NIGHTWALKERS

CHAPTER THREE

Carissa's daughter, right?"

The voice snapped Davina out of her trance. Her heart beating so fast it made her lungs ache. She spun around, eyes darting across the shadows of the balcony, searching for those piercing blue eyes. Nothing. The darkness was empty. But the cold sweat prickling her skin told her otherwise.

"Did you see_?" She started, the question dying in her throat as she realized she wasn't alone.

A girl stood before her, striking enough to make anyone pause. She was stunning, with a sharp, effortless silhouette and blonde hair cut into perfect bangs that framed her face. She was dressed entirely in black, in anything brighter, she would have been radiant, but the dark fabric gave her an edge that felt cold.

"Hi... I'm Davina. Carissa's daughter." Davina reached out, her hand halfway through the air for a handshake. But pulled back instantly.

The girl didn't move, but the look of pure disgust that flashed across her face was enough to make Davina's skin crawl.

"I'm Lisa, your supposed cousin," she said, her voice dripping with ic. "Please don't touch my things. We don't want a second Carissa, do we?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned on her heels and walked back inside, leaving the door swinging behind her.

The silence felt heavier now, pressing in on her. Davina turned back toward the tree line, her eyes straining against the dark. She was searching, almost hoping to see those eyes again. Was it a hallucination? A trick of the moonlight? No. She had seen those eyes. They felt real, and they were fixed on her.

"Miss Davina, I'll show you to your room now."

The deep, feminine voice from the doorway made her startled. But Davina couldn't argue, she followed the house help inside. Her thoughts were spinning, tangling into a knot she couldn't undo. Between the move, the cold reception from Lisa , and those haunting eyes in the woods, everything was taking a sharp, wrong turn in her head. She felt like she was losing her mind.

"This is your room, Miss Davina," the house help said, gesturing toward a heavy wooden door. "And you don't have to worry-your things have already been arranged inside. Good night". She turned and disappeared down the corridor before Davina could say anything.

Davina stood alone, staring down the quiet hallway. Back in Asheville, everything was modern and bright. Here, the house felt like it was in another century. Which is creepy; no matter how many candles were lit, the shadows always seemed to win, stretching across the walls like ink .

"Please, Victor. Please, let me be the one to tell her."

The muffled sound of her mother's sobbing drifted from the room next door. Davina froze. She tiptoed toward the door, her breath hitched, desperate to catch whatever secret they were keeping.

"Carissa, it's not safe anymore," a man's voice -victor- insisted. "The more we delay, the more danger we're all in."

"I want her to hear it from me directly," Carissa pleaded, her voice breaking. "Please, I'm begging you. Give me just a little more time."

"What are you doing?"

Lisa's voice sliced through the air like a blade. Davina's heart nearly leaped out of her chest. She spun around, her back hitting the wall, trying to stay quiet enough that the two inside the room wouldn't hear her.

"I was going to my room," Davina whispered, her eyes flickering towards her mother's door.

They stood in a tense silence for a few seconds. The low murmurs and muffled sobs continued from the other side of the door, clearly, they hadn't heard the girls in the hall.

"You know, whenever your mother shows up here, its always the same," Lisa said, her voice sharp. "murmuring and crying. Grandpa is dead now, so i guess uncle victor is the only one left for her to perform her madness with."

Davina stared at her, stunned into silence. She didn't have the words to fight back, but a hot spark of anger flared in her chest. Hearing her mother's grief dismissed as "madness" felt like a physical blow.

"What?" Lisa shrugged, completely unfazed by Davina's expression, and turned to head back downstairs.

Davina watched her disappear into the shadows of the staircase. She finally retreated into her room and shut the door, but the sanctuary felt cold. The tension she had been fighting finally broke free. She slid down the back of the door until she hit the floor, pulling her knees tightly against her chest as the weight of the house settled over her.

FIRST PERSON POV/MORNING

The birds were the first thing to reach me . The melodic chirping felt too cheerful for the weight in my chest. Then came the sun, a thin, persistent needle of light piercing through the heavy drapes to prick at my eyelids. I groaned, shifting my head away from the glare, only to realize something felt wrong. The floor was gone, instead of the hard, cold wood against my spine, i felt a soft, suffocating sink of a mattress.

I opened my eyes, staring up at the canopy of the bed. my last memory was the door, the taste of salt on my lips, and the crushing exhaustion that had finally claimed me. Had to sit up slowly, my limbs were feeling heavy and disjointed. I looked down at the sheets, neatly tucked around me. Did i walk to my bed yesterday? i really can't remember.

I walked over to the window, the floorboards groaning under my bare feet. The sky hadn't fully woken up yet, it was a bruised, heavy grey. Thick banks of fog clung to the trees like a shroud, and the clouds seemed to be actively suffocating the pale, struggling sun. Looking down at the long driveway, I could barely see the dark shapes of cars cutting through the mist. People were arriving for the wake.

My eyes caught the black material hanging by the door.

A black dress hung against the back of the door, i didn't need to be told - I knew It was mine. looking at it made the room feel even smaller, even lonelier. Everything in this house felt like a secret kept in a cold, quiet room.

The clock struck eight, but the sun remained a ghost behind the thick clouds. It felt as if the sky itself understood that today was reserved for grueling, refusing to let even a single ray of warmth pierce the heavy atmosphere.

Davina stood by her grandfather's open casket, her gaze fixed on his still face. He looked profoundly at peace - perhaps even relieved to have escaped the weight of the living world. Though they were strangers in life, a strange feeling settled in her chest, that maybe there would have been a great bond between them. The first tear tracked down her cheek, silent and hot.

"isn't she Clarissa's daughter?" the whisper floated through the room, but Davina didn't bother turning around. She kept her eyes locked on her grandfather, unwilling to face the prying eyes of the crowd.

"Poor Child." another voice murmured, thick with pity. "i just pray Clarissa's damn reputation doesn't follow her here. She doesn't need that hanging over her."

"Miss Davina".

The deep voice of the house help from the night before broke through the murmurs. She appeared at Darling's side, her expression unreadable. "you must be exhausted. please, come and eat something."

"I'm fine, thank you," Darling replied, quickly wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "And... thank you for carrying me to my bed last night. I'm sure i wasn't easy to move." She let out a soft, nervous laugh.

The woman's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, Carrying you? When i checked your room last night to see if you were settled, you were already in your bed, fast asleep."

The air in the room suddenly felt cold. Davina's breath hitched, her mind racing back to the memory of lying down by the door and nothing else.

"Oh Right," Davina stammered, forcing a stiff, awkward smile. "No... no Problem. i must have been more tired than i thought. I'll come eat later."

"As you wish," the house help said, giving a brief nod before disappearing back into the sea of black-clad guests.

Davina turned her back to the coffin, but her eyes were no longer focused on the dead. It was harming again to her, that something in this house was watching her.

"Lothaire!"

The name was barked across the room, cutting through the low voices of mourners. Davina spun toward the door, her breath catching in her throat.

Their eyes locked instantly.

The world around her blurred into a smudge of grey and black, leaving only him in focus. Her heart slammed against her ribs like a trapped bird. She knew those eyes. Piercing and impossible to forget, they were the same, twin fires that had watched her from the shadows of the trees.

She wasn't dreaming. She was certain. Her gaze drifted to his mouth - the same sharp, silent curve line. It was him.

As he began to move through the crowd, the people parted way for him. With every step he took toward her, the air grew heavy, or, colder. The realization crashed down on her. What she saw yesterday wasn't a hallucination. He was real.