In Darthmore's local cemetery, graves were dug, and the skeletons and the bodies were placed there. The Inner Circle's member, with whom Eve had crossed paths earlier, had also arrived at the cemetery with Vincent.
She wondered if this was why Vincent had told her to accompany Rosetta, as it would look less suspicious if her mother's murderer was keeping an eye on her. While her friend's eyes were on her aunt's body, Eve's eyes were on her mother's skeleton, where the men started to push the mud into the hollow ground.
Thankfully, the vampire from the Inner Circle left along with the others, heading back to the Council. Rosetta turned to Eve and said, "I will come to visit you soon, Eve."
"Your parents wouldn't mind?" Eve didn't want to welcome another trouble when she was trying to close one.
Rosetta waved her hand, "Aunt Camille is no more there to write them a letter and someone will need to look after her mansion. The butler, the servants, so I will be in Skellington for a week or two." The vampiress stepped forward and hugged Eve for more than two seconds before she said, "I am so happy that I have you here with me."
"Me too," Eve replied, offering a smile while not liking that she had to lie to her friend. But there wasn't another option.
Before the vampiress could leave, she asked Eve in a whisper, "Did Vincent tell you anything?"
Eve frowned before shaking her head, "About what?"
Rosetta looked like a deer that had been caught before she said, "That-uh, we are not going to get married. You didn't tell Lady Aubrey or Eugene, did you?"
Eve smiled, "No, I haven't," Rosetta's anxious expression turned into relief.
Remembering Rosetta's letter, she wanted to know about the heart she had mentioned. But revealing it would only let the vampires know that Lady Camille had visited the Moriarty mansion on the day of her death.
"Have a good day, Eve," Rosetta said before leaving the cemetery with her coachman, who had followed her to the cemetery.
Soon, the cemetery turned almost deserted except for Eve and Vincent there.
She made her way to her mother's grave while Vincent leaned against a headstone, pulling out a cigar and placing it between his teeth. Once he lit one end of it, he watched Eve turn to look at him.
Eve said, "I need to go to the carriage."
"Not going to spend time with dear mother?" Vincent pushed himself to stand straight and started to walk towards where Eve stood.
When he got closer, she said, "I forgot the flower in the carriage."
Vincent turned to look in the direction of where his carriage was and, at the same time, blew the smoke into the air through his lips. He questioned, "Did you pick a white rose in hopes to nullify what others have spoken about her?"
"Yes," Eve replied, staring into his eyes when he turned to look at her.
"It must have lost its freshness by now, all dry without water," Vincent brought the cigar back to his lips and took a drag from it.
Guessing his response, Eve said, "I would like to go back to the carriage to get it."
"Such a waste of time," he remarked, and Eve's eyes hardened.
Eve didn't know if he was purposefully being rude towards her to push her away. She replied, "I am not asking you to accompany me, I can do--"
Vincent pulled out a single stemmed white rose from the inside pocket of his overcoat and handed it to her. He said, "If you are doing something, do it right."
She was left speechless.
The rose wasn't the one she had plucked out from her garden, and it looked like a fresh rose that had been plucked only a few minutes ago. She stared at the flower and then met Vincent's coppery-red eyes.
She knew, he warned her. It was only a while back they had exchanged words with each other about it, but why...
"Don't like it?" Vincent questioned her as if ready to toss the flower. But Eve took it from him, and murmured,
"Thank you."
She turned her back to him, while facing her mother's grave and kneeled in front of it.
It didn't matter how Vincent was with her, because her heart trembled when he was mean and trembled when he was kind. Now that her mother had been found and she was finally able to say her goodbyes properly, she wondered if it was time to quit working for the Moriarty family.
She knew her chances of survival were slim without the pureblooded vampire's protection, but she wanted to protect her heart from him. Vincent had protected her from everyone but himself.
Eve placed the white rose on her mother's grave, sitting there for several minutes and thankful that Vincent didn't demand her to leave with him to go back to the Council. Noah, who was passing by the cemetery in his carriage, noticed Eve sitting in front of a grave and the vampire standing next to her.
A deep frown appeared on the Duke's forehead at the sight in front of him. He then tore his gaze away from them, his eyes holding things for the girl he was not supposed to speak to and ordered his coachman, "Let's go to Woodlock."
Back in the Council's building, Patton looked stressed. He had moved his eyes away from the young vampiress for less than ten seconds, and in that time, the vampiress had disappeared from his watch. Right now, he walked in the Council's corridors, his head moving left and right. Exasperated, he muttered,
"Mr. Moriarty is going to skin me alive! Where did she go?!"
While one of the Moriarty siblings was at Darthmore's local cemetery, and the second was lost somewhere in the Council's building, at the same time, the third Moriarty sibling had stepped into the streets of the town that wasn't hers and one she had never step foot on.
Marceline wore a shawl around her head to cover her hair and the sides of her face. She looked down upon the people who walked around her, and she clicked her teeth in distaste.
"Now," the vampiress drawled, looking at the people, "Where do I start," and a small sinister smile appeared on her lips.
