Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 19: Scheming

Luna impaled another shrimp on her fork, feeling like every movement she made echoed through the silence that had ensued at the dining table.

She hadn't meant to disrupt the mood. She had logically made a connection between someone commenting on tender meat and the putrefaction of undead

"And that's what I think is the biggest difference between a ghoul and a revenant," Luna concluded, impaling a shrimp on her fork as if marking the end of her speech. The broad shouldered boy on the other side of the table looked sick but managed to slowly swallow the bite he'd been chewing on for quite some time.

Lyra, who was sitting next to Luna, bit her lower lip.

"Revenant would be the preferred choice then," Alexei chimed in, sitting at the opposite side of Lyra and reached for his napkin.

"Really?" Luna cocked an eyebrow. "You'd rot away almost instantly. Imagine—"

"I think this conversation's gotten quite far away from the previous topic for long enough, don't you think?" Lyra laughed nervously and turned to the boy in front of Luna. "What was it you said now again, Mr. Benford?"

"Uh... Just that the sirloin was tender..."

The entire table sank into an awkward silence, most of them suddenly showing interest in their food. Noah mostly picked at it though, his gaze flickering between a piece of pork pie and a boy Luna thought looked familiar.

Further away the adults were placed at their own table, seemingly having a much better time than them. Alexei's father, Richard and Catherine were somehow laughing loudly over a candelabra and Damien had been seated far away from the vampires in an angle to prevent him from even seeing them.

Lucius and Tom were in the middle of an intense discussion of what seemed to involve necklaces, and Vincent, who still had to sit at the children's table, cast longing looks over at them.

Luna couldn't understand how accessories or whatever could be more interesting than speculations about flesh eating supernaturals. Unless they were practical accessories, she supposed and looked down at her harmonia bracelets.

Her nose scrunched up. She'd never gotten around asking Ethan about that incident in West Kerilia when her accessories had been rendered useless as the nightmare vampire bit her. Now that she remembered it, it only seemed natural to walk right over and ask, but people were still eating.

She tapped her fingers impatiently and eyed the others at the children's table. Noah's expectant eyes met her gaze and she politely suppressed a groan. He still wanted to talk about that murder scene earlier. Well, he'd have to wait.

As soon as everyone was finished with their meal, Luna grabbed the most boring looking men she could find on short notice and shoved them in Noah's direction.

"Look, Noah. Fancy people. Introduce yourself, future town chief that you are."

Then she turned on her heels and looked for Ethan. Fortunately, Abram was rather easy to spot, being the tallest one there, and where Abram was, Luna could guess Ethan would be as well.

"I... don't think so?" Ethan frowned as she explained what had happened in the nightmare house. "I think I'd remember if there was a vampire who could do that to holy objects."

"Isn't that strange then?"

Ethan and Abram exchanged a glance.

"Well... It was a form of hallucination, wasn't it? A nightmare."

"I—I suppose..." Luna knitted her eyebrows. "But we did get hurt, so it had to be a little real."

"Your father doesn't have any theories?" Abram raised an eyebrow in Lucius' direction and Ethan hushed him.