Chapter 94: The Mysterious Stalking
The storm above the River Sile refused to calm.
Wind lashed through the silver trees as if the entire realm had inhaled in fear.
Donato stood motionless at the river’s edge, the crimson shimmer reflecting in his eyes like liquid fire.
The black book hovered above the water, pages turning as if time itself was writing through it.
Jackson shouted over the roar. "Donato, what’s it doing?"
Donato’s voice came low, distant, entranced. "It’s not doing anything, Jackson. It’s listening."
"To what?" Princess Elowen demanded.
Donato lifted his head, gaze cutting through the storm. "To her."
The moment the words left his lips, lightning split the sky. The book responded, one violent surge of power rippling outward in a wave that sent them staggering backward.
The sphere of water around it shattered, droplets freezing midair before vanishing into light.
And then, silence.
The book was gone....
Only the echo of its pulse lingered, faint but steady alive, yet nowhere to be seen.
Princess elowen gasped, scanning the river. "It disappeared...."
Donato stared at the empty air where it had hovered.
His voice trembled, not with fear, but realization. "It didn’t disappear," he said. "It chose."
Jackson frowned. "Chose what?"
Donato turned to him slowly, his eyes darker than before. "It chose its vessel."
Princess elowen’s lips parted. "who could be the chosen?..."
Donato nodded once, the truth hitting him like a blade. "It’s inside it chosen now. That’s why the river responded to me. She’s the key the book has been waiting for."
The princess stepped closer, her gold-lined eyes narrowing. "Then she’s no longer just Luca’s wife or your bloodline’s legacy.
She’s the bridge between realms, the red moon child of the prophecy."
Jackson’s expression darkened. "Then we’re running out of time."
"Time for what?" Donato asked.
"For the blood moon to turn blue," Elowen whispered. "And when it does, every world, yours and mine will be forced to kneel to the chosen."
Donato’s chest heaved. "Then we must figure out and reach out to the chosen... before others do."
But even as he said it, he could feel it, the connection stretching thin, An essence trembling like a flickering candle across the void.
Something or someone was already watching....
********
Alessia lay beneath soft linen sheets, Luca’s hand entwined with hers.
The doctor’s announcement still echoed in her ears:.... Twins.
She should have been overjoyed.
But joy had become an unfamiliar language lately. Foreign, fragile, always slipping through her fingers.
Her fingers brushed the curve of her stomach. Two heartbeats. Two lives... But whose voices whispered in her dreams?
Luca leaned close, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. "You are quiet again," he said gently.
She managed a faint smile. "Just listening."
"To what?" he asked
She hesitated, gaze distant. "To them."
Before he could speak, the room lights flickered. Shadows stretched, bending unnaturally long across the walls.
The air thickened, humming with an invisible presence.
Luca rose instantly, hand on his gun. "Stay behind me."
But there was no intruder, only the sound of a lullaby, faint and ancient, weaving through the room like smoke.
Alessia sat up abruptly. "Do you hear that?"
He froze. "What?"
She looked toward the mirror.
The glass shimmered, not reflecting them but something else, a throne carved of obsidian, veiled in light and blood. Upon it sat a woman with Alessia’s face... older, crowned, her eyes glowing red and blue at once.
Alessia’s lips parted. "That’s me."
The reflection smiled. "You are waking, my child. The red moon burns, but soon, it will bleed blue."
Luca fired. And the mirror shattered.
The spell broke, The air cleared.
But Alessia was already trembling violently.
"Luca..." she gasped. "She’s inside me, That wrinkled woman...."
Luca rushed forward, gripping her shoulders. "No. Listen to me, Alessia... Whatever this is, we control it, you don’t bow to it. You are stronger than it."
But she shook her head, tears spilling freely. "You don’t understand. The woman wants something... And I want her to speak."
Alessia went and stood boldly on the remaining piece of the standing mirror.
The lights flickered again. Luca held her tighter. "Then it chose wrong.Because I will never let it take you."
She pressed a trembling palm to his chest, her voice cracking. "You might not have a choice please."
"Old wrinkled woman, it’s time to stop hiding and stalking, kindly show yourself "...
*******
Bianca’s heels clicked softly against the marble floors.
She would come uninvited, of course, pretending she wanted to "check on Alessia and Luca.. Friendly visit." But envy burned hotter than concern.
Her mother’s warnings echoed in her head, stay away from the Moranos, Bianca... that house is cursed, and Luca doesn’t want you, don’t put us in trouble.
