischievously fell down her shoulders in waves.

"I am not afraid," Venera said.

She was not afraid of having so many vampires surrounding her. She was merely curious as to why they did it.

At the same time, the vampire nobles opened their mouths in unison, and an enigmatic incantation, as if singing a melodious song, flowed out of their lips. Venera could easily admit that she did not understand a word.

This foreign language sounded like a beautiful tune to her ears.

Venera wanted to speak aloud and ask Caius what those words meant and what they were speaking of, but seeing just how serious everyone's expression was, Venera chose to keep silent.

It just does not seem like a good time to interrupt.

The gentle moonlight lighting the hall seemed to become dimmer and dimmer as the mystical chants grew longer in chorus, stretching time itself as if time were slipping through Venera's fingers like fine sand.

The flames of the lanterns in the hall started to dance sinisterly, and the purple light seemed to sway with the vampire nobles' chantings as if caught in the same dreamy rhythm.

Then there was a pause.

The vampire nobles crowding the altar raised a hand and bit one of their fingers, exposing their fangs that glinted coldly in the night.

Venera's eyes brightened at the sight.

Is something going to happen?

Sure enough, a cold wind began appearing in the enclosed throne room, but only with low intensity, like a winter breeze. It was not strong and oppressive, but rather gentle as it nipped and peppered cold kisses onto Venera's exposed skin.

The wind brushed through her hair, and the strands quickly fell to frame her face. Black tresses of hair seem to shine underneath the different illuminations of lights.

After the appearance of the wind, nothing else happened for a while. Until scarlet slowly seeped out of the carvings below Venera's feet, painting them all red.

The vampire nobles raised the hand of their bitten finger high with open palms that faced the direction of the altar, still chanting foreign words like singing a melody that Venera herself still did not understand.

Slowly, the purple light disappeared, replaced by a faint red glow extending from the blood-red liquid oozing out of the carvings.

Venera waited for a while, and sure enough, the scarlet intensity grew deeper.

The sea of purple turned into a sea of red. A sea of blood.

For a moment, Venera wondered if the red liquid from the carvings was blood or not. She could not catch the metallic scent of iron present in the blood, so this suspicious-looking red liquid was most likely not blood, although it does seem to look a lot like blood.

As if seeing her perplexed state, Caius took the chance to bring Venera into his arms and whispered, "It's not blood."

"Mm-hmm!" Venera hummed and nodded, smiling with obvious joy in her eyes. She mentally patted herself on the back for guessing things right.

She is so smart!

When she looked up to the ceiling, what first appeared in her vision was not the hundreds or thousands of lanterns, but the night sky. However, perched above the dark abyss was not the snowy moon that Venera was familiar with but a total lunar eclipse that turned the moon blood-red.

A Blood Moon.

Yet it was no ordinary blood moon.

Venera watched in awe as the eclipse edged toward completion. The moon had lost all of its silver and white. All that was left was the richest shade of red she had ever seen in the starless night sky.

It was like magic.

Maybe it really is.

She had never seen one with such a rich reddish tinge, or rather, the moon was completely red.

Slowly, the red glow from the altar fades away, as do the lights of the lanterns around the hall, leaving only the abyssal night sky and the round, red moon.

Time seemed to stand still. There was no more wind, no more chants. Just her, Caius, the night sky, and the moon—it was as if they were the only two people left in the world.

Shining silver hair reflected the crimson light of the blood-red moon, and Venera could not restrain her itchy hands from lightly patting Caius' head.

So soft and pretty. Venera thought to herself.

Caius only felt dumbfounded by the little girl's action but did not stop her from caressing his hair. He even tilted his head a little to the side to help Venera stroke his hair easier.

When Venera had her fair share of pats, she looked around the hall.

It was then that she realized that someone was missing among the crowd.