Souls vs Blood 15

Souls vs Blood 15

The soul suckers weren't too happy with spotting a vampire in their territory, even though it was still in the human world. He was too near the portal. So was Rebecca. That's why the situation changed drastically so suddenly. The whole place had become tense and soul suckers were quickening their preparations. No matter what though, Harold was set on going out to meet Alice. There wasn't much trouble getting into the human world. Soul absorbing was still encouraged. Only thing was, you had to come back with souls or you wouldn't be allowed back in without facing some music. Harold hurried out of the portal. Hopefully, Rebecca had found out more about the glitter. The short notes sent by Mashup didn't have much information. Just as he was nearing the town area where the portal was located, a flustered little jar jumpily came up to him.
"Master Master! Do take this message marble!"
"Jar! Is it from Mrs Squavox?"
"Yes, yes! Oh siree! I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to catch up with you! With your very hurried steps! Oh my!"
"Haha sorry Jar. Thanks for the marble!" Harold smiles with apology.
"Sir sir!"
"Yes?"
The Jar made a big jump onto Harold's shoulder, then slid to his arm which quite naturally came up to let the Jar sit on it. The Jar approached Harold's ear. [Just in case you were wondering, the Jar doesn't have a mouth. sound comes out where water or whatever a jar holds is supposed to come out. Like, anywhere around the circumference would work. Or the whole circle, like a loudspeaker.]
"This one is a special marble sir. It has a lock on it!"
"A lock?" Harold was puzzled. Usually, there were two different ways of opening marbles. Many types, but opening them was similar. Either the low security ones that required soul, or the high security type that can only be opened in a marble opener owned by the receiver plus a bit of soul from that receiver. Harold had his own marble opener device from Mrs Squavox for his 5th birthday so he just assumed it could open this marble.
"Put it in a glass of water and place your mark on it! But you have to do this tomorrow, in the human world! Not today sir!"
"Oh... Ohkay... Thanks Jar!" Harold quizzically put the marble into his pocket and continued running to the portal after saying a quick good bye to the Jar who enthusiastically shook in farewell.
An eye on the marble opened. Mrs Squavox sat down in her comfy old sofa and swivelled about to look at a 180 degree view of Harold's surroundings. "Now lets see what Harold has to show us shall we Jar?"
Harold ran from the portal all the way to Alice's place, collecting bits of soul from people he passed and storing them into his soul bottle so he wouldn't need to go back empty handed. While guilt ridden, he finally reaches the door to Alice's house. It was in the afternoon and only Rebecca was home. The door opened.
"Welcome! Alice won't be back till a little later, but do come on in!"
"So... have you got any info?"
"Well... not much really. Except perhaps the other family line that also has the history of glitter..."
"What?"
"Well, the spell was cast twice somehow? I thought you mentioned the castor's life is taken when the spell is cast?"
"The creator of the spell had a friend who tested it before her. She greatly regretted causing her friends death. She was going to cast it on the one she loved, so she could be with him, but there was no point since she would die if she did, and she couldn't ask another wizard to give up his or her life for her romance. That's what I was told by Granny Squavox. You remember her?"
"That old hag?" Rebecca twinged in disgust.
Harold laughs, "yeah you remember"
At this point, Alice pops through the door and realises the laughter she had heard belonged to Harold. Rebecca noticed it, Alice was a little jealous.
"Hello Alice." Harold gives her a dazzling smile, truthfully grateful to see her after so long.
"Hello..." Alice forgets her envy and turns peach.
Harold looked as if he suddenly remembered something and reached into his back pocket.
"Here, for you." He said, dangling something glittering in front of himself. Alice started to approach him and he retracted his arm. "No, put out your palms" Alice stopped and did as she was told. "There." Harold threw it into her open palms.
"It's... it's pretty..." It was a little bottle sealed with a cork, a smooth silver string around the neck of the bottle was slung round it like a chain. Alice used two fingers to pinch the string and lifted it up, and the string unwound itself to the length of a necklace. In the bottle was a tear drop, not touching the sides of the bottle itself, sparkling like silver glitter. Alice looked up at Harold.
"Try looking through it."
Alice did exactly that, and what seemed to be inside the little tear drop was a family photo. One that included her and her parents, one that Rebecca had sent Harold. A tear fell from Alice's closed left eye. (Her right eye was open and looking through the teardrop) Rebecca took this as a cue and walked promptly into her room, ransacked a little to find an eye piece that allowed her to look through her closed door and spy at them...
"How did you..."
"Rebecca sent me a copy along with your letter the other time..."
Alice placed the necklace back in her hands and sat down on the sofa, just barely a meter from Harold. She looked down at it and Harold could see a real tear drop fall to her lap. He really wanted to reach out to stroke her hair or pat her shoulder but he stopped just before the boundary, that invisible sphere around Alice. Then Alice looked up at Harold all teary eyed and all, and with a smile, "Thanks a lot Harold. It's a really really nice gift ^_^" Then Harold gave in a little and patted her head real quick twice before making a long jump away from her. Alice was a little shocked at first, then her eyes found Harold again and she started laughing with her eyes wide in surprise. Her tears suddenly didn't look so sorrowful any more. Harold crouched guiltily at a corner of the living room. He could feel he had absorbed about a minute from her. But, it didn't feel bad. Well, how could it? It was a source of life! However, he couldn't shake off the thought that Alice could only be smiling because she didn't know what he had just did. "Hey, it's really quite fine!" Alice told Harold. Harold just looked away avoiding making contact with her eyes. "You, you don't know..." Harold sneaked a peek at Alice's face after that comment and she had a sort of pained expression so he was beginning to fluster and nonsense was coming out of his mouth... Alice just laughed again.

