Vampire King’s Little Killer

Mystery: something strange or not known that has not yet been explained or understood

Tessa

The next day I woke up to Nero lying dead beside me. He didn’t breathe and I was still latching onto his body like a stubborn starfish. I sighed, feeling the comfort of his cold body, and fell back into a peaceful sleep until I get up again when my stomach started growling.

Looking at my phone I saw that it was past noon, and I hated that humans didn’t get to sleep as long as vampires. I do want to wake up with him. Maybe if we did, I would be as beautiful and have their perfect skin. I pecked his lips and decided to start my day, carefully opening the door, and making sure that I didn’t let any sunlight into the room. No wonder vampires are so pale, I can practically see veins webbing on his cheeks, thighs, and hips, and oh so many delicious places all over his body.

Ugh…

“Gergo!” I smiled widely when I saw the hound was already waiting for me in the kitchen. He ran towards me when he saw me and stopped in front of my feet. He sits perfectly though his tail was wagging, failing to hide his excitement.

“Ms. Harrington, will you be having brunch in the dining area? I will set it up for you.” The chef interrupted my meet-cute moment with Gergo.

“Can I have them outside instead? maybe in the outdoor seating area, does this place has one? I need sun for my vacation glow.” The chef couldn’t hide his smile when he told me there is a spacious dining area looking out at the beautiful garden in the back. I nodded then continued, “What are you making? I’m thinking of taking a walk with Gergo later, I want to explore the house and its surrounding.”

I was hoping that Nero would give me an official tour of the village later this evening. Then maybe tomorrow I’ll see the scenery around the village and visit old castles, just like the perfect human tourist that I should be for my bucket list. I need to google them first and set my itinerary. I learned that it’s what people do on vacation, not wandering in the dark alleyway and getting warned by the town’s witch, like I did last night. Not that I don’t appreciate the warning, but it led to more questions while I was already having too many from my death threat.

“Of course Ms. Harrington, we have a choice of the Romanian version of meatloaf and cabbage rolls, our traditional soup accompanied by bread, then for dessert, I’m making cheese pie.”

“Oh, my… okay, I’m a cheese girl, you got me hooked on dessert so I’m sure I will like everything on the menu for lunch.” I gave attention to Gergo before I went back to the guest bedroom with my first cup of morning coffee.

Okay… it’s afternoon coffee.

My insides bloomed with something when I saw Nero was still lying perfectly dead-like on his side of the bed when I quietly entered the room. I put my coffee on my bedside table and then headed to the ensuite bathroom. I brushed my teeth, took care of my morning needs, then had a quick shower to wash away my sleepy face. I decided to wear my favorite color. And since I’m on my holiday I put on my black sleeveless sundress, yes… there’s such a thing as a black sundress and I was loving it. It was very breezy, I picked the ankle-length one and paired it with my all-black converse. My trustee knives were sheathed in their holsters well hidden under the flowy dress.

This time Gergo was waiting for me in front of my room and the dog led me to the back side of the castle-like home and as promised, I was presented with my brunch. It was too much for one person, but I know it’s part of Lucius’ hospitality, so I didn’t think much of it. Forty minutes later after a lazy brunch accompanied by Gergo, I hummed appreciatively at the last bite of the Romanian cheese pie on my plate. Gergo had finished munching on the meatloaf that I sneakily fed him, yes I wanted to be in his good graces, after all, I needed to thank him for last night.

I know getting a dog of my own would be too much commitment, so spoiling Gergo was an easy thing for me. The black hound followed as I took my walk in the well-kept garden of Lucius’ home. I took a seat on the stone bench and start tapping on my phone and checking on my emails while enjoying the cool afternoon air with Gergo sitting quietly beside my feet.

The chef told me that there was a lovely path towards a small private forest just outside the beautiful garden and I was heading there half an hour later with Gergo barking happily by my side. The path was private and eerily mesmerizing, I gasped when Gergo and I stumbled on a small pond. The dog seemed familiar with the place when he ran and headed straight to the shallowest part of the pond. There was a very big rock where I decided to sit and dangle my feet after taking off my sneakers. I dipped my black nail-colored toes and then laughed the second Gergo jumped when a small frog decided that it was going to scare the dog.

The sun was setting in when I lost track of time while having fun, playing by the pond with Gergo. “Who’s there?” I yelled out when I heard something move by the bushes. Gergo let out a low rumble, almost a growl like he was getting cautious of his surrounding. And since I didn’t know what lurked in the small forest I decided to wear my shoes and get back to the house. I made a mental note to ask him what kind of animals might jump out of the forest. I surely didn’t want Gergo to get hurt.

I called Gergo and walked quicker towards the path back to Lucius’. The dog would growl and look back at the bushes, but I called him again and pick up my pace until we arrived back at the gate of Lucius’ home. Gergo was behind me when I shut the gate and hurriedly went inside the house. The forest was not visible anymore, the path was clear and Gergo had stopped growling. He was back to being calm and sitting perfectly under my feet, while I kept looking at the backyard and wishing that I have my guns with me.

“Ms. Harrington,”

“Oh, god, you spooked me.”

“Everything okay?” The chef asked when he saw me by the window, still looking outside.

“Yeah, Gergo growled and I thought I heard something.” I shrugged trying to be casual with Lucius’ employee. I didn’t want to scare the guy cause he made a really damn good cheese pie, and I need to make sure he wouldn’t bail on me. Not when I’m still staying at Lucius.

“Probably just a squirrel.” He tried to calm me down and I pretend that he succeeded, cause I was petty that way.

Dinner was to be served at seven, but he already had snacks, coffee, and tea ready for me at the nearby living space. The coffee table was filled with cheesy goodness, I might even have spotted a cheese fondue from afar.

God, I hope I was not wrong.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

And… I wasn’t! I could hug the chef if it wouldn’t weird him out, but I didn’t want it to be awkward between us. So, I thanked him and walked faster to the seating area, calling Gergo to follow me.

I wasn’t aware of the time when I heard his voice. “Tessa, love, have you been eating since you woke up?” Nero teased and I shrugged.

“Maybe,” I kept eating and feeding Gergo with mini sausage that I knew the chef put there, knowing I’d feed Gergo while I have my meals. He must’ve seen the mess Gergo made in the outside dining area.

“But no, Gergo and I spend most of our afternoon by the pond.”

“The back pond?” Lucius came into view, the man didn’t look like he just woke up, well, so did Nero. Huh, it must be another perk of being a vampire. With all of those hours of beauty sleep, they’d wake up flawlessly while my eyes would be all puffy and my hair tangled.

“Tessa?” Nero asked, taking my focus back to our conversation.

“Oh yeah, the back pond. Gergo seemed happy playing in the shallow part of the pond. We spent hours and didn’t realize that it was getting dark. And that was when we heard something in the bushes.”

Lucius didn’t say anything though he kneel in front of Gergo as if he could peek into the dog’s mind. It was kind of creepy yet intriguing at the same time.

“I’ll go and take a look. Father, why don’t you stay? I’ll ask the chef to heat up a bag for you.”

“Bring one of your guards with you. I sent them here for a reason, son.”

The prince almost rolled his eyes but I could see that he was holding himself back when he nodded and went to the other side of the house instead of going straight to the back and following the path to the forest.

“Everything should be fine. Probably a squirrel.”

“Yeah, that was what the chef said.” I barely said the words as my concentration was hard on the cheese fondue and dippers, weighing between choices of breadsticks before I decided to go for the chips.

There would always be something, somewhere, but the chef won’t be making cheese fondue every day. Hmmm… maybe I should ask. I’m on vacation, it should be a thing.