Blood Knight

Capitolo XI

In the morning, Monticello woke me gently.

"It's time to leave Stella. I brought you a change of clothes."

I groaned, flinging the blanket off. Glancing down, I noticed he had a shopping bag in his hands.

"Brought, or stole?"

He tsked his tongue, tossing the bag towards me. I caught it as he turned to leave. "I'll wait for you to get dressed."

I sighed. He was back to his old self; stiff and indifferent. I guessed I was relieved by that. It would be weird if he was like how he was last night. 

"What if your circumstance was different? What if...what if it was someone that you had known for a very long time? Would you then?" 

What did he even mean by that? Was he trying to insinuate the idea of us being engaged? I laughed internally at the thought. Monticello was a definite piece of work, I'd give him that. But trying to picture us together was a strange thought indeed.

I rummaged through the bag, pulling out a simple t-shirt and jeans. He knew me so well. As I changed out of the dress, it was unsurprising to see that he didn't quite get my size right. As loose as the clothes were, they'd be appropriate for the kind of day we'd be having. Monticello told me that we were going to meet his cousins in Italy. I didn't know what we were going to do now, and he hadn't disclosed anything other than meeting them. 

I heard a knock at the door which pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Are you dressed?"

"Yeah, you can come in."

Monticello entered and then grabbed the key out of the basket. I watched as he turned it around in his hand, fingering the edge. He seemed lost in thought, probably thinking about his father.

"What's our plan?" I asked, tightening the strap on my sandal. 

He glanced up from his hands, stuffing the key into his long coat pocket. "We're traveling. We're going to need supplies for you."

"No I mean...I know today's plan, but, what about my parents? My home?"

Monticello paused, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "I am not sure. We'll find out where your mother and father are, and then go from there. But let's just focus on what we are doing today. Now let's go."

I paused, fingering the dress in my hands. Sighing, I set it on the bed and strode out the door with Monticello behind. As he closed it, he motioned for me to stand back. Confused, I watched in fascination as the door began to fade. There was a groaning sound that was so loud, I felt it rattle my limbs. In an instant, the door disappeared in a loud pop. Monticello strode off while I was close at his heels. The other doors around us were quiet, not like how they were the night before.

As we reached the end of the hallway, Monticello opened up the door gently, revealing an astonishing scene. The entire lobby of the building we were in was in ruins. The bookshelf that once stood so soundly was now in broken pieces, surrounded by free roaming pages from the books that once held them. The furniture was scattered about in heaps of wood and faux-leather.

"Monticello, what happened here?"

"The quelli scuri found our scent and followed us here. It was lucky that Bartholomew wasn't around to see it."

"How did they not find us? Wouldn't they have gone through the-" I turned to point out how easy it would be to break in the door, but I was astounded to see it was just a plain closet.

"What...how-"

"That door was made for the protection of it's residents. The Nascondere and any other people who wanted to find us wouldn't be able to, even if they tried. This way."