Coral stood upon the threshold of Moonflower Inn. It was lit up like an autumn festival, every window spilling golden light out onto the garden. Her Inn was full of guests, and they were all scrambling to get through the open doors.
Coral had to push her way forward through the crowd, which was hard, as she was wearing a floor length evening gown. It glittered with jewels, and the layers of silks and chiffon made it heavy and almost unmanageable with the enormity of the skirt. People kept stepping on the train that flowed out behind her, forcing her to stop her progress. A tiara kept slipping down the back of her head.
There was a chorus of cheers and yells, and Coral pushed her way forward to the entrance hall of her inn, to find her guests hosting a toad race, and bets were swinging high. “Fifteen hundred silver.” A man called out, and papers were passed around.
Coral stared across the makeshift ring, past the toads all piled at the centre of the floor and at the crowd of people. Her father stood there, waving a betting slip and jostling his suited gamblers.
“You haven’t got seven hundred Silver!” the crowd cried.
“Have my daughter then,” her father yelled, laughing as he did so. “Triple or nothing!”
A clanging tolled over the yells of the gamblers, the toads were released from their bindings, and the race started. Some leapt forward one or two paces towards the outer ring of the finish line. Others instantly began to fight, spurting poison and biting into eyes. A smaller toad was bitten in half instantly.
“NO!” came her fathers cry, and his betting mates laughed and jeered. Of course, her father would bet all odds on the toad least likely to win. Eirek Farley rarely won anything. She stared with disgust at her father, curling her top lip.
“She’s your problem now,” her father said. His shoulders started to droop and sweat broke out over his forehead.
“How could you?” Coral yelled. She crossed the open circle and hoisted up one of the toads then slung it at him. Her father didn’t react. He started to double over now, and his skin began to grey and droop from his cheeks, his eyes darkening.
The clanging still tolled, drowning out the jeers from the crowd. Coral tried to move forward but her skirts were stuck under the feet of the gamblers, keeping her in place. She stooped and picked up another toad, this one sticky and acid green from the poison frothing from its glands. She threw it at her father’s face.
The ringing broke through her dream, and Coral cracked an eye. Her head whirled for a moment, confused and disorientated. Where was she? She moved her arm to rub the gritty feeling from her eyes, and instantly regretted it.
Oh, how her head throbbed. She hadn’t even indulged last night, and she still felt rotten this morning. Coral was still, thoroughly exhausted. That stupid dream didn’t help either. She still felt lingering anger at her father despite knowing that wasn’t what happened.
The clanging bell still rung out, and Coral lay where she was listening to it. Was that her gate bell?
Pearl rested beside her, using her stomach as a makeshift pillow. She was warm, and the extra weight made Coral feel secure. Coral shifted one of her legs, grunted slightly and returned it to it’s original place, where the wood beneath her was warmer. The movement unfortunately made her even more aware of her body. She could feel grime covering her. Her dress felt stiff, her wrist ached, her nose throbbed.
It was much easier to just lay where she was. Even if she was getting cold.
Footsteps padded along behind her head, a scrape of the iron poker and a crunch made Coral blink blearily. There was a small flicker of light, and Coral realised that the fire was being restoked. She may be cold, but the warmth from the fireplace was wonderful.
Coral tried to raise her head but could barely do more than groan groggily.
“Go back to sleep. You need to rest.” Caspian’s silky voice washed over her. Coral let her eyes close, and she sunk back into a dreamless sleep.
----------------------------------------
That same sharp bell clanging roused Coral for a second time. It was distant, but persistent. Coral shifted, and this time she couldn’t ignore the throb in her head.
Groaning, she forced herself up by her elbows and sat there for a moment trying to pry open her puffy eyes.
The bell tolled again, chiming incessantly. What blessed shit was calling at this hour?
Coral looked about and noted that Caspian was no longer in the room. Coral panicked slightly, which fully pulled her into wakefulness and became more aware of her surroundings.
Pearl snored gently beside her, one arm draped over her own head and feet splayed out in each direction. She looked comfortable, for the most part. That was how Pearl liked to sleep – taking up every available inch of the bed. Or floor, in this case.
