Once she was up, she started to balance herself on the branch which felt weak and shaky. After a good amount of springing on the branch, stretching and reaching out to the fruit Damien had previously pointed.
Just as she balanced herself, the branch above her where she had been holding broke to come in her hand. For a mere second, she was scared and let out a sigh of relief that everything was alright until she heard another crack sound before she felt her heart slip as the branch she had been standing on break.
But Penny didn’t fall on the ground, instead, Damien had caught hold of her in time just as she fell from the tree. Penny had squeezed her eyes shut ready for her body to hit the ground. When it didn’t happen, she finally opened her eyes to see Damien staring at her.
“Thank you,” she thanked looking at him.
“You got my fruit?” he asked her. Penny looked at her hand which held the fruit that wasn’t in a good shape before she had picked it but nonetheless the fruit didn’t lose its appeal, making one desire to eat it, “Good,” gentler than she had expected, he dropped her on the ground where she felt her feet meet the surface of the land with her heart thudding loudly in her chest, “Did that give you a scare?” he asked her.
“I don’t think I have ever fallen from such height,” she answered him, one of her hand placed on her chest as she tried to get it back to its usual rhythm. Handing him the fruit with her other hand, she saw him take it and take a bite from it right away. The sound of the fruit being crushed between his teeth before he swallowed it.
“Your heart is too loud, mouse. Learn to handle it, things like these shouldn’t scare you. You are a scared mouse,” he stated and took another bite, staring at the fruit in his hand which he had taken bites from and looking up at her, “Do you know what this fruit is called?” she shook her head. She had never come across to see such a strange-looking fruit.
By appearance, the fruit was white in color which had black pigmentation but as Damien ate the fruit, she could see the red fruit inside it.
“This is called firefly of the night,” he said beginning to educate her, “The fruit is delicious only at the time of the morning. If one consumes it during the time of night, especially humans, the person can die in less than ten minutes. It is called that because the fruit looks even more appealing when night falls upon it. Humans usually don’t cultivate them in the fear of someone taking a bite into it at the time of night.”
Penny nodded her head, staring at the tree and the fruit that hung on the branches, “Is this why you said to be careful with the appearance?” she asked him to see him finished the fruit in his hand and licking the last juice that had seeped down while he was taking the bites from it.
“What a smart mouse I have. You need to be rewarded,” he said walking towards her but then at the tree before he used his hand to hit the trunk of the tree with enough force of few fruits that were loosely hanging in the tree to fall down. With his quickness, he caught one of them in less than a second.
Penny blinked at him. Did he just…?
All he had to do was hit the bark on the tree and instead of doing it, he had made her climb up the tree, “Don’t look at me like that,” he said handing over the fruit to her, “Today you have learned a new skill. That is how to climb a tree. Very soon you will master it as you will climb up and down with ease.”
“I don’t think it will be of any use…” she drawled. Hearing him chuckle as he pulled out his kerchief to wipe his hands, putting it back in the pocket he said,
“I am sure it will be more than helpful, Penelope. Especially with that little brain of yours trying to device a plan of escape since you arrived here,” he gave her full smile which a naive person could mistake it to be kind but the smile was far from it. Damien walked past her leaving her speechless.
She had nothing to say as a retort. She had thought of him to be a crazy vampire who did things randomly but it seemed like there was more than what met the n.a.k.e.d eye. He had told her to look through a person’s facade and it seemed like this man himself hid a lot of things which she couldn’t reach right now.
Bringing the scrumptious looking fruit close to her lips, she opened her mouth to take a bite into it. For the first second her face contoured at the sourness before it turned sweet as she swallowed it. The fruit had a strange texture compared to what it looked like.
Finding Damien looking at her feet, he commented, “We need to get you some shoes before you go stamping on another nail or thorn,” saying this, Damien started to walk back from where they had come. Back to the bridge that connected to the mansion.
Once Penny was done eating, she wiped her hands on the sides of her dress that she wore. Reaching the bridge, Penny found some sort of relief when her feet touched the flat surface than the small stones and twigs in the forest.
Suddenly she found Damien stopping in his tracks and she who had been following him quietly back paused her own footsteps. Seeing him where he had his hands in his trouser pockets. His head leaning back as if he were looking up at the vast sky. He then looked over his shoulder and for that moment Penny felt as if she saw his eyes appear to be darker or were it black in color itself?
