The Queen of New Orleans

Chapter 16

Hope woke up bright and early the next day. To be honest she didn't sleep much. She was carefully planning her dinner with Landon in her mind. She thought of everything. What to wear, what to cook and what to tell Landon. She planned out the whole speech. She was finally going to tell him about Scarlett. She wanted to talk to Scarlett before that evening. She wanted to tell her about her plans, about the dinner with her dad. She wanted to make sure she was comfortable with everything that was going to happen. She needed her home so after she talked to Landon, she could introduce Scarlett to him. She planned everything for that night. Even if this was the last time Landon would ever talk to her, it was okay. She was going to do it for them, because she loved them.

She showered and dressed for the day. She made breakfast while she sipped on a blood bag. Scarlett made her way to the kitchen with tired eyes still in her pajamas.

"Morning" She said in a sleepy voice.

"Good morning, how did you sleep?" Hope asked, smiling.

"Okay I guess." She shrugged and made her way to the breakfast table.

"Eggs and toast. Hope it's okay." Hope set the food on the table, Scarlett thanked her. "Do you drink coffee or tea? I personally prefer tea."

"Tea is fine."

"You are not a morning person. Are you?" Hope teased her, smiling and poured her a cup of tea.

"I don't know... I like to sleep in if I can but it's different here." Scarlett shrugged.

"How so?" If the bed is uncomfortable we can get another one. It might be quite old, sorry about that." Hope asked, concerned as she sat down to the table.

"The bed is fine. It's just... I don't know, the room is so big and the streets are noisy. I just, I guess I'm used to the quiet nights in the Bayou and not to the noisy city."

"Oh... I don't know if I can help you with the room size, but I can definitely teach you a noise cancelling spell that might help. There's a good one, no sounds in or out of your room. I used that all the time when I was a teenager... especially if vampires are around, you don't always want everyone to hear what's going on in your room." Hope chuckled.

"Oh my god, I don't think I wanna hear that story." Scarlett blushed and giggled.

"And I can't believe I'm gonna teach you this spell"

"Yeah, mom would be so pissed." She giggled then her smile turned to sadness. Hope grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly. "Did you ever stop missing your mom?" Scarlett asked with sad eyes.

"No, I don't think I'll ever stop missing her but it will get better. I don't think about her constantly. Life has to go on without the people we lost. But there are certain moments in life when I wish she was with me." Hope smiled and squeezed her hand one more time before she let her go. "Now eat. After breakfast I'll teach you that spell."

After breakfast they went upstairs to Hope's room to practice the spell. Hope took Scarlett's bracelet and placed it on a nightstand next to her mom's necklace. Scarlett learned the spell pretty quickly, it was a simple one.

"Just please don't use the spell and sneak boys... or girls to your room to have sex... or just tell me about it... or don't, I don't think I want to know... I don't even know what I'm saying, sorry." Hope mumbled. She was pretty confident in the subject but didn't really know how comfortable Scarlett was in the matter and she didn't want to step over any boundaries.

"I'm a virgin, never even had a boyfriend. So, I'm not really planning on anything like that but if it makes you feel better I can tell you about it, if it happens... I mean my mom wanted to know." She shrugged.