Beauty and the Immortal: It started with a dig - Chapter 53

The one who was buried
Mallory pursed her lips, ready to deny it, but instead, the words that left her lips were, “Do you mean the question or are you going to tease me about it?”

“It would be very rude of me to tease you before the almighty,” Hadeon said, crossing himself with his hand. “I tease women only in certain places.”

A quick scowl appeared on Mallory’s face, and she was about to get up, saying, “You are never serious.”

“Oh, hush now,” Hadeon rolled his eyes at her impatience, gently pushing her back to sit by placing his hand on her shoulder. With one clean jump, he moved from the back bench to the one where she was, before taking a seat next to her.

Mallory’s heart leaped to her throat for a second. She hadn’t expected him to jump over. Her sterling blue eyes stared into his golden ones that looked right back at her. There was a look of fascination in his eyes as he said,

“The offer of my handkerchief still holds if you need it. Unless you want to use the dress to wipe your nose.”

“You can use it for your tears,” Mallory huffed, turning her gaze away from him and looking at the altar.

“Oh, monkey,” Hadeon raised the handkerchief to the corners of his eyes, as if dabbing the nonexistent tears, and he said, “If only I could cry. I am so sad that the devil forgot to add tears to the making.”

“He sure didn’t forget to add drama,” Mallory muttered under her breath. When she looked at him from the corner of her eyes, she saw him beam at her. “Why do you carry it with you? Waiting to offer it to women?”

Hadeon clicked his tongue, “That would be the last thing I would do. It is to clean my hands if I touch some lowly being or if I need to wipe the blood off myself. Though carrying a towel would make more sense,” he said in a thoughtful tone.

With the sun that had gone down, candles continued to burn in the front of the church, and lanterns hung on the sides. The church was mostly quiet, as there was no one in there except for her and Hadeon, who sat at the back. She could hear the sound of crickets coming from outside now.

“You didn’t answer my question, monkey,” Hadeon reminded her, while he let his arms rest on the back of the bench, with his hands outstretched on either side.

Mallory took a deep breath and then answered, “No. I am not okay, but I will be.”

It wasn’t like Colette hadn’t broken their relationship in the past. Only this time, Mallory wasn’t forgiving. She said, “After my parents, I had my grandmother, and after her came my uncle. My aunt didn’t like me very much, and it was passed on to my cousin. But I have no one now. The family I once knew is gone, and broken.”

Hadeon hummed and he then remarked, “This is why humans say to spend time wisely with your loved ones. Else you end up regretting things you haven’t done.”

“You will be the worst priest in the confession box,” Mallory murmured with a frown.

A chuckle escaped from Hadeon’s lips. He then said, “I wouldn’t know how it feels. Betrayal, anguish, love, pain. But I have studied humans for so long, and I will tell you this, monkey. Death is inevitable, and every human is bound to die unless they choose another path. If you ask me, your cousin isn’t worth your salt water. And talking about the rest, their memories stay with you and keep you company. Besides, you aren’t alone, and you have me.”

Mallory’s eyes slightly widened at his last words. She replied, “How do I know you won’t use me as bait?”

“That I will,” Hadeon replied in a nonchalant tone, and Mallory glared at him. This pureblooded vampire… “But you already know that I will save you, don’t you, monkey?” He leaned in towards her, and for a moment, she felt her heart slip in her ribcage. He then added, “Ruby and Jade will keep you alive.”

“Who are they?” Mallory frowned, not knowing any servants by that name.

Hadeon sighed, “You have such a bad memory.” His hands then reached to the back and he pulled out his guns, “How could you forget these lovelies.”

Mallory blinked at the guns and said, “You named the guns… like pets.”

“Of course. These aren’t as high maintenance as the silly women, who get on my nerves. I swear people have boundary issues and I need to reprimand them by sending them to hell,” Hadeon said in a casual tone.

“If that’s reprimanding, what’s punishment for you?” Mallory muttered, not even wanting to think more on it.

