The Voodoo Bell

Part 10: Chapters 24-25

Chapter 24

Christmas

Despite being stuck in a castle full of murderous demons, Christmas night was actually quite magical for me. We had started the evening with a large candlelit meal in the dining room. Lighthearted conversations flowed easily between us all and I found myself laughing unexpectedly more than once. In fact, this was the first night that the family had taken turns rehashing old memories and telling stories of glory days gone by.

It was enthralling to hear Larron tell about his youth and how they once "egged" a witch's cottage to disrupt her hallows eve ritual, thus starting the egging tradition for hundreds of years after. I almost spit my water out when he told about how the witch had jerked open her door in a blaze of fury and an egg hit her right in the face. Larron's doing, of course. He described in detail the blazing of hatred in her eyes as the egg slowly ran down the side of her face and fell with a plop onto the ground, where she stood. She cursed them, of course and they all croaked like frogs for weeks. He laughed and mocked the "ribbit" sound that had become his voice.

Rachel told the story of how she was so nervous on her first hunting expedition, that she accidently bit herself instead of her victim on the first try. Even this story, which should have horrified me to hear, made my face beam with a smile at her recounting. Reed and Derrick then took turns mocking her for her mistake.

"How could you have bitten yourself?", Reed said, chuckling. "That's almost pitiful. I'm seriously debating if we should take you with us next time or not."

"I was only 12 in human years, Reed!", she retorted. "It was your fault I was there at all.

"Yes, Reed", Larron chimed in. "She was too young and had I known what you were up to, I would have never let you go".

He smiled sweetly for a moment and then continued, "But, Rachel, really? Your own arm?"

She growled at them all with embarrassment and I laughed at them until my cheeks began to ache from smiling so much.

The evening would have been perfect, had it not been for Misty sitting down the table, glaring at me from beside Reed. I tried to keep my eyes averted to avoid her stare, but I could feel her heated gaze on me each time that I chortled at one of the many jokes thrown between the family.

After dinner, we adjourned to the media room to watch "Human Santa Movies", as Larron put it. They were really trying to make this special for me, given that they normally didn't celebrate like the humans did. It was the first time that I had felt like I had a family since my dad had died and I have to say that it stung a bit to admit it.

After the servants had handed out clear mugs filled with eggnog, Larron stood up, raising his glass and clinking it with a spoon to get our attention.

"Blair", he said. "Derrick tells me that the humans often exchange gifts for this holiday, to show their love and appreciation for others. So, we have prepared presents."

His mischievous eyes twinkled with delight as he took in my expression. He waited for me to smile back, but I felt the joy falling out of my face.

"But, I wasn't able to get you anything", I said, glancing around the room.

"What would we want that we don't already have, Princess?", Derrick asked me, trailing a finger down my cheek.

Looking around, I realized that he was right. They did have everything and more. So, I smiled a bit ruefully and accepted the tiny package that Larron held out to me. It was a beautiful maroon scarf, made of thick yarn and tiny gold thread.