Belladonna - Spooky Season

Candles flickered as wax dripped down on the stone of each surrounding grave, obscuring worn names and dates before puddling on the ground to dry within the cool grass. The wisps hovered above, ethereal blue lights in a darkened word, dipping down to catch drops of dew before they could settle and toss them like stars into the sky.

Belladonna was kneeling. The grave she had chosen was unknown, doubtlessly empty at this point. Her red skirt fanned out around her, her hair down her back in perfect ringlets. She had overdrawn her lips tonight in a deep crimson, giving her the appearance of a doll.  Behind her, the spirits were gathering. They stepped across the carefully kept pathways, converging on her, their faint glow dissipating in long silken tendrils with each move they made.  I watched them carefully, looking at the intent coating their dead eyes. They blamed her for something. They saw this woman and decided she was the root of their pain. These restless spirits had set their sights on her and labeled her in blame.

A spectral hand raised from a man with an unhinged jaw, his eyes sunken and his expression nothing but malice. His unearthly hand flickered just above her bare shoulder, solidifying into broken bone as he made to move her hair aside.

“Don’t. You. Dare.”

The shade dissipated at her command, the others scattering to the wind.

Bella sighed, turning to eye me coolly over her shoulder. “Can’t you do something about that?”

“I’m not in charge of the dead.”

Her lips pinched together and she looked rather put out about the declaration. I don’t think she believed me. “Fine. Get Merripen on it. I’m done with them disturbing me. They see pretty flesh and think they have a right to it. Honestly, have they learned nothing in death?”

Leave it to Bella to be inconvenienced by the ghosts. When she turned back to the grave, I walked towards her, no longer trying to keep quiet. At least the ghosts had disturbed her for me. I knelt next to her, feeling the chill of her skin reaching out to me as my thigh pressed against her own.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“You are stalking me,” she smirked. “Really, my heart. You do not have to watch me from the shadows anymore. We are well past that point.”

“Fine. I’ll repeat myself.  What are you doing here?” I flicked her leg with the tip of my finger, recoiling back as she tried to swat me with her nails curled.

“Communing with the dead. What does it look like?”

“You hate the dead.”

“Doesn’t mean I do not commune with them.”

“Bella, what are you actually doing here.”

Before us, the gravestone burned bright. The white light lit up the entirety of the graveyard, casting monotone shadows for miles beyond. I shielded my eyes, my breath coming out in a hiss. When it faded, I had to blink several times just to get my vision back. Before me, the gravestone was crumbling.

I stared at it, trying to figure out the significance of this, when Belladonna leaned her head on my shoulder. It was not a display of affection that I was used to from her and my body jerked a little at the contact, sure that another specter was behind us, reaching out to curl its fingers around my shoulder.

“Ghosts are such pathetic and despicable creatures,” she muttered, angry.

“Okay,” I said slowly, not agreeing with her, but not sure where she was going with any of this. “I don’t usually see you in the graveyards.”

She hummed a bit. “There used to be a graveyard behind my house. I actually find them comforting. The graveyards. Not the spirits. Though mine was not as loud as this one.” She shifted a little, moving so she was off her knees and leaning fully against me. “Spirits get angry when they have nowhere to direct their energy. That doc up there tends to siphon it out here and there. Pretty sure some of it is used to power up his son. But, with more and more spirits coming and going, he cannot keep up.”

“So you…?”

“Performed a ritual to diminish the excess power and hopefully put them all to sleep for a while. I do it every year around this time. When the veil is thinnest. When they are at their angriest because people think it's a fad to speak and pretend to be ghosts.”

“How did you learn to do any of that?”

She laughed a little. “We persecuted witches in my time. Confiscated their texts. I may have read a few back then. May have read a lot more recently.”

“I didn’t know that vampires could do spells.”

“Anyone can do spells,” she told me. “It’s just harder if you are not a witch. Don’t tell the little Albright what I’ve done, though. She’ll be rather offended. Or terrified.”

“Hazel is kind of scared of you.”

“That little cupcake just needs a good woman in her life to boss her around for a bit. She’s practically begging for a steady hand to bring her stability and pleasure.”

I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her close. “You have a thing for her.”

“She’s adorable.” She brought my hand up, kissing the backs of my knuckles. “I usually stay here for a while. Enjoy the silence. Would you like to join me, dear heart.”

“I would.” 

“Good. You can be my support.” She sagged against me, her head dipping to tuck under my chin. I wrapped my arms around her, lending her as much warmth as I could. There was a nearby cloak, most likely discarded from her. I took it to fold over her legs. Her eyes were drooping but I knew this look. It was the same look she got when I read to her. The one that said she was fully content. I liked that being wrapped in my arms brought that out in her. I liked that she trusted me enough for this. And for that, I would vow to never take it for granted.

I would always be there to hold her up, even when I didn’t understand why.  For me, Bella would always be enough.