The Coven: Book 1

Chapter 24 - Intruder 🔞

[WARNING: graphic content, description of blood and gore]

Taehyung glanced at the canvas in front of him one last time before placing the used brush on the cleaning spirits, on the cup beside him.

This was not a good thing... He had no clue what had made him start the sketches in the first place, much less the bigger portrait. Every time he picked up a brush, her face was always the one thing that came out of it. He peaked at the pile of scuffed papers on the trash can. Those needed to be taken out, too.

The portrait on the canvas was barely even started, for now. Her eyes were the one thing that could be discerned from it, dark chocolate and with that glint of mischief he liked. But even though not the entirety of her face was there, those eyes were undoubtedly Amelia's.

Taehyung was the type to paint detailed from the start and slowly work his way to realism. Namjoon had said something about the process looking like one of a printer, and it felt like that, at times.

He always started with the eyes, with every painting, mainly because he thought they were the hardest to paint. They held too many emotions and were what made those paintings come alive. And he loved her eyes. They held so many different feelings there... And this time he was also dying to get to her lips.

In a way, he felt guilty for how he was handling this. Taehyung knew he shouldn't be painting her. He knew damn well that if Jungkook even dreamed of this, Taehyung would probably wake up in heaven.

Besides... Amelia was a Witch.

He covered the painting with the white sheet and started putting the brushes and palette away, deciding on leaving the thing alone for now. If he had time, maybe he'd burn it that night.

Leaving his room and starting to walk down the hall, Taehyung noticed the scent of chamomile again. Luna...

Right, he had wanted to spend time with her. And yet spent the last couple of hours in his room, painting Amelia.

He made his way to the kitchen, following the soothing scent of the herb he was starting to like. He heard singing, then, coming from there.

He leaned on the doorway to look at the woman move around the kitchen with a secretive smile on her pretty lips.

Luna was singing while making her potions. Or whatever concoction that was. Right now, she was humming a soft, low paced tune, her voice soft and delicate, sometimes a bit off key when she tried to reach higher notes. She moved around the place with a bit of grace, hair pulled up into a messy knot at the top of her head, with wavy strands of caramel hair falling on her neck and cheeks.

It was a sight for sore eyes, and Taehyung made sure to look for as long as he could. She was beautiful, he couldn't deny that. Even if he was blinded by the thoughts of brown hair and dark chocolate eyes.

"It's rude to stare, you know." She mumbled, a soft smile now drawing on her lips as she looked at the herbs she was crushing.

Taehyung was pulled from his thoughts when she said that, blinking himself awake and clearing his throat as he walked inside fully to go seat himself at the counter.

"Doesn't hurt anybody, does it?"

"True... So, did you try the herbs?"

Taehyung raised an eyebrow, now recalling the little pouch she had given him. He'd completely forgotten about it, the pouch abandoned on top of his bedside table.

"Yeah."

Luna smiled graciously, her eyes shimmering.

"Liar."

"What?"

"I can't smell it on you, just the spirits. You should start cracking a window when you're messing with the chemicals, you know?" She said, her accent sounding lovely in her voice as she spoke "They're not really good for you."

Taehyung scoffed "Vampires don't get human diseases."

It was almost instinct to react so defensive. And Taehyung felt a bit like dick when he spoke like that, because Luna, being an Alchemist, was vulnerable to the so called humans diseases.

"Maybe, but the fumes mess with your decision making." She said, still smiling sweetly.

Her words were confusing. What? His 'decision making'?

"Whatever. Where's Jungkook?"

"His room. And Amelia is in the garden. I tried to get her to spend time with me, but does she listen... well, not when she has a garden outside."

"She's a Green Witch?" He instinctively asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

Luna was a bit surprised, raising her eyebrows and smiling at him.

"She is! How did you know?"

Taehyung shrugged "I've heard of them before. Will being with nature do any difference to her? Without her powers?"

"Not really." Her amethyst eyes turned sad "It helps soothe the pain in her chest, but it doesn't help as much."

