“Last week, she and a group of Bloodborns came down into the human village. I caught her alone and said hello, and she didn’t recognize me.” Ludovica frowned. “When I told her I was your sister, she told me she didn’t know anyone by that name. She was genuinely confused.”
“Desi. She calls me Desi. That’s why,” I insisted, but I knew it was a frail attempt at bargaining with myself. She would have known.
“She’s coming again tonight, and we’re ready to distract her new group and give you a chance to speak to her. Don’t worry.” Corrine patted my thigh, but it wasn’t as comforting as she had meant.
“Come on, friend. This will work!” Arsenio, ever the optimist, grinned at me. “Seeing your face will break the spell she’s under, and she’ll run back to you. Then, we can work on your proposal.”
“Proposal?” Tully grimaced. “You want to get married?” He stuck out his tongue in distaste.
“Well, not right now, obviously,” I shot back. Then, I turned to Arsenio and shook my head. “One thing at a time, man. I can’t even think about that shit right now. I can’t get married if she doesn’t know what name to say at the altar.”
Silence filled the room for a moment, but Dante broke it by announcing it was officially nighttime. We could leave the room.
The room was the only one available to us close by. It was a large family room, but with six adult vampires, it was… cozy. I needed to stretch my legs and fill my lungs with fresh air.
The only one that had left the room so far had been Tully, who, surprisingly, was fluent in Spanish.
“Immortality gets boring,” he explained in his jersey accent and a casual shrug. He left every night, returning with blood to share.
“This tastes like shit,” Dante grimaced as he downed his cup.
“It’s from a fucking donkey. What do you expect?” Tully smirked. “This is laying low.”
Dante rolled his eyes and looked downatme. “Please, for the love of God, get your girl so we can fucking go.”
“Fine by me,” I said and stormed out into the night.
The village we were staying in was small but lively. It was loud day and night, despite a large vampire coven living only miles away.
I stepped out and was actually a little taken aback by how lit up the town was. Lanterns lit up the town square, a band was playing music, and humans were laughing and dancing. Was it a holiday?
For such a small village, it was odd they had a motel, I realized as I walked. There couldn’t be more than a thousand people in this town, and half of them were in the middle of it right now.
Tully sidled up next to me, wearing tinted glasses. Corrine had supplied everyone with them so as to not spook the humans. I, however, the only one without red eyes, could walk amongst them unseen. Tully caught the eye of an older man, and he smiled, mouth closed, at him. He said something I didn’t understand, and the man nodded eagerly. He replied, and I stood there awkwardly as the two conversed.
Finally, he shook his hand and turned away.
“They are having a party because tonight the vampires are coming down. It’s the High Priestess’ birthday.”
“They know about the vampires?”
He nodded.
“They make the best of it. If they show fear, they die. So instead, they party until dawn, celebrating the monster on top of the hill, so to speak. There’s going to be a blood parade, he says.” He pointed his thumb back at the guy.
“A blood parade?” I blinked, trying to imagine how messy that could be.
“That’s just what they call it. The vampires come down wearing red, walk through the city, then leave. That’s your window. It’s small, so don’t miss it.”
I flipped him off.
I waited, smiling and bobbing my head with the crowd as we all watched the clock. They’d come at midnight, Tully told me.
Sure enough, a large bell gonged at the top of twelve, and the city grew quiet. The music stopped playing, the people stopped dancing, and the air stopped moving.
My head turned, and I stood taller to get a good view of the parade. It wasn’t a large one. In fact, I’d say only about twenty vampires came down to visit. One of them being Scout.
She was dressed magnificently. Her makeup reminded me of a Greek goddess. Her dress was the rich ruby color of her eyes, and my heart longed for her. It pulled me through the crowd. As I got closer, I noticed that she was wearing a shawl to cover her tattoos. Were they intentionally trying to mislead the humans? Sure, if they only saw the high priestess sparingly, it would be hard to tell the difference, but I could see it instantly. That was Scout, my scout.