The late afternoon sun filtered through the half-drawn curtains, blocking the light from reaching her and Pearl. The dust floating in the air was more apparent, like they were magnified by the sun’s rays. Had there always been this much dust in the room? Had she slept the entire day away?
The fire had been rekindled and was blazing in the hearth, warming the room to a pleasant degree. She wasn’t cold, thankfully, though Coral did feel like she had taken a hard tumble through the wilderness. The wood smoke lingered thickly in the Salon and Coral could detect a subtle scent of raw meat underlaying it, presumably from the kitchen. She hoped at the very least.
Her senses felt sharper despite feeling like some wretched old woman. Normally Coral had never been able to hear the old gate bell this far in the manor. The bell hadn’t stopped ringing. Whomever was waiting to be let in was quite determined.
Coral adjusted herself to sit up properly and gently coaxed her sister to one side, so she wasn’t disturbed. If Pearl was anywhere near as tired as Coral felt she wanted to let her sister rest further. Pearl’s snoring ceased as Coral moved her. Some sunlight reached the edge of Pearl’s sleeve and Coral could see the finer details of her sister’s dress and the weave of individual fabric threads. Her sister’s skin was flushed, but more, like she could detect the thrum of blood through her veins with every heartbeat.
Oh. Coral groaned at the pull of muscles in her face as horror dawned on her. She had let a vampire feed from her. Did that mean she too was going to turn?
She pressed her fingers to her neck, finding her own pulse. Her panic made her fingers fumble, then after a moment, she felt it. Her heart still beat. For now.
She braced an arm against the chair beside her and shuffled to her feet. Her whole body was stiff from a night spent on a wooden floor. Perhaps she ought to add a rug to the decoration. At the very least it would add an additional layer for next time.
Coral scowled at that thought. There won’t be a next time, if she could help it.
She caught her movement in the mirror across the room and then did a double take.
Coral gawked in absolute horror at her reflection. Blood splattered her from head to toe. Literally. She lifted a strand of loose hair, stiff with dried blood. The braided coronet was a frizzy halo about her head. Coral had to congratulate her sister on managing a braid that her hair had yet to completely escape from.
The throbbing in her nose was testimony to the purple bruising around both of her eyes. She crossed the room to the mirror and leaned in closer to inspect her swollen face, gently prodding at the area. She hoped her nose wasn’t broken. It didn’t look broken. Perhaps if she used ice then the swelling would go down? No wonder her eyes felt so puffy.
Her dress had been a disaster before she had put it on. Now, it would take some serious work to make anything out of the garment. A long rip from floor to knee opened as she pulled at her dress in disgust. It was sticky somehow and the blood stained the coral material. She was absolutely filthy.
Coral’s stomach rumbled. The tiredness and shock from her own atrocious appearance had wrought her temporarily unaware of how hungry she was. Her hunger wasn’t enough that Coral would forego washing first. She had to choose one physical comfort to take care of first up, and Coral had never liked being dirty.
The door to the Salon was no longer barricaded. The table was still upturned on its side and pushed away with the candelabra and a shattered vase scattered across the floor. Which meant that Caspian had gone traipsing around the manor while she and Pearl were asleep on the ground.
Coral didn’t know if she should be relieved that Caspian was well enough to move about, or if she should be concerned that he had been taken by another ghoul. Coral really hoped there wasn’t another ghoul. She took some comfort that they could escape outside this time and hopefully not be eaten by wolves.
The bell clattered again. Was it Caspian who was playing with the bell or did she have visitors that wouldn’t take the hint and leave? She wasn’t presentable for company, first she was going to clean herself up, ghost or no, it wasn’t going to stop her from entering her room. Not this morning at the very least, and she was going to have a few choice words for the ghost children and expand their vocabulary for the worst. Coral didn’t take kindly to things trying to kill her.
Coral tiredly made her way through the door and down the corridor. When she reached the entrance hall, she paused. There was a distinct sound of a pan being placed on the stove top, that heavy cast iron sound clearly distinguishable. Coral turned in the direction she heard, staring confusedly down the corridor to the kitchen. She was so far away, how could she hear that? A moment later, there was a faint sizzle. Caspian was definitely in the kitchen, cooking by the sounds of things. “Then, who’s at the gate?” She asked aloud.
