Married To The Mad Vampire Lord-Chapter 94: The other world_Part 2

There were no distant lights that indicated the town she always saw from up here. Everything was silent and bathed in the silver glow of the large moon in a sky where, despite being clear, there were no stars — only the moon.

The first curling thread of dread crept into her heart.

Something was terribly wrong. She must be dreaming, Belle thought, and decided to close her eyes; perhaps she would wake up to the real world and not this broken one. She even pinched her arm and grimaced at the pain. But regardless of what she did, she did not wake up and was still right where she was, in front of the broken window.

Terrified and utterly confused by her surroundings and what must have happened in the span of time she had slept for everything to be destroyed to this point, Belle made her way out of the chamber door that had just a moment ago been a smooth mahogany but was now a broken ruin. Could it be that they had been under attack and she had slept all through it? she thought fearfully.

She had never been a deep sleeper, and she did not believe it was possible for anyone to sleep through such a war that had brought the castle to these ruins; it was far-fetched. It was like one had slept for a century after a war, and everything was covered in dust and webs.

Not to mention, her nightdress was as clean as her bare feet on the dust-broken floor, so she doubted any war had happened.

When she stepped out of the door, her heart dropped to her stomach at the sight of the stretched-out, darkened corridor and the shambled disaster she met. This couldn’t be real, could it? She must be living in some kind of nightmare.

She could choose to sit in the room until the nightmare ended, but something told her it wouldn’t end that easily this time around, and she couldn’t ignore the fear curling in her gut. She needed to find her way out and see if she was alone in here; she desperately needed another presence because she was starting to get really scared.

Belle began to hurry down the corridor, using her instinct to navigate her way out as she could barely see anything, but she had walked the corridor and the stairs a few times to know her way out without light. Her footsteps were so loud in the silent night they echoed loudly back at her after hitting the high walls.

Her heart was thudding within her ribs with each step as she had no idea where she was or if she was in a dream or reality. The halls were as quiet and empty as her chamber had been and were covered in ruins with broken rails and stairs, some of the marble flooring was peeled away, and she stopped short in her tracks when she came down to the foyer, at the front door.

There was no front door because there was no wall for it to even stand. The walls had fallen, with stumbled bricks scattered on the grounds, and right in the open space that led to the outside was a person standing with their back to Belle, staring up at the sky.

She could tell the person was a female as she wore a dress, and the dress was the kind the servants in the castle wore. She found herself sighing in relief and smiling shakily, it was so much she pressed her hand against her chest, rubbing and trying to assure her heart to be calm. She was not alone. Someone was here with her.

"Excuse me," Belle called as she began to approach the servant, and the servant began to turn slowly towards her. The moment she turned to her completely, Belle’s steps stopped dead. Gooseflesh marred her skin as bile rose in her throat and her stomach made a sickening turn at the sight of the person.

"Lord..." Belle muttered shakily as she pressed a hand to her mouth. Right before her was a woman whose face was burnt to the point the flesh of her face was so raw and the bones of her teeth and cheeks were visible. Her teeth were a black rot. Her dress was burnt, and the side of her left chest was a hollowed hole where the moonlight penetrated through it. Her eyes had melted to something so hideous and unsightly, and yet Belle still recognized her.

Farrah...

"How... how come you are here? I thought you were dead...?" Belle muttered in horror and disbelief. She shivered as the once beautiful face of the girl scrunched into something like a scowl while she studied Belle with her head crooked to the side, as if trying to remember if she knew her, and then suddenly, she seemed to recognize her.

"You ugly bitch! I am like this because of you! I am stuck in this ruin because of you!" screamed the other woman, who began to suddenly approach Belle, her steps limping as all her skin was raw from burns. Her hands stretched out like a ghost.

Belle, who knew not to stand and let her come close to her in that raw state, hurriedly retraced her steps and turned in the direction of the exit, which was wide as all the walls had fallen. The other woman growled and turned with difficulty towards the direction, the moonlight further illuminating the hideous state of her face and body, causing Belle to grimace.

"How come you are still alive?" Belle questioned while walking backwards as the woman approached her. She’d seen her fall dead after Rohan had ripped out her heart, and it was obvious from the hollow in her chest that she had no heart and those burns, how could anyone move in such a state?

The question seemed to infuriate and anger her as she gritted,

"My heart was ripped out and I was burnt by that madman, I watched myself burn and then I became like this, and it was all because of you!" she cried out, her voice echoing in the silent night. "I have walked around looking for you to avenge myself and you brought yourself here, Isabelle. I will make you suffer the pain I have! You are in my world now."

Belle, finding it hard to comprehend everything, asked with her heart in her throat, "Where is this place?"

Perhaps it was her own imagination, but she saw the disfigured girl smirk evilly.

"The land of the dead."

Belle’s heart slammed. This couldn’t be real, but then being able to see someone who had been killed could only mean that she was indeed in a place she shouldn’t be in. How did she get here? Was she also dead? freewebnøvel.com

As those thoughts went through her mind and she was walking backwards, she caught a movement from the corner of her eye and looked in that direction, her breath hitching. Right behind the girl, others who looked in no better state than Farrah were walking out from the castle building like possessed beings.

Her eyes rounded in horror. Some were crawling, as they had no complete limbs to walk, and others had ripped heads that seemed terribly glued back onto their necks. Some were even just plain bones walking, and the sight was something straight from a nightmare. What was going on?!

She knew that they were here to get her as much as she also knew that she needed to run for her life. They seemed to be coming from all directions, making loud noise that echoed around her.

"Did you see the friends I made in the short time I was here, Belle? They’re all the people your mad husband killed, and they will eat away your soul until I take your body and return in your place. Stop running, bitch! I said stop!"

Belle wasn’t a fool to listen and stop because she told her to. She ran like her life depended on it because it did. She did not know how much of what the girl said was true, and if it was possible that she could take her body, she wouldn’t stay for her to try it. And to her advantage, she was alive while they were dead and couldn’t run as fast as she could.

Nonetheless, many kept rushing out from different directions to catch her, some were even crawling out from the ground and growling like demons from hell. She was staring in pure horror at one of them crawling like a snake toward her, when the ground in front of her suddenly split and her ankle was gripped by a bony hand that made her lose her balance and fall face first.

Groaning in pain with no time to think, she tried to pull her ankle from the bony fingers gripping her, but it held on so tight she couldn’t get it to let go, and she watched terrifyingly as its bony head came out from the ground and stared at her with its hollowed eyes.

"Fresh soul... Eat to live," the bony creature that had once been a human rasped as it stared at the struggling Belle while it pulled its own bony body out of the ground.