“Coral!”
Coral jolted, knocking into the warm bundle by her stomach. The warm bundle turned out to be the little black snapdragon, curled up in a tight ball. It curled its wings open, yawned widely, exposing sharp teeth, then sprung up with more energy than Coral could muster up. At some point, she must have drifted off to sleep, lulled by the warmth of the fire.
Steady footsteps sounded down the corridor, and as they drew near, the Winter Salon’s doors were flung open. A desperate look was etched across Pearl’s face, which changed to confusion when she saw that Coral was laying on the floor.
“What’s wrong?” Coral asked, pushing herself up.
Elwin appeared behind Pearl who was carrying what appeared to be half a cow carcass thrown over his shoulder. From beneath one of his arms was an assortment of boxes wrapped in brown paper.
“Coral,” Pearl said, her expression both harried and hopeful. “That woman we saw with Caspian, she is his mother.”
“I think you gossip more than I do. It’s hardly alarming,” Elwin said. He shifted the carcass a littler further up his shoulders.
Pearl gave him an exasperated look. “This is news to me. I wanted to know who she was the first moment I saw her. Caspian is-.”
Pearl stopped talking abruptly, her cheeks burning. Whatever Pearl had been about to say, she wasn’t going to complete it. It wasn’t hard for Coral to discern what Caspian was to Pearl.
“His mother,” Coral said thoughtfully. “Did he tell you this himself?”
“No. We met in Cravings and Delirium. She overheard Elwin and I talking about Caspian. She hadn’t known what had taken place the night we found Caspian at our gate,” Pearl said breathlessly.
“What did happen that night, exactly?” Coral asked lightly, her question directed at Elwin. She had thought it suspicious, that the werewolves in Direwood had chased down Mr. Caspian Acheron.
Pearl quickly told her of what happened in the shop and Elwin interjected with further titbits of information about that night. Coral listened attentively, though she watched Pearl with even more care. Pearl’s cheeks were flushed, and she was completely heedless of the wicker basket swinging at her elbow or the assortment of wrapped packages within. She kept smoothing her skirts and fidgeting. She was a long cry from the outwardly statuesque portrayal of a well-mannered, privileged noblewoman. Coral hadn’t quite known when their rigidity had begun to relax.
Ever since Eirek Farley had shown Coral how he planned to manoeuvre through society with her as a prize goat, Coral had specifically sought out ways to defy her father. It became a game to Coral to see how far she could get away with improper behaviour without inflicting too much damage to herself from her father’s punishments. The worst had been when she had failed to seduce the prince.
When she had left that wretched house behind, whenever she expressed her frustration with vulgar terminology or fidgeted on purpose, it had been entirely on purpose to prove that she could do it. She had encouraged Pearl to not be so uptight when they had left. In the short three months since they had taken their last step over that city house threshold, they had both changed.
For the better too. Coral liked this enthusiastic version of Pearl.
“I can’t believe I didn’t ask. Of all the things that I could have done, and I went and assumed the worst of him. Why didn’t I go speak to him?” Pearl said, lifting her arms up and dropping them by her side in exasperation.
“She doesn’t look old enough to be his mother,” Coral said lightly. “Are you certain?”
“Madame Acheron was only nineteen when she contracted vampirism. She rode in, heavily pregnant on the back of a wagon courtesy of the man who got her in the family way,” Elwin said, adjusting his stance again. “Had naught but a calling card for Lord Acheron, so they say. I wasn’t born yet.”
Pearl whirled to stare at Elwin, her eyes large. Coral almost did the same.
“A calling card,” Coral said, part distraught, mostly disgusted.
Vampires couldn’t reproduce offspring of their own, so they found other means to do so. It wasn’t uncommon to hear of women being taken against their will, bitten so that the venom spread to the unborn child, changing them forever moments before their birth. Often, they were killed moments after the infant had been born.
Vampires favoured power, and the child of an Adventurer was assumed for greatness. Those who had found themselves pregnant from a titled Adventurer, whether unwanted or not, often had to be protected. Kidnapping and ransoms weren’t common, but not unheard of.
For a time, there had been a surge of pregnancies across the country, claiming to be from a night spent in the bed of an Adventurer. Many of those women sold off their child for coin or to become a vampire themselves. The child would be adopted by the vampire to become their heir.
Coral speculated that many of the people who had sold off their child, hadn’t become immortal. It appeared that Madame Acheron had.