In Rebecca's bedroom, she was literally running on the spot but at the same height so as to keep a clear view and to stop herself from laughing out loud at the same time =D.

In front of the 180 degree view screen...
"AHAA,  AHAHAHAHAHA, AHAHAH... ... AHAHAH AHHAAAAHAHAHA ... ... " Mrs Squavox was having a time of her life watching Harold's surroundings through his pocket. "Oh my Jar! It's been a while since I have been so entertained!" She said while panting a little.
"Yes mamm! Been a while since we've heard your... erm... this laughter ahaha!"
(really loud booming laughter that shook her jars, pots and tables etc.)
"Oh my... Rebecca Klar! Her reaction to my name! HAHH! This is truly as interesting as I expected! But, we have little time to waste. The war is coming, and I must help little Harold with his love interest! Let us set to work my cookery!"

Souls vs Blood 14

Souls vs Blood 14

During those 5 weeks Johnathon and Harold were in the dungeon, the only communication there was between Harold and Alice was through Mashup. Some of the more random courses in the dungeon had rewards that Harold gave to Alice through Mashup. Alice would also send sweets or a little paper with a phrase on it in return. Rebecca never failed to look through the contents of each letter Alice passed to her before she coaxed Mashup to bring it to Harold. Alice trusted Rebecca and didn't question why only Rebecca could communicate with Harold. Rebecca had also told Alice about how she knew Harold and about her mother during one of the girl talks they had. The end of that talk went a little like this...

"My mother really loves Harold's mother. As a friend of course."
"Wow... I never knew something like that could or had occurred..." Well, it wouldn't have appeared in the human newspapers would it? And Rebecca was still filtering out the words soul suckers and vampires...
"I'm rather glad I managed to meet Mrs Keyes son."
"Mrs Keyes?"
"That's Harold's surname. Keyes."
"Oh... Keyes... "
*after some silence, Alice continues speaking*
"So how is your mother now?" Rebecca is a little surprised Alice doesn't ask more about Harold's mother. Guess she thought it might be rude.
"Ahh... she's in a bit of a situation now." Rebecca thinks to herself: "Can't possibly tell her it's impossible for my mother to get a job or all her colleagues would die faster..." but she fills in with some facts to satisfy Alice's curiosity. "She's working from home. Far away from here. I left home quite long ago but I do visit from time to time."
"Why don't you stay with her?" Nope, Rebecca couldn't say that her mother is in hiding and that she wanted a free life and that Alice was the reason why she is staying in one place for so long.
"Well, sooner or later I would have moved out. And I had my dreams I guess. We weren't very close, my mother and I"
"Not close?! With your own mother?!" Rebecca thoroughly enjoyed Alice's expression of exasperation.
"Well, it just happened that way."
"Oh my... " after a little pause Alice asked another question. "Then what are your dreams?"
"That, I am in the process of fulfilling. A merchant!"
"Oh! I've heard James call you smuggler, but you aren't really one are you?"
"I can't say I've never smuggled... but I do sell very rare items..."
"Ooooo, like what?" Alice's curiosity got the better of her. Rebecca thought hard about more realistic rare items she could talk about.
"Limited edition Josephine Larry perfume volume 13?"
"Per... perfume?"
"Well... I don't sell that though... I use it..."
Alice laughs. "Oh Klar you are so funny sometimes."
Rebecca smiles a little painfully. Didn't really like being called funny. But all her items were magic related... Then Alice spoke again,
"So how old are you actually Klar?"
Rebecca shrugs. "I don't know!" And she walked out of the door before Alice could probe any further.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As for James, he too was caught up with preparations for war even though he had absolutely no intentions of taking part in it. But when vampires were summoned, not complying had consequences. He too went through basic trainings in the vampire world and participated in blood collection activities.

