Crimson

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The book contained different stories about sightings of the Halo. There was no exact definition of what it looked like or what magical properties it had. That also meant that it was unsure if all of the sightings actually were of the same Halo or if it was different ones. But I quickly became certain that it was the right one, the one the flagae had referred to.

In quite a few of the stories it was referred to as the Halo of Darkness and the Halo of Night interchangeably. There was also one that suggested that it had been crafted by Nyx herself.

But exactly how it would have been used on me, I had a harder time figuring out, specifically since the magical properties of it varied from story to story.

The first thing I felt certain about however, was that it had been used with good intensions. There were several stories that described people having had wicked ideas when trying to use it, that had wanted to harm. In all of those cases the Halo had turned on the user and the magic had backfired.

One of those stories also gave me an idea as to why the magic of it had started to rapidly wear of when it had. It described a witch that had wanted to use the Halo to steal a dragon's treasures which would make her the riches woman alive. The Halo had not approved of the plan and made the witch blind. The witch had remained so until the day she had met her mate, which so happened to be the dragon she had wanted to steal from. As her love for her mate had deepened, the blindness had gradually been lifted.

From that story, it would stand to reason that the magic had started to wear off the day I had met Lamech.

There were a few other stories that caught my attention and that explained how it could have potentially been used on me. There was one about a cruel ruler whose magic a hero took away by help of the Halo. One about a centaur that fell in love with a human woman and as such used the Halo to make himself a mortal as well. And one, towards the end, that particularly gave answers.

It was about a faerie that had used the Halo and her own blood to hide the true nature of a baby's blood to save the baby from prosecution. In the story the nature of the baby's blood had been forced into her eyes, making them as black as the night.

I read that story three times and for each time I read it, I felt more and more certain that the baby in the story was me. I couldn't understand why though a faerie had helped me in such a way. I had never been in contact with a faerie later in my life and couldn't recall my parents having ever talked about one. But even though that part remained a mystery, the rest felt far too right for me to ignore it, and I instinctively knew that the prosecution that I had been saved from had been the coven.

My parents must have been in hiding from the coven since they escaped the prison, but when I had been six, they had been found. Since the coven had killed both of my parents, they likely wouldn't have had any qualms about killing me as well if they had found it necessary. But since I had seemed to be like any other witch, they had spared me and raised me as their own. They had gone further and even told lies to make me into a perfect weapon for them to use against one of their most annoying enemies, the vampires.

But as perfect as the story seemed to fit, the last bit of it made me perplexed. It said that the faerie had continued to watch over the baby and guided her whenever things became too difficult. That made me hesitant of if the story was about me or not. I tried to recall any moment of my life in which a faerie might had helped me, but came up with nothing.

I shrugged it off though. It was a story after all and not necessarily a perfectly true account of what had happened. It would stand to reason that there was some creative freedom in the story.

I shut the book and left the room.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" the Librarian asked as I stepped out.

"I did," I answered and kept walking to leave.

"There might be other information that can be useful for you. You only need to ask the right question," the Librarian said behind me.

Considering the information I had gotten so far, there probably was. For instance, I held a mild curiosity of knowing if there really had been a faerie that had used the Halo on me and if it actually was true that she had kept watch over me my whole life. But other things felt more burning.

I needed to get to the coven, confront them about what I had learnt. I wanted to either hear them admit what they had done to my parents, or listen to what foolish lies they would concoct. And after having heard what they had to say, I wanted the revenge I had craved for 233 years.

Then after I was done with that, there wouldn't be a place for me in Starlight anymore, if there would even be a Starlight left. So I would go, and take Saida with me if she so wished, to the one and only placed that I had ever felt like I belonged and that I now knew I did belong to.

"No thanks, I got all the information I need," I therefore answered the Librarian and continued to walk away.

If I hadn't, if I had stayed, then maybe I would have held the latest book of witch-vampire mates again and seen that the fire had done it no harm. Maybe I would have opened it and noticed that the word "rejected" had started to fade by my and Lamech's names. Or maybe I would have asked for a mirror, or there simply would have appeared one, and I would have looked into it and seen that my eyes were no longer black but instead shone crimson.