Rachael inhales deeply as she lets the first breeze of the day blow her face, welcoming the fresh scent of the trees that are around the compound. Under the radiance of the immaculate firmament, the compound's view opens up to her eyes like a sunflower.
The grounds are covered in well trimmed grasses and a stony pathway that leads to the different buildings in the compound. There is a tall tree close to one side of the building with it's branches lying over the roof.
The roof are pointy and the walls are of brown colors though one can see the fading painting on the different sides of the walls.
The trees go round and creates a type of fence around the compound. Last night she learnt that the strange faces she saw when Samuel fell off are actually vampires that serve the twins.
But the highlight of the night was the time she spent with the girls. The liquor left lingering parts of itself in form of a headache but as she knows, that will pass.
It was quite refreshing to relax with them since she has been stressed with the whole situation. It makes her realize that even in the midst of the troubles, she has people that will stand with her. Even if it is only for a moment, she knows they will.
She glances at a building at one edge of the compound where she sees Samuel and Amanda bringing out their winged stead, Samuel holds the bag of weapons in one hand.
"Hey human," a voice startles Rachael and she jumps in fright, "Elma," she hisses, "You scared me," Rachael says.
Elma eyes her and walks around her, observing the new set of clothes Rachael wears.
She wears brown boots and dark blue jeans. Her black hair flows onto her white top, "Not bad. It even brings out your ass," Elma says, "Really?" Rachael tries to check her butt while the blond vampire roll her eyes.
"He loves you," Elma suddenly says and Rachael raises her brows, "Who?" she asks and Elma turns her head towards Samuel's direction.
He doesn't wear a suit as he usually does but a black jacket and black pants. His style is similar to Gabriel's and Rachael can't help but imagine he was the one.
"Do you really love Gabriel?" Elma asks, Rachael turns her head sharply to stare at Elma. She feels like her mind has been invaded but she knows only Samuel and Amanda can pull that off.
"What do you mean?" she asks as Elma returns her eyes to the human.
The wind moves to brush through the ends of her long hair and her thin brows come together to form a serious gaze.
"You chose to pick Gabriel but you cuddle up to Samuel quite well. I'm starting to think all your pain for Gabriel's death is a farce.
You are only with Gabriel because he sacrificed his immortality for you. You know this, don't you?" Elma says as she peers into Rachael's eyes.
"That's not true. I am with Gabriel because I lo..." she pauses as Elma smiles revealing a hint of her fangs, "You can't even say it. If that was how love worked only a few hearts would be broken in this world.
You know the truth. You want Gabriel to remain dead so you can be with Samuel," she says.
"Don't you dare say that," Rachael's anger is beginning to get to her.
Why is she doing this? Why is she telling me this?
Rachael wonders but Elma on the other hand seem to be enjoying what she is seeing on the human's face. She knows she hit a nerve, "Gabriel doesn't love you. Neither of them does. They only feel guilty for the death of your parents and are only compensating.
If Samuel really loved you he would have sacrificed himself for you but he didn't and now he will hate you when Gabriel dies from this. Who do you think he will blame for everything?" Elma says with folded arms.
Rachael's heart begins to beat fast as she becomes torn between anger and guilt. If she wasn't adamant on vengeance maybe things would have ended differently, maybe Gabriel wouldn't have sacrificed his immortality for her.
Maybe he would still be alive and none of this would have been necessary.
She raises her eyes and clenches her fists, she meets Elma's unmoving gaze and every bone in her body wants to punch the vampire but what would that accomplish.
"Death is upon you, maybe the supernatural and you don't mix so well. It only brings death," Elma says and as if daring Rachael, she walks closer to her until they are face to face.
Elma bends and whispers, "You know it as well as I do," she steps back and folds her arms.
"For a human you carry quite the bad luck, Rachael" Elma smiles and walks toward the approaching sphinxes. Elma joins Amanda and the two look like a pair of golden flowers; Samuel hands the bag over to Elma before he walks ahead to meet Rachael.
His steps get slower as he picks up on the thunderous drum that beats in her chest. He can hear the stiffness of each breathe she takes and see the minuscule shivering of anger.
"Something must have spooked her," he thinks.
"Hey, how's the horse?" she asks with a smile, "Asterix is fine, what's up with you?" Samuel asks bluntly, "Nothing," she says but her mind is in disarray and the sphinx knows this. He squints his eyes and stare at her closely, "What are you doing?" Rachael asks, "Nothing, I am just making sure you are okay," "Are you trying to read my mind?" "Nope, it doesn't work that way?" Samuel says.
"Tell me, how does that work?" she asks and he pauses before letting out a sigh.
If she says she is fine, no problem either way I will find out what is setting her off or who is.
He thinks as he slowly glances behind and stops his stare at Elma and Amanda.
"Hey, talk to me"; the soft skin of Rachael's arm rub his face and he quickly draws his attention to the woman in front of him, her brown eyes stare into his dark ones, it feels like a light standing in midst of darkness.
Her words become voiceless to his sharp ears as time seems to slow down, "I see the way you look at her," a familiar and close voice echoes in his heart.
"It's more like your mind speaks to me. The mind is always talking, I just listen." Samuel says to her, "Ghoul's are much easier to talk to than most people because they mostly only have one thing in their minds.
You humans are always thinking," he says.
"In our defense most of us have a lot of problems in our mind, bills and shit," Rachael says, "Yes. Some it's just sexual fantasies," "What's mine?" she asks and he pauses.
"What is it? Tell me, what do you see when you look into my mind?" Rachael's face show concern the longer he waits, "Vengeance and guilt. I understand vengeance and I guess the guilt just comes with putting vengeance first," he says.
He walks closer to her as she stares dumbfounded with rolling eyes. Samuel hugs her with one hand while he holds onto the straddle on Asterix's back.
"Don't worry, everything will be alright. You will be fine," he says.
He understands she is hungry for vengeance but so is he. He closes his eyes briefly and he swears under his breathe to kill Alucard, "Here," he hands her a small bottle of ashes, "Holy ash. Keep it on you, incase things spiral out of control and I can't help you" he says.
"Come on, let's get going." Samuel says as he motions her towards a climb point. Asterix bends low and they mount the stead. It stands up and walks around a little, "To where?" she asks.
"Portunus Harbor. We will get a ship there and on to one of the six mountains, " "No," Amanda says as she and Elma join them and Obelix walks close.
"We have to go through Green Harbor. If we go through Portunus we will spend too much time on the Sea of Stars and you know that is the most dangerous part of this journey," she says.
"Dangerous? How dangerous?" Rachael asks, "Very. The Sea of Stars is said to be a road to a thousand other worlds but not everyone can course their way through it. Most die," Elma says.
Rachael swallows and breathes, "That won't scare me," she says and Samuel chuckles, "At this point nothing seems to scare you anymore Miss McQueen," he says.
"We are going southeast of Gallowway," Amanda says.
"Why don't we just fly over the sea?" Elma asks, "We can't. The skies at the Sea of stars are turbulent. Gods fight there, their battles create a dangerous weather up there," Samuel answers.
"We have to go to Nagas mountain, there we will find the falls" Amanda says as she begins to tie her hair into a ponytail.
"Let's go save Gabriel," she says.