His relationship with Alice had been rather normal, but one of the days after he had gotten blood pills and artificial flesh from Rebecca, James confronted Alice about something. While they were on the way to school, he brought up a topic more serious than usual.

"So Jane was just telling me..." Alice was ranting on about something that had happened in class. James gave the appropriate reactions and replies and when she had finished that mini episode, he spoke up.
"Hey umm..."
"Yeah?"
"You know..."
"What about?" Alice was a little worried cos James was rarely hesitant about things.
"You don't have to hide about meeting that Harold guy." James avoided Alice's eyes. He had talked to Rebecca about Harold. Especially after that incident that night. Rebecca was half vampire afterall and though she seems to help Harold more than James, in truth, no one knows her true intentions. Whether she would do anything during the war, or whether she had any other goal in mind... no one knew. The point is, she does keep James updated about selected things. But significantly large information she left out were with regards to the spell and the glitter. She even told James about her debt to Harold since Harold had mentioned Mrs Keyes in front of him. No helping that.
They walked in silence for a little while.
"You always knew?"
"Yeah. since the day your parents..."
"What?"
"They passed away...."
"But I hadn't met Harold at that time...?"
"What? But..." James couldn't have possibly said anything about the mark of a soul sucker... Then something occurred to him.
"Hold on... Alice, I need to ask you something." James stopped walking and looked at Alice seriously. "What did you say your parent's died of again?"
Alice felt awkward and uncomfortable. Also, the straightforwardness of the question had knocked her off by surprise and she was starting to tear. She mumbled: "Why ask?"
"Please!" James grabbed her by the shoulders, both of them were trembling.
"He- Heart failure."
"At the same time?"
"Yes... The doctor also sounded very bewildered when he tried to explain it to me."
But that's the effect of death by a soul sucker... Suddenly, anger was fully ignited in James' eyes and heart.
"I won't be attending school today Alice. For a while actually."
"What? Why is that? What's wrong?"
James with his emotions on a rampage, didn't think of the consequences and used a little magic to make him run faster, so Alice thought he had disappeared suddenly.
"That... that's almost like how Harold disappears..." Alice thought out loud.

James on the other hand, reached soul sucker territory in the matter of moments. He didn't think of the consequences of a vampires appearance in this place. Or that he might trigger the war. Luckily, Alice had contacted Rebecca and told her what happened. She stopped James right in the nick of time before a scouting group were going to approach him. Grabbing his shoulder hard, she interrogates.

"You planning to get yourself killed?"
"I don't care. Where is this Harold guy, I need to ask him something."
"I heard what you asked Alice, she's shocked, you know that?"
James doesn't reply but continues to struggle under Rebecca's grasps.
"Even if you ask Harold, it's no use. He wasn't the one."
"But he'll know who were the ones. And he didn't stop them. I'll get them. Get them all!"
"It isn't just Alice who went through this James! Many other families in the human world all dropped dead for no apparent reason. Even vampires often couldn't stop themselves and killed off a great number of humans. Natural disasters and accidents were created to cover the incidents up. If anything is to be blamed, it is the war James. Now calm down, and let's go back. As for meeting Harold, I'll let you meet him, but under a spell..." And as she said that, she sprinkled a little something from a small test tube into James' ear, and James stopped struggling.
"That's much better." Rebecca smirked.
"Hey what did you do to me?!" James body slumped. Rebecca threw him into the car with little effort, and drove home. Every time James even tried to leave the house without Alice, Rebecca used the little test tube on him. Soon, James gave up after a verbal agreement had been made that he was only going to his part time job and school, but he would be able to meet Harold, one on one. Unfortunately, since that day, Alice was always a little awkward around James, even though he'd still joke like on a normal basis.
____________________________________________________________________________

