Nocturne (Part I)

Cassandra x maiden

Summary: A retelling of the last hours between two lovers. Oh fate, fate, fate. // In other words, sad hours for Cassandra and her beloved.

//

Cassandra Dimitrescu was not one to hesitate, but for some reason she could not make her hand, that was now resting on the doorknob, move in a twisting motion. It wasn’t hard to open a door now, was it? Especially for someone like herself. So why couldn’t she just open the door to the maidens’ room?

She tried moving her hand once more, but to no avail. What was wrong with her? All of a sudden, Cassandra Dimitrescu was hesitating to enter her partner’s room. The same room she had entered, exited, and stayed in so many times before.

To think it has only been eight delicious years… It didn’t feel like it was enough.

…

Should she even wake Luna in the first place?

By Miranda — and speak of the devil— how silly of her to even ask herself that, of course she should. She had to.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she gathered the courage to finally twist the doorknob and quickly step inside the room, the door shutting behind her with a soft click.

The room was dimly lit by the dying fireplace on the other side; it was getting cold as well. Cassandra considered reigniting the fire, but she knew it wouldn’t be necessary. Time was running out.

As soon as her eyes landed on the figure sleeping away, she dreaded what was to come next.

Upon silently reaching the bed, she hesitated again. Not knowing what to do with herself, she decided to sit at the edge of the bed and stare at how the maiden’s chest rose and fell with every breath. She stayed like this for some time, entranced with how the other woman looked so striking and peaceful at the same time. Even as she dreamed, she was mesmerizing. She let her gaze travel down the maiden’s body and hummed appreciatively at how the sheets accentuated her curves. Get it together, she told herself. There was a time for such things, and now was not it. Instead, she took the maiden’s hand in hers and caressed the back of it with her thumb.

“Luna,” she whispered softly, using her free hand to lightly shake the woman. It took her several tries, but finally woke her from a seemingly very deep sleep.

Always such a heavy sleeper.

She was going to give the maiden an apologetic smile, until she remembered the reason why she had come to wake her in the first place.

The maiden groaned and shifted in place, finding the hand that was caressing hers and giving it a gentle squeeze as a way of greeting. She sat up and groggily mumbled something to the other woman, who held back a snort and asked her to repeat herself. Giving her a faux look of annoyance, she repeated her words clearly enough this time. The hoarseness of her voice almost made Cassandra shiver.

“I said,” started the maiden, enunciating every word slowly and clearly. “Why on earth are you waking me up this late in the night?”

Instead of giving an immediate reply, the brunette pondered over the question and tried to come up with the best- no, the most gentle way to deliver the blow. As futile as it may sound to other ears. She came to the conclusion that there simply was no way around it.

Not anymore.

It wasn’t as if the maiden had not been told, but for Cassandra, neither her or her family were sure of when or how it would all occur. Everything was happening too fast and too soon. This train of thought brought a frown upon her features and induced the same hollow feeling in her chest that she had felt far too many times in the past four hours.

There was no other way of saying it.

“It is time,” said the vampire to the maiden.

How fast three words could change the entire atmosphere of a room was beyond her. The maiden’s silence however, was heavier than anything else in that moment. Not even the gnawing image of Mother Miranda engraved in her mind made Cassandra feel as much fear and anguish as she did in those almost eternal moments of silence. She was about to fall back into her misfortunate thoughts until the maiden’s voice, uneven and unbelievably small, broke the silence.

“What?”

The same hollow feeling returned and Cassandra couldn’t bring herself to look the maiden in the eye. Instead she focused on the hand she held in hers. “Mother received a call-”

“Oh.”

It clicked. She knew, she understood.

Once again, silence fell heavily over the two.

Both Cassandra and the maiden had rued the day the glass globe they lived in would be shattered. By the person who had provided it in the first place, no less. Contrary to popular belief, the maiden did not feel trapped in Castle Dimitrescu. Not when she first arrived, not when she first looked into wickedly beautiful golden eyes, and especially not now with the woman who sat before her with a haunting look written all over her face.

Before coming to the castle, she had been alone, abandoned and forgotten, all because of something as trivial and innocent as a kiss in broad daylight. She had come with the promise of death, which in some way, was fulfilled. She was an entirely different person now. So no, she did not feel trapped or scared in the cold embraces of her lover, nor inside the great, big place that reeked of death.

