The Case of the Ruby Curse by Arizona Tape

Author:Arizona Tape [Tape, Arizona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vampari Press

15

It took a couple of hours to process all the ingredients on the kitchen island and transform some old stewed onions in a concoction of horror. Even with all the windows open and the fan on, they couldn’t get rid of the sour, bitter smell emitting from the pot. The muddy green colour had become a dark grey and with every drag of the ladle, unidentifiable chunks would well up from the bottom.

“I think that’s done,” Lilith announced, stepping aside to give Samantha a good view of the contents.

“Yummy…” she replied, not able to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “Let’s serve up, shall we.”

“Yes, let’s. I brought paper cups for easy wash-up. Two per person.”

“Two??”

Lilith chuckled. “Yes, one for soup and one to… you know… return the soup if necessary.”

“Ahh, that’s grim, don’t say that.” Samantha gagged as she unpacked the cups and set them down in rows. For every cup of soup, she counted a vomit-cup and tried not to use one herself before she’d even taken a single bite. “I guess there’s no use putting it off,” she said once the soup had been divided.

“Agreed. Hey, everyone! It’s Night Soup time!”

To Samantha’s surprise, the crowd cheered and lined up voluntarily at the kitchen island for their cups. Nobody even questioned why Sam was handing out two of them. They probably were used to it by now.

After handing out soup to a bunch of strangers, Sam was relieved to find a familiar face. “Hey, Aaron. I didn’t realise you were here!”

The man shot her a kind smile. “Yes, I got the invitation and thought, why not?”

Sam handed him a cup of doom. “You didn’t have any Vampire parties you had to attend?”

He shook his head. “No, for Nox Night, it’s encouraged to go to a non-clan party. How’s Shadow?”

“Having a blast. Did you bring your hellhound too?”

“Oh, yes. I think they’re playing together already.”

“That’s good. At least Shadow has a playmate.”

“Exactly.” Aaron sniffed the soup and pulled a face. “Mmm… Yum. Thanks for the soup. See you next week at the Puppy Academy.”

With him gone, Samantha returned to handing out cups to the other people, most of them strangers. She wondered if everyone else was equally unfamiliar with each other or if she was the odd duck out.

After she distributed all the cups, and held one back for herself, she turned to Lilith for the next step. “Now what?”

“Now… A toast!” Lilith raised her cup and everyone followed suit. “To the Nox, to the Wardens, and to the ignorant humans. To another year of peace. Cheers!”

A collective cheer sounded through the kitchen before everyone tipped their cup of soup back. A beat behind everyone, Sam only took her first sip once she was actually sure everybody else was and this wasn’t some weird joke.

The thick, fibrous soup hit her lips just as the first person next to her gagged. The taste was so awful, Sam couldn’t discern any individual flavours. It was just an assault to her taste buds and left her whole mouth screaming for water.

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