“Did she marry Lord Octavian Acheron, then?” Coral asked, frowning. There had been another woman on Lord Acheron’s arm that day.
Elwin shook his head. “It’s an honorary title. The Lady of the house is his wife. I can’t remember her name though. I haven’t seen her in years,” he said with a shrug.
Pearl stared wide eyed at Coral.
Coral could accept that she had been wrong about Caspian. She had wanted to be wrong. There was still that niggling distrust in the back of her heart, unwilling to fully believe gossip. Caspian certainly seemed to be the type to engage in wanton philandering. Such pretty men were prone to such things.
But Coral would like to be wrong, for Pearl’s sake. If she was wrong, then she would be glad for it. She didn’t like being disappointed with the man who had gone out of his way to save them from a ghoul.
“I forget you don’t know already. It’s common knowledge. Lord Acheron owns most of the land around here. And part of the town,” Elwin said, adjusting the carcass on his shoulder. “I’m going to put this in the kitchen, it’s starting to get heavy.”
Coral nodded, and Elwin turned on his heel and headed down the corridor.
“He isn’t a full vampire,” Pearl said quietly.
Dhampir were still, technically, categorised as a vampire. Vampirism could be contracted by anyone or creature. Though, being dhampir had more advantages than full vampires. They were capable to withstand weak sunlight, they weren’t entirely reliant on blood as a food source, they were generally more welcome within social circles, and they were less likely to become insane as they drew closer to five hundred years old.
There was a whole sect of Adventurer’s tasked with taking out crazed old vampires. A particularly dangerous pastime.
Generally was the key word here. The stigma that followed vampires was still to this day well and truly earned. The few she had known in the city were accompanied with an undercurrent of whispers about dark, underworld dealings. That could have been entirely rumour mongering. Coral hadn’t ever wanted to risk such interactions. It was bad enough that her father had been deep within the gambling dens.
“Perhaps. I’d rather you and I hear everything directly from Mr. Caspian Acheron first, before we go believing rumours,” Coral said.
Pearl nodded, her expression less excited now, and more thoughtful. Coral held the door open and motioned for Pearl to follow her to the kitchen. The little snapdragon slipped through the door before either one of them could stop it.
“Oh,” Pearl said, looking worried. “Should it be out?”
“It’s alright. We’ll take it to the kitchen to see if it will eat the beef,” Coral said, scooping the snapdragon up in her arms.
In the kitchen, Elwin had dropped the carcass across the kitchen table. Both Coral and Pearl scrunched their faces in distaste. Neither of them wanted to touch it.
“I hope this will be enough. We weren’t sure on their appetites so we went with something you could eat as well.”
“That is more than plenty,” Coral said. Just how much did Elwin think the snapdragons needed?
The meat had drawn the attention of the black snapdragon. It wriggled in her arms, and she set it down on the floor so that it could trot up to the table leg, and then stretched up and clawed at the wood. It certainly seemed hungry enough now, and this was a promising sign.
“Does the butcher not slaughter anything in the lead up to the Night of the Undead?” asked Coral, unsettled by looking at the inner half of the ribcage.
“He does. He just needs to de-bone everything. If there isn’t much skeletal structure, the muscles just writhe about,” Elwin said. He watched Coral and Pearl for a moment, sighed then looked about the kitchen.
“I take it you’ve not done this before,” he said. He went to a draw, pulled it open, then shut it quickly. “Where’s your knives?”
“Over there, third draw,” Pearl pointed. “Is it that obvious?”
Elwin didn’t answer. He simply raised a disbelieving eyebrow at them. “I’ll show you. But only because I want to play with your snapdragons,” he said, turning to search out a knife.
When he found them, he tested the sharpness against his finger. “This is blunt as anything, where’s your whetstone. You won’t be able to cut anything with this.”
“I’ve managed to,” Pearl said quietly. She had struggled to dice up vegetables. It hadn’t even occurred to Coral to buy such a thing.
Elwin grunted something in reply, took the knife to the carcass and tried to make a cut. “This is going to take forever,” he mumbled under his breath.
He dropped the kitchen knife on the table, then reached for his waist. He pulled a hunting knife from his scabbard. Coral hadn’t even noticed that he carried such a thing. He used that instead, which slipped through the meat as though it were soft butter.
