Page 9 of Last Note
“Oh, my!” Seraphina’s eyes twinkle with an orange glow, and my feet falter. “What beautiful names you three have. And how fitting.”
Blinking a few times, I stare at her, but the orange glow is not there. I’m starting to hallucinate. It must’ve been a light reflecting from the sun or something. Her eyes are their regular chocolate brown. Waves of long, curly blonde hair fall around her narrow shoulders, the long black dress that clings to her willowy body accentuating her milky skin. Her pretty oval face with a slightly pointed chin only makes her naturally red lips stand out more. I must’ve been staring too long because one of her thin, perfectly shaped eyebrows lifts up in question.
“Sorry.” My face burns from embarrassment. “I like the dress, it’s beautiful,” I finish lamely.
Seraphina gives me a once over, a look passing over her face like she finds me lacking, but in an instant, her kind smile is back in place, leaving me wondering if I have finaly lost my marbles. Obviously, I’m seeing shit now. Although I could’ve dressed better, I suppose. Black tight jeans, boots and a black t-shirt with a “Prepare yourselves, Vivaldi is coming” written on it in blood red letters. I can’t say I’ll blame her if she gives my EMO look a side-eye.
“Thank you, dear.” Seraphina smiles and, turning, she walks inside the creepy church.
I’m more startled when Harmony grabs my hand, yanking me alongside her, so we follow. Vi is in her own world, chatting animatedly with Seraphina. I swivel my head, trying to see everything at once. Tall columns hold the high ceiling, leaving the majority of the place open. Tables and chairs have been scattered around, and a raised podium is sitting at the far end. Tall candelabras line the walls and candles flicker at the center of each table. Elaborately painted windows cast a ray of colors, creating a truly mesmerizing place. Mystical and somewhat romantic. I have to admit, if only to myself, it really is beautiful.
“…you should get ready.” I catch Seraphina’s last words, blinking stupidly at her.
Everything moves in a blur and before I know it, I’m leaning my chin on my violin, looking at Harmony to give me the sign. I guess we are auditioning for this gig after all. I just pray with everything in me that no one comes to listen. Not if they want to stay alive.
7
Étienne
The lights are pulsing with the beat of the music. Gyrating bodies twist and twine around me, their faces melting and their hands reaching for my limbs. The stench of sweat and too much perfume seers my nostrils, disorienting me. Why am I back in this club? Pushing the humans away, shoving them with a lot more force than necessary, I turn in a circle, looking for my brothers. Did the lights mess me up so much when I entered the club that I imagined the fight? Shaking my head to clear it, another thought strikes me. Did I imagine her?
Reds, yellows, blues, and greens flash in fast patterns, burning my sensitive eyes. Squinting I search the bar area where I saw her. Melody. My mind supplies her name, warming my chest and anchoring me in this wild place. Dark wavy locks pop up through the masses, and her profile manifests in the blurry faces when she twists her head looking around. Is she looking for me as well?
Shoving humans left and right, I push my way through to her. Like leeches, they don’t stay away, and the harder I try to reach her, the bigger their number grows, grabbing my arms and legs in order to slow me down. Melody moves further away.
“Melody!” I call out her name, aware her human ears can’t hear me over the loud sound of the music.
Her head snaps over her shoulder, those soulful eyes locking with mine. She heard me. My heart leaps in my chest, an unfamiliar sensation overriding the anger frombeing unable to move more than an inch at a time. A shocked expression passes on her face like she didn’t think she will see me here. But, didn’t I speak to her not long ago?
Fear like I’ve never felt before tightens my chest when a shadow moves around her. Melody is still watching me, her lips parted in wonder. An arm materializes from the shadow, grabbing her shoulder and yanking her back. She disappears from sight and my roar breaks all the lights in the place, a shower of broken glass falling like rain around me. Dizziness makes me stumble, clutching my head that is beating with its own heartbeat. What kind of insanity is this?
Silence.
My ears are ringing from the too loud silence that spreads around me like a blanket. Removing my hands from my ears, I straighten up, my knees bending, expecting an attack. I can feel someone watching me in the darkness around me. It’s like I’ve been pushed in an abyss, my mind fighting to stay sane in the soundless space. Where am I? Did the assassins find a way to finally trap us and kill us all?
The scent of red blooming roses fills my lungs, and I inhale it greedily. Light splits the darkness before I can form a thought, illuminating a small space ahead of me. It’s so close, yet so far. Melody is sitting on a chair, the violin propped under her chin. Tears trickle from her beautiful, soulful eyes as she lifts her other hand and starts playing.
My body is covered in goosebumps, the hairs on my neck standing on end when heart-wrenching notes begin spilling from the instrument she cradles lovingly in her hands. The sound speaks to me more than words ever can. Her overflowing gaze drops to her feet, fat tears sliding down her cheeks, ripping my heart in pieces. The song starts slowly, just a soft hum in the air, but it starts building fast, the urgency from it thrumming in my marrow.
I stand rooted in place, my claws splitting the skin of my palms where I clench my fists. Something is holding me hostage, preventing me from going to her when it’ll be obvious, even to a fool, that she is calling me through her song. The pull in my chest feels like it’ll rip my heart so it can go to her. Her hand starts moving faster with each note. The tears that trickle down her face mix with the black liner she used on her eyes, making the rivulets on her cheeks contrast with her creamy skin. The song speeds up, the movement of her hand sawing left and right over the violin hard to track.
Urgency thrums in my veins, the forbidding feeling that I will lose her if I don’t touch her before the song ends driving me insane. Her hand speeds up, the crescendo of the song reaching the fevered pitch and my fangs drip from my lips. While snarling like a beast, I push with everything in me to free my body. She is so close. I know I can do this.
Her head lifts up, the pitch-black where her eyes should’ve been pushing all the air from my lungs like a punch to the chest. The red rose that was tucked behind her ear shivers, the velvety petals giving way when black covers the red like a plague overtaking the blood flowing through someone’s veins.
“No!” My roar echoes in the silence, my voice multiplied like a cloud of bees buzzing in the darkness.
“Please…” Her red lips move, her desperate whisper ripping my soul apart when her glistening lips turn black, the tears sliding down her face dripping from her chin. “Please…”
Her hand moves with the final note, slicing the air before dropping to her side. The note vibrates the air, bringing my blood to a boiling point. I see red. Everything around me is bathed in blood when the same hand that yanked her from the club grips her shoulder. And I know that the next moment something inside me dies.
She smiles.
The sadness in that smile mixes with gratitude, as if I have done some tremendous, heroic act by hearing her play and standing rooted to the spot, impotent to do anything but watch her fade away.
And then she is gone.
The light stays glaring, the empty chair like a finger twisting in an open wound staring me in the face. A black petal of the rose in her hair floats slowly like a feather, and I watch it, terrified, until it touches the floor. As the petal lands softly, the note fades and silence chokes me. Yellow eyes glint from the darkness, and a tail swipes teasingly at the edges of the light.
