Chapter 197: A Fragile Glass Jar
Gavriel narrowed his eyes at the information, while Aliana caught onto one particular detail.
"You said... since your arrival. Are you not from Aria?"
The couple visibly stiffened, and Aliana noticed it, but she pressed on, "Also... the way you referred to humans..." She paused, carefully choosing her next words before quietly finishing, "...it sounded like... like you two... aren’t human yourself."
Gavriel, sitting right beside her, slowly shifted his eyes to Aliana.
He noticed how she kept her gaze fixed fearlessly on the couple, yet he could feel the nervous tension building inside her at the prospect of being in the presence of other supernatural beings.
As much as he wanted to comfort her, a part of him was far more curious to see how she would react, because, in the end, he was not human either.
The couple exchanged glances once again, and this time Ivan took the lead.
"We are not from here."
Aliana noticed how Ivan deliberately avoided answering her other questions, and for some reason, she felt her nerves spike at his silence.
Slowly, she turned her gaze back to Evelyn before softly asking, "I’ve met you before. At the market... yesterday. It was you, wasn’t it?"
That immediately drew Gavriel’s attention towards the woman in question. He distinctly remembered Aliana mentioning that she had encountered a mysterious lady dressed in white.
Evelyn knew there was little point in denying it. The young woman before her was far more observant than most, picking up on details that others would have easily overlooked.
"Yes," she admitted quietly. "It was me."
"What did you mean when you said those words to me back then?" Aliana questioned.
Gavriel’s brows pulled together at this new piece of information he had been unaware of. He looked at Aliana and asked, "What did she say?"
Ivan also wondered what his wife had told her, turning an inquisitive look toward Evelyn, who kept her eyes fixed firmly on Aliana.
Aliana briefly glanced at Gavriel before answering honestly.
"She told me to be careful and... that this kind of energy, if left unchecked, could destroy a person from within."
A heavy silence immediately settled over the room.
Both men’s attention shifted back to Evelyn at once, while Gavriel’s icy gaze lingered on her, silently demanding an explanation.
Releasing a quiet sigh, Evelyn finally broke the silence. "What I said was true."
Her deep blue eyes slowly drifted from Aliana to Gavriel before returning to Aliana once again, her expression carrying an unusual seriousness.
"I can see it. There is a powerful energy coursing through your body at this very moment. It shimmers within you, but it is dangerously volatile. If you don’t learn to control it, it won’t just harm the people around you... it will eventually consume you as well, destroying you from the inside out."
The revelation struck both Aliana and Gavriel like a bolt of lightning, leaving the room suspended in an uneasy silence.
Aliana’s pulse began to pound violently against her chest as she stared at Evelyn in utter disbelief, her mind struggling to process what she had just heard.
"W-What energy?" she asked in a visibly shaken voice before swallowing hard. "What... what does that mean?"
Evelyn continued looking at the young woman with quiet calmness, her unwavering gaze never leaving Aliana’s face, which had turned pale with shock. The reaction before her only confirmed what both she and Ivan had begun to suspect from the very beginning.
Aliana truly had no idea what she was.
But she also knew that the situation was dangerous for Aliana, just as it had once been dangerous for Evelyn herself. She couldn’t afford to sugarcoat her words because, in her eyes, Aliana was like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode if measures weren’t taken before it was too late... to ensure not only her safety but also the safety of everyone around her.
"You asked us if we were human earlier," Evelyn said, refusing to mince her words. "But I must ask whether you truly know if you are human yourself?"
Ba-dum!
Aliana’s heart skipped a thundering beat before it began to race faster and faster; her body began to burn hotter with each passing second.
The next instant, a horrifying vision tore through her mind....
Something exploded right before her eyes.
Blood splattered violently across the walls of the dark shipping container, painting them a gruesome crimson.
And a violent tremor coursed through Aliana’s entire body as the teacup slipped from her trembling fingers. The porcelain crashed onto the floor and shattered into countless pieces, the sharp sound alerting everyone in the living room.
Gavriel closed the short distance between them in the blink of an eye, wrapping his arms protectively around her and pulling her tight against his chest.
"Calm down, Ana. Calm down," he urged softly against her ear, rubbing her back in a gentle motion.
But Aliana couldn’t hear a single word he was saying.
It was as though she were trapped inside a fragile glass jar, where deep cracks had begun to spread across its surface, widening with every passing second as the haze shrouding the memories slowly dissolved, forcing the horrifying events of that dreadful night into painful clarity.
Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum!
Her heart pounded at an impossible speed, and a splitting headache tore through her mind. She clutched the front of Gavriel’s shirt, her fingers tightening around the fabric until her knuckles turned white, before a low, distressed cry escaped her lips.
Ivan and Evelyn, witnessing the sudden turn of events, immediately rose to their feet, grim expressions settling across their faces.
"Baby! Listen to me!" Gavriel’s panic-filled voice reached her like a distant murmur, but she couldn’t stop.
The pain wouldn’t stop.
Nor would the unbearable sensation of her veins feel as though they were boiling from within.
Tears burned her eyes until one final memory flashed through her mind...
Jacob lay sprawled on the ground, staring at her with wide eyes filled with terror. Then he parted his lips and screamed,
"Aliana!!"
The instant her name left his mouth, his body was lifted off the ground as dark shadows violently swirled around him, and then...