Hidden World

Chapter XI - Visit at the Hotel

A storm gathered during the evening and became even stronger at night. A thunder woke Rose up. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath before wincing as a sharp pain spread from her neck into her entire body. She looked around as lightings lit her surroundings.

"What..." she said and rubbed her eyes. "What... WHAT?!" she yelled not believing her own eyes. She was in her room carefully tucked in bed. She touched her neck and felt a bandage where the bite mark was. She did not dream about her encounter. She got up from bed and turned on the light before walking to the bathroom.

As she entered the bathroom, she turned on the light before staring at her own reflection. Her dark brown hair was all a mess and her blue eyes looked like she had been drinking nonstop in the past days, the scratches on her cheek not making her reflection look better in any way. She touched the bandage again before ripping it off her skin. Her hands started shaking as she could clearly see two circular wounds.

"What did I get myself into?" she asked herself before opening the cabinet and taking out what she needed to cover the marks. She carefully put the clean bandage on and sighed before walking back to her bedroom.

The black book was untouched on her desk. She let out a sigh of relief before sitting back on the bed. There was a new mystery for her to uncover. Who brought her in and took care of the wounds while she completely checked out of the waking world. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought that the vampire did but that soon vanished because of one reason only, the book was still in her possession.

She could not understand why he wanted that book, but she knew that there was more to it that met the eye. There were still pages that were blank. For a second she felt like a video game character that had to complete quests to uncover the main story line. In a way, it was like that.

She got out of the bed and grabbed a blanket before walking out on the balcony attached to her room. Luckily it had its windows closed and the rain did not get inside. She sat on the bean bag and wrapped herself in the fluffy blanket. She was looking at the rain hit the window and the lightings unleash their wrath over the world. In that moment she felt peaceful and soon she fell asleep.

------4 hours later------

She woke up annoyed by the sun hitting her face. Even if it was morning, for some reason, it seemed that light and warmth were stronger after a storm. She yawned and got up.

She went and changed her clothes into a long-sleeved blue shirt, a pair of dark jeans and a leather jacket before covering her neck with a black scarf. She walked to the bathroom to make herself look human before going downstairs.

The house seemed untouched, just how she left it. This thought calmed her down a bit. Even if she did not know who got her to safety the previous day, they seemed somehow friendly. She put on a pair of boots and walked outside.

It was Friday morning now and posters started to already appear on the poles. Posters promoting the Spring Festival. The event took place took place every year in the first week of May and it lasted for 7 days. It was a time for the community to gather around old traditions. A time when tourists flooded the town. She stopped to look at one of them. This year a travelling Circus was bound to join the festivities.

"Maybe I'll go..." she mumbles thinking that this would give her a sense of normality. She knew that her death was approaching but making plans for the weeks to come gave her a fake sense of security.

She walked and stopped in the front of the hotel that her brother owned. It was not big but not small either. It only had 3 floors except for the ground one and it was well maintained, built at the beginning of the last century. The sign read Sunset Horizon Hotel, a name that was displayed on the glass doors at the entrance as well.