NIGHTS OF HALLOW

”What did you say?!” Perdita questioned in a hard voice. She walked forward and stood in front of the cell, her green eyes piercing down on Mr. Perkin and his wife.

Mr. Perkin scoffed and continued, ”Stop acting so innocent as if you don’t know what I’m talking about. I pity this young man following you around.”

”You do?” Sthena asked in a pretense of being emotional which the old man bought.

He turned his attention to Sthena and narrated his ordeal, ”The pills I am talking about, I found them in Perdita’s custody. I took some...”

”You stole some,” Sthena corrected the man who felt bitter at being called a thief. He could only nod his head and went on with his tale.

”I took...I mean I stole some of it and went ahead and made my investigations in the house of the village apothecary where he experimented on the pills. He found out that they were birth control pills.”

”Really?!” Sthena remarked in fake shock.

”Of course! I wouldn’t lie to you. This woman is dubious. That is the reason why I was following her—”

”Stalking her rather,” Sthena corrected again, his red eyes on the lowly human he could break his neck with a flick of his hand.

Mr. Perkin paused with a frown on his face before he continued, ”—I only did that to find out who she was seeing until the day when both of you caught me and threw me inside this godforsaken place! Wait till I get out from here, I’ll make sure you both are taught a lesson!”

”And how could you possibly get out? Hmm?” Perdita mocked and let out a chuckle. She had initially come here to ask Sthena to release them since they had been here for so long. But here were the couple she took pity on, still adamant about running a stake through her chest.

The scowl on Mr. Perkin’s face was quick to return on hearing what Perdita said. He recalled the night he had stabbed Perdita with an iron pipe. But instead of the Lady falling dead as he had expected, he had watched in horror as Perdita pulled it out and in turn, struck him on the head with it. He had fallen unconscious and later found himself in this cell when he regained his consciousness.

Not only that! They had put a vampire in the same room as him, scaring his old bones out at the sight of the feracious view of the fangs of the vampire.

Though his wife had narrated what transpired between her and the siblings to him, he couldn’t believe that the Lady would go to such lengths to keep them hostage till now.

Perdita chuckled as though amused by the couple before her. She said, ”I have always known you to be a useless man, and you never fail to prove me right each time.” She shook her head in disbelief.

”Who is the village apothecary you said you sent the pills to for investigation?” Sthena asked in a gentle voice, contrary to the hell he wanted to unleash on the lowly old man for the rubbish he had been spouting against Perdita.

Sthena went on to speak, ”I want to pay him a visit and also do my investigations to know if what you are saying is true.”

Mr. Perkin stared at Sthena in suspicion. He cautiously asked, ”What are you going to ask him?”

Sthena rolled his eyes. ”You silly human with a short memory, do you need some treats of ear massaging so you can clearly hear when I speak?”

Mr. Perkin pursed his lips without saying anything. He turned to look at his wife who was still tending to her sour cheeks. He said, ”I will only give you the name if you set us free.”

Sthena shook his head and tsked, ”That is not the way things are done, human. I have the upper hand here, so why don’t I do the bargaining? I’m only asking you to save me the stress of asking the whole village who this famous man is. Or better yet, our dear Perdita can lead me. Hm?”

Mrs. Perkin who was on the floor all these while pushed her husband aside and chided in an angry voice. ”Don’t you want to get out of this place?! Do you think this offer would come twice?” It had been months since someone came to their cell except for the guards who brought them food. Here was the chance to be finally set free!

She hastily stood up and approached the front of the cell room, only stopping at a good distance away from Perdita. She hurriedly said, ”I’ll give you the name if you promise to let us out. Please, I beg you!”

”Alright,” Sthena sighed and agreed. He crossed his hand over his heart to swear. ”I promise.”

”His name is Lucas. Mr. Lucas the local apothecary.” Mrs. Perkin quickly revealed only to hear Sthena snap his fingers in the air as he said,

”Time out! You wasted more time than you should.”

”You promised to let us out.” Mrs. Perkin shrieked in horror.

”I promised, but that is gone. Perhaps more questions and answers from you would consider if I’d let you out or not?” Sthena’s response made Mrs. Perkin’s lips twist in annoyance. She wanted to refuse but this was their only available chance to leave this place.

”What else do you want to know?”

”Not me,” Sthena said and pointed at Perdita. ”The lovely Lady here wants her questions answered.”

Merely looking at Perdita brought so much hatred in the heart of the village woman who couldn’t believe that Perdita had fooled the whole village so they could live there. She suddenly asked, ”What of your brother, Marco?”

Perdita paused at the mention of her brother but she didn’t dare show them that something happened. She remarked, ”You don’t do the questioning, I do. Besides, you have no business with him so focus on getting my questions answered.”

”When we first came to the village, did we mention the place where we had from? Any place we called?”

Mrs. Perkin became thoughtful, but after a while, she couldn’t remember anything as such. She answered, ”Nothing I can think of. You two were so young and innocent-looking that we didn’t notice that you two are vampires!”

Perdita nodded, ”That’s alright. I had an inclination that you would have this as your answer. Just wanted to try my luck.”

”Seems you two are useless after all. What about you, Mr. Perkin? Any answer to her question?” Sthena threw the question at the man to which he shook his head to a no.

”Our little visit has come to an end, humans. Do enjoy your cell room.” Sthena declared and turned on his back ready to leave.

”You promised to let us out!” Mrs. Perkin shook the cell rods in annoyance.

Sthena turned to them with a smile on his face, ”Perhaps I might have considered releasing you both if you two had controlled your long tongues from attacking the innocent Lady.”

”By the way, don’t tell me you don’t feel special having us visit you. Do await our next visit maybe in the afterlife. Byee.”

With that Perdita and Sthena left the couple to their misery.

On their way out, Sthena asked the silent Perdita, ”Are you trying to find out the name of the village where you both came from during the time of the massacre?”

”Yes,” Perdita answered with a nod. ”I’m trying to trace back to my origin and see if I can find anything.”

”What is the name of that place you took me to the night before?”

”Hawthorn Hollow,” Sthena replied. ”Does it sound familiar?”

”No,” Perdita shook her head with a frown on her face. ”I can’t remember anything like that.”

”It’s okay if you don’t,” Sthena patted her shoulder. He then suggested, ”Why don’t you make use of my library and see if you can get anything from there.”

”Can I find it there?” Perdita quizzed, eager to find something relating to where she came from.

”Yes,” Sthena affirmed. ”Not in the regular library of the castle though but my personal library.”

”Can I make use of it?”

”Silly, of course you can. I’ll leave you to it while I attend to matters concerning the kingdom. Will you be fine by yourself?” Sthena asked in concern.

”Yes, I will. I’m not a child.” Perdita rolled her eyes. ”Can Emily accompany me inside your library?”

”Yes, but she sees and reads not a word,” Sthena stated. There were books that shouldn’t be read by just anyone, that is if the maid can actually read.

”I’ll see you later in the day. Do take care of yourself. Okay?”

”Mm. Take care too.” Perdita wished back. Sthena smiled and left her to walk towards the castle entrance before departing in his carriage.