"Let me touch you to know if you are real or I am only imagining what my subconscious wants to see," said Donovan, but before he could raise his hand to touch the woman, Lilian beat him by placing her soft hand on his cheek.

  For a moment, the Elder vampire closed his eyes, feeling the touch nothing less to precious drops of water that was being provided to a person in the hot desert. He opened his red eyes and looked at the woman.

  "How is it possible?" He questioned her because he was curious to know how she was here. Breathing and living as if she had never left, that she had been existing all this while, and it was him who had failed to notice her.

  Lilian smiled at him, which was tender and sweet. She said, "Our son came to visit by my grave with Julie… and the girl left something behind without realizing what it was."

  With her other hand, she pulled out the hairpin that had stones in them that Julie had earlier buried in the soil next to her grave. Donovan's eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes narrowed, "Those are the stars of stones, which…"

  "Which are combined together to give life," Lilian completed his sentence. She looked down at the stones, where seven stones were supposed to be present, but there were only six of them there. The violet coloured stone was missing, leaving a tiny hollow space behind. "As expected from the famous Opaline La Fay."

  Donovan placed his hand on Lilian's hand that was still on his face, and he brought it down while continuing to hold it without letting it go. There were times when he had wished and dreamt of ways to make things better and not as worse as he had left her. And now that she was here, he didn't want her to disappear from his sight.

  He had been with many women, but if there was anyone who had left a profound effect in his life, it was this woman. The mystery around her had often made him question, but then both of them had decided not to question each other beyond what happened in the walls of the inn.

  Donovan didn't know if he loved her or not in the past because things back then were different, but for him to recklessly make a son with her… it only meant that he had lost himself in her. And he wouldn't mind getting lost in her all over again.

  "I still turn a little speechless, when I realize you knew about witches and vampires from the very beginning," remarked Donovan, and Lilian looked up to meet his eyes. "Did you have an idea of what I was?"

  Lilian's eyes slightly lowered, and she nodded, "I somewhere did… It isn't every day we have men of high status, ordering everyone or coming for business in the town that I lived in which is poor."

  Donovan softly chuckled. It seemed like he had fallen for a woman who was resilient, who was smart and knew how to cover her true identity.

  "You do not have to beat yourself over the things that have happened in the past. It was no one's fault, and I have never blamed you for it," said Lilian, feeling Donovan squeeze her hand. "Our destiny had already been written and we had to follow it to meet again here."

  "You are right," Donovan agreed to her words. It didn't matter what had happened in the past anymore because, after everything, she was finally here. "You aren't planning to leave again, are you?"

  Lilian shook her head, "I don't think so. Not anytime soon."

  "I can do with the not anytime soon," the Elder vampire nodded, and he offered her a bright smile. "I believe Rome and Julie have gone out of Veteris to spend some time alone as they haven't returned yet."

  "It is fine. There's no hurry," replied Lilian, and they walked towards one of the benches and sat down under the velvety sky that carried stars in it.

  Out of Veteris, and right outside the amusement park, Roman and Julie stood in front of the entrance where the gates had been closed. The lights had been turned off, leaving the place dark and without any crowd.

  "Did they close this place?" asked Julie, rubbing her hands together as the weather was chilly.

  "It was not supposed to be closed," replied Roman, and he looked around the place to see if they could find a security person there. But they didn't spot anyone.

  "Maybe we can come tomorrow," suggested Julie, as they wouldn't be able to take any rides or eat anything.

  "Let me go and find the person in charge here. I am not leaving the place without completing our date here," remarked Roman, and he walked to the front before jumping on the other side of the gate and Julie's eyes widened.

  "I don't think trespassing is a good idea," murmured Julie under her breath, which Roman heard quite clearly.

  "When you have a vampire boyfriend next to you, you shouldn't worry about such things. It is very common to jump in places that are already closed or locked," said Roman, and before Julie could reply to him, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching not too far from where she was. For a moment, she became worried by thinking it was the amusement authorities who had arrived at the place after catching them on the CCTVs.

