CHAPTER FIVE: ANCESTRY (5)

Dennis opens his eyes as he sees trees around them. Claude is still driving while grumbling about the importance of coffee in the morning. He closed his eyes and takes a deep breath. Adrianna. The child that he meets in his dream is Adrianna. It might be dreams, but something tells him someone is suffering like him. That someone told him to reach out to her.

*****

Claude glance to his side as he watches Dennis. The boy opens his eyes and stares at the endless trees. A pureblood vampire is acting like a sleepy child. Deep within him, Dennis is just a child. "Adrianna Shade"

That words caught him off guard. Claude stares at Dennis who is staring out the car windows. He keeps muttering the same name. Fear flashes through his eyes. Claude grips his steering wheel tightly. He thinks of the only possible explanation. Vampires are immortal. Unlike demons, their existence is not natural. Their death is unchangeable.

The most horrible thing about their fate is their soulmate. The moment they awaken, the person who is their partner will appear in illusions or dreams. That person is usually their soulmate. If his soulmate has human blood within them, he will use his life force to extend her life by turning them into full vampires. But, if that person is a hunter, he will suffer.

Adrianna Shade. There is only one person that he knows with the name of Adrianna Shade. She is a hunter. It can't be. This child is-

"Is that the association building?" Looking at the large building, Claude focuses on the road as he nods. He is still worried. Adrianna is probably not Dennis's soulmate. But what if what Diana told him happens? Is that why the prophecy appears? She ends up hurting the man she loves with her own hands as a hunter.

*****

"Claude?" Dennis is looking at the large building in front of him. It's impressive. The building was designed like a big white castle. He reaches out and holds Claude's sleeves. He is acting like a child. He knew that, but somehow, he felt he would meet that person here.

'Mine.'

'She is here! Hurry! Hurry!'

"Don't let her go!'

*****

"Ah, yes." Claude is distracted. He drove the car to the parking lot, looking at Dennis with conflicted eyes. This child, his parents abandoned him, his brother has been torturing him, and his guardian neglected him. Is it possible that the only person on his side will only end up hurting him?

"You're thinking something weird, don't you?" Recognizing the conflicted sight of the man, Dennis asks him back. Claude only shows two expressions when confronting him. Claude that kind with a warm smile, or Claude fears him. This time, Claude looks at him with pity.

"I do. What about you?" Claude just swallowed the heavy stone in his throat. This time he asked back. Instead of the calmness he always felt, the aura surrounding Dennis changes a little. It's warm and comforting. Something's not right. What is it? What did he miss?

"I don't know why, but my heart keeps beating in excitement. Let's go, Claude." There is a sense of excitement. He gets out of the car. He is searching for something. The truth, Dennis is searching for something. His instinct tells him something belongs to him is here.

"Sure, kid." Claude leads Dennis to the entrance. He brushed off his feeling, thinking it was a mistake. Dennis follows as he keeps looking at the path. He found her. A short hair woman with blonde hair. She smells like camellias. Both of them stared into each other eyes.

Claude will regret it today, the fact that he didn't read the message from Eric. The fact that it was he the one who tied the red thread on their pinky fingers. The fact that it was he who destroyed their future. He will resent himself for a very long time.

*****

The flower that brings light to the room is long-wilted. The girl wished to see her again, and the father granted it. She walks toward the old mansion. She plucks a bunch of red roses to see her smile. Only to find a bloody figure cursing her until her final breath. (Ah, she kill her.)

"I love you." A lie, she screams.

"I hate you. You are a monster! You took everything from me. I hate you." The final truth is revealed as the child realizes she killed her mother. Claude was wrong. It's not suicide. She was the one who killed her mother. Another memory resurfaces. Is it a fresh memory she can no longer forget?

"Miss, we have arrived." Blinking slowly, Adrianna glanced towards the Canelis hunter's branch building. She wants to give a surprise to his granduncle. She can hear people whispering around her, calling her a murderer. It's been years, but they make her look like a criminal. Even her fiancee put a distance between them. As she walks to the reception area, something screams at her.

'He's here! Here! Here!'

'Mine! He's here!'

Frowning slightly, Adrianna looked back and saw him. A man? A boy? With a blazing crimson eye under his hood is looking at her. The moment their eyes meet, something burst within her chest.

For once in seventeen years of her existence, Adrianna Shade felt that she finally found something that belongs to her.

*****

"Anna! What are you doing here? You know-" Claude is looking at the girl that is standing in front of him. He is running excitedly toward her, but Adrianna seemingly ignores him. She can smell it. The coldness of the freezing snow. Her heart beats so fast. She has a difficult moment maintaining her poker face when she meets Claude.

Dennis can feel his heart beating. It's the girl that he saw before. He can see it. The blooming camellias with red petals in the snow. It's warm. Instead of calling her Adriana, he felt it was not her name. The name she supposedly has is 'Marianna.'

'Dion.' The names clash against each other as they continue the staring contest. Adrianna doesn't know, but she is aware of this strange feeling. Even though the boy is covering himself with a hood, she can sense his sight. It's weird but familiar at the same time.

