Chapter 363: Rising Suspicion

Amelia stopped looking so conceited all of a sudden. Her gaze stared dull… any and all emotions but consumed by the inky blackness brimming within. 

Usually, I knew her one of two ways - high and mighty, or angry and intense. Her reactions, responses, would usually fall into one of these categories with very little in-between. 

Except sometimes for the few instances that just couldn't be sorted. When her rigid stare would sometimes falter, and her tone just couldn't quite be placed. It very rarely ever happens, but they happen.

It was happening right then.

"You honestly believe there to be a grander intention, do you?" She asked me. "I ask you then, for what other reason could I possibly have for being here?" 

It seems almost, even in slumber, Adalia could sense the sudden shift in the ambiance as she lightly moaned and squirmed in place… her legs brushing against Amelia's back. 

I took that short moment to think, all the while scouring her empty gaze for any giveaways that would lead to an answer, but when I ultimately ended up finding nothing…. I was forced to concede, exhaling loudly. "I'm not exactly sure why else you'd be here."

"Yes, precisely. For there is no other reason why - "

"Which is why I'm asking you to give me that reason." 

"And indeed, I already have," She replied instantaneously. "Why? You think, if, for my sister, that is not reason enough? You really think I wouldn't go so far to see it what would be best for her?" 

"Of course I know you're a total sister-deviant, there's no doubt about that," I said. "I'm just wondering how you watching over me could possibly benefit her in any way." 

"Well, you are allowed to keep wondering, allowed to keep questioning, but don't dare make me repeat myself thrice. Can you simply just accept for the time being, for just a short few days, another wandering soul beneath your abnormally large roof? Can you do that? You certainly have the space, don't you?" 

Maybe she was right, maybe my mind's simply just too rife from the many surprises within the span of the hour and was connecting dots and forming lines to things that have no correlation with each other. 

Wouldn't be the first time overthinking has been nothing but a hindrance… and yet I just couldn't shake this feeling that something was off about this whole thing. 

But then before I could say anything more, suddenly there was a voice calling out for me… across the hall, up the steps, echoing again from far above. It was the type of voice you hear that gets you sighing, makes you groan, and even if you didn't want to, you'd still go on and answer its call. 

"Hey, Big Bro! Can you come up here for a sec?!" 

Amelia watched me pull myself up from the sofa, smirking amused, probably all too familiar with this answer-and-call routine, as all siblings were. "Terestra has certainly raised such a demanding child, hasn't she?" 

For once, Amelia actually said something that I could wholeheartedly agree with. "You can say that again…"

"As well as raising another, so considerate and so selfless," She continued, her smile so full of silent implications. "I've said it once before… but I always found it intriguing that a child of Terestra could ever turn out to be someone like you." 

I was already halfway up the stairs when I heard her say that, and because I'm just curious like that, I stopped there briefly to ask simply, "So in your opinion, how do you expect a child of Terestra to be like?"

"Well," She said, finishing with a shrug. "Who can really say?" 

So deliberately bloody enigmatic these freaking vampires, I swear… if they aren't terrifying you, they're mystifying you, and honestly, I haven't a clue which was worse.

Sammy called out to me again, the sealed-off barricade that was my bedroom door doing very little to dampen the unbearable agony that was her raised voice. Calling out to me, "Big Bro! Big Bro! Big Bro!" so much, it might as well be a torturous retail jingle. 

I swung open the door, desperate to put an end to my misery, "Oh my God, Sammy, what the hell do you - ?" 

"Want?" was supposed to be the ending word to my sentence, instead it ended up sounding more like, "Mmm!" as the world around me was instantly plunged to darkness as something very fast and very soft went splat all over my eyes. 

Blue, white… the feel of soft fabric sliding down my face, landing limp and swaying loosely into my hands below outstretched. All of a sudden, I could see again, and from what I was seeing, I wish I didn't even open the damn door in the first place.

Sprawled across my bed, dressed in another vibrant pair of blue and white, like a pampered princess to be waited on hand and foot, she spoke to me, not even bothering to look over the top of her phone, and very much soaking my pillow wet with her still dripping hair, "Can you put that in the laundry for me, please?" 