Shadowy movement flittered over the stairwell. Coral tensed as she watched it, waiting expectantly for whispers or hands to rise up and pull her around. The shadows coalesced into two indistinguishable forms, then disappeared.
“I went to the basement like you asked. It’s not my fault your ghoul didn’t kill me.” Coral told the ghost children.
The front door shuddered in its frame.
Coral’s heart thudded in her chest as she searched the entrance hall, waiting for something further to happen. She jumped when there was a squeal of metal from the front of the property.
Did the ghost children just unlock her gate? Was that how Caspian was able to get in? Coral knew she hadn’t forgotten to lock the gate; she wasn’t lax in her nightly security routine. Safety was imperative. Which was now proving in many ways exactly how unfitting her security measures were for her situation. Locked gates and doors were evidently not enough to withstand monsters in her basement or ghosts parading around her manor.
Coral deliberated about going out there to re-lock the front gate for good measure. That was her gate after all. Then she heard Doctor Thornheart’s muffled voice outside. Did the ghosts just let anyone into her estate?
This was her manor, and Coral decided who could come in or not. Not the dead. She was going to have to deal with the ghost children before the week was out. At this rate her manor was going to be full of visitors and monsters before she was even ready for them.
At least it was someone she was somewhat expecting, even if it hadn’t been this afternoon. She had requested Elwin to send Doctor Thornheart for a house call as a non-emergency situation. Although, this was Direwood, how many scraped knees and bitten adventurers could there be for the Doctor to keep busy? After everything that had happened last night, Coral had temporarily forgotten that her father had cursed her. She was relieved then that she didn’t need to wait longer for her appointment. Coral could have her nose and blackened eyes looked at too.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
She opened the front door and squinted into the sunlight. The portico shaded the entrance, but the bright afternoon light felt like she was having her eyes burnt out of their sockets.
Doctor Thornheart had reached halfway down the drive when she stopped and stared up at Coral, shock etched across her face. Unfortunately, Doctor Thornheart was not alone. Beside her, that stunning man she had seen in the bakery yesterday stared back at her.
“What happened?” Doctor Thornheart said, picking up her skirt and rushing down the drive to her. The man followed suit, taking longer strides to keep up with Doctor Thornheart.
Coral didn’t say a word. All she could do was stand there, mortified. Here she was, half blinded in a bloodied gown, rumpled, frizzy and sporting two magnificent black eyes. Could she have given a worse first impression? Why did she have to look like this in front of that man?
They reached the edge of the portico, and the man sniffed then visibly withdrew. “You smell like a vampire.” He snarled.
Well. There went her chances of salvaging any reputation with this absolute stud of a man.
If her father cursed her, maybe it was to do with always looking dishevelled in front of potential suitors. Not that she wanted to be courted by anyone just yet. She had bigger plans than being a wife. But an admirer would have been nice. She wasn’t ugly, but everyone always had eyes for Pearl’s classic beauty.
Doctor Thornheart gripped her roughly around the neck then pushed her head to the side, searching. She had expected Doctor Thornheart to become handsy at her bloodied appearance, she did look terrible. She hadn’t expected the man to inspect her as well. His eyes searched every space that Doctor Thornhearts hands searched. Thankfully he kept his hands to himself.
“Check her over thoroughly,” he said roughly to Doctor Thornheart.
“Who are you?” Coral asked. Doctor Thornheart chose this moment to peer directly into her eyes, blocking Coral’s view of the man.
“Silas, I’m with the Adventurer’s Guild,” he said. He stepped to the side so that he could continue examining her. Coral felt her cheeks heat under his gaze. Of all the people to meet today looking like a dishevelled corpse, it had to be him. He stood alert, his adventurer’s uniform matched Elwins, except Silas cut an imposing figure with his broad shoulders and trim waist. He suited the colours, the blue overcoat bringing out the silver of his eyes. He too had a sword sheathed at his hip.
“She’s outside, so she can’t have turned,” Doctor Thornheart said. She pushed back the sleeves of Coral’s dress and flipped her hands over revealing the two matching puncture wounds on her wrist, puckered and red with irritation.
Oh, yes. That will require some explanation.
