Chapter 34: Zella's Blood

The clock struck twelve o'clock, and Rakiza was still engrossed in the old book handed to her by Miss Brinson.
The plot revolved around Zella's traumatic childhood as a result of her mother's being accused of being a crawler huntress. There was a famine in King Jeru's waning realm. The majority of the peasants fled the kingdom to seek food in the nearby forest, never to return. But, before the famine, Zella, like any other child, was sent to school for education, but she was tormented by her classmates because of her mother's notoriety as the warlock's mistress. However, there was no evidence found to back up the accusations of some desperate spouses who had been subjected to the abuse of their husbands.
Her mother taught her how to hunt crawlers when she was seventeen. And she had to learn quickly since she wanted to get rid of night crawlers like vampires. Her mother, Dali, was a wonderful healer in her time, but she was envied by the castle's famed healers and accused of witchcraft for her medical plants and herbs. This made Zella's mother the most sought-after healer, forcing them to leave and hide in the huge forests, where Zella had more time to practice killing werewolves and vampires with various weapons. But what they didn't realize was that there was a cunning and powerful vampire plotting to eliminate her mother, Dali.
The vampire king called upon all of their evil warlocks to gather ideas on how to murder Dali and prevent her from using the celestial power bestowed upon her by her celestial patron. And Ardoha, the vampire-witch from the east, proposed that in order to vanquish Dali, they must first crush her heart, using her only daughter, Zella.
Zella was wandering through the woods one afternoon, gathering twigs for the cabin's fireplace, when a beautiful blackbird enticed her into the deepest part of the forest and into a cave where the wise Ardoha awaited her in the dark and bit her and sucked her blood, nearly draining her to death. Zella was bound in the sharpened edge stone like a giant fang until she was transformed into a vampire and transported to her mother's cabin, starving for blood.
Dali shouted and cried for vengeance, but instead of killing another hundred vampires, Dali concentrated her attention on her only daughter, Zella, and began to search for a cure for Zella's bloodlust and hide from the sun. Zella's last sunrise was vividly etched in her heart, and tears of blood streamed down her cheeks as her last dusk slowly veiled the mountain of Deep Raven wilderness.
Zella became depressed and wished to die, but she realized that killing herself was the least she could do for her mother, who worked long and hard days to find treatment. Dali kept asking her celestial patron for advice on how to reclaim her daughter's life, until she came across a hermit in a cave one day who suggested a possible cure. However, it was difficult to do so because, in order to treat her daughter's illness, Dali needed to drain half of her blood and place it in a crystal stone container prepared by the hermit. They would bury it in Mount Kayeka for a month, then dig it up and return the crystal stone to the hermit's cave.
Zella, on the other hand, wailed every day within the cave where the hermit advised Dali to place her daughter. And Dali's heart broke into a million pieces, and she determined to keep fighting for justice for her parents, who were murdered by vampires, and her only daughter, who had turned into a vampire. Dali became agitated as the days passed and she learned that King Jeru had been assassinated and that the kingdom was now doomed under the King of Vampires tyranny. All humans were captured and imprisoned in a large dungeon, where they became a source of sustenance for vampires.
After a month of waiting, Dali left Zella sleeping in her box coffin and went to find the crystal with her blood. She wasn't feeling good.
Her hands shook as she dug up the crystal container she had buried. But, to her dismay, it had vanished. Her entire body trembled in fear of losing it. She was crying and angry with herself because she hadn't found the crystal after only a few minutes of digging in the hole. She was about to give up when she noticed light and fog emerging from the woods' darkness. And it changed into a human, a beautiful fog woman who smiled. Dali couldn't understand what she was saying because she was speaking in a foreign language. The fog dissipated as the wind blew harder, but something red shone on the ground, and Dali was surprised to see a stone.
Dali dashed to pick up the red stone, only to discover that it was the crystal container containing her blood. She took it, stuffed it into her sling bag, and dashed to the hermit cave as quickly as she could. When the hermit saw the stone, he spoke something in hushed tones. "The bloodstone has been born," the hermit said, his eyes rolling up and down like a puppet. Dali never lost her sensitivity to sense the occurrence of shifters and crawlers, and she knew the hermit was charmed by stronger powers she couldn't figure out since she could smell the foul blood of vampires surrounding her. Dali recognized at that instant how significant the bloodstone she was making was to the vampires. She battled and managed to flee.
But the vampires never left her alone, so she dashed into her cabin, where she kept her crossbows and other weapons for killing vampires. She fought until the vampire's sword cut her. She then shut the hidden door and slid down into her daughter's tunnel. Above their hiding place, she could hear hammering and crashes. But what mattered most to Dali was that her daughter sipped blood from the bloodstone. The breaking continued, but Zella felt different after sipping blood from the crystal jar. Her dead blood mingled with her mother's blood from the crystal container, giving her the sensation of being reborn. And Zella arose with the strength of a powerful human being.
They returned to the cabin's main entrance to confront the vampire warriors, but to their astonishment, the sun shone brightly outside the cabin's window. And the vampire soldiers vanished. Zella was startled and ran back into the tunnel, fearful of being burned by the sun, but her mother, Dali, knew she had discovered the cure.
