As Duke looked at his face in the mirror, a pair of green eyes stared back. It was not like he wasn't at least the third most attractive guy in town, after the Lilither twins, who had model parents and relatives, but now, he had another minus, and a huge one. No one would like a mute guy. "Meet me at the town hall ASAP." It was obvious that none of his friends were sleeping. Or he hoped they weren't.
He took a notebook just to make sure. There was no way he could express himself besides writing on paper. He swore quietly: his little sister was asleep in the other room. And here's another thing: he has never had really nice handwriting. He had been a really good student in elementary school, but it was really hard to understand his test papers. "The notebook acts as a mirror to its owner," they said countless times. He didn't really care until now.
The town hall was empty, and the church next to it seemed to glow in the pitch black of the night. It was a really nice church, something you wouldn't see anywhere. It wasn't the classic white church: it was light brown, the natural color of the stone it was made of being kept untouched. The bell tower was right on top of the roof: Duke had always wished to go there, but he couldn't. His family wasn't even allowed inside.
"Didi," Gavriel's voice came from somewhere behind him, sounding tired. "What's going on? Why did you message us?"
Duke turned around to a black haired guy's smirk. If you would only see his teeth, you'd think they'd belong to a shark. Taris. Gavriel's brother. Gavriel followed him at a short distance.
They were both so pale they looked cadaveric. Three out of five had already arrived. Katia and Lia had yet to come. The twins had a hard time figuring out what happened, but eventually, Taris let out an audible sigh, seeming to understand.
"Katia would go crazy if she found out!" Gavriel's eyes widened in excitement, as if he was glad it took place. If Duke's group had one special feature, it'd be envy. Every single one of them wished the worst to each other. The main reason that they were "friends" wasn't even a good one. Being exiled from Christianity isn't something to normally bond people.
A bell sound was heard a few moments after the discussion finished. The boys were waiting for the girls. It was a soft sound. It wasn't the one in the tower of the church. Taris started laughing, amused for no reason. The other two raised their shoulders. They found nothing funny. He was looking straight forward, a kind of emptiness in his blue eyes.
He stood up slowly, his legs unsure. He walked like a toddler and giggled like a child. There had been a while since they saw him smiling genuinely. Duke and Gavriel silently agreed to follow him.
The surroundings of the church were as dark and dreadful as always. In the cemetery, where none of the boys' relatives rested besides ones from hundreds of years ago, numerous crosses lay in pure silence. It was like the silence couldn't be mistaken for peace. It had something more complex in it. In the middle of the cemetery, in a circle, three young girls were dancing, their hair and eyes as white as snow. Taris took two of them by hand, spinning with them as his brother and friend looked in horror.
As their ancestors taught them, it wasn't wise not to answer to their invitation, and the girls were glaring at them with eyes as soulless as a corpse. They did, in fact, look more like dead people than living. Duke looked down as he approached them, his heart pounding in an area near his throat. The first thing he felt was the coldness of their fingers. If there was something to realise from this, it was the fact that nothing could make the moment when the hell would open, waiting for him to come in and suffer the next worst fate from death, more painful than being touched by them. Gavriel didn't react. Duke couldn't scream or talk. He just motioned for him to come. The next thing he knew was that one of the girls let go of the hands of her sister and Taris, seeking revenge for him not joining.
All three of them were beautiful, but the one walking towards Gavriel was especially mesmerizing. Her long hair was, as the Romanian tradition went, tied back in a dread where black flowers seemed to whither more every second. In a second, Gavriel's leg started twisting from his hip.
The boy let out a loud scream. The unnatural way his foot was placed indicated that his whole member had been ripped off his body already. Taris was still giggling uncontrollably louder. He was unconscious. The next scene made Duke's blood freeze. Gavriel's face went to his back, the boy's body falling on the ground, the girls disappearing into thin air, leaving no trace behind.
