The Harvest of Souls

CHAPTER 27

ASTURIAN ISLAND

10.01.8462 - 1:28 PM

Lunch was served, and all the guests who had spent the morning on the kitchen table, cooking and trying to make Vaughan forget about bad memories, decided to go upstairs to their rooms. Mário thought it best to accompany Vaughan to his room and stay with him until the vampire slept. Nair arranged a room for Marta before retiring to her room, just across from the Greater Atrium in the East Wing, which connected to the hallway where the guests were allocated. Mila pulled Scarlet aside before she entered her room.

"Listen, what do you think of going to Jeannie's room? Take a look around there?" Asked the girl, her blue eyes brighter than usual.

"Really? I'm terrified of being here; I only came because of Van. Isn't it better if we go into our rooms and protect ourselves?" Said Scarlet, discouraged and shrunken.

"Yes, it would be the best, but I don't know if it would be correct," said Mila. "So far, no one has been there, no one has searched her room, and maybe we find some hint. Let's go, please! I went to the Kitchen and got stabbed for you..."

"Oh, what an absurd drama, don't talk like that. I'm already feeling extremely guilty; if you had died, I would have killed myself..."

"Wow, who is being dramatic now?"

"It is true! Imagine, I would have been responsible for my sister-in-law's death. It's an unbearable situation," Scarlet spoke seriously. "You almost died because of me; you were hurt because of me..."

"Scarlet, it makes no sense; the responsible is the one who stuck the knife in me. I saw a strong yellow light and heat before fainting. You tried to attack whoever stabbed me; it was courageous of you," said Mila. "And we don't know what would have happened if you hadn't done it; maybe the killer would have finished killing me. You probably saved me that night," Mila hugged Scarlet carefully. "Thank you for saving my life, sister-in-law."

Scarlet gave an awkward smile.

"Looks like now we're really going to call a 'killer' whoever is behind this," said the blonde girl.

"Indeed," Mila said, staring at nothing. "Someone has actually died. By the way, my attack is yet another strange thing, my wound has healed enough to reduce the blood loss, and I only felt pain when the knife came in; right after, it was a huge feeling of dizziness. It wasn't pain, it was like I had taken sleeping pills; when I woke up, I no longer felt any pain. Now I do feel pain and discomfort, but something at the time anesthetized me very deeply. Why would that happen?" Mila questioned, putting her hand instinctively over the wound.

"It's true, Mila; it doesn't make sense," Scarlet replied.

"And that's why we need to try to find answers," said Mila. "If someone has just been murdered in Ástur, the killer would not have time to arrive on the island, unless it was by plane, ship, or Vidde, and we have ways of monitoring it, if something enters here on the island by these channels, we will know...

"Wait, you're talking about something important, which we also did not assess, how someone entered the island?" Scarlet questioned. "We need to confirm with Richard and Vaughan all the ways to enter and leave the island."

"Yes. We need to pay attention to this too. We were calculating as if the killer were here, but it is now on the mainland."

"Mila, and if there are more than one? What if there is one here on the island and one on the mainland?" Scarlet asked.

"I was going to get to that point now. That's one of the reasons we need to go to Jeannie's room. All the horror and thriller movies we grew up with are fiction. What Nair and my mom said makes sense; we don't know what violence is. What we know is through horror movies made to scare us. And who was the person most fascinated by horror books, historical serial killers, and thrillers?"