Chapter 3: Golden Roses

1881 New Orleans

Claude

I woke up with the sun shining down on my face. I stretched my arms and got out of bed. I folded the white sheets and placed the pillows properly on the bed. It became a habit of mine to fix my bed before washing my face. I looked at the window and heard Evangeline calling out to the gardeners, something about the roses. Hmm.. maybe Clodette wanted to pull them out again I thought.

I have been in Monique Mansion for 6 months and I quickly adapted to my new life, it seemed like yesterday I was sleeping on a cold dirty ground now I have a bed all to myself. They are such nice people I thought.

Evangeline wasted no time in teaching me about manners. She hated the fact that I used my hands to eat the soup. I needed to use the spoon. Ugh! She always made sure that I am at my best.

She also taught me how to read and write, play the piano and chess! I love playing chess with Louis because I always win. Whenever he loses he would throw his hands over his head and scratched his hair until it becomes messy and It looked really funny.

But the most important part of my day was listening to Clodette play the harp. I would sneak outside the mansion and sat down near her window where a big oak tree stood. I would sit down under the oak tree and listen for hours.

She rarely left her room and when she does, She would sit down in the garden for hours and stared at the roses. They have yellow roses in the garden but no red roses, I wondered if she hated the red ones.

"Claude, where are you?" Evangeline cried out. I quickly ran outside to find her. Evangeline is standing beside Steven the gardener. She looked at me and smiled "Well, look at you. You are properly dressed"

I wore my white shirt and black pants, I tied my hair back but there are still some black locks of hair falling down on my forehead. Evangeline stretched her hand towards me and I took it to mine, We walked towards the garden hand in hand where the new gardener is planting some new flowers.

"This is Siovan and he is our new gardener" Evangeline nodded her head towards him.

"What is he doing?" I asked,

"He is planting some magnolias around the pond" Evangeline answered.

"Anyway, what are you doing today?" She asked me. She looked at me with expectant eyes, I turned back to the mansion and said

"I want to go to the library and read"

Evangeline smiled "Off you go then"

I ran towards the mansion, the wind touched my cheeks as I hurriedly ran. Evangeline is like a mother I never had and I love her dearly.

I reached the library, it was enormous. The door is painted in emerald green with veins of roses drawn on it. I pushed it gently and went inside. My eyes widened from the number of books all lined up neatly on the shelves. The library was very wide, when you looked up at the ceiling you could see a huge painting of Roman soldiers preparing for battle.

"Clodette has weird tastes" I shook my head. In the middle of the library, there was a big globe where you could see all the different countries. I told myself that I would travel the world...

I sat down near the window and stretched my legs, I read a book about adventures and pirates. When I suddenly heard a sound. It wasn't unpleasant rather it was smooth, like tiny voices.

"Claude, come here," It said. I looked around and saw nothing "Claude!" I quickly straightened up. My heart was beating fast.

"Claude come here quickly" I stood up and followed the voice with curiosity. The voice led me to the deeper part of the library where I found a small door. "open the door" the voice cried out. I opened the door and went inside.

The room was small, the walls were painted in white and yellow roses. "Come here!" I looked around the room and saw a bronze covered book-stand standing in the middle. I moved closer to it and tiptoed to see what it is.

"Finally you are here Claude" The voice is coming from the golden book. The book was made of pure gold with two silver claws on the left side and two golden roses are drawn on each side of the cover, it was so beautiful. It must be worth a lot. Like millions!

"Claude we were waiting for you"

"How do you know my name?" I asked it.

"How can I not?" It answered me! I stepped back with surprise.

"Who are you?" I asked again.

"I am your past, present and future" I looked at it, confused. 'what does it mean by that?' I thought to myself.

"Open, Open the pages and you will see!"

I touched the cover and lift to open it and as soon as I opened the cover tiny golden dust come out. The letters were foreign for it was neither English nor Italian not even Latin! But the strangest thing was..

'I can read it'

"The children of the moon have walked the earth even before men, they were once called the moon eyes tribe. The moon-eyed creatures were men's friends until men had become greedy for power. A moon-eyed creature was killed in a full moon when Azazel claimed the life of a moon-child and drink its blood... and thus become a child of the night, A vampire"

My eyes widened on the word "vampire" do they really exist? I continued reading:

"After Azazel drank the blood he becomes invincible, immune to death. Whenever he was wounded it will suddenly heal, he never felt tired. he was very strong but he craves for blood...human blood. Abigor, Azazel's brother envied him. He sought the moon-eyed tribe for power and attacked them. Outnumbered, Abigor was imprisoned and cursed to fowl every night and every full moon he changes unwillingly into a beast, a beast whose only existence is to kill... thus become the child of the blood moon, a werewolf"

A werewolf and a vampire? Moon-eyed Children? This book was full of fantasy! I thought.

"What are you doing here?" Clodette whispered to my ear enough to make me jump. I didn't hear her came in.

"I was... I was just reading this" I answered while showing her the book. Her body became tense.

She looked at me with widened eyes. She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from the golden book.

"Ow, please let me go!" I pleaded.

"You are not allowed to be here!" She said loudly, She turned to me and said

"It is no surprise you can read it"

Huh? No surprise?

"Why can I read it?" I asked in curiosity

"Leave!" She yelled and slammed the door to my face.

What's her problem? It was only a book, an expensive one that is. I thought, I kicked the door gently and ran outside. Since she had good hearing she could've heard that. She might yell at me again!

That afternoon, I sat under the oak tree when Julius saw me. "What are you doing here? "

"Clodette kicked me out the library," I said sulkily

Julius laughed "What did you do this time? Misplaced the books?"

"No, I just read a book, the golden book inside the small room at the back of the library. I just read a few pages.." As soon as I finished speaking Julius grabbed my shoulders and lifted me up.

"You...read..it?" His hands were shaking, his green pupils contracted.

"Why?" I asked him holding onto his arms to avoid falling. "Put me down"

He released me and I rubbed my shoulders, pitifully. Man... He's old but he grabbed me like a crab. "What's so special about it?"

"Did you read it? "

I nodded. Julius straightened up and said "No one can read the book not even Clodette"

"Why? Is it because of the letters?"

Julius looked at me confused. "For the book has no writing on it... The book's pages are blank"

My eyes widened.