Repent: Gwyllomay of the Darkness (1.5) (MANUSCRIPT)

Chapter 10, The Wicked Vampire of the West (re1)

     "You, uh, know what, Gwyllomay?" 
     "Hm?" I turned over to Daniel slowly, the young lad sighing by the sink, as we stood to be the only two souls in the kitchen of his sister's house. 

      The evening was already starting off... interestingly. 
      "I've, uh, been wondering something. It's a little silly, I guess. Um. Why didn't you-" 
      "Fight Ricardo harder, myself?" I narrowed my already constantly beady eyes. 
      "Y- Yeah. Man, do vampyres read minds too?"
      I looked out the double-window that sat above this decorated sink, seeing the evening's light pollution seep into the house. "Perhaps. Mhmhmhm. And I have a very good reason why. I'm a vampyre, you know. And I haven't dined on the feelings of a human, sucked away their love, in many... many... years. I fear that if I do try and play the hero in any kind of situation, at least to too much of a degree, that I'll just go berserk. I kept it well under control with Eris, but I don't know if I'll continue to be so lucky. A vampyre's dives are different from a human's." 
      "Yikes. Right. Y- Yeah, okay. I guess that does make sense. I certainly wouldn't want you going berserk. Well..." Daniel leaned over the giant wormhole of a sink and smiled. "... I guess that satiates my curiosity. For now." 
      "Hm? 'For now'?" I furrow my brows. 
      "Yup. I'll have questions to ask you, you know. From time to time. You seem to know a lot and... it's about stuff that my sister has never told me. It's apparent she doesn't want to tell me, so I'll have to get what I can out of you." Daniel winked, yet sighed a hollow exhale. 
      "It... hurts, doesn't it?" 
      Daniel's eyes suddenly tightened angrily. "Gwyllomay, let's set some ground rules, alright?" His voice suddenly transformed into a stern and defensive one. Hostile! It was sudden, and yet I knew why. In the corners of my mind, I knew exactly what Daniel was about to say. This was one of my many gifts. 
       I blinked. "Wh- Okay. Certainly." I bowed comically next to the sable stove, my earrings dangling. 
       "You can see into my mind, right? You can read my thoughts? Feel my feelings? Know my emotions? Yeah. Don't do that. Not with me." 
       "D- Daniel, I was just trying to show some sympathy. You're hurting right now, because your sister hasn't been completely honest with-"
       "I know, Gwyllomay. I know that! But I- I... want to be the one to admit that. I want to come to terms with my emotions on my own." 
       My lips curved into a frown. I see. This is how he shall be then. Hmph. How pesky and petulant! I was merely trying to display affection. Though, unfortunately, it was with superhuman means. 
       "Well, on a new topic," My eyes flashed left and right, the blue aura giving off a haze. "your sister and her friend have been upstairs for quite a while. Grace, and this... Allison. Do you, by chance, think that your sister could be... someone who wishes to garner the romance and sexual advances of her same sex?" 
       Daniel shook his head, pinched the bridge of his nose, and laughed some. "Oh dear! You just had to put that in the most loquacious way possible, didn't you? Tsk." I could see a smile forming over his face, even if it was incredulous. "At this point, with what she's been hiding from me, I wouldn't put it passed her! Nonetheless, I don't really think so. I wouldn't put money on the idea that my sister's a lesbian."
       I chortled, smirking behind my slender face. "Well, the night might be young, but you all need your sleep. I'm going to assume Allison is staying the night, then, and go ahead with preparing dinner." I quickly applied the familiar apron to my waist as I began to search the refrigerator, where dear old Daniel had been standing in front of!
      "Wait, what? You know how to cook now? Since when? I mean, I know you and Grace had a moment down here one day but-"
       "I've been reading. Vampyres like to read too, you know?" 
       "S- Sure. Um, have you been reading Grace's cookbooks or just stuff on the internet?" Daniel rubbed the back of his neck. 
       "Hmph. You do ask the good questions. As creepy as this might sound, I've been deeply penetrating your sister's cookbooks." 
       "Oh. Uh... O- Okay." Daniel suddenly began to sweat. "You know... she tells me those are... kinda... secret. She's never let me read them! Says she's gotta lotta personal notes in there or... s- something. Even when I lived back in Ruthberg and I'd come visit, before I met you, really." 
       "Yes, I did see some scribble in those books. And it did look personable, however I couldn't... really decipher it." 