Rakiza finished the book at 2 a.m. And she noticed tears falling down her cheeks from both happiness and sadness. She shared Dali's joy at seeing her daughter see the sun again. She could sense Zella's genuine joy at seeing the sun again. "What happens next?" Rakiza asked in hushed tones.
There is no ending to the book, and there is no story about the bloodstone after Zella and Dali. But the book had triggered something in Rakiza's mind. Sheba's bloodstone Her story, which she dedicated to her grandfather, was a sequel to Zella's book.
"What a coincidence," Rakiza thought. She closed her eyes and dreamed about the bloodstone, in which she was a warrior, Zella.
She was fighting against werewolves, and she was savage to them as well as a heartless huntress. She was running for shielding again at the desert castle, and she climbed up the stairs to see Tessa's garden, where a woman stood at the edge of the terrace and jumped off to her death.
The tap on Rakiza's face jolted her awake.
"Wake up, little baby," Chin said to her.
Rakiza was perplexed as to what was going on and gasping for air after having a nightmare in which a woman jumped off the veranda. "What happened, and why are you rousing me?"
Chin's face was pale, and Rakiza's eyes told her that something was wrong that morning.
"Muriel is in the hospital and is dying," Susan informed Rakiza.
"What? Are you sure?" She asked, hoping she had misheard. But she was correct: Muriel was critically ill and dying from acute blood loss anemia. But she couldn't accept it because of their previous disagreements about Nikolas and Theo. Muriel had defended Nikolas and favored him in order for Rakiza to like him rather than Theo.
"No, it couldn't be. We were arguing yesterday and... She couldn't die." Rakiza said quietly, "We have to settle many things before she could die." Her sobbing was demeaning to her and prompted her to go to the hospital.
The hospital lobby was somewhat crowded with sick people. Rakiza, on the other hand, was preoccupied with Muriel. She was a demanding, strong woman who acted like her elder sister and best friend. And she couldn't afford to lose such a genuine friend. Her tears were blinding her on her path to Muriel's room. Chin and Susan were crying as they followed her. They dashed into Muriel's room after asking the nurse station for it. Muriel's mother was crying at the side of her bed when they opened the door. Muriel's hand was in hers. She was wealthy, but no amount of money could save her daughter's life. Muriel's mother motioned for them to enter quietly, and they did so.
Rakiza moved slowly to Muriel's side, where she could hold her hand. Rakiza froze because it was so cold. "How are you doing, Muriel?"
Muriel appeared to be sleeping or in a coma, according to her mother, who told her friends. "She was looking for the three of you, especially you Rakiza." Rakiza and Muriel's mother only met once, but she welcomed Rakiza into Muriel's circle of friends. Muriel's mother left them after a few chit-chats to attend to some paperwork for Muriel's hospital bills.
After a few moments of silence, Rakiza whispered into Muriel's ear, "Fight for us, Muriel." You can't just leave us like this. We have some arguments to settle." Rakiza's teary eyes were fixed on Muriel.
"Muriel, I have a confession to make. Please don't get mad at me. I never quit eating chocolates as you wanted me to do to avoid developing diabetic illness, which is the hereditary illness of our family blond line. I'm sorry to have lied to you.
Chin then delivered her monologue, saying, "I'm sorry for hating you sometimes, because you're too bossy for us. I sometimes hate to hear you say, "Do this and do that." I hope you will forgive me as I silently forgive you when you hurt me with your rightious statements. "
Muriel's fingers jerked at Rakiza's grip, causing the three of them to sob silently.
"Muriel, can you hear me?" Rakiza asked again, "Muriel, I'm sorry to tell you that I already returned the red beryl ring to Nikolas."
Muriel's grip on Rakiza's hand tightened, as if she wanted to squeeze Rakiza's hand. And her eyelids started to move as if she wanted to open them, which she did. Muriel's eyes opened, and she looked at Rakiza. Her lips quivered, as if she had something important to say to her. She opened it slowly and whispered something.
Rakiza approached Muriel's mouth to hear what she was saying. And the only words she understood were "Nikolas said..."
"Did Nikolas tell you something?" Rakiza inquired about Muriel.
Muriel tried yet again but was unable to complete the sentence. So Rakiza told her, "Get some sleep, Muriel. You looked tired. "
Muriel, on the other hand, was unconcerned. She grasped Rakiza's hands and moved her lips to speak, but nothing came out. Until her tears streamed down her cheeks, signaling to Rakiza that she was in pain.
"Nikolas said that you..." Muriel blurted out, her eyes rolling up to reveal only white.
Rakiza became terrified and screamed to Chin and Susan, "Go, get some help! Muriel is not breathing! "
After a few minutes, nurses and doctors stormed through Muriel's door to do the last thing they could do to save her life: ventilate her. After a few attempts, she died. Rakiza bolted from the room and into the lobby, making her way to the small plaza behind the hospital, where she cried out loud.
She couldn't believe Muriel had left and that her last words had been about Nikolas. What was she trying to say to her? That alone haunted her for not arriving sooner, before Muriel became seriously ill. But it was too fast. Muriel was as healthy as a nail just a few days ago, and now she's dead. What's the matter with the world? She was sobbing and her breathing was becoming labored when a hand grabbed her and pulled her into Theo's arms, consoling her during her darkest hour. Rakiza's heart was warmed by Theo's hugging her tightly.