NIGHTS OF HALLOW
Chapter 122: Big Rabbit

Chapter 122: Big Rabbit

Big Rabbits? Big Rabbits, huh?!

Perdita repeated as she puffed invincible smoke from her mouth while pacing around in her room. Gone was the thirst that was now replaced by anger.

Anger?

Again she thought out loud. What was she angry for? That Sthena referred to her as a rabbit or shouldn’t she be thankful that the Churchman didn’t see her?

What now? Anger or thankful? What should she be feeling at the moment? Even her brain and heart were failing her. What was boiling in her blood now was neither anger nor was it being thankful. She was frustrated.

Yes, that was it. Frustration. That should be the right word here. But what was she frustrated about?

Good gracious! Perdita exhaled and held her head as if she was about to lose her brain.

She needed that water now. Where was it? Argh! Perdita sighed again. She had immediately rushed back to her room so that the Churchman wouldn’t see her, but she was badly thirsty. And this thirst was no longer for water, it was for something else. Blood.

God, her throat, had started to itch. Perdita took a deep breath to calm her jittery nerves, but it was not helping. The more she tried to hold back the itch, the more it was forcefully trying to erupt.

It had been weeks since she last drunk blood which was that of Sthena, and surprisingly, it had curbed her thirst since then. But now, what she needed was that same warm blood filling her mouth and slowly gliding down her throat.

Oh no! Even her thoughts will be the death of her soon. Perdita repeatedly smacked her head to get rid of her wild thoughts.

Shouldn’t that Churchman be gone by now? Perdita asked and grabbed the jug and decided to leave the room to at least get water to use and see if it will quench her thirst for blood.

Before she could leave her room, the door was knocked on and pushed open at the same she twisted the door’s knob.

"Emily?" Perdita called slightly in a daze as she stared at the maid, particularly at her small neck. The veins pumping warm and fresh blood distracted Perdita for a bit.

She turned to look at Emily in confusion and dazed, "What did you say?" Even her voice sounded strained.

Emily still viewing Perdita as a vampire smiled warmly at the woman she didn’t know was having thoughts of grabbing and taking her into her room to drink her blood.

Emily thought the look on Perdita’s was because she must be tired or because she had slept for a long time. She bowed and repeated her words, "My Lady, I was asked by His Majesty to inform you that dinner is served."

"Uhm... Okay. I’ll be there in a minute." Perdita struggled to reply.

"Yes, My Lady." Emily smiled again before her eyes fell on Perdita’s hand tightly holding the jug. "My Lady, please don’t bother yourself with things as these. You can always ask any maid to help you with anything. Here, let me take that and see that your jug is returned with water inside it."

Emily finished speaking and reached out to take the jug from Perdita, and at that same time, Emily’s hand brushed against hers, making Perdita more aware of the warmness of the thick blood flowing inside Emily.

Perdita sucked in a deep breath as she watched the retreating figure of Emily.

"If only you were that rude and annoying maid called Theresa, I wouldn’t mind taking a sip from you, Emily," Perdita murmured to herself with another sigh escaping her lips.

Having known the sweet and tantalizing taste of warm blood, Perdita couldn’t deny it was not what she craved. Perhaps, she was finally taking the advice of Sthena when he said they should accept who they were.

This was her accepting it by wanting to drink human blood. Gosh! What was this? Was this was it felt like to finally have the taste of sugar but only for it to be rubbed on your nose where your lips or your tongue could reach it?

By the time Perdita arrived at the dining room, where everyone was already seated including Sthena, she tried to calm her frantic beating heart lest it turned to music for the pureblooded vampires who might think she was a human.

Perdita offered a respectful bow to the king and proceeded towards her chair which was beside Marco only to find it being occupied by the grey and black-haired man whose name she later got to know was Fredrick.

Perdita glared at the man almost demanding him to stand up. The bloodthirst almost got the best of her.

Marco saved the evening by placing a hand on Perdita’s hot one to cool her off which did the magic of Perdita picking another seat that was almost beside the King. Just a seat away from the head table where Sthena sat.

