Chapter 2: The Night Watcher

Lumiére's POV

Those were the brightest set of green eyes Lumiére Colton had ever seen. She was standing on the cliff, staring down at him with blood dripping down her neck. She had this look on her face that he couldn’t place, disappointment?, Guilt?. Why would she be disappointed, he wanted to ask.

He wrinkled his nose when he smelt her blood, he hated human blood and it disgusted him. Her blood was supposed to disgust him as usual, but for some reason, it didn’t. instead, he desired and longed for a taste of it. He wanted to taste something this sweet and it confused him.

The shock that he wanted to drink her blood made him stumble on his feet in fear. Her eyes focused on him for a long time and then, she smiled, revealing her most adoring feature, her smile.

Lumiére blinked as the image started to fade away.

“No!’ he shouted.

He didn’t want to leave just yet, he didn’t want to let go of this memory yet. Something was pulling him towards the woman and he wanted to taste her blood, to drink from her veins until he was satisfied.

‘ shit!’ he was a mess, he thought.

The image he was seeing disappeared but not before he heard her voice.

“ Miére”.

Nobody had called him that name for almost a hundred years. Nobody except…

He jolted up from the bed, panting. Lumiére held his chest and tried to steady his heart before he remembered that his heart was not supposed to be beating, It was frozen for fucks sake.

“ What the hell!” he rasped. The last time he had been plagued with a dream was decades ago. Why was he dreaming about some woman who looked a lot like her, he paused.

He quickly swung his legs over his large sized bed and rushed to his shelf. It was supposed to be here, the book. He searched for it until he stumbled upon an old looking book.

He pulled out the book from the shelf and flipped through the pages. His hands trembled as he flipped through the pages, He was sure he had placed it inside the book.

While he was about to give up, something fell from the pages of the book. Lumiére bent down to retrieve the paper, a picture. He flipped it to the other side and saw her.

A gasps escaped his lip, '’ how possible is this?” he spoke out in a whisper.

The image of the woman on the picture looked exactly like the one he had seen in his dream and on the road that day. It wasn’t her, she had died a hundred years ago, so it wasn’t her. He tried to convince himself.

He sighed and sat on the floor, relaxing his back on the shelf behind him. His life was a mess right now and he didn’t need anything or anyone to complicate it further.

He would choose a bride, create an heir and live his last days as a high blood until it was his time to leave.

“ My Lord?,” Middleton called, startling him.

He turned his head sharply to face the man who was taking cautious steps towards him. The man stopped and lowered his head.

“ am I expected to be somewhere?” he asked the old man, looking at the small light seeping through the blinds in his room. It was still day time, he noticed.

Middleton nodded his head, “ yes, My Lord. The East sanctuary meeting. The elders have been waiting for over an hour…” he informed him.

Lumiére sighed as he got to his feet, placing the book on the floor. He was in no mood to see those pests, but he had avoided them too much. Maybe he could also try to avoid the meeting today again.

He smiled at Middleton, “ what if I say I have somewhere to be right now…” he smirked.

Middleton frowned and then shook his head, “ Won’t work today… they said they would choose a wife for you if you don’t show up,” he said.

Lumiére laughed, “ so they’ve gotten to the threatening stage…” he said.

“ Fine, I’ll be out in ten minutes…” he told Middleton with a fake smile.

The man spared him a suspicious glance briefly before walking out of his room.

He walked towards his closet and pulled out a long sleeve black shirt and black trousers. After wearing it, he styled his hair and walked out of his closet. On his way, he spotted the book still on the floor and the picture beside it. He walked over and took one final look at the picture before placing it inside the book and keeping the book in the shelf.

He thought about the green eyes woman as he walked out of his room. Middleton was waiting for him by his door, he wasn’t surprised there. The man tended to stick close to him when he’s needed to attend a meeting, especially one with the elders he was so loyal to.

“ do you know of any one who is immune to my powers?” He asked the man, folding his sleeves.

“ None Is immune to your powers my Lord, you are the high Lord…”the man replied.

He shook his head, “ I know right, but if there was anyone, who would that be?…” he asked again.

A human who looked eerily familiar with the woman in the picture had seen and touched him when he was supposed to be invisible to both humans and vampires alike. Though he kept this part of the story away from Middleton. He had a feeling that the man was not going to take it well.