In fact, she felt the exact opposite. A sane person would become insane the moment they knew her and the others had willingly decided to stay in such a place and fall in love of all things. But she felt like she belonged, like there was no need to run anymore. She felt loved, she felt wanted. She felt free knowing her new family wouldn’t judge her for who she was. She felt… at home. She was home.

But now she had to leave.

Cassandra’s voice broke through the silence and the maiden’s train of thought.

“You should get ready, Lu,” she said in a somber tone as she stood from her spot on the edge of the bed and slowly made her way to the fireplace. She fiercely rubbed her hands together as she kneeled in front of it. “There isn’t much time.”

Wordlessly, the maiden complied. She gathered her belongings quietly and swiftly, although she tried to not make it seem like she wanted to leave. She would very much rather stay and she supposed she could, if things were any different. If they had more time… Luna grimaced at the reminder. Time seemed to slip into every thought and conversation lately. 

The thorn on everyone’s side.

———

Her clothes for the situation at hand were not so different from her usual. Certainly more suited to run or fight in if necessary. While she would normally wear a white sundress or a white blouse with trousers, now she wore a suit of sorts, devoid of color. In another life, she might have been an assassin of sorts. The thought almost made her chuckle.

Her, an assassin or a warrior? Please, not now and not ever. She couldn’t even hurt a fly. Literally.

She should, however, wear black more often. It brought out the silver in her eyes in a way that was almost haunting.

Checking in the mirror for wrinkles that she already knew weren’t there, she let out a shaky breath. She looked to her bedroom door. One step out of that door and there was no turning back.

“Cass?”

When there was no immediate response, Luna turned hesitantly to look at her lover, who now seemed to tense slightly and take massive interest in dusting off the bookshelf.

“Cassandra.”

“Yes, dear?” The Dimitrescu now fixed her gaze on a single book.

The maiden’s eyes snapped to her hands, which were reflexively flexing. It was a nervous tick of hers, she knew. Despite her controlled exterior and sharp gaze, it was always the smaller hints that gave her away. She was just as anxious and upset. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“You’re going to live, right?”

Cassandra all but snapped her head in the maiden’s direction, her eyes blown momentarily wide. As her features softened, she let out a saddened melodic laugh. “Luna Samos, your life is currently at great risk and yet, you ask if I am going to live through this?”

“Obviously.”

“Why,” she asked incredulously as she crossed her arms. There was a faint shimmer in her eyes that would go unnoticed if it weren’t the maiden who she was talking to.

The maiden almost replied with an equally incredulous tone when a knock came to the door and a voice called out from the other side.

“Cassandra,” said the brunette’s younger sister, Daniela, with a hint of uncertainty.

Cassandra refused to wipe whatever tears were starting to form. Instead, she maintained eye contact with the maiden and cleared her throat before replying.

“What is it?”

“Mother wanted to remind you that we should hurry.”

The other woman let out a defeated sigh. “Five minutes, Dani.”

A tsk was the response and then she was gone.

The two women stayed looking into each other’s eyes intensely for a minute or two. Both were very stubborn, that they knew, but they also knew there wasn’t enough time.

After finding her voice, the maiden broke the silence first.

“There is too much I want to say. To you, about us. About,“ she gestured wildly with her hands in the air. "Tonight. About yesterday, about tomorrow, about the day after tomorrow. About everything, Cassandra.”

She tore her gaze away from her dark clad lover. If it was any other night, she mused, they would have been matching for an occasion such as a date.

“I know,” said the brunette turning to face the window, arms still crossed.

Cassandra never looked and sounded so defeated. The maiden wondered what it was that she was looking out to.

“I don’t know where to begin.”

“Then don’t begin at all.”

“But I want to,” the maiden continued.

Cassandra stayed looking out the window for a moment. When she finally turned, her pale cheeks were already streaked with red, but when she spoke her voice was firm. “The thing is, you don’t have to, I already know,” she said. “Eight years… we might as well be married. So you don’t need to say it. I will always know.”

The maiden had already moved to embrace Cassandra by the time she finished.