My nostrils flared as I searched and frantically moved the hundreds of oils inside the lab. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The formula appeared to me in a diorama of images. The scents all collided inside my mind in a messy portfolio. It was just a matter of hours, maybe even minutes, before I found the perfect composition.
A pot of hibiscus scattered on the ground. It shattered into pieces, the soil dispersing. I glanced at the scenery, checking that the flower had been spared. Drifting my gaze, I took sight of Cerba, sitting near the damage inside her soft basket. I swore her eyes had narrowed, letting me know I had disturbed her peace.
“I’m sorry, cutie,” I excused, rushing from one side to the other.
I was inside an unstoppable euphoria where nothing could hold me down. In one gesture, I slapped away the documents on my desk. They fell on the floor while Cerba crinkled her ears back. Even she knew how much her owner hated the mess, but I didn’t care right now.
I readjusted my gloves, moving my fingers so that my hands would stop shaking. My hair stood on end, and my heart galloped at full speed. I had prepared the vials I would need, creating a mess in the lab. I was under the adrenaline, like a beast ready to emerge in its element.
“The answer I was looking for had been right in front of me all that time, Cerba.”
I inhaled a shaky breath, my stare on Cerba. She rested her head on her paws, looking at me with wide eyes.
I then fluttered my eyelids closed and waited in a silent meditation.
I’d been drunk with scents since the sun rose this morning. Radcliff had probably woken up by now and read the note I left him by the bed. It contained only five words—just like the one he had left me.
On thei, I’d drawn a rose. Not that it mattered.
I waited for my breathing to calm down, listening to my heartbeat. I visualized the final piece of my perfume, my world gorging on smells. I refocused on myself and removed the barrier that prevented my emotions from breaking free.
I fluttered my eyelids open.
It’s time.
I put the tube on my weighing machine, holding the pipette between my fingers carefully. The work was meticulous—a drop or more could change everything. By remaining concentrated, vial after vial, I mixed the oils with precision.Pomegranate. Vanilla. Patchouli.It was a potion, with all the scents that were connected to memories that had changed my life.
The aphrodisiac and the perfume were linked by the same formula—except that the perfume would follow the regulations and would not contain further than thirty percent oil. The aphrodisiac, on the contrary, was boundless.
Weighing after weighing.
Drops after drops.
Notes after notes.
Accords after accords.
The elixir of aroma was taking life.
But the secret of it remained in the base notes. The lily of the valley was my mother’s favorite flower for a reason. It held a secret. It was the yin to the yang of the Devil’s Corpse. Their chemicals matched in the same force. Darkness within light. The collision of both created the scent of…
Pure love.
Love was the answer.
I had been wrong all this time. My brief was so much more than darkness and sensuality. It was love. The powerful carnal passion it contained. The need and addiction it provided. The happiness electrifying your whole core and the delicious ecstasy it gifted.
Love was the most powerful force in the world, and now it’d be the most powerful perfume.
My whole body was boiling. Excitement melted in me as I inhaled the fragrance of the created formula. Euphoria wrapped me in an enchanting smell. I was close. So close. I was on the verge of creating a masterpiece.
I erased a drop of sweat on my forehead with my palm and restarted everything again to almost the exactitude of what I did. I was only missing the 0.001 percent that would make the sorcery of the potion happen.
One small drop for a perfume, one magic leap for perfumers.
Scents were linked to memories. I wasn’t able to create love before, because I couldn’t place the odors of it. I had to open my Pandora’s box to face my feelings. To use them all. The good and the bad. The beautiful and the ugly.
The hell inside Radcliff had engulfed my demons.
