Ch. 10

“Veripema, how could you let this happen. You got injured and lost the book? I don’t know what to do with you anymore,” said Miss Darkness.

“Please! Don’t hurt me further! She’s exposed, and she’s injured, too! I can’t help it that she’s my niece, and knows me better than I know her. Mother, please!” yelled Veripema.

Miss Darkness sat in silence, “I told you never to call me that again. I don’t want anyone to know that I’m your mother, and that Lord Batwings is your father. Then word will leak out that I’m the grandmother of that loathsome traitor.”

Veripema was a wreck on the floor. She was still injured, and she hadn’t eaten in such a long time. She was starving, and it didn’t help that her mother was lecturing her again.

“Get up. I shall let you eat. I don’t want the only child I have left alive to die from hunger, but that is the only reason. You have failed me, and I have given you another chance, seeing as you’re the one who told us that Bloodrose was in Prague, anyway,” said Lord Batwings, stepping out of the shadows.

“Thank you, sir. I promise not to fail you again. I have a plan. It will work, I will make sure of that,” said Veripema.

“Good, Daughter. Now, dig in. You’ll need all the blood you can get to be able to recover quickly. Then we’ll have all the life we’ll ever need again,” said Lord Batwings with a wicked smile. He thrust a dead pig at his daughter, and Veripema devoured it, meat and all.

Later, however, when Veripema was back in her room, it was quite. Lord Batwings and Miss Darkness were having a discussion, and they were thinking of other plans.

“We could send her Heaven’s Blood flowers. She’ll think that one boy, Mileckal . . .”

“Michael.”

“Whatever. She’ll think he sent them to her. Then she’ll breath them in and die, seeing as they’re poisonous,” suggested Miss Darkness.

“That wouldn’t work. The leaves and stem are purple, while the human flowers are green. That would never work. I was thinking about sending the werewolves in disguised as puppies,” offered Lord Batwings.

“That wouldn’t work, either. Their fur is ragged. She’ll now the second she sees them,” said Miss Darkness. They sat in silence. Then Lord Batwings’ evil smile returned.

“We could send the puppies to Michael, and the flowers to Sarah. Then two humans that she admires would be out of the way, and she’ll go insane from all the deaths of humans,” said Lord Batwings.

“That wouldn’t ever work. Sarah loves flowers, she has a garden, and she knows that flowers do not ever have purple on them unless it’s their petals. And Michael knows all about dogs, he’ll think they have some disease and he won’t touch them. I’ve sent spies into the city,” said Miss Darkness.

“What would I ever do without you?” Lord Batwings asked her.

“I don’t know. By now, you may just be dead, and I would have that book all to myself,” said Miss Darkness.

“I know, but you have to stop pointing out all of the bad points, and only half so I don’t think I’m an idiot. It’s so heartbreaking. You must be careful, or else you will have that book to yourself,” said Lord Batwings, the evil smile still on his face.

They sat in silence for a little while longer until Miss Darkness asked him, “What are we going to do with Veripema? She thinks her plan will work, but she was always the dumber of the two. I was suprised when she was able to kill her sister.”

“I don’t know. I think we’ll just lock her in a cell and leave her to rot while we get the book back. But that would be unnecessarily cruel, and she is our only daughter. I think we really should give her another try,” said Lord Batwings.

Miss Darkness replied, “What is with you today? You’re being so, so, nice. I find it hard to believe that it is my husband sitting next to me. I think we really should put her in a cell, but only after she fails again. Then she won’t know that we even had this discussion.”

What both Miss Darkness and Lord Batwings didn’t know is that Veripema was standing right at the door, listening to their every word. After Miss Darkness stood up, however, Veripema ran to her room and closed the door quietly, not to hint that she was standing there. It was a good thing that the guest room had a bookshelf, because when her mother came to check up on her, Veripema was reading about humans.

“What are you reading, and why do you think it’s interesting?” Miss Darkness asked her.

“I don’t. I was just looking for something to do. I’m going to read something else now. I can’t believe how boring it is to be a human. I mean, it’s ridiculous,” said Veripema, standing up and placing the book back exactly where it was. She walked over to the next row and looked for a book on vampire war history, instead.

“Well, okay,” said her mother, closing the door, suspecting nothing.

Veripema let out a huge sigh. She didn’t think that it was so easy to fool her mother. The set the book back on the shelf and started pacing, thinking about things.

‘Why would they do this to me? I’m their daughter, for crying out loud. Yes, I heard every word, but I still don’t understand why they would torture me that way if I don’t succeed. It’s terrible.’

Veripema walked back over to the chair and sat down, closing her eyes.

‘One thing is for sure. I will not let them down again.’