Perdita’s eyes locked with Sthena’s mischievous ones, and remembering what he called her earlier, she also glared at him.

"Seems like someone is participating in a glaring war today," Sthena commented in a low voice only for Perdita to hear which had Perdita’s gaze snap immediately.

The dining today was occupied more than other days, and this, was, of course, making Lady Rosamonda and her children boil in anger. How could they have more than one green eye in a room that shone under the lit chandelier and wall lamps?

Lady Rosamonda each time she made to talk will be silenced by the subtle warning look from Sthena.

Soon, dinner was served by the maids and everyone waited for the king to start eating.

Sthena did not immediately start eating as he took his time to admire everyone at the table.

Lady Rosamonda looked like someone who was barely holding herself from strangling someone at the table.

Princess Sarah was looking like a dog that wanted to bark and bite.

Prince Regan, well, he looked calm, but on a closer look, his jaws were clenched. He seemed to have no problem with the additional people but his subtle hard glare was directed at one person. Perdita.

’Interesting,’ Sthena muttered under his breath which some of them heard. Finally, he took his fork and knife and began to eat, and others joined too with the exception of Lady Rosamonda who only took her cup of blood and began to swirl it around while staring at it as if it was the most beautiful thing in the dining room.

The scent of the blood was quick to spread around the dining room increasing the itch on Perdita’s throat.

"The blood today looks more than delicious," Lady Rosamonda commented and took a sip of it, and nodded in approval.

Princess Sarah smiled and replied to her mother’s words, "Of course, Mother. The Royal family gets the best in everything. Such a shame that others can not taste what it feels like to be a royal."

"You’re right dear. We get nothing but the best." Lady Rosamonda added with a sweet smile towards Sarah.

"Stepmother Rosamonda," Sthena called in a taunting voice that told everyone who knew how the nuts in his head functioned sometimes, that he wanted to humor the older vampiress.

"Why do you behave as if it is only now you get the chance to drink high-quality blood? Don’t tell me you’ve been drinking the least of what is sent here in the castle. Hm?"

Amidst the chaotic battle going on inside Perdita because of the provocative talk of blood by Lady Rosamonda, she couldn’t stop the smile that etched on her lips because of the sharp words of Sthena.

Lady Rosamonda puffed in anger but because other people could easily detect her flaws, she tried to maintain her calm demeanor.

She smiled and responded to Sthena’s taunt, "Your Majesty, that is obviously not true. You humor me, Milord." She let out a fake small laugh as if she found it amusing. She went on, "As long as we are alive and breathing, we shouldn’t fail to appreciate the privileges that some people cannot afford."

Sthena nodded and said, "This might be the first time I’ll agree with you on something. You are right. Because we wouldn’t know when those privileges may be taken with a snap of someone’s hand." Sthena chuckled at last, making his words come out like he was agreeing to Lady Rosamonda’s claims. Meanwhile, everyone at the table got the memo, and this had the rattling mouth of Lady Rosamonda shut on its own.

Dinner finished with Perdita struggling to stay sane where the itch increased every minute. She could even feel her fingernails also itch to elongate, and if she stayed there for another minute, she feared her eyes will give her away in front of everyone. She was not yet ready to reveal who she had turned into.

Without a proper goodnight greeting, Perdita rushed to her room to find something to distract herself with but found nothing.

Should she just ask a maid to provide her with blood? No. She didn’t trust herself yet. She might end up killing the maid in the process.

Perdita continued to pace around her room, her nails already elongated, her eyes slowly changing to red, and a knock on the door interrupted the stressful moment she was having.

"Oh no, God save whoever it is at the door because I’m not going to spare you," Perdita said aloud and went to open the door thinking it was one of the maids.

The night’s breeze blew at her face when she opened the door, and standing there with his hair ruffled long red hair, his features sharp, and handsome in the evening light and wall lamps falling on him was the King.

"Your Majesty?"