For Eternity II: Clandestine Preceding (Vampire! 2p! Italy x Reader)

Chapter Twenty-four - A Foreboding Feeling

~Please read the author's note at the end!~

        Gilen, after taking a few weeks of nursing the baby raven back to optimal vampire health, finally gave them a name. He of course had to check the gender to give the bird an appropriate name. It turned out to be a female, which he in turned named Alese. Upon asking him if her name had a meaning to it, he told you it meant "beautiful soul". You found that it fit the baby bird very well since she always seemed so loving and happy, something you came to regard as two essential feelings that everyone should learn to be rather than hateful and sullen. Of course, this was one thing you knew would never be able to happen unless world peace could actually exist. Either way, you found yourself trying to be more like this bird given the occurrences of the previous month. Luciano had noticed your new behavior, finding that it wasn't such a bad change.

        Romulus and Rema noticed this as well. While it irked Romulus, it thrilled Rema to no end. She and you had been spending more time together as of late due to you being the next princess and her future granddaughter-in-law. Most days the two of you would designate time to have tea together in a sitting room or take a walk in the garden with an entourage of guards following not that far behind in case of an emergency of some sort. Every once in awhile, news would come in from the investigators that would interrupt your time together if Luciano and Romulus found it critical to your attentions. Speaking of the investigators, the five of them had been working relentlessly together to find the culprit or culprits.

        While they had found at least six suspects in just one neighboring town, there were still many more to go through in search of the murderer. Each of them had additional people from their home territory teams searching for someone who would fit the criteria across Europe. When someone would be deemed a suspect from across the continent, they were escorted to Italy for questioning and testing. If they passed the tests, they were sent back him with an apology that may or may not have been sincere depending on who said it to them. All in all, the search was making headway, but tracking people was beginning to stress the crew out. The case eventually came to a close when the entire continent had been scoured and everyone suspected at been cleared of all suspicions. This of course left not only the detectives but the royal family distraught. A year had passed since then, but Luciano and you had not married yet.

        Another one of his and his brother's birthdays had passed, only adding on another year to the never aging siblings. Your birthday had passed as well in addition to the king and queen's. You, even after all the time that had passed since the murder or Florentina and Giovanni, couldn't help but feel that something worse was yet to come. It was only little things that tipped you off, or at least they seemed little. You had noticed things in your room moved around into new positions. These changes were minor, the objects only moving a few millimeters or centimeters, but it was moved enough that your highly trained eyes had picked up on it. If Anna and Lauren had noticed the changes too, they sure didn't say anything to you. As a natural reaction to change in the castle, you told your fiancé your findings. He shrugged it off as one of the maids moving the objects around to clean. So, you then asked your two maids if they had moved your possessions.

        They said they hadn't touched any of your belongings and always cleaned around them are carefully as possible. You then inquired if anyone else might have shuffled objects around. Perhaps it was another maid or butler who did it? No. They swore that they were the only two allowed in your room to clean and tend to your needs. The information you received frazzled you. If it wasn't them, and it wasn't you, then who was moving everything? You attempted to smell for any form a scent since everyone had a distinct one. Nothing came up. There were no fingerprints left behind either. Your final solution was to just ignore it. Something you could not ignore, however, was the feeling of constantly being watched.

        Wherever you went, it felt like there were eyes permanently glued to your figure. It made you uneasy. You said nothing to anyone about this, but the castle's inhabitants could definitely tell that something was wrong with you when you constantly shifted your eyes to look around when speaking or listening to another person, yet no one dared to say a word about it. Furthermore, you were panicking because the wedding was to be in four months, and there was so much to do yet. Floral arrangements hadn't been chosen, you still had to be fitted for your wedding dress, and the guest list was only half completed. Your stress levels rose drastically, but Luciano would relieve you of it every so often with some tender love and care. He'd treat you to massages and cuddles with gentle kisses and little gifts.

        As the wedding date grew closer, Romulus seemed to be in better spirits than he usually was. He actually spent time with you and his grandsons willingly instead of keeping to himself. He even left the castle to go on horseback rides with Rema early in the evening after the sun set. They were always accompanied by soldiers or guards of some kind for safety, which neither of them minded. He even offered to have a family game night of sorts with everyone. Even Flavio's boyfriend, Andrés, a dark haired Spaniard with a tuft of white hair and a scar across his lips, joined in on the games. Although, he was forced to join by the bubbly blond Italian. He did end up having a good time in the end, just as everyone had. This merriness that swept over the castle wouldn't last long though, as something wicked was about to make its way into the lives of all who lived there.

~Author's Note~

DreamsForDays here! There's no dialogue between characters in this update, but I hope it was still enjoyable to read. Also, guess what you guys. There are only two more chapters and a possible epilogue! I'm so sad to see it end, but fear not! There will be "Extras", just like in the first story. In addition to that, I will be holding voting during the "Extras" for what you guys would like to see next. So, please stick around for that so I know what you're all interested in! That's it for this chapter though. Thanks for reading! Feed back in the comments is always appreciated! Until next time!