“ A night watcher…” Middleton whispered with a distant look in his eyes, “ they are extinct and were all killed a hundred years ago when they tried to ambush us…so no one is immune to your powers” he added.

A Night Watcher, he scoffed. That’s one story he had thought was made up. He guessed it was real after all. He had been young then and…, he shook his head. Remembering the memory always have his migraines.

Night watchers were creatures of the night too like them, but they don’t crave and feed on blood, rather they kill does who crave blood like the vampires. Some stories say that they are half vampires and half humans while some say that the moon bestowed them with powers to balance the vampire race. They existed years ago when he was young and the mistake of one had led to the extinction of the entire clan.

He nodded, “ I thought so…” he said, entering the room.

This was going to be a long day, he thought, seeing the angry faces of the elders.

The meeting finished nine hours later, with the most hours spent, talking about how he was neglecting his duty to the vampire race and how it was of utmost importance to the race that he finds a wife and create an heir before the next full moon which was, nine months afar.

“ Tell me I have nothing else…” he whispered to Middleton as he stalked out of the room.

Middleton stopped and scrolled through the device on his hand, Lumiére scoffed, human technology, Something else that he hated. Those guys were inventing one problems or the other.

“ actually, you do… you are required to attend the opening ceremony of the New library at the state University.” The man told him.

“ it can go on without me…” he muttered, taking the stairs.

“ no it can’t… you had told them to move the ceremony to this evening, My Lord. It would be rude for you not to attend, plus, most of your literal collections were donated to the New state library.”

Lumiére stopped walking. so in order words, he was bound to attend. He sighed. He wanted to order that his coat be brought to him, when he saw that a maid was already standing there with the coat.

He made his way to the entrance of the East sanctuary building and into the car that was already waiting for him. A glance at his wrist watch told him that it was 7pm in the evening.

He had a long day, now he was going to have a long night too.

The drive to the New state library was not a long one and also wasn’t a short one due to the numbers of cars lined up at the entrance. When they got there, the reporters were already outside, waiting by the red carpet.

“ I thought I said no reporters…” he muttered with an annoyed tone as flashes from their cameras assaulted his window, good thing it was tinted.

Middleton looked at him through the rear mirror.

“ I was instructed to drive through the back, there are no reporters there and inside too. The ones at the entrance are for the high profile guests coming here for the ceremony…” the man told him.

He scoffed, high profile guests. It’s just a fucking opening ceremony for a state University library. What was wrong with this specie, he thought.

Humans, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. They also attended events and derived joy in social gatherings where they would show off how much they spent and their worth.

Middleton parked the car at the back entrance of the library and someone opened the door. He drew in air before stepping out and adjusting his coat to cover himself.

The night was cold, but he was definitely not affected by the cold. He walked through the opened door and tried to smile at the people already waiting there for him.

“ Hello Mr. Colton, you’re welcome to the state University library..” a man said, extending his hand for a handshake.

Lumiére arched a brow, ‘who was this man extending his hand for a handshake', he thought turning his head slightly to Middleton, who muttered something at the man.

“ uhm… I’m sorry sir, I forgot” the man chuckled awkwardly.

He felt disgusted by the smell of the man’s blood, humans were too much here, and he needed to move away. Middleton got the memo and moved to whisper in his ears, “ this way please, My Lord…”.

Lumiére nodded and followed Middleton down the hallway. The other humans tagged along but were a bit distanced from them.

“ how many hours am I required to be here?” he asked, climbing the stairs.

“ At most, three hours…” Middleton replied.

“ that’s long, let’s leave in an hour” he said, rolling his eyes.

He heard the man sigh, obviously frustrated with his Lord. Well, he wasn’t the only one who was frustrated.

Lumiére rounded the corner and came face to face with a huge stack of books that had been moving. He couldn’t avoid the hit that followed and the embarrassment of falling to the tiled floor.

“ Fuck!” he cursed.

“ oh my God!, I’m sorry…the stack was too high and I didn’t see you coming…I’m sorry…” a voice said in a rush.

He knew that voice, he had heard it before. He sighed as he pushed the books away from him, the books smelt familiar too, he thought, picking one up and looking at the title.

“ the irony”, he whispered. What’s the probability that his fall was caused by his own books.

“ are you hurt sir?” the voice asked again.

Lumiére snapped his head up to look at who had spoken, Her ID card dangling in front of her neck as she bent to touch him.

Yeah, the same bright green eyes.

Raven Blackwell.