Coral and Pearl watched as Elwin worked with vigour. He showed them how they were supposed to cut, and even had both of them try. Pearl surprisingly took to it quickly. Coral almost cut into her hand by accident, and Elwin quickly took the hunting knife back after this, showing her again how to position her hands. Elwin had assured them it was significantly easier with a knife that was sharp and if they got in the practice.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Coral diced up some raw meat, gathered it into a small porcelain bowl and placed it on the floor by the kitchen table. All three of them watched as the small snapdragon sniffed hesitantly at the meat. It licked the beef twice, then nibbled a corner of a chunk. It seemed to like it, as the tiny creature swished its wings out and ate with enthusiasm. The poor thing must have been hungry, as it had cleaned the entire bowl within a minute.
Pearl and Elwin filled out a separate mixing bowl, enough to fill the other snapdragons stomachs. Neither of them were sure just how much they would eat. The snapdragons that were barely bigger than Coral’s cupped hands surely wouldn’t consume much. Elwin offered to be the one to drop the bowl of meat into the crate, wholly unafraid of being singed.
Pearl did conveniently buy a pair of the smithy’s old gloves. They were much too large for either of Pearl’s or Coral’s hands, though the thickness of the material would benefit them when they had to handle the flammable creatures.
When the black snapdragon was satiated, that was, when it no longer seemed interested in eating further and its small belly looked much rounder than it had been an hour ago, Coral passed the oversized gloves to Elwin and picked up the little snapdragon. It squirmed a little in her arms, but otherwise looked about with its bright eyes and seemed complacent enough to be carried. Coral carefully held it against her chest, where its little paws gripped onto her blouse and leaving bloody smears across the fabric.
There was nothing Coral could do about it at this point except for clicking her tongue in frustration, and dab with a damp cloth at the mess. Thanks to the filth curse, she was bound to have something else dirtied by the end of the night. Perhaps she ought to leave it as is.
Would the curse result in just a small trace of dirt here and there to be fulfilled? Or, if Coral were to leave that small trace of dirt, would the curse accumulate until she was entirely smeared in filth. Coral didn’t like the idea of letting the curse run its course to see just how filthy she got. One morning waking up looking as if she had survived a murder was more than enough. Though, it was hard to tell if that was in thanks to the curse, or purely bad luck.
When the three of them entered the Winter Salon, the bowl of freshly prepared meat stirred the snapdragons into a frenzy. They scuttled and flapped about, their snouts pressing to the bars, nostrils flaring and tongues lashing as they tasted the air. Coral placed the black snapdragon onto a chair, where it was a little comfier, then assisted Elwin by pulling the crate cover back.
Elwin opened the crate and placed the bowl inside. Before he could set it down, the snapdragons scrambled up his arms and into the bowl, snarling and biting at the meat and one another. She had been right, thankfully, about the smaller snapdragons not needing anywhere as much to eat as they had assumed. Most were content with a small hand sized slab of meat.
“Do you think they would like to chew on bones?” Pearl asked. She stood a healthy distance back, watching with fascination as a few sparks flittered up into the air.
“Probably. Can’t hurt to try,” Elwin said. He was half bent over the crate, watching as each snapdragon ate their fill.
“Can I pat one?” he asked.
Coral couldn’t see why not, so she nodded her head yes. Elwin stripped the smithy’s gloves off, dropping them on the floor.
“Maybe you should keep those on,” Pearl said. “They’re looking a little rambunctious right now.”
“I’ll be okay. They’re only little,” he said confidently. He dipped his bare hand into the crate, and pulled out the long, snake like one. It coiled in his hands, tongue flicking. Elwin stroked its back, and the creature shied away from his touch.
“It’s okay,” he told it gently, hovering his fingers over its body. “There, see. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Elwin gently ran his fingers across its body, and while the snapdragon didn’t pull away, it still looked quite uncomfortable. The black snapdragon hadn’t seemed bothered at all by Coral’s touch. Nor by Pearl it seemed. It had jumped from the chair and gone to sniff the bottom of Pearl’s skirts.
The snapdragon in Elwins hand wasn’t keen on being handled. It clamped its jaws around the smallest of Elwin’s fingers, hard enough that it drew blood. Elwin ripped his finger free, clenched his jaw against an outburst and dropped the snapdragon back into the crate.
“Is it bad?” Pearl asked, hurrying up to look. “I’m ever so sorry.”
“It wasn’t you who bit me. It barely hurts at all,” Elwin said placatingly, brushing aside Pearl’s worry. He spent a moment inspecting his bleeding finger, shrugged and then dipped his hands back into the crate and plucked out the two headed dragon.
