With a quick flick of the wrist, Emerett deflected the hand mirror away from himself.
The mirror hit the wall with a sharp crack as shiny sharp bits of shrapnel embedded themselves onto the ground.
And yet, Noël cannot hear this.
An incessant static is ringing in his ears once more. It is strong and ever present, like viscous honey.
I could kill him now, Noël thinks. But, he’s my only lead. This murderer…he met Aunt Delia. There are so many unanswered questions I need answered.
He turned his head left and right. While the toy store was very cluttered, his choices for potential hiding places were very limited.
Noël vaguely thinks of his spell book, but no. It is not enough.
He could…stab the man. That was an option. If he didn’t want to sully a perfectly good dagger, one of the many mirror shards scattered throughout the store was also an equally decent option. He had to admit the idea was quite tempting.
But…no.
Murder was out of the question for now. Even if it was in self defense.
He felt a sharp gust of air on his face as a knife embedded itself into the wall. Inches from his head.
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Noël sees Emerett out of the corner of his eye walking brusquely towards the knife.
This is no good. I can’t kill him…nor can I hide. And there is still that girl…she deserves a proper burial.
He rips out the knife from the wall and snaps it in two. That should buy me some time, he thinks.
Noël looked around the store and saw the ghost girl. She was frightened and sobbing into her hands, but otherwise, she was fine.
Her corpse was still in one piece at the very least.
With a grimace, Noël turned away from the vision of a spirit crying over her skeleton.
That murderer…Emerett…has been silent, he notes to himself. His grip on his arm tightened. Still, I can’t stay out here for long…
His pace gradually quickened as he darted across the antiquated structure. Noël passed through shelves filled with dolls and buttons. Broken furniture and mismatched pots, but it is not enough.
It will never be enough.
He locks eyes with a large patch of the already monochrome store completely engulfed in darkness.
Noël crouches low behind a bookshelf. He feels alone, confused…uncertain of the steps he had taken to lead him to this very moment.
“What’re you waiting for? Why don’t you kill him, my dear?”
Looking up, Noël sees a silver-plated mirror. It is cracked in so many places, but that soft, wispy voice is unmistakably Lila’s.
“There is so much I must ask of him, Lila,” Noël says. He strains his ears for the sound of footsteps and the sharp clang of metal against wood. “I cannot ‘take care’ of him until I learn everything I can.”
“You know he won’t give you the answers you seek, dearie.”
“It’s worth a try—”
A sound of heavy footsteps against the hard, wooden floor. The silvery mirror clatters to the ground. Noël shuffles out of his hiding spot, but…Emerett is already there. It is too late. He has the edge of the knife pointed directly at the vampire once again.
How many knives must this guy possess?
Noël raises his arms as if in surrender, before…gently nudging one of the very many shelves displayed within the store.
Wooden shelves topple one over the other like dominoes.
Emerett’s grip on the knife loosens as he stares dumbfounded at the wanton destruction.
Noël uses this moment to jump over the shelves, but…it is too late.
As he feels a heavy gaze, the lost vampire looks up and locks eyes with the faceless girl. She appeared to stare back at him for a moment before standing up. While her skeleton had remained untouched and relatively well-preserved in this commotion, there is a heavy feeling in the air.
There had always been an uncomfortable aura to the store.
But, there was something else interlaced within this already dire situation.
Realization, is what Noël thinks.
He doesn’t know, but what exactly she had realized, is what he fears.
Noël is so very tired. He calls out to her without thinking. He runs up to where she is, but…she has left.