Chapter 41

Eve wondered why the buff man at the inn door wasn’t letting her in even though she had offered the silver coin for him to take. It made her wonder if it was because of the clothes she wore. But then it was pretty decent.

So what was the reason?

Deciding to ask the man directly, she asked him, “Is it because I am not dressed for this place? Is this why you are turning me away, Mr. Guard?”

The buff man finally turned to meet Eve’s blue eyes with a blankness as if he was done waiting at the door and opening it for every customer who came to spend time in the inn. He finally replied to her in a gruff voice,

“Only men and women. Twenty-one years above age.”

Eve blinked, an imaginary crow flying above her head when she realised what had happened. Gathering herself, she said, “No, no! I am not below twenty-one, but a twenty-four years old woman. I am not a child. It is just that I look very, very young. I have been blessed with good skin.”

But the buff man stared at her for a second more, as if used to hearing young men and women try to get into the inn by giving false information. He looked at the almost deserted street, except for a few carriages that passed on the street.

Eve put her silver coin back in her pocket and tied her hair with the ribbon into a ponytail. She then said, “See, I am old. In fact, I am a governess for one of the high standing families in Skellington. You would be shocked if you found where and whom I teach. I finished my job, which is why I look like this, do you think if I didn’t have time to change, I wo—”

Suddenly the man placed his hand forward.

Eve slightly raised her eyebrows, and she asked, “Will a shilling do?” She quickly placed a shilling in the palm of his hand. “I promise to pay you more—” the buff man put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door for her to get in, “—once I earn more. Thank you, you are a kind man.”

Thankfully, Eve appeared to be just like the humans—from the scent of her blood to her heartbeat and how she breathed.

And like many people who had come across her, the buff man had deduced her to be a young human, which is why he had earlier stopped her. But now that they had settled the matter of her age, she finally stepped through the ‘Little Teeth’s Inn’ door.

The inside part of the inn had green and orange lights burning in the lanterns. The beginning passage was long and narrow, which finally led to an open space, where men and women were seated at the tables. There was a certain hint of darkness that went beyond the amount of light present here because of the night creatures and humans who occupied the tables.

“Milady,” a man waiting on the customers appeared in front of Eve, blocking her view. He was slightly taller than her, dressed in a black trouser, vest and a plain white shirt with a bow around his long neck.

Eve offered a slight nod.

“Good evening, milady,” the man’s words were smooth and just above a whisper over the sound of music, and Eve tried to make sure to listen to him carefully. “Is someone waiting for you here?”

“No,” answered Eve, and the man nodded without looking at her oddly.

“Do you have any preference of where you would like to sit? Near the music or away from it?” inquired the man with a smile, waiting for her to reply.

Eve’s eyes subtly moved around the large room, trying to find the one man. When she spotted Mr. Morris, she answered the person’s question, “Away from the music. A little quieter side, please.”

“Of course, milady. Would you like me to take your belonging and hang it here,” he moved his hand in the direction of the stand, which had coats and hats hung on it.

“I would like to keep it with me. I have a bad back,” she added, and the man offered her a bow.

“Let me lead you to your table,” replied the steward, and Eve followed him while looking around at the people who were immersed in their own company.

The person led her four tables away from Mr. Morris, which Eve was perfectly fine with. The first step was to observe this person. To know what he did and didn’t, gather information on where he lived and his family. Once she would have enough details, she would then think of her next step.

She had waited for years to avenge her mother’s death, and now that she found the person, she could wait a few more weeks or even months.

Mr. Morris wasn’t alone, he was in the company of a woman, sitting very next to him, while the man had his hand around the woman’s waist. He was saying something in the woman’s ears, and the woman coyly smiled as she leaned closer to him.

“Why don’t I let you settle down for a few minutes and have someone sent here to you?” Said the person before leaving her table to attend to other customers at the front part of the passage.

A couple of minutes passed, by which time Eve’s drink had appeared at her table. The drink was for humans, something she had verified before taking a sip from it. Mr. Morris seemed to enjoy the woman’s company, whom Eve believed not to be his wife.

When her eyes left Mr. Morris’s side to look at the steward of the inn, her eyes turned wide. The drink that she had been having went in the wrong pipe, and she coughed before trying to hide her face with her handkerchief.

It was Noah Sullivan, who was being led by the steward and another man accompanying him. Thankfully the steward had them sit on the opposite side of the large room, where Noah couldn’t catch sight of her.

She didn’t want him to see her here, where most of the vampires were directly drinking blood from humans or the people were having affairs with more than one woman at their tables. Not to mention, she was here all by herself. But then again, she thought, he was here too.

“Hello, there,” a man came to block her view of Noah’s table, and he placed his hand on the chair. “May I join you, I saw that you have been sitting here all lonely by yourself.”

Eve noticed the intruding man hadn’t bothered to button the top three buttons of his shirt, and she heard him ask, “Anything you like?” His eyes trailed from her face to look at her bosom, which was perfectly covered by her dress.

But Eve raised the glass of drink in her hand, “I am fine. Thank you.”

“If you don’t mind, I can give you my company—”

Having sat there for more than forty minutes, listening to the sad music going in the corner, Eve placed the coins on the table.

“I was actually leaving. My children are waiting for me back home,” Eve lied to the man, and cautiously got up while having her back facing Noah’s table.

The man knew that Eve was lying. He followed her with a glass full of drink in his hand, which he had picked up from the tray of a passing servant. He said,

“You must be a lonely woman, and it must be difficult for a woman like yourself when you have children. How about I take you home, safely? The night is not safe for such a beautiful woman as yourself.”

Eve held the umbrella upside down in a hurry, where the handle faced the ground.

“Very kind of you, mister, but I have a carriage of my own,” replied Eve without turning to look at him and taking a few steps forward.

The pestering man moved closer to Eve, his hand reaching for her slender waist so that he could turn her back to him.

But when the pestering stranger took another step towards Eve, the hook of her umbrella caught his leg, something he hadn’t expected.

When Eve continued to walk in haste, she felt her umbrella being pulled, while on the other hand, the man lost his balance.

Trying to get his balance back, the man didn’t pay attention to the glass of drink in his hand, which fell on someone at the table right next to them.