  But Julie was surprised when she saw Melanie and Simon walking towards her.

  "Well, hello there, Julie and Rome. I didn't know you two decided to shut down the amusement park," Simon joked on noticing the lack of light, as it wasn't really that late.

  Melanie smiled at Julie, quickly walking towards her friend and hugging her, "Thank God you are here, Julie. I was dragged here," she turned around and glared at Simon.

  "You just didn't stop hovering over your mother and the last thing I needed was her pouncing on you," came the casual words from Simon. "Also, you promised me a date before we even turned into a couple."

  "All the best for the rest of your life, Melanie," Roman congratulated the human, and Melanie nervously smiled, understanding that every friend of Simon knew exactly how he had a couple of screws loose in his head. Yet, it didn't stop her from liking him. She wondered if, over the time, she had somewhere lost a few screws from her head after starting to speak to him.

  "Thanks?" Melanie replied with an unsure tone.

  "I am glad everything worked out for good, Mel," Julie encouraged her friend because both Melanie and Simon seemed to have shared an obvious chemistry even though they used to argue in the past. "How is your mother's transformation going?"

  "She's turned weak and aggressive," replied Melanie with a frown on her face. "Elder Remy said it is normal and they would be depriving her from any blood intake until she comes to a more stable state. But that would also mean that none of us can go near her. She's been on constant pain and I wish I could do something to reduce it."

  "She will be just fine," Simon waved his hand, "Mother-in-law is strong and she will pull through."

  Melanie shook her head because though now it was alright, her mother often spiralled at the mention of Simon being her future son-in-law. It was as if Simon enjoyed poking her mother and getting a reaction for his pure pleasure.

  "Why is the amusement park closed? It isn't even Sunday," commented Simon, and he walked towards the gate.

  "Maybe it is a sign that we head back to the university and make sure everyone is well," muttered Melanie under her breath.

  Roman looked around the place before he opened the gate from the inside and said, "I guess with no one here, we can take a ride ourselves."

  "And this is why we are best friends," said Simon in a matter of fact tone before he stepped inside the place by walking through the gates.

  "I feel like we are going to end up meeting the cops tonight," said Melanie in a worried tone.

  "Oh darling, you worry for nothing. If we have cops, all we have to do is compel them. Worse, I will carry you and run from here in speed," said Simon, and Melanie sent him a glare.

  Melanie shook her head, murmuring something about how she was going to get into possible trouble as she made her way toward Simon.

  Julie walked to where Roman was, and in time, the vampires turned on the switchboard of the place, and soon music started to fill the area, and lights turned on. Roman wrapped his hand around Julie's hand and pulled her in the other direction so that he could have his own time with her while Simon and Melanie walked without holding hands.

  "Did you bring your other girls here too?" Melanie asked Simon with a curious look on her face.

  "My other girls? In the future I plan to bring them of course. And you are welcome to join us," Simon replied with a bright smile. Melanie gave him a dry look. It took her a while before her cheeks turned pink on who the girls Simon was talking about.

  "You are such a prankster," she rolled her eyes, making her way towards the ferris wheel. Simon moved quickly, and he opened the door for her,

  "Milady."

  Though she could perfectly get inside the cabin of the ferris wheel, Melanie placed her hand on Simon's hand that waited for her and got inside to take a seat. Soon Simon joined her, sitting in front of her so that he could look at her. He noticed the gentle breeze sway her hair that she had let tied, pulling out the short hair.

  Melanie watched the cabins starting to move, and as they moved five spots upwards, she said, "Never did I think that I would come here when no one is around. Even with the music it is so quiet."

  Simon replied to her, "And never did I think that I would be sitting on one of these with a girl I would actually like."

  Melanie cleared her throat, feeling his intense gaze even when she turned to look in the other direction and her cheeks burned, as they were all alone on this side of the amusement park.