Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Bellcolor
“ Y ou told me she was invulnerable!” I hear Ms. Kingsley’s panicked voice. I try to open my eyes, but it feels like my eyelids are glued together.
“True, but we didn’t say you could use her as a training dummy! Where’s your judgment?” Is that my father chastising her? I can’t identify it. Something in his voice seems strange.
“Everyone, please calm down.” I immediately recognize the Dean’s voice.
“Calm down? How can you expect me to calm down? Libretto won’t be pleased with this!” my father says. Libretto. He keeps getting involved. I still haven’t figured out what he wants from me.
The voices mix together in a raging argument, constantly interrupting each other. I try to move my body but it won’t respond to my commands. Liam was so cruel. Where did that rage come from? He really kicked the shit out of me, but what hurt me most was that Valentina told him I’d lost my virginity. Not just that, she’d made it sound like I’d ‘prepared myself for him’? What’s with that?
“She’s coming to!” I hear the Dean. I don’t want them to know I’m awake – if you could even call it that.
“Bellcolor, take your time.” My father’s voice calms me down. Now I know for sure it’s him.
“I-I…” I try to speak, but my throat betrays me.
“You’re dismissed!” my father sternly declares, and I hear footsteps moving away, it must be the Dean and Ms. Kingsley.
“We have to bring her before the rest of the Council,” I hear a familiar voice say.
“Not in her condition, it’s too dangerous. We mustn’t move her,” my father implores.
“Her condition is the reason we must hurry. I don’t know how this is possible, but her body is dying,” the voice replies, and I hear it moving around me.
Dying? But I’m already dead… aren’t I?
“Alright,” my father groans in submission. “I’ll lift her up, summon the Council.”
“Already done.”
I open my eyes a bit and recognize the blurry lump above me as Simon.
I feel strong hands carrying me. My head lolls back and I whimper in pain.
“Everything’s alright, sweetheart. Dad’s here, I’ll take care of you.” His voice cracks as he presses me to his chest. I want to take comfort in his touch, but his body is cold as ice and I get the chills. It’s so twisted. I try to protest, but he tightens his grip on me and I relax my body. No point in struggling, I’m just making my situation worse.
Nausea overtakes me as we teleport to the Council’s castle, and I shut my eyes tightly when the familiar lump forms in my belly. Despite the tears I shed last night, they won’t spill from my eyes and I feel that same sense of drowning again.
“Open your eyes, Bellcolor.” I recognize Libretto’s frozen voice and struggle to get my eyelids to obey. “Lovely girl…” He looks at me, caressing my hair with strange tenderness.
He moves away from me, and I tilt my head towards him. A sharp pain radiates from the side of my head as I do so, right where Liam kicked me so mercilessly.
My vision is still blurry but my eyes aren’t deceiving me. I see Libretto standing there with a fistful of Liam’s hair as the latter kneels before him, his body turned to me.
“Beatrice, Greta, approach,” Libretto commands the sisters, and they rise together from their seats and walk over to him. “You may say goodbye to your son. The Devil has removed his protection, and he will now receive his punishment.” Libretto’s voice is steady and he never takes his eyes off me.
I watch as though possessed while Beatrice and Greta place their hands on Liam’s shoulders, one after the other, neither protesting nor fighting for their son.
Liam’s body is trembling uncontrollably and there’s pure terror in his eyes. His gaze is contagious and I feel the tremors rising up in my body, matching his.
“Dad…” I blurt out as I raise my gaze to him. “What’s going on?”
“Shh, Bellcolor. The decision has been made, now we must carry out his will.”
“Whose will?” I ask, but my father doesn’t answer, looking directly ahead at what’s happening. I do the same.
“You’re all dismissed.” Libretto points to the door, and the other Council members leave. Their steps are heavy, echoing between the walls of the huge hall.
I raise my gaze to the painted ceiling, mesmerized by an illustration of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, the story we only just learned today. The serpent is twined around the trunk of the tree, his upper body drawing my attention. It’s a woman’s body. I now have no doubt as to her identity.
“Lilith,” I whisper, and my father’s body turns to stone.
“What did you say?” he asks, his body trembling. His eyes scan the room as his lower lip quivers. “Libretto…” he stammers.
“Bring her to me.” Libretto’s voice remains stable. He doesn’t seem to be affected by my father’s reaction. Does Lilith evoke such terror even among demons themselves? Isn’t she one of us?
My father moves towards him. My eyes never move away from Lilith’s image. Something about her brings me peace. The opposite reaction from my father’s. Why did he react to her name that way?
My father kneels before Libretto, and I choke back the pain at the sudden movement.
“Bellcolor, look at me.” My eyes move from Lilith’s figure, drawn by Libretto’s soft voice. His eyes gleam with anticipation, but I can’t figure out what his look means. “Liam, it’s time,” Libretto whispers as he pulls him by the hair and tilts his head. His other hand claws at his neck until it bleeds.
“N-no, no, please…” I hear Liam pleading, almost weeping.
I feel no sympathy for him as the sweet smell of his blood hits my nose. My body seems to come to life on its own, I ignore the stabbing pain everywhere as I squirm free of my father’s grip and crawl towards the source of the intoxicating scent.
“Yes, my child, come here…” I don’t need Libretto’s goading. My entire self is focused on one thing and one thing only. The color of Liam’s blood gleams as it runs, staining his gym shirt.
I stop in front of Liam and draw myself up a bit. Everything around me disconnects and my mind has never been clearer as my fangs fix themselves in Liam’s neck, his savagely beating jugular. A wave of ecstasy floods my body and I groan lustfully, feeding more and more, not even thinking of stopping, not thinking of the consequences to Liam’s body.
With every gulp of his blood I feel my body regaining its strength, and more. A primal chant plays in my head, the same chant I’d sung to myself the day I died, and I feel tears pouring from my eyes in an unceasing torrent. I weep into Liam’s neck, continuing to feed on his blood and drain his body. When my mouth can draw nothing more, I unwillingly detach my fangs from his neck and look into his empty eyes, staring into the void.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” I twist his neck and the sound of cracking bones responds. Liam’s head crumbles in my hands, followed by the rest of his body.
I stare at my hands, dusty with Liam’s remains, and I can’t make a sound.
The itching in my fangs doesn’t bother me like it used to, the scent and taste of the blood doesn’t drive me mad anymore. All I feel is a ceaseless hunger that I can’t believe I’ll ever satisfy. My stomach cramps at the thought that there might be some truth to that.
I raise my head unwillingly, Libretto’s finger under my chin forcing me to look directly at him.
“We meet again, my love,” he whispers with a smile.
“W-what?” I stammer.
I turn my head around to see my father kneeling to me, bowing his head with respect.
What in the name of every spirit and demon is going on here?