But Bianca never believed in curses. She never believed Luca doesn’t want her, she knew it’s time and efforts, She believed in control.
Until now...
The moment she thought about Alessia married to her dream man, she felt it, the same oppressive energy, thick and electric.
It prickled against her skin, made her heartbeat skip.
She hesitated , she dressed and went to seraphina’s Secret house.
No guards just some old tricky traps.
Outside the bedroom door, she was hearing faint voices.
Romeo’s deep, steady tone.
Seraphina’s softer, trembling one.
"...she has to be brought to me, now I need her not longer the documents." Seraphina whispered from inside.
Bianca froze.
Romeo’s voice followed, calm but fierce. "You are my wife. Whatever this darkness is, it does not own you."
Bianca’s heart twisted. Wife... Queen.
The words merged inside her like poison and honey.
Bianca was startled. "Romeo is married to seraphina".... She said to herself in a low tone.
Then came Seraphina’s voice again frightened, fragile, yet undeniably powerful.
"The Atlan said she is the red moon blood child, and she has to be taken away from luca before we will gain our victory."
Bianca frowned. Red moon? Bleed blue?.... What child is Alessia again...
Curiosity outweighed jealousy. As she took a step closer.
She lean her ears closer to the door to hear well
Suddenly, something brushed against her mind a whisper not her own.
"That’s not all, i work with a maid from the morano estate and she told me Alessia is pregnant and the scan result reveals the gender of the child she’s carrying..... "She carries the twin flame... Maybe one of light, one of gold". Seraphina said.
Bianca gasped, stumbling back.
The corridor flickered, the chandeliers dimmed, the air turned icy.
Her gaze darted toward the mirror at the end of the hall.
And for a split second, she saw Seraphina’s reflection there too crowned, radiant, monstrous.
Then the whisper came again, clearer this time.
The red-blue moon child will reign where men fall to their knees.
Bianca’s lips parted. "Red-blue moon child..." she repeated in shock.
It was Alessia.
Alessia bianchi.. the woman who had everything she wanted. Luca’s heart. The Morano name and now Luca’s first child as twins. Now even the heavens bowed to her.
Bianca’s nails dug into her palms until blood bloomed beneath her skin.
"No," she whispered fiercely. "No, she doesn’t deserve it."
She went back to her car, Her reflection in the car mirror flickered, and something dark smiled back, a figure with her face, but eyes burning like coals.
"Then take it from her," it whispered.
Bianca’s breath hitched. "Who are you?"
The figure tilted its head. "The same one that calls her queen. But you, Bianca... could be something greater. The one who ends her reign."
Bianca’s eyes widened. "Why would you help me?"
The shadow smiled wider. "Because even light needs its shadow. The red moon rises for her but the blue moon will bleed for you."
Bianca stepped closer to the car mirror, her jealousy now something else alive, venomous. "Tell me what to do."
The reflection leaned forward until the glass trembled. "Begin by stealing what she loves most. When the twins are born, one belongs to her..."
The voice paused, curling into Bianca’s ear like smoke.
"...and one belongs to you."
Bianca staggered back, her pulse hammering, her thoughts spiraling between disbelief and desire.
"Twins..." she whispered. "One for her, One for me."
The mirror darkened, swallowing the shadow whole, leaving Bianca alone in the empty hall.
But her reflection didn’t move when she did.
It only smiled cold and knowing.
And as Bianca turned away, the faintest crack ran through the glass, like a seal breaking.
"If i can’t really do anything serious, i will make sure she looses the babies, those children must not be born"
********
Luca pulled Alessia away from the mirror, and sat by Alessia’s side, still holding her hand.
She had finally fallen asleep, though her breathing came shallow, her body glistening with sweat.
He brushed his fingers over her skin, whispering a silent promise.
"I will protect you, even from yourself."
But just as he leaned back, her eyes snapped open glowing faintly red, then blue.
Her lips moved, though her voice wasn’t her own.
"The moon bleeds tonight right." Alessia said softly.
Luca’s blood ran cold.
Before he could react, the lights went out completely, plunging the estate into darkness.
Somewhere in the distance, a scream echoed, a woman’s, sharp, terrified.
And from the cracked mirror in the corridor,
A laughter drifted through the hall like broken glass.....
"Luca it’s time i ask this wrinkle woman what she wants.... " Luca stood by her, as they walked towards the mirror...