Hadn’t he had enough of one biting head? At least one of them didn’t have any teeth. Coral had seen it gulp whole, unchewed portions of meat down. The other head was content to gnaw on a tough bit of sinew. Coral was sure they must use the same stomach.
This time, Elwin seemed to have more luck with the creature. Apparently the two headed snapdragon enjoyed light scratches along the ridge of its spine. It arched its back, enjoying the sensation.
Seeing how Elwin was having some luck, Pearl drew on the pair of gloves and sidled up to the edge of the crate to crouch over the top of it. She was much more cautious in her approach, and picked up a small piece of meat and offered it to the snapdragon with the butterfly wings. She murmured softly to it, which seemed to encourage the creature. It took the proffered piece of meat between its two front feet and held it to its face to eat.
Pearl looked up at Coral with pure delight. “This one is so pretty. Look at the colour,” she said, coaxing the snapdragon away from the others. This didn’t have the result she was looking for, as her piece of meat was a temptation the other snapdragons quickly became interested in. Somehow, the meat Pearl held was far more intriguing and desirable than the meat that was left over in the mixing bowl.
Both they and the snapdragons steadily became a little more accustomed to one another over the next hour. One did set a pillow alight, and Coral had to quickly stamp it out. Pearl was beside herself with joy as she sat with the butterfly snapdragon in her lap, another squat one perched on her shoulder with its little legs draped over her.
Elwin had chased the snapdragons around the room several times, to the sheer ecstasy of the creatures. In turn, the snapdragons scampered after Elwin, but began to become too enthusiastic in their game by lunging and snapping at his legs. He almost stepped on them three times before Coral decided that this game of chase shouldn’t be encouraged, lest she end up with a crushed snapdragon or Elwin had to stitch up his leg. He already had a nasty scratch from the snake-like snapdragon which was particularly keen to bite and scratch at Elwin. If Coral didn’t know any better, it looked like the little thing had a personal grudge against him.
The little black snapdragon was still somehow ending up in rather vicious tussles with the others. It looked like it was having fun, while the smaller ones seemed as though they were determined to pick fights.
When the snapdragons began to curl up by the fire, and were less interested in playing, Elwin helped to scoop them up and place them in the crate. While Coral was alright with supervised play within the Winter Salon, she did not want them roaming free in the house. The manor would likely be burning down around her before she even had the chance to get Moonflower Inn through its first year.
The only exception was the little black snapdragon. When left in the crate, it would be picked on by the others within minutes.
Without a second crate to keep it in, or anything that wasn’t flammable, Coral conceded to letting it stay separated for now. She couldn’t leave it unsupervised. It seemed safe enough to keep it with her for now. At least, it hadn’t tried to light anything on fire or cause too much damage to pillows that had inadvertently ended up as a chew toy. She would just have to find a little box for it to sleep in.
They bid Elwin farewell when they snapdragons had been tucked comfortably by the fire’s hearth. It was quite late in the evening, and the sun had set hours ago. Elwin, as ever, was unconcerned, and reminded them he was a werewolf who had excellent night vision.
Coral and Pearl stood in the entrance foyer, watching as Elwin’s silhouette was swallowed up by the darkness.
“Do you think he will be alright, going home at this late hour? We could have offered him a room to stay the night,” Pearl said.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Coral said, closing the door when she could no longer see him. “He’ll likely turn into a wolf and run back to town. He’ll be back home much faster than you or I can run.”
“Even so, it’s dangerous at night.”
Coral grinned. “What, are you worried that your vampire friend will be chased away?”
Pearls cheeks burned. “Coral!”
Coral nudged Pearl with her shoulder. “I’m teasing. Elwin will be fine. He’s an Adventurer’s apprentice. If he can’t walk home in the dark by himself, he shouldn’t be an Adventurer,” she assured her.
“We can invite him over for tea and cake again, and next time be sure to make him leave before it gets dark,” she added, when the worry didn’t ease from Pearl.
Pearl nodded her head reluctantly, then looked at the black snapdragon hanging contentedly from Coral’s arms.
“What are you going to do with it? I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave it on its own.”
“I’ll put it in my room for the night. Truthfully, I don’t fancy staying in my room on my own right now,” Coral looked up through the ceiling, towards the direction of her room. The evening had been so pleasant, and now that Elwin had gone, the manor felt much quieter, even with Pearl by her side.