I looked down, her old clothes hanging over my arms like a butler with a towel ready to serve. 

"You want me to put in your dirty laundry for you?"

"Mmm-hmm," She murmured, still not glancing up. "I said 'please', so… you always like it when I say 'please' to you, right? You got like a please-fetish."

That's when I threw in the towel - literally. One second, her clothes in my hand, then gone the next. Wanna know where they went? Ask Sammy the friendly blue and white ghost over on my bed there, she'd tell you exactly where they are.

"Downstairs. In the kitchen. There's a laundry room at the end," I began to walk back out. "This ain't like back home, and I ain't Mom. Do it yourself." 

"No, wait, don't go yet, I'm - !" Sammy pulled off her clothes, unveiling a face so red and flustered. "I… I'm just a little shy, alright? I know the other vampire downstairs as well, I saw her and you talking when I tried going down - and I really don't wanna interact with her. So, uh, yeah… can you just do this for me just this once? I'll do it myself next time. I promise." 

Sammy and being timid and shy was a sight rarer than any mythical being combined. Usually, in social interactions, Sammy would be the one who'd flourish and make friends as easy as breathing whereas I would be the guy gawking in the corner there, never speaking unless spoken to.

I suppose when it comes to the supernatural, our position has flipped upside-down. Well, not like I can blame her this time around… vampire or no, Amelia was a hard person to see eye to eye with anyway. 

Sammy caught my eye again, her bright blue pupils staring wide and full like a poor wounded puppy. "Pleaseee?" 

With a weary sigh, I brought myself to the foot of the bed, plucking back in my hands up the wrinkled white, and the crumpled blue. Before I left, I pointed a finger at her, making sure to settle the one thing that needed immediate rectifying. "I don't have a please-fetish." 

She just smiled at that, "No, no, of course not, Big Bro," so sickeningly venomously sweet. "I'm only just teasing…" 

When I reached back downstairs, Amelia had disappeared from sight. On the couch just laid a lone Adalia, still in peaceful slumber. Strange thing was, I didn't see her upstairs either… the guestroom was open, and just a second's glance revealed it completely barren and empty.

Where did she go now? What happened to keeping an eye on me? Hell, it's the middle of a sunny afternoon day… should she even be wandering around in the first place?

This vampire's up to something… either that, or my head seriously wants her to be up to something, and for once I don't think it has anything to do with the latter.

Then, as I was just standing stupid there in the middle of the hallway with Sammy's clothes underneath my arm, the front door swung open, casting in a funnel of light gradually brightening and widening, nearly blinding… and with eyes squinting… the first thing I saw was a twitch, a wriggle… of long narrow silhouetted ears. 

Didn't have to see the rest to know who just crossed through the doorway and slammed the door shut. With my lips already formed into a welcoming smile, I spoke, "You're earlier than usual." 

A stream of white hair fell forward in front of me, as she did her usual greeting bow. 

"Lunch, Master..." Ash wheezed, lips agape and exhausted. "I promised you a hearty meal, did I not?" 

"Ah yeah, I guess you did," I said, recalling her previous call from before. "Though I'm sure the arrival of a most-esteemed guest did not at all influence your actions, right?"

She walked closer to me, managing a feeble smile. "I suppose it has partly to do with that."

"Uh-huh, partly…"

Ash glanced down at the stuffed piece of clothing stuffed beneath my arm, took a second to wonder who they belonged to, then with emerald eyes wide in realization, she wordlessly took the clothes into her hands, holding them out in front of her like they were the most fragile things in existence itself.

"I shall tend to this myself…" She told me, resolve twinkling bright in her eyes as she stalked off towards the kitchen. "Please Master, do let Lady Samantha know that now that I am here, she only need but ask, and I shall see to her every need and whim done." 

Great, that's just what Sammy needs. A literal Servant wholeheartedly willing to do her every bidding. I mean, why not? Not like she's been pampered enough already.

"Oh, I nearly forgot!" Ash poked her head out of the kitchen. "Would you please ask her for her steak preferences? You mention it her favorite meal, yes?" 

I'm starting to wonder who the real Master of the house is right now….