He felt a pang of pain in his chest. So Amelia was in constant pain?

"I'm hoping Moon Flare will work fast, with the aches, but we never know how long it may take." Luna continued.

This time, Taehyung looked at Luna and actually admired her. She wasn't like Amelia... her features were much different, with almond eyes of that stunning color, and lips that always seemed to be smiling. Her stare pierced through him, every time she looked his way, and it always felt like she could see right through him. Like Luna could find out all of his secrets just by staring at him. It was a bit unsettling, to be honest. But she was quite fascinating to look at.

"How is it that you're eyes are like that? I've never seen eyes like yours." He blurted out, then feeling a bit like a child asking inappropriate questions.

Luna breathed out a laugh, shaking her head at him. She added more herbs to the ones she was crushing.

"A consequence of being an Alchemist." She replied "When my grandparents managed to create the potion of youth, thanks to the help of a Witch, the potion ended up changing us genetically. We age, but very slowly, like Witches do."

So, indeed, Luna was older than she appeared to be. And if she had the ability to age slowly, much like a Witch, what even made her so different. She was just the same- Wait. Her grandparents made the potion of youth?

What?!

"Who was your grandfather, by the way?" He suddenly asked, earning a little giggle from the girl. It was a soft sound, a bit melodic, and it made him feel at peace. Taehyung didn't like it.

"Nicolas Flamel." Luna said casually, causing Taehyung to just drop his jaw and go wide eyed.

Nicholas Flamel, the famous Alchemist that studied the creation of gold and the philosopher's stone, and later on the potion of youth as well. Taehyung remembered finding books about him in the library at Yeri's house.

"Dear lord, your grandfather was famous..."

Luna laughed loudly, throwing her head back before sprinkling her crushed herbs into the cauldron. The concoction she was cooking flared up, releasing a hiss and a huge huff of smoke that dissipated before it reached the ceiling.

He guessed Jin's fire alarms would be put to use sooner rather than later.

"A bit, yes. He was a bit of a workaholic, so I never really saw him. My father left me to stay with them when I was just five, said he didn't want anything to do with their work, so I grew up watching my grandmother, Perenelle, make most of the things I know now."

"Your father sounds like he was an asshole."

Opposite to what he thought, Luna smiled larger and stirred the contents of the cauldron.

"He was. But I've made peace with it." She glanced at him, before smelling the potion.

Unlike the horrible smell coming from the potion she had given to Amelia, this one smelled almost honey like, with a hint of herbs. It was pleasant, comforting even.

"Can you make gold?"

"Gold, silver, copper... the stone herself." She shrugged and then scrunched her nose "But the process is pretty boring if you ask me. And, really, the stone doesn't have much use other than to look pretty."

Oh... heck, Luna knew how to make that stuff? He looked at her, a little intrigued and fascinated. She was interesting, he couldn't deny that.

"What's that potion for, now?" Taehyung asked, slightly curious of the flower petals she was dropping delicately inside the cauldron.

Luna stirred the liquid, that was now loosing the strange green tone and turning a soft pink shade, then closing the lid on it. As she started to speak, the Alchemist grabbed a brown leathered book, that looked handmade and very ragged, and started to flip through the old pages.

"I'm doing something to ease Amelia's stomach. She said food has been a little bit of a trouble and she can barely eat. This will help her stomach down food a little better." Luna finally found the page she was looking for and then used her finger to look for something in specific.

Taehyung absorbed every bit of information, without ever taking his eyes off of her. She was enthralling, like no one he had ever seen before. Which was fairly strange, Luna wasn't a Witch. Witches were the ones with the beautiful appearance, the looks that could make anyone go a little crazy over them.

Luna, however, was like a painting from the classicism. Like the paintings of muses, fairies and Naiads. He began to picture her in his canvas, her hair like gold around her, flowers around her fair skin... but it didn't take long for him to replace her features with someone else's.

He glanced at the Alchemist, finding her hands suddenly fascinating as she dragged one finger over the words on the book and then picked up a flask with what seemed to be a blue liquid.