It was proven difficult to tear her gaze away from the beguiling angelic face stained with coppery tang crimson. Justine stood there held in a trance by the same girl she saw earlier outside this dark hallway, a part in her head already screaming and sounding the warning bells to kickstart her limbs to move.

The beguiling white-haired girl released Joneil after she was satiated, the male vampire dropping limp on the ground without the same vibrant color. Wiping her stained lips with the back of her arm, she darted a tongue out to lick the blood that clung onto her arm without breaking eye contact with Justine. “You are afraid, aren’t you?” She asked in a soft, angelic tone. “...Just like everyone else”

Indeed, Justine mentally pictured how easy it was to give into the depths of terror this petite figure brought in a short period, two times scarier than Joneil himself. To scream hysterically and run would be the default route to take after what her dark orbs were forced to witness.

But this time, it was the snow-haired girl who was taken by surprise.

“No, you saved my life” was what Justine declared after being enveloped in silence and delving into her train of thoughts. She also took a step forward, with only some floating torches barely illuminating the corridor but with the girl’s heightened senses, she saw that Justine was serious.

HUH?! The snow-haired girl quickly dodged a hand reaching out to her face with curiosity, this was awful on so many levels! Out of all the reactions she got this was first! No, it was not possible. “Great acting skills you have however you will not fool me” She scowled, walking over to the motionless Joneil who was already forgotten and the least of her concerns.

Justine attempted to touch her again, but she winced as she got her hand slapped off harshly. “That hurts…”

“It was meant to hurt!” Those soft garnet irises stared pointedly, blood-stained lips curled in irritation. “And I can do far worse if you will not hold back your curiosity!” She began to walk away.

Panic flew in Justine, and she immediately followed after the retreating figure in the corridors ahead. “Please wait! At least tell me how I can leave–” But she halted in mid-steps upon completely losing the trail of the snow-haired girl. It made Justine’s hope of finding the exit plummet down to the ground. She reached down to her left thigh and scratched a huge scar there under her skirt in anxiousness. “Oh no…”

The unknown room she entered with Joneil was larger and appeared to be an extension of the abandoned Celestial Rose Museum. Floating torches on the walls remained the only source of light around, it was rather strange because it was still early in the morning.

Now, the girl was nowhere to be found.

—

Look at these people, so much fun they are having and unaware of what the unseen veil covering their eyes is preventing them from seeing. This was the regular thought Comte De Saint-Germain would have whenever he took this one chance every month of stepping beyond the magical double doors in his hotel.

A privilege only he possessed.

He blended quite nicely with the rest, no one suspecting a thing while he joined them in the tour being given by the Louvre’s staff–showing the curious, fascinated people of the fantastic displayed crafts and the history behind them.

In here where past and present met, where time was frozen.

Just like the home he currently dwelled in–standing between two passages of time.

Comte already heard and knew everything about the tours offered but his interest never dimmed, it was the reactions and observing these people that he was aiming for. They were so different from where he came from.

“If I can only give them the same rights but it’s beyond my control…” Yes, among everyone in his hotel, only he could enter through those double doors. Comte exited the Louvre with this inkling, it was a warm and windy day outside and it was such a foreign feeling against his skin yet he welcomed it with open arms.

His eyes which were fluttered closed suddenly flew open and whirled back at the entrance of the high-end museum.

A scream? That didn’t sound right.

Comte went back inside, taking the same route but stopped as he found an earring on the floor, he picked it up and stared at the white gem stud.

“My earring!”

Turning around he saw a woman rushed to her, paling nervously and she appeared to be in distress. A small polite smile curved up Comte’s lips, “Is this yours?”

“Yes, I thought I lost it already!” The woman was relieved, evident on her face as she took the earring from Comte’s palm and placed it back in her right ear. “Thank you so much, sir” She did a short bow of head.

Comte nodded his head back, “It is no problem at all, do enjoy looking around here” His molten gold eyes watched her go back to a man waiting by the end of the hall, they looked happy as they carried on with their stroll.

Indirectly, the audience to their public display of affection felt an unwanted pang in his chest. Comte turned away and returned to the double doors, once it closed, there would be no means for him to visit the present time–not until the next month.

“I thought we were safe here” This was what greeted the vampire as soon as he got back.