      "Wh- What? Can you... not read English? N- No, that wouldn't make any sense. You've always been good at reading English. Ugh. Such a momentarily dumb question that was. S- Sorry, Gwyll." 
       I closed my eyes for a brief moment, a stick of butter in my right hand. "It's fine, you're fine. But, the handwriting was just... absolutely atrocious. I couldn't read it if I tried, and I did try for a brief moment, one night, before calling it quits and finding my attention drifting away to more important matters. Such as learning, it is, on how to... construct a Rice Tortilla." 
       Daniel's eyes stared back at me, large and elongated. He seemed shocked, surprised, and astonished. His mouth dribbled open some, air passing between his lips. His arms hung to his sides, almost like jelly. 
       "Is there a... problem? I guess I..." I put a finger to my lip. "... shouldn't have done what I did. It was sort of a breach of privacy. But I... didn't know, you see, that she had held those books in such private esteem."
        "I... kinda... find that hard to believe, considering you just told me you can read peoples' minds and feelings but... I actually don't care all that much! Well, I sort of do. Uh. How to... put this. Oh. OH! Oh, MASTER GWYLLOMAY! Teach me the way! I wanna know how to sneak in on my sister's cooking shit too!" 
       Oh. 
       That's why he was surprised. 
       Daniel Smithwell... was actually impressed by me. 
       I chortled and began to stir the butter around in a hot frying pan. "Well, this little vampyre is going to be aiming at becoming the next household chef for a while, so you may have to partake in your naughty vices with someone else." 
      "Ugh! Fine." Daniel crossed his arms. "Well, hey, can I he-"
      "GWYLLOMAY!" The feminine bounce of Grace's voice trampled through the air of the downstairs. "Turn on the news right now!" 
       Whoa. Alright. Where's the fire? Sheesh.
      "I got it, sis!" Daniel calls out to the other side of this home, as I slowly pour out a rectangular and... blue... box of hard rice. I found that so odd. Rice came packaged already stale, and one just had to make it... unstale? Hm. Human ways of dining are... strange. 
      Above the refrigerator sat a peculiarly small and black television. Reaching into a basket on the kitchen's island, Daniel picked up a lanky, grey remote. In the next second, as Allison stood by Grace, a microphone-wielding man spoke in a British accent through the TV.
     "Good evening, we interrupt this broadcast to bring you the latest on a developing story here in Autumnia County. We go LIVE to ACPBS's Fletcher Speck!" The man spoke behind a cozy desk with a receding, brown hairline and bug eyes. In the next moment, a flash of yellow ribbons covered the field of vision. One by one, they all began to pop and sizzle. The odd transition gave way to a new man, dressed in a business suit, and walking around... our town?  
      "Thanks Tom. This is Fletcher Speck, reporting LIVE at the scene of the crime. Recently, there's been sightings of people having their heads ripped off clean from the neck and their blood drained henceforth." The new man spoke in a gravelly Posh tone. 
      My eyes trailed over to Grace, slowly, as I stirred the rice. 
      Coincidentally, her eyes were focused on mine, as well, as we both shared a mutual nod.
      This definitely sounded like something which concerned a monster-hunter like her.
      This Fletcher guy continued on walking through the dark alleyways of downtown. It felt so strange. I was just there earlier today. We were just there. "To make the heinous situations all the more grave, the mysterious perpetrator has left several notes calling himself the 'Wicked Vampyre of the West'." 
      Oh? So, someone thinks they're more wicked than I? Mhmhmhm! How splendid. What a perfect night to utterly destroy an adversary. Though, perhaps, I could let Grace take this one on by herself. I've never ever truly quite seen her fight a monster on her own before, and yet it's obviously apparent she's a successful agent of Temple. Otherwise, she couldn't have survived for as long as she has, with as bitchy as she is.
      And, wouldn't you also know it, this 'serial killer' happened to spell the word 'vampire' with a 'Y'. 
      This... should be very interesting. I wonder who has decided to show up from Polidoria and raise cane in my favorite, little town. Whoever they are, I'm going to give them a stern talking to... and the biggest spanking of their life. And if they don't proceed to capitulate immediately to their one true Lord, then I shall deliver a swift end to them. 
      Mhmhmhm. Mhmhmhm! MHWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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