Doctor Thornheart frowned then squinted at Coral’s chest. “Bitten twice and cursed,” Doctor Thornheart said darkly. “I’ll need more time to examine her.”
A low rumble reverberated at Coral’s back as Silas stepped around her in a circle, scrutinizing her from every angle, then came up behind her. He was a full foot taller than she was so that he could simply peer over the top of her head to look down at her wrists.
“I’m well, really.” Coral started to say but was interrupted.
“You’ve come under the influence of a vampire,” Doctor Thornheart said hurriedly. “I’m afraid to say that I trusted Caspian. I never thought he would-”
“There’s several dead people and you trusted him?” Silas rumbled. “I still can’t fathom you helping that leech.”
Coral turned her head so that she could stare at Silas from over her shoulder. Several people were dead?
“Where’s your sister, Coral?” Doctor Thornheart asked.
“Pearl’s inside. She is well too; however, we had an incident.” Coral began again to explain, trying to pull her arms free of Thornheart’s grip. She could understand now why they were acting like this. Coral looked like she was the victim of a blood lusting vampire. Coral too would have the same reaction, one couldn’t just assume a bloodied person wasn’t under some kind of enchantment or spell. Majority of the time, they were. What was more, was that adventurers had a responsibility to do damage control in these types of situations. It was their job.
“We need to restrain you until we know what beguilement you’re under.” Doctor Thornheart said. Her hands had tightened painfully around Coral’s wrists.
“I’m not beguiled,” Coral said, still trying to free herself. She was willing to cooperate to clarify the situation, but she didn’t need to be restrained. That was ridiculous.
“Coral,” Doctor Thornheart said sharply. “I understand you’re confused right now. That you must have been through a lot. We are doing this for your safety. We may still be able to save Pearl.”
“I’ll get the sister. Keep her here until I return.” Silas said.
“Excuse me?” Coral said, a little taken aback. Coral snatched her hands away from Doctor Thornheart and turned to bar the entrance hall. She wasn’t letting anyone inside until she could explain what had happened last night.
Coral managed to take two steps before she was swept up behind the knees and lifted into Silas’s arms. “Put me down!” Coral demanded. “I’m not under any vampire influence.”
“That’s what they all say,” Doctor Thornheart said sadly. “I think it best if we keep you from harms way. Whatever allurement has been set on you could potentially mean danger for us all.”
“There’s no point explaining this to her. Keep her out here while I find the other girl or deal with the murderer.”
“We don’t know if it’s him,” Doctor Thornheart said, walking up beside Silas and looking through the to the foyer inside. “I know this is trying for you Silas but keep a level head please. You can’t go in alone. Let me tie her up and I can go in first.”
“Put me down. Now.” Coral snapped.
“There isn’t time. We’ll be lucky to get her sister. She’s likely dead,” Silas growled.
“Excuse me?” Coral said, her voice quivering with indignation. She stared up at Silas striking jawline, furious that she was even noticing it. “My sister is not dead!”
Doctor Thornheart glanced at Coral. “Alright, but you’re going to have to hold on to her. Probably need to keep her quiet too.”
The two resolutely continued to ignore Coral as she tried desperately to free herself and turned to face the front door where it had been left ajar.
“What are you doing? Put. Me. Down.” Coral hissed. Coral writhed frantically in Silas’s arms. She managed to elbow him solidly, though he didn’t react to this other than to tighten his arms around Coral and hoisting her up higher so that she was near his upper chest. He hooked one of her arms as she tried to push herself away from his face and then forced her against his body.
What in the cursed shit was happening? Coral really needed to work on her strength. In addition to that, she was going to get herself the sharpest dagger she could find just for situations like these.
They pushed the front door wider, and Silas allowed Doctor Thornheart to enter first then followed closely. Coral tried to pry her arm free to grab a hold of the door frame, but the man held her tight. Silas’s chest rose as he inhaled deeply. “I can smell blood,” he said, then walked down the corridor towards the Winter Salon. For such a huge man, he did not make a single sound.
“Put. Me. Down.” Coral snarled, emphasising each word. That was it. Coral had enough. She threw her head back trying to force her weight out of the man’s arms, thrashing violently. She wrenched one of her arms free, then slapped Silas right across the face. Her palm stung from the impact.