Claude finally realizes the strange tension between his grandniece and Dennis. He knows something is wrong. It seems that his fear is correct. This child might be talking about the person he knows. But the tension between them is too weird. Adrianna shouldn't feel anything, so why did she keep staring at Dennis?

"Uncle. It's a surprise. I miss you." It's heartwarming words, but the impassive face remains on her. Claude sweat-dropped. She is still the same. Adrianna called him uncle instead of granduncle. He is aware of the fact that human will find their relationship a bit weird. A thirty years old granduncle is strange. Claude suggests they call him uncle instead.

Dennis and Adrianna exclude the same cold aura, but it doesn't deflect each other. Instead, they blend and create a warm feeling. Claude knows that he needs to separate both of them right now.

"Anna, I'm working right now. We will talk later. Let's go, Dennis." Dennis and Adrianna want to refute this, but they realize they have no meeting with each other. Dennis walks away with a heavy heart. Adrianna looked at the boy disappearing silhouette as he followed his granduncle.

*****

Entering a large hall, Claude leads him to an enormous library. This library feels weird. There is a staircase in the middle of the library. Dennise raised his head at focused his eyes on the glowing stone.

'Mana stone. It holds the essence of the life force of the world.'

How did he know that? The library was built in a circular shape. No matter how much he wants to, he can't even see the staircase end. Golden books and silver books filled the first and second-floor bookcases.

'The archive of eternity. As long as there's a living creature, the archive will record his or their existence as the historian of the era.'

A woman with blazing fiery hair is shouting at a few... fairies? A small humanoid-like creature with sharp edge wings is running around while arranging a few books.

"Hurry up and clean those mess. Do you know that Mr. Claude is coming? Oh, rumors say that his silvery silky eyes can resemble the color of the blooming moon. His eyes resembled the sight of the deep ocean. I need to fix my makeup first."

"Ma'am, I think Mr. Claude-" Claude coughs a few times before the woman. She blushes and stammers in embarrassment.

"Sir Claude! My name is Ellarian Fenmaris. Welcome to the Canelis branch! What can I help you with?" Ellarian bowed slowly as she put her right hand to her left chest. The respect is not because he is a hunter but because of Claude's mother's bloodline.

"It's not me. I need to help someone alter their family record and create a new one." Claude holds his right hand to his chest as he replies to the greeting. He shows his hand to Dennis, who is standing next to him.

"Alright. Can you remove your hood?" Ellarian nodded and asked Dennis to take off his hood. Dennis remembers this woman. She is standing there with Dion when he is dying. It seems that she wants to kill Marianne. She might be one of his servants. Bracing the possibility this woman might recognize him, Dennis looks into her purple eyes.

"Sure." Taking off his hood, Dennis can only hope that this woman won't recognize him. Well, he thinks about it and knows that he fail. The silence that he brings into the library hall is deafening. The fairies stop working. Some of them dropped their books and staring him with horror.

"..." Ellarian trembles. She knew those eyes. The distant coldness that she always feels when the man praises her. Tears drop from her eyes as she remembers the man's death. The lifeless body lies in the hand of the woman who gets everything from him.

"..." Dennis knows he messed up. Ellarian's reaction further convinces him that this woman recognizes him as Dion. Ellarian reaches out and touches his cheek. The woman is holding the hem of his shirt as she tries to check her reality. Dion is obsessed with Marianna. When he meets Marianna's reincarnation, he abandons everything. His aides and advisors.

"Do you know my name? Do... you? Did you... know?" Dennis's memories of Dion are blurry. He didn't know this woman in detail, but he knew one thing. This woman hates Marriage because she cherishes Dion. Dion. He doesn't want to remember it, but the fact that this woman sees him as Dion makes him uncomfortable.

"Miss Ella-" That's why he tries to draw a line on their relationship. Looking at the crying woman, he just stared. Dennis is a vampire and lacks emotions. He shouldn't feel anything.

"Not that one! My other name. You... you know, didn't you? What does your intuition tell you? What is your soul whispering to you? Tell me... please," The woman keeps pleading with him as she tells him to tell her her real name. Hoping for the Lord that she cherished to remember her.

"..." Claude was confused. He didn't know what had happened. Dennis is a newly awakened vampire, so how did he contact a high-class fairy? Real name? Just who in the world is this child?

"Natalia Flamehorn. Guardian of the fire gate of the Flame fairy clan, the descendant of Arakan." Dennis told the woman her real name. Ellarian hugs him tighter. Wishing that what she feels today is not merely an illusion.

"Found you. I finally found you. My lord. I miss you. I miss you so much, master. I know you will return to us." Dennis frowned hard. He is not Dion. He is Dennis. Claude is still looking at both of them with shocked expressions. Ellarian hugs him tighter as she tries to remember those lonely days. The cold and empty palace without the ruler.

"Miss..," Dennis wants to escape her embrace, but he finally concedes, letting this woman pour out all those sad memories.