Love in decaying hearts: part seven

*This is part seven of my series “Love in decaying hearts”. Gacha Club character designs are on my wall. If you want to check out the other parts of this series, go look at my folder titled “Love in decaying hearts”. Enjoy!*

“There. Stop right there. Cassidy is in this house and so are the ghosts.” Azrail said.

Melanie looked down at the house in confusion. It was a plain house, with painted blue exterior walls and a flat white roof.

“That’s my friend Skylar’s house. Are you sure they’re in here?” Melanie asked. Skylar was a human who had no idea of the supernatural truth. There was no way a witch or ghosts could be in her house.

“I can sense that they’re there. Please, Melanie. Trust me.” Azrail said.

“I will always trust you.” Melanie said softly.

All she did was ask him a question and he was scared that she didn’t trust him? Why? He never broke her trust before, why would he break it then?

Azrail doubts himself too much. Melanie thought as they landed on the roof.

………………………………………………….

“I guess Skylar and her family went out.” Melanie said after they broke in through one of the windows.

All was quiet but for the two of them. All was peaceful but for the two of them.

Well, almost peaceful. Someone was running around the house.

“It’s the ghosts. Follow me.” Azrail said.

Down the path they were walking in were pictures of Skylar and her smiling family, all in a cruise adventure. They loved exploring different destinations by boat. Melanie never went on a cruise, but she hoped to go on one with Skylar one day.

That was, before she got large, black, feathery wings that had red tips at them. With her new appearance, Melanie wasn’t sure if she could ever lead a normal life again.

It didn’t bother her much, though. She’d visit her family. She’d hang out with Skylar. She would be with Azrail, who was just as odd, if not even more so, than her. She could write her books under a pen name without anyone ever finding out the truth about her. After all the drama was over, she and Azrail would get their happily ever after.

But wasn’t that what Fiona wanted? To be with Azrail? He killed her for blood, but still thinks of her. Are you sure that he loves you, and not Fiona?

Of course he loved her! He turned her into a vampire so that she wouldn’t die. How was that not love?

Melanie stopped in front of a photo. One particular photograph haunted her deeply, but there it hung in the hall, safe in a brown frame.

The photo was a picture of Skylar and Melanie when they were fourteen years old. It was taken by Skylar’s Mom, at Skylar’s house, in Skylar’s living room. Skylar was grinning from ear to ear and hugging Melanie. Melanie wasn’t hugging her back, but attempted to smile.

Her hair in the photo was cut short, bald patches. Her face was just beginning to heal. It was the result of Melanie making the mistake of looking at Austin, every student’s crush and Twilight’s boyfriend. Skylar had invited her over for a slumber party a few days after she got out of the hospital. Everyone was trying to cheer her up, but all the while, she kept thinking of Twilight’s words…

“You think that you have a fat CHANCE with Austin? YOU? The homeless creep?!” Twilight yelled.

Melanie jumped when she saw Twilight in the bathroom mirror’s reflection. Had Twilight really been standing in a bathroom stall, waiting for her?

“What are you talking about?” Melanie asked worriedly. She never spoke to Austin, she never even waved at him. She just glanced at him sometimes.

“Oh please, don’t act so innocent. I’ve seen the way you look at him. The way you want him.” Twilight said.

Want him? Yes, his blond hair and green eyes were nice, but she didn’t WANT him. She just liked to look at him. He was lovely to draw in her sketchbook, oh so lovely.

“He’s MY boyfriend, Melanie. MINE. You have no one, because you never care to clean yourself.” Twilight said.

Melanie looked down at the long, mustard yellow and black plaid dress with a large brown stain on it. Her white socks were pulled up to her knees and her pink sneakers were covered in mud. She thought that the outfit looked cute in the morning, but not when she got a chocolate stain on the dress.

She didn’t bring a change of clothes, so she had to come to school like that. Twilight always thought that she was “dirty” because of her outfit choices, but Melanie never let Twilight see her cry about it.

Until then. Tears spilled from Melanie’s eyes. She really was just the ugliest person on Earth, wasn’t she?

“It’s all that hair guys are attracted to. Your hair makes you look beautiful. Like a model.” Twilight said.

Melanie touched a strand of her black hair. Twilight was right, it was the best thing about her. It covered most of her face, which had pimples dotted all over. Some of them were bright red, even. She tried her best not to pick at them, but picking at them got rid of the stress. Picking at them got rid of the bad thoughts.

“How’d you feel if you lost all of that hair?” Twilight asked.

“What-“

But there was no time for Melanie to respond, for Twilight had run up to her and locked her in a tight hold, pulling at her hair…cutting at her hair with sharp, pointed scissors…slashing her face with the scissors…Melanie screamed…Addie and Skylar had come into the bathroom…broken them up…sent Melanie to the nurse’s office…both got detention…just detention…only detention…

“Melanie, over here!” Azrail called out.

Melanie blinked herself out of her thoughts. She was in the present, away from school. Twilight was gone, she had drained her blood. There was nothing to worry about but the present.

