The Secret of Jauregui Estate (Camren)

Chapter 13

   We made it back to the Estate safe and sound. Immediately, we rushed an injured Lauren inside and handed her off to Jebodiah who then ran her upstairs to her bedroom. We trailed close behind and helped Jebodiah tend to Lauren's wounds once she was laying on her bed.

   Soon after we left, Dinah recommended we go get pizza to cheer us up. She already knew what my answer was and she grinned as my expression slightly brightened. Dinah pulled over to a local Pizza Hut and ordered a Hawaiian for Mani, Ally and I plus an additional small Meat Lover's for herself. We then drove to Mani's house to spend the night after receiving permission from our parents.

   "Maaam! Company!" Mani yelled as we walked inside her house. "Mom?"

   "By the cauldron!"

   "Cauldro- you know what! Forget I said anything." I said interrupting myself. We marched into the kitchen or 'potionary' as the Kordei family called it. It was honestly no surprise to me nor Ally that a huge metal cauldron was sitting in the middle of the room, after all we were friends with a witch, a werewolf, and a vampire.

   "Mani bear, can you pass me that lizard's tongue?" Her mother asked as she pointed to the small jar of what was apparently lizard's tongue sitting on the counter. Mani sighed and grabbed the jar then passing it to her mother. We watched as she sprinkled a pinch in and hummed as she stirred up whatever was in that cauldron.

   "So mom..." Mani began "Lauren's kinda sick now..."

   "Oh my! What happened?"

   "She was kinda kidnapped by that vamp Keaton and... well... injured?" Her mother stopped stirring and looked at her daughter in waiting for her to continue.

   "What do you mean by injured?" Mani looked down and hesitated before replying,

   "Chains." Her mother stood aghast.

   "No! He did not!" Ally and I were totally lost!

   "What's the big deal?" I asked.

   "Yeah. Chains can't hurt that bad," Ally backed me up, "can they?" Mani's mother looked to Dinah and Mani shaking her head in disapproval.

   "Newbies?" She muttered. The other two nodded their heads. "Alright." She sighed steering away from her work yet again. "Chains may not seem like too big a threat to us, but to a vampire it could mean death."

   "Death?" I whispered.

   "I thought only sunlight could kill a vampire." Ally added stupidly.

   "Ally, Lauren goes to school everyday in broad daylight." Mani sighed. "It's just a belief."

   "Oh."

   "Anyways, Lauren is lucky to even be alive, well somewhat alive, right now." The woman continued. "For you see, when vampires make contact with anything made of iron they burn... badly."

   "She has weird scars around her neck, arm, and wrists." Ally informed. "Why don't they look like normal scars?"

   "That's a hard question, Ally." Mani's mother explained. "No one really knows."

   After our little chat with Mani's mother we went upstairs and talked before crashing, scattered throughout the room. I had my eyes closed, but I was still very much awake. The whole night all I could think about was Lauren and if she was ok.