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"Tell me, Miss Belle. I am here to listen,

" said Lucas to her as he pushed the needle to the sides of her open wound that had her flinch in pain. Belle could feel every prick and pull on her skin and she looked away from the wound to look at the opened box from which Lucas had pulled out the ice which was left open.

nShe knew Lucas heard her bizarre dreams unlike others like her acquaintance or her parents who had brushed her words away like dreams. Yet she felt right now that if she were to open her mouth to speak about it, the words would come to sound strange to her.

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"I saw Marie in my dream,

" Belle said with her brows that were drawn together in concentration,

"I know many say that they see the dead in their dreams. People who are close to you often appear in the dreams.

"

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"Yes,

" Lucas urged her to continue without showing any hint of change in his tone.

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"She spoke about something really strange. I thought it was her-maybe it was her,

" said Belle remembering what she had seen and heard,

"But at the same time it wasn't her.

"

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"Did she look the same way as before she died?

" he asked her to assure her that he was listening to her while also wanting to know more about what she saw.

nBelle shook her head. The memory of Marie's face raised goosebumps on her skin which Lucas noted.

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"What did you see?

" he asked her before pulling the needle towards him to close the skin and her toes curled because of the pain.

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"Half of her face looked like it was not there. I could see the bones on one side of her face. She spoke about trading my soul for hers.

"

nHearing this, Lucas who had pulled the string along with the needle looked at her and she said,

"She wanted my soul and she said how she hated the fact that she was dead, that she wanted to continue living.

"

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"Belle,

" Lucas called her name without addressing her with Miss. To Belle, it was something new as Lucas had never called her just by her name and now that he did, there was a sweet ache in her heart where for a moment she forgot about her hand,

"The next time you see something like that, you run away as far and fast as you can.

"

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"It looked like a replica of this world that we live in only that it looked abandoned and lonely. Do you know where I was, Lucas?

" Belle asked him. Since the day where she had fallen unconscious in her room, something told her that her butler knew what she saw.

nShe expected Lucas to deny knowing the place she was speaking about as he didn't reply to her. He pulled the needle after pushing into the palm of her skin and then brought her hand close to his mouth where he tore the thin thread,

"It isn't a place for you to be in.

"

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"Where is it?

" she asked wanting answers from him. He let go of her hand where she suddenly felt cold with the absence of his hand on her skin.

nLucas had at first decided to keep her in the dark but it seemed that her soul was getting more and more attracted to be in the land of the dead, than in the land of the living. And as much as ignorance was bliss, he doubted it would be bliss if she didn't know where she was and what not to trust as looks were more than deceiving in the land where only the dead good be found, especially the ones that were rotting.

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"It is the land of the dead.

"

nBelle furrowed her brows further,

"Does it come here? In Bonelake?

" she asked him, her red eyes looking like exquisite stones flickering in the light of the moving fire.

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"It is everywhere yet nowhere at all. A person finds it only after he or she dies,

" he replied to her questioning eyes without blinking as he stared back at her.

nShe tried to process his words and then asked,

"Like afterlife?

" she didn't know if Lucas was only making it up to scare her but he looked serious with not a speck of humor on his face. She had never heard about it but just because she didn't hear about it, it didn't mean what she saw was a lie. She had been there, felt the stifling air around her, and the gloomy sky with its surroundings,

"Does that mean that the person who I saw was Marie?

"

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"The land of the dead is a place for lost souls, milady. It is in the middle of nowhere. There are times when a soul gets lost. Do you remember what you saw a few days ago? The deranged vampire,

" and she nodded to him,

"Consider that a soul that moves from this world to the realm of the dead. Sometimes the transition doesn't go as expected and it corrupts the very essence of a body, a soul that starts to degenerate.

"

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"But I am still alive,

" she reasoned.

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"You must be special, Miss Belle but I wouldn't call it to be good special. There are things out there in that realm one should not encounter,

" he gave her a soft smile. Lucas gave her just enough to taste and understand what was there while not letting her take an entire bite of it,

"You must have visited often without your knowledge but now that you know what the place is, it is better you try not to go there.

"

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"How do I do that?

" she didn't want to go there. As much as she was happy to meet Marie who she was fond of, seeing her in that state and seeing how the maid had behaved with her as if she had lost her sense, she didn't want to visit that place.

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"You close your eyes and think about the life you have here,

" something told her that it was much harder than what he made it seem to be.

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