Though it was years ago, her face still burned with pain, and her head still throbbed, as though her hair was pulled out.

………………………………………………….

Melanie joined Azrail at Skylar’s room, where two ghosts sat in the corner, clinging onto each other and quivering with fear. One was little girl with long, brown hair, wearing a purple and blue apron dress, while the other was a little boy with blond hair in a green shirt and gray pants.

“They’re Johanna and Archie. I tried talking to them, but I can’t. They’re…afraid of me.” Azrail said sadly.

They were his ghosts, so he had killed them. That much, Melanie knew.

“I thought that maybe I could help them pass on, without your help. I didn’t want to burden you and-“

“Helping you is not a burden. Come with me. I think I know what to do.” Melanie said.

She was beginning to get a faint idea of what to do to help them out. It came to her just as memories, just as dreams did early in the morning, surfacing at the edges of her brain.

“Take my hand.” Melanie said, reaching her hand out for Azrail to hold.

“I can’t. I’ll only hurt them more. I’ve hurt them enough, I can’t do it again. You have to do it alone, just like you did with Jasmine.” Azrail said.

She had freed Jasmine all by herself, yes, but Azrail was avoiding what he did. He was blaming himself for his vampire nature, as though he voluntarily drank blood. She could free their souls by herself just as she did with Jasmine, but it was much easier to have someone help. They were two ghosts, and children at that. Jane and Lennox were adults, Azrail could free them by himself just fine.

But she needed his help.

“Azrail, they are two children ghosts. They are two souls who need the help of those older than him. I can’t do it by myself, I need you. You want them to go to Heaven, yes? You want to make up for what you did, is that right? Well, the only way of fixing the past is facing it. I know how hard that is, believe me, but you have got to do it. When you help me, the children won’t see a monster, but a boy. Please, Azrail. Trust me.” Melanie said.

It was easy for her to say those consoling words to him, because she believed them. She believed that he could overcome whatever happened in the past.

But herself? No, that was harder. Memories of what already happened left behind a bad taste in her mouth and a migraine case in her head.

“I’ll do it.” Azrail said. His voice slightly faltered with fear, but he stood straighter.

He joined Melanie, his pale claw intertwining with her brown hand.

Immediately, when he touched her, she felt his loving, sorrowful energy flow into her body, like the crimson smoke of roses. It filled her head with thoughts of cemeteries and spirits, fallen ones ready to walk into the new world, the afterlife. Ready for change, for renewal.

A song of the dead flowed from Melanie’s lips:

“Johanna and Archie, taken so young

Sweet little things, you must go on

You need not forgive nor forget

Just remember that no one was at their best

For all struggle in this cruel world

All reach out towards the light

Stay not in this place

Do not be tied down by fear, hate, or pain

Rise up and see those who have loved you so

Those who missed you dearly

Wake up, young ones

It’s time to go home”

Melanie didn’t notice while she was singing, but when she stopped, she saw that hers and Azrail’s wings were shielding the children protectively from the outside. Red clouds formed from the wings and wrapped around the children in a ruby haze.

Their small bodies relaxed as they faded into golden light. Carmine from their wings and the starlight specks that was the essence of the children merged together into fae sparkles, rising slowly in the sky.

Melanie and Azrail watched with fascination as it flew up into the air, until it went past the ceiling and there was nothing left.

“Are they free now? Are they going into the afterlife?” Azrail asked worriedly. He was scared that it hadn’t worked, Melanie supposed.

“Yes, they’re free. They’re alright, my love.” Melanie said. She could feel a heaviness being lifted within, the same kind she felt when she freed Jasmine.

The kind that told her the dead had moved on.

“Azrail, don’t try to find every person that you ever drained blood from. You won’t. There’s simply not enough time. It’s admirable that you have empathy for them, you can’t always save everybody. That’s not life. You’re a vampire, you have to drink blood to survive. Sometimes you’ll make a mistake and drink the blood of an innocent, but you can’t do anything about it, because it’s been done. You won’t always have time to free them and that’s okay. Spirits will get triggered by something that tells them to go on. Children can meet up with adults and take their hands into the afterlife. There might be many witches and vampires out in the world, maybe more than them. There will always be someone around to help, someone around to save those that deserve it.”

The words Melanie said had come clearly in her mind, as definite as the trees that grew. Were her ancestors whispering the words in her brain? Was Lenora?

Melanie wasn’t sure, but just as the sky stayed, she knew them to be true.

“Are you just saying this to make me feel better?” Azrail asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

“No. I mean it. Don’t spend too much time thinking about what could have been. It’s not worth it.” Melanie said with a soft smile.

And then, he did something she didn’t expect.

He hugged her tightly, as though she was the last individual in the world. She hugged him back, enjoying the cold feel of his skin. They were both cold, they were both decaying on the inside, they were both undead.

But together, they were warm. They could bring each other life. They could merge their consciousness into one being and-

A girl’s high, glass-edged cackle rang in the air.

Melanie froze. It was a voice she heard in her nightmares for two years.

It was Twilight.