Courting Death | Book 3

F I V E

F I V E
Garden of Death

THE MOONLIGHT SHONE with perfect iridescence against the grounds of Hell, allowing the pavements of stone to shimmer whenever a side had caught its glow. After Fabian's disappearance, I had decided to continue on my journey to wander through the castle grounds of Hell, knowing that if everything didn't go as planned, this could be the last time for me to see a beauty like this.   

Being alone had its wonders. It gives me time and space to be able to think about my emotions properly. Although I could still hear many of my past lives calling out in the back of my mind, being undisturbed and at peace was a newfound way for me to hear myself and my own cognitive thoughts louder than the voices of my past. It was almost like a sort of meditation, allowing inner peace to cancel out the havoc and noise that the outside world -- and the world within me -- and bring on a new wave of refreshing freedom.

The castle's garden looked different than it did from my memories. Though I wasn't too sure if those memories belonged to me or to Ida, there was still a striking difference. For one thing, the garden in the memories was filled with brightly colored roses, all of them allowing beautiful romantic scents to be released into the air. However, the hedges of roses were gone. The green stayed but the beautiful flowers were no longer there, all withered away to leave walls of thorns.

On the grass below my feet, there was an occasional flower. It's familiar and famous yellow and white combination dotting the grounds, scattered with no particular pattern. Along the way, a vibrant pink chrysanthemum flower stood out against the rest, blooming just half way though the colors were already so vivid. Picking it up, I twisted the flower in my hand, simply examining each petal though they looked almost exactly the same.

"I see you've found a rare pink one," a voice behind me said. I didn't even take half a second to think before I already who was speaking. After all, Dimitri had a voice that both haunted and blessed my dreams.

"They aren't that rare," I smiled, smoothing the petals. "It's just the yellow ones are more commonly seen and used."

"The white ones are my favorite." Squatting down to the ground, Dimitri swiped a single hand over the grass, allowing more flowers to bloom at this touch. After he was done, he stood back up, touching a single finger against the petals of the chrysanthemum flower I held in hand. Immediately, it stretched to a full bloom, its colors deepening even more to a fuchsia pink.

"It's beautiful. More so than the roses," I mumbled under my breath. From the corner of my eye, I could see Dimitri scrunching his nose in confusion for a second though he kept his silence about what I said.

Instead, he asked, "why aren't you asleep?"

"I can't sleep. It's like there are so many different voices in my head and they are all trying to unitedly keep me awake."

Dimitri's silver eyes gleamed in the night, shining just as brightly as the moon and the stars. He slowly assessed me, simply just looking as though I had clues of a possible solution to our problems just written all over me.

"You'll need your energy. Tomorrow's journey will not be easy."

"You seem to forget that Minnie and I had already been to Lucifer's jail cell." Quirking a small smile, I immediately dropped it when I realized that Dimitri's expression had darkened significantly. "Right. I am still sorry about that. I should've told you that I wanted so badly to go home and just see Bella again. I sometimes think that I am forgetting how my own best friend looks like. Everyone is back home. Bella, Gabriel, and even Cassiel--"

"Why is it always about him?" Dimitri cut in. His expression was one of pure fury. His eyebrows were furrowed, the edges of his lips contorted into a scowl as he took a step closer towards me. "He wasn't the one there for you a year ago, Addison. It had always been me."