“ ‘Mum, mum, what is a vampire?’ asked the little girl. ‘Be quiet and drink your blood before it coagulates.’ “ I said and looked at Marys face. She wasn’t smiling at all.
“What happens at a vampire sprint race? It finished neck and neck.” Not even close to making me laugh. We were already running out of jokes with no clear winner in sight.
“Why do people hate vampires in general? … Because they suck.” So short of winning our duel …
“What would you get if you cross a vampire with a snowman? Frostbite.” Not bad, but not too good either.
“What kind of vampire is always grumpy? The ones with B negative blood types.” She didn’t look like she could barely contain her laughter, but rather didn’t understand my joke at all.
“What is ‘be negative blood type’?”
“Oh … never mind, can we just agree that vampire jokes suck and call it a draw?” Too bad she didn´t laugh there.
“Fine, I already invited them over. And if we stay here for two weeks, I can order these other items you requested.” I didn’t like that she already sent out the invitation even though it wasn’t improbable I would win.
“Fine by me … How much blood do you have stored? I´m kind of thirsty.”
“A lot, you need to evade the watchful eyes of a few maids though ...” Escaping a few watchful eyes was my speciality, especially at night. After she told me where I needed to go, I stood up from the bed and said goodnight. She would most definitely be asleep when I would come back as she was already quite tired. Happily, I walked out of the room in my white dress, through the corridor and out of the window.
Dark clouds hung above and the wind blew cold air under my dress, not that it mattered much. My body simply cooled down by a few degrees as I strolled through the darkness, looking behind me from time to time to check if any servant looked out of the windows. They were all fast asleep apparently which was no wonder as it was already quite late.
“Damn … these shoes.” I wore completely white high heels, which certainly had its benefits in making me taller, but they hurt quite a bit. I only wore them once before and already didn’t like them, but I apparently still had to get used to them. While the birth certificate Tom forged stated my current age at nine years old and it wasn’t customary to wear these shoes at such a young age, there could certainly be times when I needed to act as if I was way older than nine years old. And thus, I staggered along the gravely road, twisting my ankle from time to time until I reached the ruins of the old mansion.
Luckily, it didn’t take long for me to find the stairs downwards this time as the wooden door that usually hid the stairs was burnt down.
“Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.” With each step I took on the stairs towards the cellar, my feet hurt even more until I simply took them off and held them in my hands. Now barefoot, I nimbly evaded all the burnt splinters laying on the floor and went right the first moment I could. Finding my way was quite easy all of a sudden … okay I only had to take one right turn.
I checked the unlit lamps in the hallway and pulled down on each and every one of them. The first three were entirely unmoving, but the third one turned downwards and a quiet clicking resounded behind the wall. I stepped forward once, turned to my right and then pushed against the wall.
The hidden door opened swiftly and easily. On the outside, it looked like the rest of the wall, but as it opened, it became clear that this door was mostly made out of wood and was only decorated with stones. Happily, I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me.
The room itself was lit in a gentle, blue light. It stemmed from a sword on top of some kind of stand. The runes on this sword glowed in the darkness, not much, but they probably spent enough light for the average human to find their way inside this room. I laid my high heels on the ground and went closer to this sword in curiosity. Mary mentioned it casually and told me the White’s used it as a ceremonial sword, but I firmly believed there was more to this sword than just simple glowing runes the moment I looked at it.
I could read these runes. They weren’t in a language I learned in the past, but I could still decipher them. It was quite a contradiction, but on the other hand, I could speak since my birth. Maybe this language on the sword was the same unknown language I knew and Aska didn´t like to talk about.
“May this sword help to keep the darkness at bay.” Well, that didn’t work out too well, did it? The darkness already made its home here and this sword wasn’t going to stop it. Unimpressed, I touched the blade with my index finger. In fascination, I felt how the sword burnt away my skin in a matter of seconds and then started to dissolve the flesh underneath it. I clicked my tongue as I inspected my burnt finger which was slowly healing. Next, I touched the hilt of the glowing magical sword, only to be confronted with the same phenomena.
“Hmm.” At least I now knew where to find a magical artefact if I wanted to test a few things out. Begrudgingly, I left the sword as it was and turned to the other furniture of the room. A simple table with an unlit lamp on it and a few chairs were really the only things noteworthy here and as such, I directly turned towards the next door and opened it. There were no lamps inside this room and so, I left the door open as I entered the storeroom. Shelves stood on the wall, completely stacked with the blood Mary ordered in secrecy.
“Thank you for the meal!” I said as I threw my dress away and opened a random bottle. It was full of animal blood, but I didn’t expect anything else in the first place. And so, I forced myself to drown the first bottle. Then the second. And then I stopped counting.
