Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 517: Unfinished business

It was that place again...

The same one his diamond eyes beheld not so long ago, during his first and only dream.

Grass was never greener than the one beneath his feet, the air neither hot nor cold, just sweet on his skin.

Was it yet another dream? But how?

Silas never dreamt for he had never known a lick of sleep.

Why was he there then?

The questions did not come with their answers, but memories struck instead... Memories of the last faces that stood before him, the last voices to reach his ears.

Dragomir’s servant... That one was not much of a surprise on its own. Even joining forces with the prince was to be expected. The witch was not the most familiar to his eyes, but the vampire could’ve sworn her traits had appeared to him before that night.

Reckless! How much more reckless could he have been?

However, the biggest ache to twist his insides was the fact that Arabella was left to fend for herself on that island.

No one knew of her presence there. He had promised to come back in an hour or two. Ada would know to sound the alarm if they both disappeared for too long, wouldn’t she? And even if Arabella had a cloaking spell on her, Morgana would know how to circumvent it since she was the one to cast it.

Arabella was safe, right? She wouldn’t die of hunger or thirst, would she?

No matter which way Silas turned the topic and tossed it, there was no escape, no other way to see things under different lights.

It was all his fault... All of it!

All he had to do was listen to her for a little longer. She begged and pleaded with him not to go.

No pride lived in him upon remembering how her voice had gone hoarse as she called and screamed his name in vain on that shore.

None of it mattered there. That place kept him contained without a way out. His senses betrayed him, left him utterly lost as to what to do or where to go next.

Well, that was until a small silhouette became distinguishable from the distance.

A hint of familiarity emanated from the figure but for the first twenty steps his feet took towards it, nothing gave its true identity or nature away.

It was when his blood started to boil in his veins that Silas realized how much he’d gotten used to relying on his advanced senses.

Eventually however, what was nothing but a frame turned out to be a feminine body. The brown hair on her head shone golden as she sat upon a sheet of fabric covering the fresh-looking grass beneath them.

The green gown covering her body was every bit reminiscent of the gemstones Arabella’s eyes were made of.

Even though alone, the woman seemed to be enjoying her time dressing up a picnic around herself.

"I wasn’t sure who would come," her voice sweet and vibrant, she spoke without turning around.

"Eleanor? Eleanor Burchard?" he sort of half asked.

That finally got her full attention. Stopping all movement, the woman slowly turned her head to meet his eyes, the smile on her just as saccharine as her voice.

"I am so happy to finally meet you," she shifted aside, tapping her hand on the ground invitingly.

"I am honored to finally stand before you as well," he bowed before his mother-in-law.

"Please, come sit with me,"

In response, Silas looked around as though searching for something specific, "I am flattered but also afraid I can’t allow myself to stay. I must find my way back home,"

"I know," her beam turned more solemn, "You do not belong in this place. Not yet, at least, but I hoped you would still grant me some of your time?"

Silas turned his full attention back onto Eleanor and settled down, "Could you enlighten me as to what kind of place this is?"

"Hmmm...," she hummed, her beautiful cognac eyes travelling around before going back to him, "I’d say it is sort of an in-between pocket that is out of time and space as we used to know it,"

"What does time mean to you now?" he asked.

"Not much since there is an abundance of it. I’d go as far as to say I left it behind a good while ago," her smile never vanished.

After a few seconds of consideration, new words came to mind, "I was here before and I saw you, but I don’t think you saw me. You were sitting with your daughter... My wife,"

"I do know who you are," she chuckled while nodding, "I come here when family calls after all,"

"This space is your own then," Silas half asked. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Not at all!" she shook her head, "It is intertwined, linking us together with loved ones that come settling unfinished business. In fact, I am sure we are not alone here,"

Those words made Silas look around again a tad more frantic that time around, "Is Arabella here? Is she-"

"My daughter isn’t dead," she stated strictly before her demeanor shifted back to a softer one again, "Pardon me. I do get a bit hung up on words when my daughter is the topic of discussion,"

"I do understand," after a sigh he added, "This place still holds many secrets to me, but I know one needn’t die in order to come around. I just want to see my wife and know that she is safe,"

"She isn’t safe,"

Like silver shards pushing down his esophagus, those words spared him no pain. Eleanor had hurled them at him with such nonchalance that one would have doubted they had come out of the mouth of a mother... Arabella’s mother.

"I see that look on you," without looking at him, Eleanor continued to move the food plates around on the fabric as if getting ready to receive more visitors, "My hands are unfortunately tied. There is nothing I can do to even help my daughter," by then her smile had completely vanished, "But you, on the other hand, you can...,"