"ʜᴇʟʟᴏ, ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ! ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴍᴇ, ʟᴜɴᴀ. ꜰɪɴᴀʟʟʏ, ɪ'ᴍ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ᴘᴜʙʟɪꜱʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ ꜰɪɴᴀʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴍʏ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ, "ᴄʀɪᴍꜱᴏɴ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ", ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴏᴄᴋ ꜱᴛʀɪᴋᴇꜱ 12 ᴍɪᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ! ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴍʏ ɴᴇᴡ ʏᴇᴀʀ'ꜱ ɢɪꜰᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴀʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴍʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇʟʏ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀꜱ. ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ꜰᴏʀᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴛᴏ ɪᴛ! ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜ."

Luna couldn't help, but smile when she posted an update on her blog. Seconds after doing so, she immediately gained a lot of reactions and comments.

She was so pleased reading the kind words she's getting when she ran through a weird comment. Although it was positive, the commenter's profile picture is extremely disturbing.

It was a photo of a dead woman drowned in her own blood in a bathtub. Thinking that it might only be a reader who loves reading criminal novels, she decided to shave it off and took a bath.

"Only twenty minutes left," she muttered as she was styling her hair with a curling wand in front of her luxurious mirror.

She only applied a light make up as she was planning to also go on live at midnight.

"Perfect! This would do," she smiled on the mirror, looking at her gorgeous reflection.

Truly, Luna is an epitome of beauty. Her fans even nicknamed her as Aphrodite's Kiss for having a goddess-like face; eyes of Tsavorite, button nose, heart lips, and oval face. No wonder, lots of men fall head-over-heels for her.

While waiting, Luna decided to read some parts of the chapters she's publishing. She sat on her expensive davenport near the terrace of her condominium.

✿✿✿

𝓣𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓼 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂, 𝓒𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓭𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓮𝓽 𝓰𝓸 𝓸𝓯 𝓜𝓲𝓵𝓪'𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪𝓼 𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓷𝓸 𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓲𝓬𝓮, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓸 𝓼𝓸.

"𝓘'𝓵𝓵 𝔀𝓪𝓲𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓲𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓷𝓮𝔁𝓽 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮, 𝓶𝔂 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓸 𝓼𝓸, 𝓷𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓽 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓼—𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽."

𝓗𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓸𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮𝓭 𝓪 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓫𝓮𝓽𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶.

"𝓤𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓷..."

✿✿✿

Luna shrugged to her left when she realized the ending would really make her readers ask for more. Indeed, it has an open-ending as she thought of writing a sequel.

A smile curved on the corners of her lips. She's about to close her laptop when she heard a thud coming from the entrance followed by nimble footsteps.

She was so sure she locked the door and her curiosity brought her legs to where she heard the noise——horrifyingly, she came face to face with a man on his black pull over jacket.

It took Luna two seconds to react and a second late to run that the man had already grabbed a hold of her arm and a full swing slam brought her arching on the floor.

She could feel her insides crumble in pain, wincing in every single cough. Just like that everything went completely black.

✧✧✧

FLASH NEWS REPORT:

"𝘈 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘓𝘶𝘯𝘢 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳'𝘴 𝘌𝘷𝘦. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳, 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯; 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯. 𝘈 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯."

✧✧✧

"My poor poor daughter," Mrs. Waterson could be seen crying beside her daughter's corpse; on her left stood Mr. Waterson, caressing her back.

The two could not believe that their only child had already departed the world at a very young age. Their goal as of the moment is to seek justice of her death.

At the unit where the murder took place are the Waterson's hired investigators. They have been searching high and low for any evidences that could point them to the murderer, however, after hours of searching, they have found nothing. Their only lead was the CCTV footage.

It was only reported that the man stood approximately 5'10 and nothing more than that which made everything more complicated.

The moment the sun sets, the authorities started leaving the place—and slowly—the atmosphere became heavy. Nimbus clouds seems to be forming inside; lightning—thunders—and then the laptop placed on the davenport shook as though it was going through a short circuit and then it exploded.

Amidst the thick, black smoke, which trailed a divine floral scent of a seemingly burning rose, stood a tall man. His eyes could be seen glowing into different shades of red as his sharp fangs emerged when his lips parted.

Suddenly, the door behind him, leading to the terrace, swung open, and just like that, he vanished into thin air.

✧✧✧

FLASH NEWS REPORT:

"𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘓𝘶𝘯𝘢 𝘞𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 31..."

"𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭."

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥."

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵."

✧✧✧

"Who in the actual fuck could have taken her corpse?!" A man on his twenties slammed the door behind him.

His thick brows has been colliding as he trailed his way to his small, messed-up room. The moment he stepped in, his rage immediately disappeared as Luna's photos, stuck on every corner of his room, welcomed him.