Souls vs Blood 13

Souls vs Blood 13

In the car, Alice started blushing. She thought rather loudly in her head,
"When did he see me sleeping? He saw me glitter indirectly means he saw me sleeping? But I've never let him in my room before, and I'm on the second floor! He couldn't have just peeked in could he?! He isn't THAT tall... right? Did... Did I drool? Was my belly button showing? Did I snore?! AHHHHH"
Rebecca wished she could read Alice's mind at that moment because her expressions were just SO CUTE.
She had to stop herself from wanting to pinch Alice's cheeks so they wouldn't get into a car accident. She warped a few roads again and they were home in a jiffy.

"Good. We're back before James. Less explaining to be done" thought Rebecca after sniffing for his scent.

"Had fun today darling?" Rebecca asked as Alice absent mindedly got out of the car.
"Uh-huh" Alice nodded rather bashfully. "But Klar, how do you know Harold, how did you know the person I met was Harold?"
It was a really good teasing moment... but Rebecca stopped herself.
"I'm someone indebted to that person since long ago. But I only met him because of you darling."
"Indebted?"
"That's a story for another time dear. Go on in for tonight."
"Okay..." Alice went straight to her room, washed up, then went to bed immediately.
*So obedient.* Rebecca squealed slightly on the inside.
Rebecca was feeling deprived because she hadn't been teasing Alice and James for a really long (long only to her) but Alice's behaviour today had raised her spirits slightly. She smiled to herself. An hour or so later, James returned. Rebecca was waiting for him with a glass of (ehem) cocktail that had alcohol and blood content (ehem). She was sitting down on the sofa, and on the short table in front of her, was another glass of similar content at the opposite end. She gestured towards it.
"Sit down." Rebecca said calmly.
James who had been holding his bag over his shoulder, sighed to the floor really loudly, before flinging his bag against the wall and getting into the seat opposite Rebecca. Elbows resting on his knees and hands clasped, he glared at her. Rebecca loved his attitude, it entertained her greatly.
"So, I've told you about the chop. But this time,  Alice's mark was renewed by Harold himself. Just this once."
James opened his eyes a little wider, and raised an eyebrow.
"It has been a month since that night."
James doesn't respond.
"But he'll take a little longer to come out."
"That's good news."
"So how's it going?"
"With what?"
"With Alice of course!"
James, had been looking down for a while now and slowly looked upwards, straight into Rebecca's eyes.
"Why do you ask?"
Rebecca wasn't happy. She wanted to tease him but he wasn't reacting much. She pouted. Then quite surprisingly, James spoke.
"It's good she doesn't remember. I wouldn't... know what to say or how to look at her if she did."
Rebecca started to smile inwardly...
"So you regret attacking Harold?"
"I definitely wouldn't have attacked a soul sucker when a human was present. Not if I were thinking straight! I-" James cut himself off half way once he realised he was ranting like a bullet train. He sunk in hands in his palms.
Rebecca liked this. More than that, her opinion of James improved as well. She decided to help him a little, even if it wouldn't help Harold. She conjured a little glass bottle and jangled it beside her face.
"Do you want this?" She jangled it a little more.
James looks up where the jingling could be heard from. Blood pills?
"I'm doing this for Alice. I'm giving it to you for free. Never, be on a lack of blood in front of Alice."
"But I-"
"It's fine. These pills aren't normal blood pills. Even if you are the type of vampire that can only consume fresh blood in order to be satiated, these pills work. Within each pill is highly condensed fresh blood kept fresh by a specially created casing made by me. You wouldn't be able to buy these, please know their worth!" Rebecca does not put it into James' outreached palm but on the end of the table nearer to her.
"Aren't you giving it to me?"
"One more thing. your fangs. Blood isn't the only part of the craving. Sinking your fangs into live flesh is too. Here is instalment number 2. Artificial flesh. The amazing work of alchemy combined with vampire and soul sucking magic. I actually made this by accident though." Rebecca glows in pride. Once again she doesn't place it in James' outstretched arm. James glares at her.
"I will give them to you. Just remember it's not for you but for Alice."
James stands up and reaches out for them, grabbing them and standing up abruptly at the same time.
"I won't forget! ... Thank you." But the "Thank you" was so soft, human ears would never have heard them. Rebecca nodded with a genuine smile as James clumsily made his way into his room. When he came out on his way to wash up, he downed the drink made by Rebecca. He even washed the cup even though remotely. Rebecca was starting to pity him. She could tell he really loved Alice but Alice was drifting from him. And she was working against him. When James emerged from the washroom, she asked him:
"Hey, if you mated with a human, what would your child be?"
James froze. He hadn't thought that far. If he really got together with Alice and they had kids, the kid would be... a half vampire and a half human? Unable to live in either world... roaming... like Rebecca? Rebecca continued talking.
"There have been cases in the past." *silence* "You could check them out yourself."
James returned to his room. Rebecca sipped her cocktail. They hadn't been nice cases. But James was an orphan, a loner in the vampire world, that made a whole new circumstance that has never occurred before. It might be interesting. Human and Vampire blood. Rebecca didn't want to get attached though. Even though she loved her own position, she wouldn't know how her kid would survive, if the kid did survive at all, with such a messed up blood ratio. Soon, the sun rose and life in the human world went on as it usually did.
______________________________________________

