Souls vs Blood 17

Souls vs Blood 17

The two dispirited groups of soul suckers and vampires received similar punishment. Both groups were sent into some boot camp of sorts. Since war was coming, the most useful punishment was to send them for training, and send them on errands within the boot camp such as cleaning and transporting while the rest of the participants rested. They were worked arduously. Thanks to them, both sides were on the verge of clashing. The atmosphere was one with such sensitivity, even a stolen hair clip might incite the war. It felt as if if either side gave even a hint of a move, chaos would break loose. Both races were careful not to make the first move...

Granny Squavox played a little dirty with the punished group of soul suckers. She sent a few little harmless birds out into the boot camp to poop on the boys on different days and timings, and her jar she also sent to sprinkle some sleepiness flakes onto the group when a supervisor walked pass so they would get scolded. But these things weren't her main concern. Let us move back to the more interesting scene that got Granny Squavox watching her 180 degree screen on the edge of her sofa, not even bothering to pick her treasured cushion up after it had fell off her lap.

The bell attached to the door rang. Tring-a-ling~. Zap, Harold could sense it, a vampire had just entered the cafe. Harold could feel two eyes scanning him. His presence had been recognized. His heart beat faster. His senses were pricked: he could hear the cashier open and close, fruuuk, ka-ching; the coffee machine ,zzmmmmm; the conversation going on at the table beside them about some topic with all sorts of jargon he knew nothing about, (it was just a normal conversation but he was so nervous he couldn't understand any of the words). Harold's eyes shifted from Alice, to the door of the cafe, back to Alice again. The male vampire had sat down. The two eyes were still on him. It felt like his right cheek burned.

Just when things seemed to have reached rock bottom, Harold sensed another vampire. The bell rang again, Tring-a-ling~. Suddenly the pair of eyes that were on him for what felt like an eternity moved away. Harold swallowed. Now two pairs of eyes were aimed straight at his head. Sweat drops were forming on his forehead. Without looking into Alice's eyes, he looked straight through her and barely whispered: "Alice."
Alice looked up into his empty gaze.
"Could you do something for me?"
"Yes?"
"At the count of three..." he paused, then said a little wee bit louder this time,
"run." He glared directly into her eyes as he said this one word.
Harold didn't acknowledge Alice's expression at the time. He couldn't. His brain wasn't functioning properly.**
"one..." Harold heard foot steps.
"two..." High heels went clock-clock-clock
"three!"
A little longer than a second was how long it took for poor Alice to react to Harold's whispered... or practically mouthed, "three". She banged into a chair, then a table, as she hurried to the door. By the time she got out of the door still swinging open by the force of Harold's flurried push to exit, her right knee and left elbow were throbbing. Harold had ran ahead of her, and was impossible to catch up with, but finally after about ten minutes she spotted him at a lamp post down the street, no longer running. No one was chasing after them.

As Alice approached Harold, panting rather heavily, Harold once again took two steps back for every one step where she came too near. Alice was starting to lose her patience.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Thankfully, Harold had stopped at a relatively empty part of the street so not that many people heard Alice shout. Those that did courteously left, leaving the couple alone.
"I... I'm sorry it's hard to-"
"NO. No. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice I just didn't know why I was running. OR why you ALWAYS back away FROM ME!" Alice was exercising bad voice control. mmhmm. Angry... then not angry.
Harold opened his mouth to reply her, but he didn't have anything to say, so his head bowed as his mouth closed, and he looked as despondent as he ever could look. Alice felt bad. She crossed an arm and smacked the other on her face in half regret and hopelessness. Relaxing her arms, she spoke again.
"Take your time, try and tell me what happened in that coffee house just now."
Harold took a peek at Alice, lifting his face by a minute angle in a slanted fashion, then immediately directed his eyes back to the floor. Alice was a little taken aback by the cuteness of the gesture and softened by quite a large extent.
"Let's get you home first... Shall we?" Harold straightened by just a little and positioned himself as an usher would, two arms pointing in a direction, palms upwards, slightly bent forward. Alice sighed and gave in. Neither had money, so the long walk back commenced. It was rather long before Harold spoke again.

"Just now..."
Alice's attention snapped to Harold's voice.
"I sensed..." Alice continued looking forward, not turning to face Harold, patiently waiting for his explanation.
"dangerous people..." Harold wasn't about to admit he was scared out of his wits so he paraphrased a little...
"So I felt we had to evacuate..."
"I apologise..."
Alice wasn't satisfied, but she too had other things on her mind, so she did not question further upon this topic. Instead...
"Then what about that news report? I know that was James, I'd recognize his from miles away. And those shining globes of... I don't know what they are... You don't seem to be as curious as I am... do you perhaps know what those are?" Alice had turned to face Harold with large curious eyes.
Harold gulped. He was in trouble. At times like this, Rebecca Klar was greatly needed... She'd be able to smoke her way through and avoid answering... Or so Harold thought. But Rebecca Klar had no intention of keeping anything from Alice any more. She was on her way to Alice's house to meet with Harold to inform him of this decision of hers.

In these moments of inactivity, Granny Squavox picked up her cushion and brushed it before placing it on the sofa. She was feeling such great depths of sympathy for her god grandson. "Just tell her!" She thought. How long could he keep it a secret anyway? A girl surrounded by three non humans had the right to know what she had gotten herself in. Well, yes Granny Squavox is not worried at all about the spell that had been cast on Alice's great great I-don't-know-how-many-greats grand dad or the glitter at all. I guess we'll find out soon when Harold opens his marble still spying on whatever was infront of Harold. Since Alice was walking beside him, Granny Squavox was disappointedly doing other things while keeping track of the screen from the corner of her eye.

Alice and Harold eventually got to Alice's home. Rebecca had warped back just moments before. Once Alice pushed her front door open, Rebecca stood right in front of her and entertained her...
"Oh dear my darling little Alice do come right in and..." At this point in time Rebecca had spun Alice around, got her palms onto Alice's shoulders and was leading her directly to her room. "get a little rest won't you? You look so very tired indeed!"
"Klar, why are you---" Alice was cut off. Rebecca continued talking like a bullet train,
"Oh silly, don't ask me questions, I am so very bashful about things you know? There will be a time for questions and there will too be a time for answers, but now's not the time darling~~ not the right time... not yet~~~"
"Then when is--?" Alice was cut off as Rebecca spun her again and pushed her down on the bed, while Mashup sprinkled sleeping flakes on Alice. The last thing Alice could recognise was a bat's wing, before she fell asleep.
"There we go!" Rebecca promptly walked out of the room and quietly shut the door without any physical form of motion. She clapped twice, clap-clap!
"Time for a discussion my dear Harold. Not that you can convince me otherwise."
Harold was a little stuck in his position right at the entrance to the house, a little stunned...
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Oh please Harold! Pull up your spirits! Come on!"
With a jerk, Harold moved towards the sofa area where Rebecca was waiting.

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**Alice actually whimpered slightly if you were curious.