The Voodoo Bell

Part 8: Chapters 20-21

20

Announcements

          It had almost been a month now, since I had come to live at Thorn Manor. The last week had been particularly uneventful. I had developed my own type of routine and it kept me mostly to myself during the evenings. I found that even though I was desperately lonely, this made the time pass by much easier for me. Plus, I didn't have to see Reed and Misty making out all over every surface of the manor, which seemed to be their new favorite past time, unless they were locked in his room doing.... Well, I didn't care to know what.

          When I woke up in the evenings, I had started taking a meal trey in my room, instead of attending family dinners. I hadn't asked for this special treatment, but after a few missed meals, Rachel had insisted that the servants start bringing something up for me. Usually, my tray had a small glass of orange juice, buttered toast and my favorite, Coffee. The first warm sip every day was the best, especially now that November had brought on a harsh cold front. Despite the warm fire being built up in my room every night, the chill never quite seemed to leave the air. I found myself staying warmly dressed all the time and taking long hot showers before bed. I hadn't found the courage to try another bath yet, after the incident where I almost drowned.

          After I had eaten my food and dressed myself, I would stroll down the corridors to Larron's library where I would read anything and everything that I could about vampires and witches. This is how I came to learn that most of the old superstitions such as garlic, crucifixes and holy water were not actually harmful to vampires or witches. In fact, the only way to kill a vampire was a steak through the heart or prolonged exposure to the sun. As for witches, they seemed to be mortal still, they just didn't age as quickly as a normal person. They could live for centuries, so long as they were careful and didn't get themselves burned at a steak or something like that.

          After I had finished all of the supernatural books the library held, I was disappointed because I had found nothing on the Voodoo Bell.  Finally, I gave up that quest and moved on to reading various fiction and romances to pass the time, though I was quickly running out of those too, at the rate I was going. I'd have to make mention to Rachel about it one night. Maybe she could get me some books that I would actually be able to pick out.

          When I had tired of reading each night, I would go down stairs and meet with Derrick, who had moved our daily dinners indoors to accommodate my aversion to the cold. We hadn't spoken of his unhappy mood at the banquet that night and things had lightened up considerably between us. We began to fall into a light-hearted banter each evening that flowed easily between us. He would tell me about his daily struggles with the council and people that he had to work with from all over the kingdom. I in turn would tell him about the characters in my books and even though I am pretty sure he had already read them all, he acted like he was interested as I talked and I appreciated that. We had even started going to the media room sometimes to watch a movie together.

          At the end of the night however, I would always return to my room alone and watch the fire flicker as it ate away slowly at the logs. Eventually, I would feel my lids get heavy and I could finally let sleep consume me. Tonight was different, though. At the end of the movie, Derrick had walked me out of the room, still talking about the stupidity of movie vampires. It was when we reached the bottom of the stairs, that our routine was broken. Tonight, instead of us splitting off here, him to his office and me to my room, he turned and walked with me up the stairs, still chatting. In fact, we had made it all the way to my door before he let the conversation fall flat. An awkward exchange felt imminent as I waited for him to speak.

          "Well, good night. I mean, good morning?" I said, beginning to babble. "I mean, I guess for us it is night, since this is when we sleep, even though the sun is going to...."