Silas looked down at her, his eyebrows raised and tightened his hold on her. Coral could barely move, his arms like iron bands holding her in place. Her one hand was still free, and even though her palm stung from her first hit, she balled it into a fist then punched. She got him in the throat.
“OW,” Coral cried. Silas was like an unyielding brick wall. She had never resorted to punching anyone before and was not impressed that it wasn’t anything like how she imagined. Her hand now hurt almost as bad as her nose.
Silas spluttered and let go of her legs. She swung uncomfortably, the breath heaving from her lungs as Silas’s arm braced vice tight around her middle and propped her up against him like she was merely a doll.
The kitchen door swung open, the hinges creaking, and the smell of freshly seared steak permeated down the hall. Coral raised her head in that direction.
“Time to wake up girls,” Caspian called. He had shouldered his way past the door and balancing a breakfast tray with two plates heaped with steak and egg. He turned towards them in the corridor as he got past the door, then stopped. His eyes darkened as he took in Coral trapped in Silas’s arms, her own arm still raised awkwardly as she attempted to hit him with her other hand.
“Stay where you are,” Doctor Thornheart told Caspian.
Caspian looked as confused and alarmed as Coral felt. “What’s going on?”
“Hold this,” Silas said, thrusting Coral bodily towards Doctor Thornheart. Both Thornheart and Coral fell to the floor. Coral had to throw her arms out to stop all her weight from landing on the woman.
“You witless mongrel!” Coral bellowed. “Both of you shut up and listen to me or I’ll have Caspian throw you out of my home. There was a ghoul!”
“I will?” Caspian said, bemused.
“A ghoul?” Doctor Thornheart huffed as she tried to sit up and shot Caspian a sharp look from beneath Coral.
Coral untangled herself from Thornheart and got up from the floor for the second time that afternoon. “I don’t know what this is about, but Caspian saved us last night from a ghoul. Back off now, or I’ll be issuing a formal complaint against both of your guilds.” Coral warned. She was already half decided that she would lodge a complaint.
“Caspian was able to kill it. Though not without sustaining some serious injuries. I offered my blood up willingly. I am not under any influence, nor was I beguiled into anything that I did not freely want to do.”
“I’ve no interest in beguiling anyone.” Caspian said.
It seemed that Coral was finally being listened to. She took several steps away from Thornheart and Silas so that she now stood beside Caspian. A maintained distance would do her good. She would very much like to see Caspian punch Silas, considering she clearly lacked the strength to do any damage herself.
“If you want to see for yourself, you can go down to the basement. While you’re at it, you can arrange to remove it from there too. I don’t fancy having a rotting corpse under my roof.”
“You already do,” Silas said, eyeing Caspian. “Show me the ghoul and I won’t take you into custody.”
Silas turned his attention to Doctor Thornheart, and then tilted his head in Coral’s direction. She didn’t know what message was being conveyed between the two other than Coral was the source of the topic.
Doctor Thornheart stepped forward. “Lady Seaver, under the current circumstances and from last night’s incidence, I need to examine both you and your sister. I’m sure you can understand that we must take these situations seriously.”
“Why you couldn’t have done that in the first place,” Coral muttered under her breath. Coral led them to the Winter Salon. Silas motioned for Caspian to go ahead of him, then followed.
Pearl was already sitting up when Coral poked her head into the Salon, having been roused by the noise. Thank goodness she looked less of a mess than Coral did. Doctor Thornheart pushed past her and went to Pearl.
“What’s going on?” Pearl asked. She hid a yawn behind her hand, her eyes scrunching closed.
“We’re suspected of being a vampire’s thrall. We have to be subjected to an examination.” Coral said, crossing her arms and turning to look at Silas.
“As you can see, my sister is not dead.” Coral stated.
Doctor Thornheart knelt before Pearl, placed her hands on either side of Pearl’s head to inspect her neck. Pearl allowed Doctor Thornheart to guide her head and then check her pulse. It wasn’t long before Doctor Thornheart found the bite on Pearls wrist. After several more minutes of checking vitals, Doctor Thornheart pulled Pearl’s wrist towards her. With her fingertip, she drew a sigil. The fingertip trail left a faint grey glow on Pearl’s skin. Doctor Thornheart watched it for several minutes before dropping Pearls wrist.
