Music Recommendation: What do you see in me? Nathan Barr
After spending some more minutes near the edge of the forest, Eve and Vincent returned to the Council's laboratory where her mother's skeleton lay on the table. Eve stared at her mother's long spine, knowing if she were still alive, she would have seen her translucent feathery tail at the end.
Eve came to believe that her mother probably had a strong reason as to why she never once showed her siren self even during her dire time. It would have been easy to kill the murderer and the butler, but she had stayed in her human self. She touched her mother's fingers, before letting it slip as if holding her mother's hand and her eyes burned with emotions.
Though until now she wasn't particularly fond of the existence of the sirens, who were not just a threat to the people on the land but also the mermaids and mermen, it was her mother's kind and gentle demeanour that right now gave her confidence.
Her mother Rebecca Barlow had not once shown any of the evil qualities that belonged to a siren, and it gave Eve hope.
Maybe not this very moment, and not today, but one day she will find more about her parents, Eve thought to herself.
While Eve stayed next to her mother's skeleton, Vincent finished talking to Clarks, as she was in charge of the laboratory and bodies in there. He ordered the woman to fetch Patton to pick up Eve's mother's skeleton so it could be put to rest. Turning around, he noticed Eve's quiet and lonely expression.
Coming near Eve, Vincent said, "Patton will get your mother in another carriage, while we will travel in mine. He will pick up your mother's headstone that is placed in Darthmore's cemetery."
Eve nodded, and asked, "Eugene and I will bury her at night," that way she would be able to stay near her mother.
But Vincent proposed, "I was thinking about Skellington's local cemetery? This way the grave will never be disturbed even in the future. Meadow, you never know when people will decide to dig it upon someone's word."
Vincent had already decided that Eve would not be spending the rest of her life in Meadow, but with him. If the murderer ever came looking for Eve, the seach would stop at his name as the dead end. He said, "I know the cemetery caretaker and he will arrange it quickly on my word."
Eve gave it a thought before giving him a nod. When they started to walk out of there, she asked in slight curiosity, "Did you ever arrange your own kills to be buried there?"
"Certainly, not. I don't think any of them deserve a grave and they would be floating in the river if there was no suspicion of people on me. I did try it initially, but it is risky. I must say, I am enjoying having these couple-like conversations with you," a grin appeared on Vincent's lips.
Hours passed, and by the time of night, when the tower bell in the town of Skellington rang loud enough for everyone to know the hour, who was counting. In the town's local cemetery, where many of the high social standing deceased members of the society were buried, a grave for Rebecca Barlow had been prepared.
After many years, the unfortunate lady was put to rest, and the headstone picked from Darhtmore's cemetery was placed on the right grave.
Eve sat on her knees in front of the grave, her heart heavier than the last time she had believed the person to be her mother.
Patton, who had made arrangements on Vincent's instructions, now stood next to the pureblooded vampire, watching the Moriarty's governess who now sat in front of the grave. He said in a low, cautious voice,
"Sire, this must be the first time we buried a siren," Patton's eyes were slightly wide because this was something that had never been done by anyone. Sirens or mermaids were their food, and they were thrown in one corner of the forest or in the water bodies.
"There's always a first. It must be how vampires of the high society felt when they initially started to bury humans in their cemetery," Vincent remarked, his eyes watching Eve.
Patton vigorously nodded and apprehensively asked, "Sire... Is she related to Ms. Barlow?"
"She is, and it would be best for you to seal your lips about it like everything else," Vincent placed his hand on Patton's shoulder before squeezing it and the lower vampire quickly nodded. He said, "Keep an eye on Sylvester and Duke Noah. I don't want him escaping from there."
"The security is already tight, Mr. Moriarty. I doubt even a fly can enter there without authority," Patton responded, but on receiving Vincent's stare, he nodded, "I will go check on them myself!"
As Patton left the local cemetery of Skellington town, a strong breeze passed through the cemetery, brushing away the twigs and dried leaves that were in and around the graves to one side.
Vincent walked to where Eve sat and heard her ask, "Do you think my parents would have turned into spirit mermaids?"
Though Vincent didn't want to kill her hope, he didn't want her to have any disappointments. He said, "Your mother was killed in the land and was buried here. Your father, we don't know what happened."
"So it is only if they die in the sea," Eve murmured and a sigh escaped from her lips. She then asked him, "Is your mother buried in this same cemetery too?"
"She is," he answered and said, "Come, let me introduce you to her."
Eve turned to look at him, and he offered his hand for her to take, something he had been doing since they had both acknowledged their feelings for each other. She took his hand's support and stood up.
They walked a few rows of graves from where her mother was buried and finally reached where Lady Katerina Moriarty lay in her grave.
Eve noticed the black, marble headstone that had the deceased viscountess's name on it. Vincent said to his mother,
"I know if you were alive, you would be happy seeing whom I have next to me. This is Genevieve Barlow. She is the second person I have cared for the most after you, mother. She's too kind and naive at times, but that's alright as she has me and I will readily watch over her. She would have loved you," and the last sentence wasn't for his mother but for Eve to hear.
"Your father misses her too. It is good that he married Lady Annalise," Eve knew she would never be able to understand or feel the depth of what the Moriarty family went through by the loss of a mother and wife.
"My mother would be happy if she knew he married someone after she passed away. Her soul would be unhappy if he didn't," Vincent remarked as if he knew his mother's thoughts better than anyone.
Vincent knew that father hadn't married because he wanted a wife. But because he wanted his children to have a mother. There was a con and pro there. On one hand, Marceline was quick to embrace Lady Annalise as her rightful mother, while Vincent had accepted the vampiress only to be his father's wife, he had never accepted the woman as his mother as he already had one.
When silence fell in the cemetery, Vincent teased Eve by saying, "Are you not going to say anything to her?" He slipped his hand into his coat's pockets.
"T--That, yes," Eve turned slightly pink at his words, and she cleared her throat before saying, "Good evening, Lady Katherina. I want to thank you for loving and protecting Vincent when he was small, for sacrificing your life for his and others sake so that they could continue to live." Pausing for a moment, she continued, "I promise to care of him the way you did. To stand beside him--"
Vincent confirmed with her, "Always?"
Eve's blue eyes shifted from Lady Katherina's headstone, and met the eyes of the pureblooded vampire who stood next to her. She noticed the breeze around them wavered the strands of his silvery hair.
Vincent stared back at her with his mischievous eyes and said, "You know I am not easy to be with and in yours and many others definition, crazier than the most. Will you be able to survive?"
"You are crazy," Eve responded and Vincent's eyes narrowed.
"It was your cue to deny that I wasn't and was perfect," Vincent said and the way he said it brought a small smile on her lips even though her day had turned upside down. A crooked smile appeared on his lips.
Though they had come to stand in front of the grave, Vincent had not let go of Eve's hand. She felt the firmness of his fingers around her. She said,
"I don't think any normal person would ever accept me for who I am." It was the truth. Most people, even the ones who were married to mermaids or sirens, were quick to kill them once they found out about their identity.
"It's because they don't see you the way I do," Vincent hummed, brushing his thumb against the back of her hand. He then called her by her full name, "Genevieve."
Eve raised her eyebrows, not knowing why he was fully naming her now with such seriousness, "Yes?"
"Marry me."