Back in The Dungeon

With Mashup's help, Harold made his way back to the 6th level of the dungeon, and found Johnathon sitting up, waiting for him.
"That didn't take too long!"
"You were waiting? What if it did! Go sleep!"
"So, did you meet her?"
Harold slipped under his blanket and turned away from Johnathon.
"Come on, tell me man!"
"I..."
"Go on!"
Harold hid his head under the blanket.
".. brought her to the tree platform."
*silence*
"You what?... That's... That's... That's our place! wow! without even asking! You..."
"Sorry..."
Johnathon sighed.
"Hey it's... it's okay. I understand. I don't think anyone would mind that much other than Eunice."
Harold didn't understand why only Eunice wouldn't understand but he didn't question it.
"Nite John."
"Nite Harold."
Mashup poked Harold. He held out a little scroll to Harold though his eyes were closed tight and his face was turned to a completely different direction. Harold unhid himself and took the scroll. Unrolling it, Rebecca had written, "As you know, we've found a little about the glitter. Her grandmother had a diary and wrote about it. It ran in the family. This scroll will only reveal what is written on it to it's supposed receiver so don't worry about others finding out and tell me what you know!" The words disappeared once Harold had read them. Taking a pen offered by Mashup, Harold pens his reply: "spell. castor dies. originates from love story between soul sucker wizard and human. memory loss when soul is sucked out. Spell has been cast twice. Other family line may have the same spell. Help find out more." He then rolls the scroll up and places it with the pen gently into Mashup's wing-held-open tummy pocket. Mashup promptly takes his leave. The next day, Harold told Johnathon: "Let's train some more. Please?"
Johnathon was flabbergasted. "Really?"
"Yeah. back to those horrible combat lessons. I think I'll really need those."
"BOO YEAH!" Johnathon shouted really loudly to the annoyance of those still sleeping. But even his apology was loud.
"OH SORRY BOUT THAT MATES. WHOOHOOHOO!!"
"Hey Quiet Down!!" Harold tried to whisper loudly.
They really went back all the way to the first floor, and took even the really tough courses. Amazingly, Harold did really well even in those physically straining courses. Though not close to as well as Johnathon, but much better than before. He really wanted to protect Alice. Seeing her made him ever more motivated, and Johnathon was happier than ever about it. They trained on for 5 weeks straight, Mashup regularly came and found Harold with updates and teases once a week. Mashup also brought the chop once so Harold could replace the mark. Finally, Harold and Johnathon stood at the exit gate of the dungeon.
"Thanks for the company John."
"Same to you Hal."
"Been a while since you called me that."
"Well, you never really liked it."
"But now... it's nostalgic."
"Hey how old are you?" laughs Johnathon.
This small talk continues as two bats fly above their heads calculating they journey and completing administrative details. The bats eventually bring them their reports and the gates open to let them out. Their small talk ended. The world outside had went through mega changes. The whole area had turned into a battlefield. People had been evacuated, there were rations and curfews. Children no longer ran around, soldiers made rounds. The war was nearing.
"Hal..."
"What?"
"I don't think you can put off collecting souls anymore."
They walked back to their homes in silence after that.