She hadn’t told pearl that nightmares were keeping her company most nights since the ghoul slicing her open. Coral suppressed a shiver.
“Do you want to stay in my room?” Pearl asked gently.
Coral blinked and looked back at Pearl, who was watching her. Understanding and concern shone through her eyes. Coral nodded her head in answer. She wasn’t afraid to be alone, but the comfort of her sister nearby would be most welcome.
Coral made sure to lock the front door, checking the lock twice before turning to the empty entrance foyer.
“Do not unlock this door unless I allow it,” Coral announced. There was no reply, which satisfied Coral. Even if there hadn’t been any ghosts, she had spoken loud enough for it to travel.
Once they had doused all the lighting, She and Pearl climbed the stairs to the upper floor, a lamp held aloft for them to see by. Pearl’s bedroom was smaller than Coral’s, though much more comfortable. Pearl had chosen it purely for the soft pink wallpaper, the canopy bed, also with dusty rose drapes woven with silver thread. A pretty vanity table stood to one side, with an array of dried and fresh flowers on display.
Coral dropped the little black snapdragon down on to the floor, which trotted off eagerly to explore, and went to her own bedroom to change into night clothes. When she returned, Pearl had drawn the curtains closed on the two tall windows and was sitting in bed watching as the black snapdragon wrestled with a decorative pillow that had fallen on the ground. Feathers littered the floor.
“Something else to add to the list of repairs I see,” Coral said. Rather than scooping the mess up back into the pillow, Coral climbed into the bed beside Pearl, cautious of her leg.
“What are you going to call it?” Pearl asked, shuffling down into the blankets.
“I’m not sure, I haven’t really thought about it,” Coral said, listening to the thumps as the snapdragon pummelled the pillow into the floor.
“I really like that butterfly snapdragon,” Pearl said. “Can I have that one?”
“They’re already ours,” Coral reminded her.
“Yes, but I want that one to be just mine. I know you bought the snapdragons for me, thinking they were flowers. But I think I only want just the butterfly one. Besides,” she said, as there was a sharp pull on the covers on Coral’s side of the bed. “I think the black one really likes you. The other snapdragons are cute, but they don’t seem to have taken a liking to us as much as the black or butterfly one.”
The snapdragon tugged on the blanket again, then jumped at the bed. It only managed to reach halfway, thumping into the mattress before toppling to the ground. It whimpered, then pressed its front feet to the bed and tried to climb up.
“No, little one. Go lay down on the pillow, if there’s anything left of it,” she told it, gently pushing it from the bedside. It didn’t stay down. It jumped right back at the bed, pawing at the sheets and whimpering some more.
“You can have the butterfly one, if you want,” Coral said, dousing the lamp and laying back down.
“Good. I’ve already decided on a name. Blossom,” Pearl said happily.
Of course Pearl would pick such a gentle name for a dragon. Coral was glad Pearl couldn’t see her smirk. “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” Coral asked.
“I don’t know how to tell. I couldn’t see anything typical to tell by. I don’t mind either way. I’ve settled on Blossom.”
The black snapdragon was insistent on getting up on the bed, it tugged on the blanket, whimpering and whining when it couldn’t reach the top of the mattress. Coral could barely see it at all in the dark, but she could hear its little wings flapping as it tried to find its way up. Coral stuck her hand out of the blanket and gently pushed it back down again.
“Did you find any books on pseudo dragons?”
“I did. Its in my basket. I also got you a spell book too,” Pearl said. “I thought it would come in useful, and I know you’ve been interested in magic. There’s no reason why you can’t start learning now.”
Coral pulled the blankets up to her nose as she settled deeper into the pillows. “I suppose I could. Though I don’t know if I will even have the time.”
They fell quiet, listening with waning patience as the snapdragon continued to cry on the floor. Pearl shifted to get more comfortable and pressed her cold feet to Coral’s leg. She winced, shifted about and stuck a pillow between them both. Pearl was a restless sleeper, often kicking in her sleep and stealing any space in the bed. Still, her presence was like a warm beacon in the dark room, holding back the memories of the ghoul from creeping into her thoughts.
Coral only lasted five minutes before she felt too guilty for leaving the baby snapdragon to sleep on the floor. She huffed as she lifted it up, and let it find its own place to sleep on top of the bed. It curled up at her feet, warm enough that she felt the heat through the blanket. With the room quiet, Coral fell asleep quickly, content and warm.