CHAPTER 9
AVA CLARKE
Determined, I start running towards Damien's car, surprising him as I quickly get into the vehicle. Damien's surprised look is momentary, but I don't give him time for questions. I just smile and thank him for the ride, watching the campus fade away as the car gains speed.
"You have no limits.", he says, and I smile even more at the expression on his face. He remains quiet, and I know today is not a good day for him. In another moment, he might have asked me to get out of his car, but he decides to stay silent.
Inside the vehicle, a subtle tension hangs in the air. I feel Damien's gaze on me, but silence reigns between us. Still caught up in conflicting thoughts about Lucius and Damien, I wonder what could have happened to disturb the balance at the Fell mansion.
My eyes find Damien's notebook on the back seat, and I don't hesitate to pick it up and open it, revealing many beautifully drawn pages. He turns his face towards me and tries to take the notebook from my hands, but I quickly pull away.
"Don't touch that!", he says, and I raise an eyebrow.
"Keep looking ahead, or we might end up dying together, and that would be quite unpleasant.", I say it with humor, and he shakes his head, turning the car's steering wheel.
"That would be impossible.", he whispers, leaving me confused. I'm surprised to see so many wonderful drawings; I didn't think he had so much talent for them. I realize the Fell brothers are full of surprises – Lucius loves music, and Damien loves drawings.
"Wow! This is really good!", I say, smiling and irritating him even more.
"God, you're so annoying, girl!", he says, and I touch a page where I see a boy crying with a sad look.
I don't know how he managed to draw that, but it's very lifelike. I'm confused when I see that the boy is shedding tears of blood, as if he's not human. Furthermore, I know he's watching me as I touch the red tears in the drawing in front of me.
"I've never seen anything so beautiful and melancholic before.", I whisper sincerely.
"I did this for my art assignment this semester, but the professor said it's not good enough yet."
"For me, it's perfect.", Damien looks at me for a few seconds before taking the notebook from my hands and returning to driving.
As the car moves along the road, the scenery outside the window becomes a blur, and I lose myself in my own thoughts. The complex relationship with the Fell brothers unfolds before me, and I can't wait to reach the mansion and discover what lies behind those enigmatic and silent glances.
The journey back to the Fell mansion continues in silence, with Damien focused on driving and me lost in my thoughts. I watch the landscape pass by the window, but my mind is fixed on the sad drawing I saw in Damien's notebook. The revelation of his talent for drawing catches me by surprise, making me curious about what else he hides behind the facade of nonchalance.
As the car smoothly moves along the road, I wonder if perhaps Damien is more complex and melancholic than I imagined. The feeling of restlessness grows as I contemplate the possibility that he carries a significant emotional burden.
He's very annoying, but maybe this isn't the real Damien, and I've only been here for a short time to find that out.
The vehicle stops in front of the majestic mansion, and Damien quickly gets out of the car. I sigh before getting out and decide to follow him. However, my goal of catching up to him is abruptly interrupted when I slip on a stone on the ground. A scream escapes my lips before I fall heavily to the ground.
Sitting on the ground, I feel intense pain in my knee and quickly place my hand on the wound. I widen my eyes, groaning in pain as I see blood flowing from the injury. The sight of the red liquid is disturbing, and I try to calm myself while assessing the extent of the injuries.
Damien, noticing the fall, turns quickly. He approaches and holds onto my shoulders, offering support.
"Are you okay? What happened?", he asks with a serious voice, and I nod quickly.
Before I can answer, Damien's expression changes abruptly upon noticing the blood. His normally indifferent eyes now reveal a strange intensity, a hunger I can't decipher. The surrounding atmosphere seems to carry an electric tension.
"You're bleeding.", he says with an intense whisper. His eyes fixate on the blood flowing from my hand, and I notice the subtle change in his countenance.
Still confused by the quick transformation in Damien's expression, I try to downplay the situation.
"Oh, it's just a scratch. It's nothing serious."
However, Damien's response is not what I expected. He gets closer, examining the wound with an intensity that sends a shiver down my spine.
"This is nothing, Damien.", I repeat, I noticed the strange expression on his face.
"You don't understand. This is everything to me!", he says, irritated, and I become even more confused.
The pain in my knee is momentarily forgotten in the face of Damien's peculiar behavior. I look into his eyes, trying to decipher what's happening.
"What do you mean, Damien? It's just a superficial wound."
For a moment, Damien seemed to be in an internal struggle. He steps back, avoiding eye contact, as if trying to distance himself from the smell of blood.
"You should be more careful.", he murmurs, his voice losing its previous intensity.
Now that I am standing with Damien's help, I feel a strange sense of vulnerability. The wound, though small, seemed to trigger something unexpected in Damien. I shake my head, trying to dispel the unsettling feeling settling in the air between us.
He steps back slightly, as if trying to maintain a safe distance from me. It's as if he can't be near me anymore at this moment, and I can't understand why.
"Damien!", I shout his name, watching him quickly walk towards the mansion's entrance.
"Let's go inside. You need to take care of this.", he shouts, and I look at my hand again, still seeing the blood on my skin, still trying to process his sudden change in behavior.
He enters the mansion and disappears completely, and I stand near the door, watching Lucius come down the stairs quickly with Elara before coming to me with a concerned expression.
"Lucius.", I say his name, surprised to see him here. I'm still looking at the stairs, trying to figure out if Damien is in his room now.
Furthermore, I realize that today he's much stranger than before, and I don't understand the reason.
"Blood.", I turn my head, hearing Elara's frightened voice, and see that the girl quickly moves away from me as if I have a highly contagious disease.
I blink my eyes quickly, trying to figure out what's wrong with this family; are they all afraid of blood?
I have this question in my head when I hear Lucius's voice.
"I saw through the window when you fell. Are you okay, Ava?", Lucius asks, and I nod quickly, walking through the room with them by my side.
"Yes, it's just a small wound."
I look back at the girl, seeing that she's avoiding looking at me at the moment. I lift my head, feeling Lucius's hands on my shoulders, and seconds later, he gently pushes me onto the couch, and I sit down.
"Elara, go play in your room while I help Ava with her injuries.", he says, and the girl runs up the stairs.