Music Recommendation: Dances for Harp and Orchestra- Lavinia Meijer
As the dinner continued, it went by peacefully, with each person busy with another. Vincent and Eve shared looks at each other. Rosetta's eyes followed Eugene as if he was the only one who existed in the room, leaving the black cat's focus on the food served to it.
Eugene felt the vampiress's eyes on him and wondered if she would end up demanding his blood if it weren't for Eve's presence in the room.
On the other hand, Vincent's eyes calmly, yet with a hint of mischief, stared at Eve as if he didn't care if someone noticed him watching her. It was only one night where he had been able to spend time with her the way he wanted, both of them surrounded by it, and right now, he missed it.
It was probably the new place and rush of feelings that had turned Eve brave enough to kiss him back. Because now that they were back to where they belonged, his mermaid had turned slightly guarded and aware of people's watchful eyes and thoughts. Not that he minded it, because he enjoyed seeing her shy and bold side.
Eve, who was having her meal, felt Vincent's gaze on her and turned to look at him, "Is the food to your liking?"
"When I have the best company next to me, there's hardly anything to complain about," came Vincent's unfiltered words for everyone to hear.
A small controlled smile appeared on Eve's lips, while Eugene's attention fell on the couple, noticing something brewing between his young miss and Mr. Moriarty as they stared at each other. But Timotei, who sat between Vincent and Rosetta, who had finished licking the corner of his mouth, who responded to Vincent's words,
"I have always been the best company one could ask for. People have always conside--"
Timotei stopped speaking when he felt someone's hand on his tail. It was the pureblooded vampire's hand.
Eve and Eugene's eyes widened on hearing the sudden raspy sound of the black cat, and they turned to glare at Timotei. She should have known that this cat could cause trouble. The cat had been so immersed in eating its dinner that it had forgotten that Rosetta had no idea about him being able to speak.
Eve turned to look at Rosetta, who was staring at Eugene for a moment before she looked back at her plate. But then the vampiress paused with a slight frown. Eve couldn't help but glare at the black cat, which was a hot mess.
Rosetta looked at everyone at the table, and the vampiress then looked around the dining room and then at the kitchen from where she sat. She asked Eve, "Did you hear someone speak just now? It was some kind of scratchy voice."
Timotei felt his tail to be under threat and meowed to convince Rosetta that he was a cat and wasn't the one who spoke earlier. He slowly turned to look at Vincent, who stared at him with a faint smile on his lips, but there was obvious intent of murder in there!
Vincent turned to look at Rosetta and commented, "It must be a dead person."
"Dead?" Rosetta genuinely turned worried and intrigued, her naive self ready to hear it.
"It has been said that this town, Meadow, has been cursed for quite some time now. Many years ago, there was a massacre of people, and their ghosts now pass through the houses as if looking for their family members to take back with them," Vincent explained to her with a straight face in a matter-of-fact tone.
For a moment, Rosetta believed it, but then she stared at him with suspicion. She had fallen for his lies once, but she wasn't going to fall for it again. She harrumphed and said, "That's a lie. I am sure I heard the scratchy voice as if someone who has never spoken much. Maybe there's someone in the house. Maybe I have good hearing," the vampiress turned slightly surprised by her new ability.
Timotei cursed at his luck and wanted to beg Vincent to spare the life of his tail, but he couldn't do it in front of this vampiress. All he could do was stare.
Eve didn't want to make a fool of Rosetta by making up stories because she already felt guilty enough for hiding her aunt's death. She said,
"I think it was the breeze outside the house, Rose. Sometimes it feels like whispering."
Noticing the slight frown on Rosetta's face, Eugene went along with Vincent's earlier words and said, "Mr. Moriarty is right, at the time when the sun goes down this town turns haunted. Some ghosts have unfulfilled wishes to turn back to their living self..."
To Rosetta, Eugene's words were God-sent, and she was quick to believe them. She suddenly turned worried, and her back stiffened while her eyes moved left and right. She asked Eugene, "Really?"
"Yes, milady," Eugene offered the vampiress a bow.
"It seems like some ghost has taken a liking towards you, Lady Rosetta," Vincent chimed in. Rosetta's comfortable dining time was suddenly replaced with uneasiness, where she wanted to return to her mansion as quickly as possible.
For the rest of the dinner, Rosetta's eyes kept looking everywhere in wonderment if she would hear or catch sight of the ghost again. Timotei's tail had finally been released from the hostage, and he kept it as close as possible so it wouldn't be threatened again.
During that time, Vincent said to Eve and Eugene, "I will send some of my men here tomorrow to pick up your things and have it placed in another safe place, so that they can start the renovation work of the house."
Eve nodded, "Eugene and I have started to get some things cleaned on the above floor, and have placed it in Aunt Aubrey's room."
"You don't have to do it, when my men will do it. I don't want you getting hurt," Vincent stated, staring right into Eve's eyes.
This time, even Rosetta, like Eugene, wondered if something was happening between her friend and this first-wife sacrificer. Timotei stuffed his mouth with food so he wouldn't, by mistake, open its big mouth to talk again.
Rosetta cautiously turned to Eve and said, "Until your house gets fixed, you can come and stay with me, Eve. We will have a good time together."
"That won't be necessary, Lady Rosetta," Vincent dismissed the vampiress's suggestion and said, "Eve will be staying in the Moriartys mansion. Eugene too until the house is redone"
"Oh," Rosetta's mouth turned into an 'O'. As she stayed in Skellington, she would be able to spend more time with her friend, and she internally nodded. She stared at Eve, who was eating her dinner. Aunt Camille's butler was crazy to think that her friend had a hand in her aunt's murder.
Once the dinner ended, the vampiress's carriage arrived in front of the house and she took it as a cue to wish her friend goodnight and jump into the carriage before leaving the supposed haunted town.
Eve walked Vincent to the front of the main door, and she asked him, "Will you be going home or have work to attend to?"
"Missing me already?" Vincent's sinful lips curled while his eyes sparkled in mirth.
"I will see you tomorrow," Eve responded, noticing the black cat had followed them and stood at a distance, which was why it stood behind a wall.
"Mm. There's some matters that need to be addressed with my dear family. Good and fun times, are right around the corner," Vincent remarked as if he was enjoying something in his head, and a wide smile spread on his lips.
