MISTY RIVER: The Black Prince

Chapter Seventeen

Saturday, October 17th

Dear Diary

This week has been... enlightening. I feel relieved that I know the whole story of how the Petersens turned into vampires now, however there were a few things I wish I could unhear. Gruesome pictures keep popping up in my head...

I closed the diary hard. I was not going to dwell on this any longer. I was sitting in my window seat already dressed for the Mayor's Charity Ball, in a short cream-colored dress with a deep V neck and spaghetti straps. The festivities at the mayor's mansion wouldn't start for another hour, but I was already done with all the preparations. So, in lack of anything else to do, I headed downstairs and ran into Luke who was fastening his cufflinks in a rush. I hadn't seen him in a suit since my parents' funeral.

"How do I look?" he said anxious.

"You look great, Luke!" I said. "Wow. The single women will have to look out for you."

He blushed and quickly changed the subject. "Are you heading there already?"

"Um... Yeah, I think so." I hesitated for a second. I hadn't told him anything about the Petersens' plan for the day. I didn't trust him enough yet. "I'm just making a quick stop before I go," I said. I got a feeling he knew where I was going, because he only nodded slightly and didn't ask anymore questions about it.

I went outside and got into my car and headed towards the old mansion on the hill. A couple of minutes later, I parked in front of the garage and walked towards the entrance. Before I reached the door, it opened and Ms. Gibson walked outside.

"Oh, Hello dear," she said and smiled warm.

"Hi," I said and smiled back. "Are the Petersens in?"

"Yes, I think the youngest Mr. Petersen is in his room," she said. "Up the staircase and then the door furthest away to the right." She held up the door for me.

"Thank you," I said as I stepped inside.

The door closed behind me and I looked up the staircase. I had never been on the second floor before. I walked up the stairs and arrived in a corridor that stretched out to my left and right. Even though it was bright outside, the mahogany walls made the corridor dark.

"Elias?" I called out.

No answer. I walked to the right, like Ms. Gibson had told me, and soon stood in front of a door.

"Elias?" I said again and held up my hand to knock on the door, but as my knuckle touched the wood, the door opened slowly by itself. I looked inside and saw a big room in front of me. It had mahogany walls, just like the rest of the house, and had a large paned window across the room. I could see the overgrown garden through it. There was a big bed to my right with a fireplace in front of it.

I looked to the left side of the room and just as I turned my head around, I saw Elias walking through a door towards me, only wearing pants. He looked up and our eyes met.

I was tongue-tied for a second. "Oh, sorry," I said and looked away from his perfectly shaped torso. "I called your name, but there was no answer, and Judy told me you were upstairs so I was about to knock, but the door was open," I said quickly.

"It's fine," he said. "The shower was on, that's why I didn't hear you. Otherwise I would have..."

Our eyes met again and I couldn't help but feel my cheeks heat with embarrassment.

"Anyway," he said and cleared his throat, "was there anything you wanted?"

"Yeah," I said and shook my head. "I just had a thought..."