Every photos were stolen shots of her inside her unit for heaven-knows-how as she lives on the fifth floor of the building. Truly, the man is a brilliant psychopath and has been planning to abduct Luna from the very moment he laid his eyes on her.

Fortunately, he accidentally killed her. Now his plan left is to steal her body, however, it was no longer there when he arrived.

"I-I'll f-find y-you," he stammered between words, grinning.

"And I found you, too."

A familiar figure of a man suddenly surfaced from the dark side of his room; he didn't even give him the chance to take his second breath and left him mangled at the corner.

✿✿✿

"𝓘'𝓵𝓵 𝔀𝓪𝓲𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓲𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓷𝓮𝔁𝓽 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮, 𝓶𝔂 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓸 𝓼𝓸, 𝓷𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓽 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓼—𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽."

"Roses," a voice of a woman resounded in the middle of the dark in chorus with a— "A man's voice? Whose voice could that be?"

"And... I know that line."

"𝓤𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓷..."

✿✿✿

The woman gasped; her sudden breathing made her wince in pain that she cringed, making her fall from the thing she expected to be a hospital bed, but turned out to be an open coffin full of red roses.

"What in the Crimson Blood is this?!" She said almost in a shout.

She turned from side to side to check where she's at and her eyes grew in horror. She knows she's never been to the place before, but by the looks of it, she started convincing herself that she was only dreaming.

"Old abandoned red cathedral, the scent of roses," she looked down to check herself. "This reddish-black, medieval gown, these hands, this skin complexion—could it be that I wasn't dreaming when he came into our world to get me?"

A moment of silence with her sudden monologue.

"No, that can't be."

"Mila?"

She gasped and turned towards the entrance of the cathedral to where a man stood, holding a bouquet of flowers.

Seeing that everything she's sitting on was a mess, she attempted to gather all the roses that fell and tossed them inside the coffin.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry. I d-don't really know what's going on, but I think I ruined your—uhm—my wake?" She stated which sounded more like a question.

The man didn't talk, but even from afar, she could see his lips trembling and what happened next took her by surprise.

In a trice, the man disappeared and materialized in front of her. She wasn't even given the chance to speak when he pulled her for a tight hug.

"I'm lose of words, I-I can't believe you're alive!" His voice broke into soft sobs.

"He smells so familiar," the thought crossed her mind out of nowhere. "Perhaps."

"Cecilion?" Finally, she spoke his name.

The man pulled away to look at her eyes.

"Y-You're not supposed to remember," he muttered.

"I-It's because I'm not Mila."

The man she addressed as Cecilion frowned. "I know, but I waited for hundreds of years for you to be born again, but it never happened until one night, I heard a voice which lead me to the waterfall Mila and I used to spend our time at and then fate led me to the world I didn't even know that exists."

His hands slid down her hands and held them tight.

"I just know you're my Mila, just in a different dimension and completely different scent—and it's Luna now, isn't it?"

She smiled. "You even knew my name?"

"How could I not?" He smiled and her eyes batted when his fangs show. "I even took care of the person who killed you accidentally."

His statements came too sudden that Luna had to blink twice before her brain could process what Cecilion just said.

"You did what? Am I what?!"

His lips thinned. "Well," he rubbed his extremely well-shaped nose. "Y-You were killed back in your world. Be there nothing that I could do, I felt the need to take you back here, so I could stay with you in your last moments."

"So, you robbed me from my family?" Luna giggled and sighed. "I assume, you already know who I really am?"

Cecilion's red, scalding eyes turned neutral.

"What do you mean?"

His answer immediately rang the bell.

"No, he didn't," she thought.

Indeed, Cecilion is unaware of him being just a character of Luna's novel, "Crimson Blood," and she didn't feel the wants to let him know either.

Cecilion's character has been created out of the perfect boyfriend Luna imagined every woman could have, except that he's a demon, which naturally do not exist in her world and she could not lose her chance to be with that man: loyal, honest, loving, caring—everything—I mean, they do exist in the real world, but maybe they aren't born yet.

Now that she knew she had died, she could no longer see any reason to go back and live her life avoiding predators which actually succeeded to kill her, unfortunately.

"It's safe to love him, right?"

With everything being said, she stayed and lived with Cecilion just like how she wrote Mila did.

For the past three years, they dwelled like the "happily ever after" couple in every child fantasy stories and Luna could not get any happier in the arms of the man he truly loves—not until Cecilion and her went hunting one night and she found herself standing in front of a cave she didn't remember she wrote in the novel.

She eyed every corner of the entrance, thinking hard that maybe her mind might have only slipped that part, but no matter how much she tried, nothing comes up.

All of the sudden, a familiar glow caught her attention.

"What the hell," she mumbled when a set of words emerged mid-air on top of the cave's mouth as though it was written by who-knows-who in trickling blood.

𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃: 𝐒𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐥

Luna felt something burning at the back of her throat and it hurts. Somehow, she knew what's about to happen and the footsteps that is coming her way, from inside the cave, proved her theory.

She had already plotted the sequel of her novel; she wasn't just expecting that she'd be a part of it and things will definitely fall out of hand if she continued to be in it, so she swiftly hide herself before the approaching creature could see her.

A scoff escaped her lips the moment her eyes had examined the reality that she is seeing before her very eyes.

"Shit," she muttered bitterly, closing her eyes to regain her composure.

Seeing someone who looks exactly like her is extremely overwhelming and to think that the woman is the real descendant of Mila; 'twas something she couldn't argue.

She only hid there, sinking in her emotions especially when Cecilion suddenly materialized in front of the woman.

A grim line formed on Luna's lips. As much as she wanted to reveal herself and let Cecilion choose between the two of them, she couldn't let the woman see her as she couldn't take the risk just for her own desires.

As the author, she knows how her novel works and Schrodinger's cat has been applied to it.

A scenario presents a cat locked inside a box that may be concomitantly both living and dead. When the box opens, the cat can only be in two shape: dead or alive.

In parallel, there should be no two "Mila" on a quantum plane. Because of observation, the quantum state exists and once they've seen each other, the abnormal state will collapse erasing the two of them from the memories of those who knew them and when that happens, both the woman and her will seize to exist—that is something she can't risk.

"Your scent..." The overwhelming feeling can be seen on Cecilion's eyes the moment he saw the woman that Luna had to turn her back against them.

"I wasn't your Mila after all," Luna's breaths danced against the cold, sunset breeze.

She waited for them to leave before she decided to walk her way towards nowhere; she was just surprised that her legs brought her to the waterfall Cecilion was talking about from time to time.

Remembering that the place took him to her world, she settled on a boulder near the sparkling waters and waited for the mystery to work its miracle and bring her back to the real world—at the moment, what will happen next no longer matters to her; she just wanna escape the pain of being in one place with the man she loves who is destined to love someone else.

Realizing that miracles don't really come everytime it's needed, she decided to just drown herself at the bottom of the waters.

Her death brought her to Cecilion's world, so she thought that maybe if she died in the place, she'll be back in her real world and probably just wake up from a coma or what-in-the-work-of-fantasy would it be.

She just wanted to disappear and forget as every minute that passes, the pain on her chest just kept on growing and it's killing her.

The freezing waters swiftly wrapped her body the moment it reached her waist—and her shoulders—and above her head.

She was too ready to end everything when a pair of hands pulled her off the water and the next thing she knew is she's already laying on Cecilion's arms.

Her lips parted as she watched the moon's light shine against his beautiful face.

"I didn't know you like evening swimming," he said as if things are going completely normal.

Surely, he already knew she isn't the Mila he was searching for for hundreds of years and she felt guilty for not telling him everything about Mila, about him, about her, and every bits of what's going on in the world she created.

"W-Why did you come?" The only words she could manage to say.

"Why wouldn't I?" He answered and looked at her. Swiftly, her gaze averted.

"Y-You finally met the person you've been waiting for for a very long time. W-Why are you here still?"

"Because that person seem to be planning to leave me," he answered right away that the tears she has been holding up until the moment had suddenly streamed on her blushing cheeks.

"W-What about your M-Mila?" She had to ask.

"Mila is someone very precious to me who went to a place, perhaps, to a world I could never go," Cecilion started off in soft voice. Their conversation went too calm that Luna didn't even realize they're already in the Cathedral's Polpette.

Slowly, he placed her down. "This is where we first met and where we said our goodbyes. Mila had a very weak human body and as much as I wanted to help her get better in means of becoming a demon; nevertheless, her body couldn't handle all the drastic changes which would kill her eventually. So, I just sit there and watched her slowly die," he continued; Luna knew that story, every word of it.

"Yes, I searched and waited for her to be born again. Within those years, she's the only one that I could think of and that I'd meet her as Mila still—but, then there's you—I realized, I was actually searching for another person to love not just in a form of my deceased lover, but someone as a new person that could make me feel whole again. It just so happen that I meet someone who looks exactly like Mila," Cecilion's eyes met Luna's. "Am I making sense tho?"

Luna could only smile. "Loud and clear," she muttered.

Cecilion slowly reached for her hands and held them close to his chest. "Luna, I won't force you to live with me forever, but if I were to ask, will you stay—"

"I will," she answered right away. "I'll stay with you for as long as you need me, Cel. But what about the woman?"

Cecilion smiled. "I brought her to her children. They should be home now."

Caressing her rosy cheek, he whispered. "Shall we go, my love?"

Luna nodded. "Yes."