“Well?” Silas asked.
“She’s clear. No spellwork or beguilement. Coral, come here.” Doctor Thornheart said, rising to stand and gesturing to Coral to come closer. She performed the same inspection again over Coral and drew the sigil on her wrist twice. When nothing more than a gentle tingle pulsed through Coral’s body, Doctor Thornheart sighed with relief.
“I feared the worst, when I saw you. I’ve got something for that bruise.” Doctor Thornheart rummaged around in her bag she carried and withdrew a small tin and handed it to Coral. “Dab this on.”
“It’s my nose mostly that bothers me.” Coral told her.
Coral gave a very brief explanation of how she had hurt her nose, making it sound that she had slipped on her tipped over bucket and landed on her face. She would rather this version be told than confirm her manor was haunted. When Coral spoke of the ghoul, Silas and Thornheart listened carefully, and made sure to praise Caspian.
It didn’t take a genius to see that Silas was prejudiced against Caspian. Specifically, that Caspian was a vampire. Vampires were some of the strongest and dangerous people to deal with. When vampires went savage, it was adventurers who had to deal with them. Coral could see the tense muscle in Silas’s jaw as she described her going back down into the basement to help. She could practically hear his teeth clench.
“You’re incredibly fortunate to have survived. Ghouls are horrible monsters. It might also explain the disappearances.” Doctor Thornheart said thoughtfully.
“What disappearances?” Coral asked, looking between Silas and Thornheart. “What’s happened?”
“Last night, there was an attack and several people have gone missing. Three people have died. I won’t go into detail how.” Silas said, his eyes still on Caspian.
Caspian stood several feet away, his hands resting behind his back. He had waited patiently throughout the examination and seemed to be unconcerned with Silas glaring at him.
“We’re on high alert.” Doctor Thornheart explained. “It’s uncommon for this type of incidence to happen in Direwood.”
“How did you kill the ghoul?” Silas asked.
“I tore out its heart,” Caspian said simply, as though it were nothing special. Coral shuddered at the memory.
“Then what? Did you light on fire. Or decapitation?” Silas prompted.
“Neither.” Caspian said. “I was, admittedly, doing badly. I have only recovered early this morning thanks to both Coral and Pearl’s assistance. I am indebted to them.” He dipped his head in a small bow of thanks to Coral and then Pearl. Pearl for once did not blush.
Silas stood stiffly as he stared down Caspian and said darkly. “You haven’t killed it. Ghouls resurrect if they aren’t dealt with accordingly. The ladies are likely to be its next marked prey.”
“It’s still in the basement. We can take care of it now.” Coral said. It was disturbing to know that she was still in danger. She headed straight for the door but was stopped as Silas stepped in front of her.
“You lead the way,” Silas said, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he glared at Caspian. “Lady Seaver, stay behind me.”
Caspian didn’t argue and despite being ordered about by a man she had just met, Coral listened to Silas. Only to ensure that if the monster had resurrected; it would get to him first.
Pearl was ushered along by Doctor Thornheart to walk beside Coral. The doctor took the rear of their group as Caspian led them back down the corridor. Coral’s stomach rumbled hungrily as she walked past the breakfast tray that had been left atop the corridor table. It was no longer steaming, having grown cold while Doctor Thornheart had examined her.
That was the last of her steak as well.
Caspian led them through the cold room, picked up the lantern that had been discarded on the floor, lit it, and then went down into the basement. Silas followed along quietly. He held a hand out to keep Coral back several paces before he descended the stairs, then motioned with his head that she was to keep following.
The basement was still smoky. Coral coughed as the air smothered her lungs. She held a scrap of frill to her nose to breathe through it, hoping to filter out the smoke. The basement had no windows, so no light penetrated the space, only the lantern illuminated a small area about Caspian as he walked deeper, picking his way past ruined wine barrels.
He stopped near the far end of the room, and he looked about. There was the smashed pile of wood that had been a shelf, a wine barrel torn to pieces. The ground was slick with blackened blood, and void of any carcass.