Is It Love? DROGO

Chapter 9: Fiery encounter

Red Crandall

"You know!" Sarah stares at me. Well aware that I've worked it out.

"Red..."

"You knew and you didn't tell me!"

"Sorry, I... It's complicated."

"Sorry?! You could have told me several times, but you've always avoided it!"

"But what did you want me to say? You'd have taken me for a mad woman!" She's right but that doesn't stop me feeling betrayed! How can I trust her? What else does she know that I don't?

"So you preferred to let me live a house full of... of.." I'm afraid to say the words.

"Of vampires!! Damn it!" She clams up. She definitely feels guilty.

"To be honest you didn't seem ready for that kind of revelation."

"Excuse me, I was new to the city!" I get up and pace the room.

"That's completely crazy!" Sarah puts her glass down and walks over to me. She's about to put a hand on my shoulder but anger gets the better of me and I speak before thinking.

"And if I told you that I'm sort of witch would you take me for a lunatic?" She jumps slightly and stares at me for a long time. Her eyes freeze over. She remains silent too long for my taste.

"Actually, I already knew."

"What? But how?" All of a sudden, I get it. This is definitely revelation night. Could it be Sarah is also a witch? I suddenly remember her keen interest in Professor Jones' course and all her knowledge on the subject.

"Sarah. Are you a witch?" She smile, a little ashamed, and confession a level voice:

"Yes." I don't know how to react. It's not like she's telling me she goes out burgling at night. That, at the limit, I would have managed. But in this case she's saying she has fun preparing positions and turning people into toad!

"I didn't think we'd have this conversation so soon, especially not this evening." I quickly soften, seeing how embarrassed she is. I look at her with fresh eyes. We're the same. The revelation plunges me into a medicative silence. Sarah's waiting for me to be the first to speak. I clear my throat.

"How?" She interrupts me nodding her head.

"I felt it right away when we met. Did your parents tell you?"

"No, I didn't know when I arrived at Mystery Spell."

"Really?"

"My parents never implied that I had any gifts. Now that they are dead, I'll never know if they knew."

"At least one of them know it. The gift is passed on through blood veins." I think back a moment. Is that why my parents travelled so often to the four corners of the world? Were they going to do some sort of... Witchcraft?

"How did you find out then?"

"I found out at the manor." She's speechless for a moment, shocked. When she speaks again she stumbles on her words.

"But... How... Why?" Her curiousity is legitimate, but I prefer not to reveal the reasons that prompted Nicolae to explain everything to me. It would be only make matters worse between her and the Bartholy's.

"I'm telling you they're but who you think they are, they protect me, they take care of me. Nicolae has even loaned me a very old books so that I can research what I am." She looks thoughtful. She's finding it very difficult to accept the possibility that the Bartholy brothers are friendly towards me.