Treading by the Hellhound

Flickering Night

“The Night is Flickering, the Stars are on;
Convoke the Demons in the cells, their days are gone”

It was a dark night, a silent dark night. The trees were still, lamps were on their last breath, no wagons or carts on the road, men were all asleep and the nature was acting as if covered in a gloomy silence. There was no light, not even a flickering fire, burning behind any of the windows of the houses in the Stratford Road; the whole city was sleeping in the murky tranquil quilt of nature. But in Stratford Road houses one could easily find the house with the lamp full of light, even at the morning hours; the folk of the city used to think that the family living in the Lincoln Mansion never sleeps.
Even at this hour the Lincoln  Mansion was breathing with wide open eyes. A lady was standing behind a window of the house with the support of a side wall, putting weight on one leg with the other crossing the first and holding a corner of the curtain with loose hands. She was glowing gold in the light of the lamp, flickering over her head. Her face was having the grace of the mountains, with the sea like almond eyes, flaming red cheeks, sword like pointed and sharp nose and, neck as if the water flowing down from the mountain; she was the sheer beauty, as said by the commons of the city and the people who had ever seen her. “It’s a dark night” she said while looking out from the window.
“Indeed! My lady”, the man standing behind her replied in a polite tone; he further added, “Everything is set, as you said; we are going to have a great day tomorrow.”
“Robert, one should never underestimate the reactions of one’s own actions; keep everything set, as commanded.” She said while staring into the black sky with intensions to go through.
Robert smiled a bit and said, “My lady, you have grown up in every possible inch as the Master had ever thought. He would have been proud to see you growing in the way I have seen you; I wish he would have been amongst us.”
She, still piercing the sky, widened her lips to have a gentle smile on her face and said, “You can not take all the valuables together while going on an alien path.” While turning towards Robert she further added, “What about her ? Any message from Johnathan ?”
“No! My lady. We are all aware with the manner of Johnathan, he never likes anyone putting nose in his deeds; I didn’t send anyone to smell him down nor he sent any word, as usual.” He lowered his neck after completing the sentence.
“I would like to have a word with Johnathan, send him my message.” She said while turning back to the gloomy sky.
Robert with his eyes on his own feet said, “As you say my Lady.” After completing the sentence he walked backward two steps and turned around to seek out of the room. Coming out he closed the door on his back and started thinking about the job to be assigned, and whom to be assigned; as it was neither easy nor less lethal to track Johnathan down, specially when he was out on a mission.
Out of the room there were stairs on both of his sides, the ones on the right side were to go down and on the left were to go up; he turned right and started descending the stairs. After leaving a floor on his back he stopped in front of a door, on his right, and turned towards it; soon he knocked the door. After a while, a voice, soothing and tempting, came out of the room, “Come in!” Following the voice the door went open and Robert went in. After spending half an hour, with a look suggestive of the completion of any mission, he came out of the room and started marching back on the same way he came down. He came back again at the door of the lady and knocked it.
“Yes!” said the lady inside and with the voice the door opened. Robert stepped in and reaching a bit towards the lady bowed in front of her and said, “I have assigned the job to Viola, for she’s the best suitable asset we have for tracking Johnathan down.”
She was still gazing at the same sky, while doing that she said, “She will, no doubt in that. Master had himself trained her, she’s as quick as Johnathan and as sharp as Master’s own sword.”
Soon they heard a knock on the door and after the permission of the lady, a girl, with a mask on her face and a sword hanging by her waist, came in and knelt down beside Robert in reverence to the lady and said , “On your command my lady.”
While turning around towards her the lady said, “Rise! You never need to kneel down in front of me; you are like a sister to me, more than my own blood.” After saying the last line she got lost in some thoughts for a minute and then added, “I suppose Robert has already told you about the Job; I just want you to be careful and return by tomorrow before the dusk”
She rose up and said “It’s your large heartedness to accept an orphan as your own sister, I’ll never be able to repay the debts that I owe to you and the Master. I’ll be here by tomorrow, before the close of day; dead or alive.” After delivering the last words Viola lowered her neck in the gesture of demanding the lady’s leave. Noticing what the lady nodded her head in agreement.
As soon as Viola went out of the room, the lady asked Robert to bring the letter which came the very evening. Robert turned to his right and walked a few steps, then approaching a chest, kept on the table beside a bed, he took out a key from his black waist coat. He opened the chest with the help of the key and took out a letter from it. After closing the chest he went back to the lady and bowed in front of her with both of his hands stretched towards her with the letter on his palms. The lady took the letter from him and while opening it’s seal said, “Robert, how many times would I need to tell you that you don’t need to follow all these bowing and kneeling formalities in front of me, I have grown in your guidance, and been taught by you.”
Robert while rising up said, “And at the same time you are the blood of the Master, the actual; and we are breathing to serve the actual blood line.”
By the time he completed his sentence, she opened the seal and took out the letter from the envelope. The letter was folded in two folds. She opened the folds and the very first words were, “To My Beautiful Blood”.