Hadeon responded, “You ask an interesting question Mallory Winchester. Subjects that I enjoy. So what happens for punishment is that—”

“Father Shane,” Mallory whispered, upon seeing the church priest, who had just stepped in from the back door passage.

Father Shane wore a deep frown. He then uttered, “Hadeon.”

“Oh, hello there, my old friend,” Hadeon’s eyes brightened with mischief in there. “I like the glasses. Nice touch.”

Mallory was taken aback and she asked, “You both know each other?”

Hadeon’s smile broadened into something wicked and he asked, “You don’t know who he is, monkey? That’s a fellow vessel sibling.”

“Vessel sibling…?” Mallory tilted her head in confusion.

“Well, we don’t have the same mothers as we were created in a vessel. Shane is one of the original pureblooded vampires. Kindest of the lot, though I always wonder if it was because someone added a bottle of it in his making,” Hadeon commented as he stood up and stepped away from the bench.

Father Shane was a pureblooded vampire?! Mallory gawked at him in shock. She whispered, “I have been surrounded by deception…”

“Forgive me, Lady Mallory. People usually don’t take it well when we introduce ourselves as vampires,” Father Shane apologised to her.

“You don’t say,” Mallory muttered.

“This is why it is important how you introduce humans to it. Take it from me, I am a master at it,” Hadeon laughed, who ended up getting stares from both Mallory and Father Shane.

“Unfortunately, not everyone has the liberty to deal with them like you, Hades,” Father Shane replied and this caught Mallory’s attention. The priest then said, “I wasn’t sure if it was you until I saw the terrible posters of you on the walls of Reavermoure.”

“Would you like to see yourself in the hall of fame, Shane?” Hadeon asked casually.

“As you know, I am famous enough as a kind priest. There’s no need for me to find fame on another side, which you are on,” Father Shane responded, and Mallory, who had earlier stood up, took a seat again. He then asked, “Lady Mallory, what are you doing in Reavermoure?”

“Slapping people,” Hadeon stated.

Father Shane’s eyebrows raised, “George Kingsley?”

Mallory glared at Hadeon and Father Shane noticed this little exchange. She then replied, “I came to meet my cousin. Colette.”

“Oh, you know little Georgie?” Hadeon looked utterly delighted, while the priest’s facial expression was replaced with uncertainty.

“I heard he went missing… Did you kill him?” Father Shane inquired, as if it were obvious that Hadeon would have killed the person.

“Now now. I am not a heartless man to end a person’s life. Tch,” Hadeon looked at the other pureblooded vampire with a look of displeasure. “You see, poor Georgie needs my protection and I have allowed him to stay in my humble abode. Such is my generosity.”

The lies that were being spouted… Mallory thought to herself. She could tell by the look on Father Shane that even he knew it wasn’t the truth.

“Father Shane, did you know my grandmother personally?” Mallory asked the priest, her voice tinged with a mixture of hope and apprehension.

“We shared some words in the past when she brought you here,” he answered, his gaze distant as if recalling old memories.

“Did she ever bury anything apart from my grandfather, another grave?” Mallory pressed on, her curiosity piqued and her heart pounding. She had no idea what her grandmother might have been involved in.

“About that,” Father Shane admitted, his lips pursed tightly as if he had been holding onto this secret for a long time.

Hadeon questioned, “What did you find?”

Mallory felt a creeping sense of dread as the priest remained silent for two agonising seconds. The air seemed to thicken with tension before he finally spoke. “A few years ago, after your grandmother passed away, we were shifting some of the graves to make arrangements for the others. When we opened the grave that supposedly belonged to your grandfather—Ray Moll—we found a skeleton of a baby.”

“Baby?” Mallory echoed, her voice trembling with surprise and confusion.

“Well, isn’t that a surprise,” Hadeon whistled softly, as if he had caught on to what Father Shane said while Mallory hadn’t. He remarked, “Ray Moll, when rearranged, spells out Mallory.”