Comte looked at Arthur Conan Doyle and raised a brow, “I’m sorry I don’t think I follow”

An exasperated sigh came from the author, he wasn’t usually in this kind of mood he was one of the sunshine and ray of annoyance in the others dwelling here. But today Arthur was being out of character, “You said we would find solace here and you know–some kind of way for us to make up for whatever we haven’t done in our previous lives” He explained, “But how come a killer is roaming around hunting vampires down? Are the people in this timeline aware of such existence?”

No, they weren’t. The humans living their lives in this frozen timeline knew nothing about what Comte did–all the sacrifices and thorns he had to swallow to come up with this result. Their existence here was more of a decoration or unwilling specimens who got involved. “They do not know anything about vampires, their mindset is whatever goes on in this year, Arthur. Vampires are nothing but fictitious to them”

“That so? Seems like it wasn’t entirely the case, mate” Arthur pressed on, not convinced. His lips compressed in a thin line. “Leo and I went out yesterday to town, we found another group of vampires hiding in fear and they kept on talking about a red-handed Jill. We did find some posters stuck on the walls with the name they mentioned”

“It must be a mistake, perhaps they encountered a madman–wait, did you say another group?” Comte furrowed his brows, for all he knew, the only vampires here were them and he was doing great for so long in keeping them a secret. “That cannot be, do you know who they are?”

Arthur shrugged, running a hand through his thick blue hair. “No, I don’t, they don’t appear to be famous figures or anyone worth remembering. Leo headed out today again to check on them because, like me, he can’t be put to rest”

—

Too late.

In the basement of an old, haunted museum Leonardo Da Vinci found the men who approached him and Arthur yesterday but today they lay among the stacks of dusty objects and furniture, discarded there like an unwanted pair of toys. Their heads were tilted at a strange angle while their throats were torn off.

“Such madness…” It was an awful sight, even for someone like him. Leonardo may be immortal now but he was human once and this kind of death was unacceptable even if it were vampires.

Aren’t they supposedly stronger and higher than humans in terms of strength? No ordinary person would have pulled this off.

Rose, Apricot, Peony and Red Salvia. The quartet of floral fragrances reached his senses and lured him away from the dead bodies. It was so intense that it undermined the malodorous smell of this place.

Leonardo’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, he wasn’t alone.

“Let us not waste time and kindly make yourself known” He spoke just loud enough to be heard. There was no one in sight but his heightened senses that were beyond a human’s detected it.

Someone had been watching him since he came here.

A grim line formed on his lips, “I take you are the one responsible for these killings and their anxiety, Red-handed Jill?”

There was no response to the posing question yet the tenseness hanging in the atmosphere stayed like an unseen thread waiting to snap and slice someone to bits. Leonardo didn’t entirely have to see to know that Red-handed Jill was lurking in the thick darkness, using it to their advantage.

“I don’t know about you and frankly, it never piqued my interest but if you are purposely bringing tragedy to our kind, I will not sit down and do nothing” Leonardo continued, his patience was also being tested here, infuriated to be talking to a menacing air or ghost for the matter.

Approaching steps–carefully but with haste, a head with black hair peeked out from the corner and quickly took notice of Leonardo. Their eyes met–soft raven black and molten orbs.

This was not Red-handed Jill, was the artist’s immediate conclusion. She didn’t have the alluring scent that would lead one to a death trap.

Leonardo walked forward without hesitation, he was towering over this woman, and she only reached his chest. “Cara Mia, it’s quite odd to find you strolling here”

Her fear and anxiety at that moment were stronger and she didn’t find it uncomfortable to be addressed with such endearment. “Hello, I was looking for the way out” She kept on glancing back. “I can’t leave by going through the same path I came here from”

“What is your name, if you don’t mind me asking?” Leonardo observed her tense movements and also her clothes. This woman didn’t belong in this lifetime, those clothes were too…modern. He stood in front of her completely to hide the vampires’ corpses on the other side.

She looked up at him, “I’m Justine, I was attacked by a vampire and someone saved me but that person left. Now I don’t know how I am going to get out of this place”

“Justine, such beautiful name and it fits you, dark-haired beauty” Leonardo declared, although it sounded like a shallow pick-up line Arthur would usually say but he genuinely thought Justine was beautiful. “I think I already have an idea what happened but it’s better to save all the explanations until we are in a safe place, there is a roaming killer and based on what you told me, it must be the same person I am trying to look for” He raised his hand out to her. “Please come with me, I will not hurt you”

Justine glanced at his waiting hand and then up to Leonardo’s face, she observed it for a few seconds. He was such a gorgeous form, if it were not for the dire circumstance they were in, she’d find more time to appreciate his looks. “Okay, thank you”

Chapter 3

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