The Mask of our Secret

Chapter 5

She hadn't shared it all with Luca—about the woman in the mirror, the cold whispers, about the way the walls breathed with her. She couldn't. He'd been nice, almost protective, but something inside her warned that the further they went, the more perilous it would get.

As she drifted through the house that afternoon, aimlessly, her mind was interrupted by the crash of something heavy hitting the floor. On the floor of the library sat an old journal—a worn leather book with edges frayed from years of sitting on a shelf somewhere.

It was familiar to her right away. Her grandmother's handwriting on the cover.

A wave of panic came over her, but she kneeled down to pick up the journal, dusting it off as one would a lifeline. The book was buried beneath stacks of faded papers, nearly as if she had hidden it herself.

As Emma opened it, her heart missed a beat.

The initial few pages were full of ordinary entries—her grandmother's everyday thoughts, trivial details of family life, and entries about the house as well. But when Emma went through the pages, she found another type of entry entirely—one that was very dark.

"I have seen him again," one read. "The man who has entered my life like a storm, light and dark. I am conflicted. I know the repercussions, but I cannot prevent what is happening between us."

Emma's breathing caught. Her hands shook as she flipped through the pages quicker, wanting to know.

"I can sense the tug of his soul, as if it has always belonged to me, and the curse has been reawakened. What I've done will have repercussions. For me. For my family. For him."

She paused, reading the words. A f*******n love affair? The curse?

Her heart thudded as she turned another page, impatient now to know. What had her grandmother got herself into? And why had she never told her?

The entries became increasingly desperate with every passing day, and Emma's stomach turned in discomfort.

"I feel the blood of our people rising within me. It is the only reason for this tie I cannot break. But I suspect it is a link created in darkness. If we are not vigilant, we will all be tied with it."

As she spoke, the library door creaked open. Emma whirled around, alarmed. Luca was in the doorway, his expression pinched, eyes dark with fatigue.

"Found something interesting?" he queried, his tone gentle, but his eyes instantaneously attracted to the journal clutched by her.

Emma hesitated, but then, with a deep breath, she handed it to him. Luca took the journal carefully, his fingers brushing against hers for a moment—a brief, electric touch that sent a jolt through her. She quickly averted her gaze, her face burning, and shifted her attention to the rest of the room.

He flipped through the pages with slow precision, his brow furrowing more deeply with each entry. The weight of the revelation seemed to sink in, and when he reached the last page, he paused, reading the words silently to himself.

"You're not the first," he murmured. "To be caught in this web."

Emma swallowed hard, her heart in her throat. She could feel the dread pooling in her stomach.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

Luca gazed up, his face a mixture of conflicting emotions—serious and yet, something Emma couldn't identify. It was like he was battling something within himself, grappling with a truth just uncovered.

"I've been going through more of the old records, trying to piece together the history of the curse. And what I'm starting to realize is that the curse. It's tied to the women in your family. It's passed down through your bloodline."

Emma felt a chill rush over her, her mind racing. "The women?" she repeated. "But why? What does it have to do with me?"

Luca's jaw clenched, and he exhaled, shutting the journal. His fingers rested on the soft leather cover a moment before he gazed at her with an intensity that was simultaneously alien yet familiar.

"Your grandmother's diary. It's not merely a record of a curse. It's a record of a f*******n love affair. The man she speaks of? He's involved, Emma. He's connected to the curse. To your family's curse."

Emma stood still. "What man?" she said, her voice shaking.

Luca's eyes clouded. "He was called Adrian Valenti. He was of an ancient, influential family with whom his forbears had connections centuries ago. His lineage. Well, it's not really human."

Emma's heart rate accelerated as she absorbed the words. She recognized what Luca said—recognized what he was trying to tell her, even though he wasn't saying it clearly.

"You're saying." She swallowed, struggling to form the words. "That my grandmother fell in love with a. a monster?"

Luca looked away, but not before Emma caught the flicker of something in his eyes. Something was torn.

"I don't know quite what Adrian was," Luca whispered. But there are whispers, rumors in the ancient accounts. It's possible he was the descendant of something much older than man. Whatever he was, he was tied to your line through a bargain—a curse that still ties your family to his."

Emma's stomach did a flip. She wanted to shout, to inform him it was impossible, but inside, she could feel the truth settling in her bones. The odd attraction she had for Luca, the way the house responded when she was there—it all seemed to make sense now, even though she didn't want it to.

"There's more," Luca went on, his voice strained with tension. The curse isn't about blood. It's about what was promised—a sacrifice, a debt that cannot be paid back. And your grandmother. She broke it. She crossed a line. And now, it's your turn."

Emma's chest constricted, her breath short. "My turn?" she echoed, trying to piece it all together.

Luca's eyes gentled, but there was something in his face that made her heart pound.

"Whatever this is," he said, his voice firm but with an unmistakable edge of fear, "it's not a family curse. It's personal. It's connected to you now—because of your blood, because of what your grandmother did."

He moved closer, dropping his tone as he went on, "You've been branded, Emma. And I believe." He hesitated, the words seeming difficult to voice. "I believe the curse is stirring within you."

Her heart pounded in her chest, the truth dawning on her with a chilling strength. The shadows, the whispers, the draw she felt towards Luca—it wasn't the house. It was her.

The curse had been inherited over generations, and now, it had claimed its next prey.

As Luca stepped out of the library, Emma's head whirled with a thousand things. Each sentence, each disclosure seemed to tug her deeper into the unknown. Her grandmother's f*******n love affair. The lineage. Adrian Valenti. The curse.

And Luca—was he involved? Did he find himself attracted to her because of the blood that flowed through her veins, the same blood that connected her to the man her grandmother loved, the man who had cursed her family?

The response was just out of reach, like the sound of a bad dream in the distance. Emma couldn't avoid it. She couldn't avoid them—the spirits of the past.

But most importantly, she couldn't shake the sense that there was no going back now.

The curse had already taken her.

And she had no idea what she desired next.