“ ‘Mum, mum, what is a vampire?’ asked the little girl. ‘Be quiet and drink your blood before it coagulates.’ “ I said and looked at Marys face. She wasn’t smiling at all.
“What happens at a vampire sprint race? It finished neck and neck.” Not even close to making me laugh. We were already running out of jokes with no clear winner in sight.
“Why do people hate vampires in general? … Because they suck.” So short of winning our duel …
“What would you get if you cross a vampire with a snowman? Frostbite.” Not bad, but not too good either.
“What kind of vampire is always grumpy? The ones with B negative blood types.” She didn’t look like she could barely contain her laughter, but rather didn’t understand my joke at all.
“What is ‘be negative blood type’?”
“Oh … never mind, can we just agree that vampire jokes suck and call it a draw?” Too bad she didn´t laugh there.
“Fine, I already invited them over. And if we stay here for two weeks, I can order these other items you requested.” I didn’t like that she already sent out the invitation even though it wasn’t improbable I would win.
“Fine by me … How much blood do you have stored? I´m kind of thirsty.”
“A lot, you need to evade the watchful eyes of a few maids though ...” Escaping a few watchful eyes was my speciality, especially at night. After she told me where I needed to go, I stood up from the bed and said goodnight. She would most definitely be asleep when I would come back as she was already quite tired. Happily, I walked out of the room in my white dress, through the corridor and out of the window.
Dark clouds hung above and the wind blew cold air under my dress, not that it mattered much. My body simply cooled down by a few degrees as I strolled through the darkness, looking behind me from time to time to check if any servant looked out of the windows. They were all fast asleep apparently which was no wonder as it was already quite late.
“Damn … these shoes.” I wore completely white high heels, which certainly had its benefits in making me taller, but they hurt quite a bit. I only wore them once before and already didn’t like them, but I apparently still had to get used to them. While the birth certificate Tom forged stated my current age at nine years old and it wasn’t customary to wear these shoes at such a young age, there could certainly be times when I needed to act as if I was way older than nine years old. And thus, I staggered along the gravely road, twisting my ankle from time to time until I reached the ruins of the old mansion.
Luckily, it didn’t take long for me to find the stairs downwards this time as the wooden door that usually hid the stairs was burnt down.
“Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.” With each step I took on the stairs towards the cellar, my feet hurt even more until I simply took them off and held them in my hands. Now barefoot, I nimbly evaded all the burnt splinters laying on the floor and went right the first moment I could. Finding my way was quite easy all of a sudden … okay I only had to take one right turn.
I checked the unlit lamps in the hallway and pulled down on each and every one of them. The first three were entirely unmoving, but the third one turned downwards and a quiet clicking resounded behind the wall. I stepped forward once, turned to my right and then pushed against the wall.
The hidden door opened swiftly and easily. On the outside, it looked like the rest of the wall, but as it opened, it became clear that this door was mostly made out of wood and was only decorated with stones. Happily, I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me.
The room itself was lit in a gentle, blue light. It stemmed from a sword on top of some kind of stand. The runes on this sword glowed in the darkness, not much, but they probably spent enough light for the average human to find their way inside this room. I laid my high heels on the ground and went closer to this sword in curiosity. Mary mentioned it casually and told me the White’s used it as a ceremonial sword, but I firmly believed there was more to this sword than just simple glowing runes the moment I looked at it.
I could read these runes. They weren’t in a language I learned in the past, but I could still decipher them. It was quite a contradiction, but on the other hand, I could speak since my birth. Maybe this language on the sword was the same unknown language I knew and Aska didn´t like to talk about.
“May this sword help to keep the darkness at bay.” Well, that didn’t work out too well, did it? The darkness already made its home here and this sword wasn’t going to stop it. Unimpressed, I touched the blade with my index finger. In fascination, I felt how the sword burnt away my skin in a matter of seconds and then started to dissolve the flesh underneath it. I clicked my tongue as I inspected my burnt finger which was slowly healing. Next, I touched the hilt of the glowing magical sword, only to be confronted with the same phenomena.
“Hmm.” At least I now knew where to find a magical artefact if I wanted to test a few things out. Begrudgingly, I left the sword as it was and turned to the other furniture of the room. A simple table with an unlit lamp on it and a few chairs were really the only things noteworthy here and as such, I directly turned towards the next door and opened it. There were no lamps inside this room and so, I left the door open as I entered the storeroom. Shelves stood on the wall, completely stacked with the blood Mary ordered in secrecy.
“Thank you for the meal!” I said as I threw my dress away and opened a random bottle. It was full of animal blood, but I didn’t expect anything else in the first place. And so, I forced myself to drown the first bottle. Then the second. And then I stopped counting.
