Chapter 65 - Graves- Part 1

When Belle returned back, her head felt heavier than usual. The loss she felt had created a wound in her heart and now that she knew that the black witches were after her for something she had no control over, it ached her heart. 

The carriage was pulled in front of the mansion and she didn't wait for anyone to open it. Pushing the door herself, she stepped out to be followed by Lucas who kept a fair distance, giving her the space she needed. She picked up Mr. Fluffs from one of the stairs to take him back to her room along with her. 

On reaching the room, Belle locked the door and got on the bed. Her head buried in the pillow as water from her eyes seeped into it. She was finding it hard to believe that her parents weren't there with her anymore, they were gone and they had died in front of her. The gore was so much that she hiccupped. 

Barron who sat next to her noticed the girl was crying. When Lucas had placed him on the staircase, the reaper had seen the amount of bloodbath that had taken place here. He had heard the servants speak to each other in a hushed tone,

"What happened here? They said about corrupted vampires," said a maid to another maid who appeared shaken after what she saw last night. 

"There are no corrupted vampires here."

"We don't know what happened. They said they would bring the reports tomorrow. I cannot believe what happened," the maid had started to cry, "Mr. and Mrs. Adams…" she trailed. This girl had lost her parents. 

The reaper himself didn't have people who he cared for, not that he could remember to think what attachments meant while in turn he once in a while looked at the girl who was still crying until her sobs finally stopped and she fell asleep. 

Barron wondered if the superiors of his realm had come to find out his absence by now. He could only hope that someone had noticed that he had gone missing but then he ground his teeth inside the stuffed toy he was in. What if they thought he went rogue too? The tenth and the thirteenth card of the Grims had already fallen down as Grims, he didn't want to end up in the list. 

This was not good, thought Barron to himself. 

After two hours, Lucas appeared to push open the door of the room and Barron spoke, "When do you plan to release me from here? Hello! I am talking to you, you little piece of sh-"

"Fix that uncouth language of yours and then speak to me," Lucas replied back softly without waking up Belle who was asleep after staying up all night where she had seen the gore that took place with her parents. 

Barron wanted to drag this reaper's soul and put him in the pot of fire. He grinned at that thought before coming back to the present, "Look, you had your fun of putting me in this little bag of cotton but I now demand you to release me from it."

"Demand?" asked Lucas as if the word was foreign to his ears, "A stuffed toy demanding. I am taking Mr. Fluffs has missed his warm bath."

"How dare you insult me! I was doing my job but you had to get in between it. The higher-ups will think I have quit my job," if it was possible, the rabbit could have been seen tapping its foot on the bed, "Why was there a mass murder?" Barron asked intrigued by the amount of blood he saw on the ground floor.

Lucas looked at the stuffed toy before he went to pull out the blanket from the bottom of the bed to put it over Belle who was still sleeping. She had cried and cried with the shock until she didn't have any more tears. He guessed that she would be sleeping for a few more hours and it would be right to stay here in this room. 

"You must have stayed here for quite some time to be able to develop an attachment to this girl. Was it the black witches?" Barron guessed to hear Lucas hum, "They have been killing a lot of them. Mass murders. What did these people do?" he questioned. 

"Have you heard about the fated three stars, Barron?" Lucas humored the fourth Grim. 

"Must have heard it, jog my memory," Barron demanded and Lucas just stared at him until the reaper added, "Please," through gritted teeth. He was absolutely bored, stuck in the toy with no one who could listen to what he was saying except for this damned butler who acted high and mighty. 

"The black witches are trying to unbind the magic."

"That's nothing new," commented Barron.

"This is the year the mortals will be able to open the gates but prophecy from the witches have told that the three fated stars will try to stop them from doing it. Belle is one of them."

"Isn't she lucky to be caught in the fire. Does she know?" Barron looked at the sleeping girl.

Lucas took himself to sit on the edge of the table, "She does." 

Barron had heard rumors weeks ago, black witches slaughtering families by their dear one's hands. Like many other reapers, he didn't care about the people who lived or who died. The ability of the stars thought the reaper to himself and a grin appeared on his lips again, his mind conjuring ideas. 

"You dull-witted reaper. You told such crucial information to me. I will let people know about it." 

"I don't care about that."

On Lucas' reply, Barron's eyes narrowed down to say, "You don't?"

"Foolish little fourth card. You can only tell people if you are out of that rabbit and that is not going to happen any time soon," replied Lucas, one side of his lips subtly pulling up as he looked at Barron.