FULL NOVELXO Chapter CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
JENNY WENT DOWNSTAIRS IN HER PURPLE PAJAMAS with yellow stars, the lion cub following close behind. She continued to wait for Jareth to show up and escort her to the wizard with the Blood Book, but since it might actually be the end of her, she was in no rush. She had discovered a few spells on the Internet, but most of them were rubbish, and she didn’t trust any enchantments. She was just as likely to kill herself as to accomplish anything with those spells. Her mother cooked pancakes for breakfast as Dracula sat in the living room reading the newspaper. Beside the Master on the floor was the lifeless Moon Diamond that appeared to be dead but wasn’t yet quite so.
Zacharia was floating around, attempting to kick things but couldn’t. He also tried to strangle Dracula in jest, but his hands went right through him. Try being a ghost if you want to be ignored. The vampire had discovered that he’d rather be in the cat than floating around. Because the cat wasn’t dead, his soul was attached to it, like a string to a kite. His soul would most likely move on once the cat perished. Zacharia had tried to go back inside the cat, but it was so utterly dark in there he just drifted out.
Jenny sat at the table and looked tired.
Allison placed a stack of three pancakes on her plate. “Jenny, why do you put blood flakes on your pancakes when you don’t have to?”
“I don’t know. I just like it. Must be the vampire in me.” She showed her mother her fangs.
Allison put the frying pan on the stove and stared at her daughter. Life was evolving too fast for her liking, although she enjoyed reuniting with Dracula. A year could change so much in a person, and she considered that everyone continued to evolve in their own way. “What are you going to do with that dead cat?”
“Mother, the cat isn’t dead. It’s in a coma.”
Allison crossed her arms and leaned against the stove. “Oh, good lord. I listened to the cat’s chest and couldn’t hear anything. Perhaps Sarah will eat it.”
“Mother! Moon Diamond’s heartbeat is faint, but I can hear it. Your human ears are insufficient.”
“Un-huh.”
The lion cub pawed at Jenny’s left leg, asking for food. She got up, took a large steak out of the bottom of the fridge, and gave it to the cub; it morphed into the full-grown lioness to eat. Allison stared at the lion and shook her head; she didn’t think she would ever get used to a full-grown lion in the house. The doorbell rang, and Jenny thought that it might be Jareth. Allison went to the door and returned with an RCMP Officer named John Cormier. He was tall and imposing, though not as tall or impressive as Dracula.
John went for his gun at the sight of the lion, but Jenny blurred and took the gun from him, and of course, he was more than a little surprised and not the least bit amused. “You can’t have a lion here!”
Jenny shook her head. “Relax, Officer. It’s not a real lion; it’s an entity of magic. Sarah, cub Sarah.” She looked into his eyes and went into his mind so that he would believe whatever they told him.
Sarah turned into a cub, and the officer was most impressed. He picked it up, and Sarah turned back into a full-size lion, causing him to fall on his head into the corner. He got up and attempted to look confident, but it didn’t work. “Oh my, she won’t eat any of the neighbors, will she?”
The girl wizard shook her head. “Nope, only bad vampires.”
“Well, that’s good to know.” John was trying to be brave, but they could see the stress and fear on his face. Officer Cormier wasn’t trained to deal with such things, but as long as it wasn’t a real lion that was good enough for him, he was sure more complaints would be forthcoming. He had been trained to always take charge of the situation, but there was no accomplishing that here. His hands were still shaking a little. “All right then, I’ll leave you to your breakfast.”
When the officer left, Jenny and Allison had to laugh.
After breakfast, Dracula and Allison snuggled up on the sofa. Jenny sat in the recliner chair with her feet and arms crossed, occasionally glancing at the loving couple, then she commenced reading.
“I believe that our daughter is annoyed at us.” Dracula twirled his fingers, pretending that he was putting a spell on Jenny.
“Mother, must you do that?” Jenny was going through Wang’s wizard book, but there didn’t appear to be much in it that she could use, if anything.
“Do what? Affection is a regular part of life. We’re only holding hands.”
Sarah had become interested in Zacharia floating around.
“I know that, but … oh, never mind. You know I’m still annoyed with you, father.”
“I know, but all things change in time. I imagine that you’ll gladly give me hugs and kisses in years to come. I can’t wait.”
“Don’t make me wretch. Hey, look at Sarah.”
Sarah, in cub form, was following something. She would stop and swat at it and then move to another location. Zacharia’s ghost was playing with the cat and enjoying it, especially since she was the only one who could see him. The cub tried to stand to swat Zacharia, and it fell over.
Jenny had an idea. “Dracula, you don’t suppose that Sarah might be playing with Zacharia’s ghost?”
The Master looked distant as he considered it. “It’s possible. Why don’t you mind her and find out.”
Jenny went into Sarah’s mind and saw what the cat was seeing, Zacharia’s ghost floating around. It was the first time she had seen him in the flesh; she thought he was old but handsome enough. He looked like a king, she thought. “Yup, his ghost is here. Boy, does he look annoyed.”
Allison shook her head. “So we have a dead cat, a lion, and now a ghost? What’s next?”
Dracula nodded. “Life has become more interesting than I would have thought possible. So Zacharia, how’s life treating you? Or should I say death?”
Jenny shook her head. “He just gave you the finger.”
Allison suddenly had a peculiar look on her face. “Dracula, you don’t suppose he watches us at night, do you?”
“I have no idea. Perhaps he’s using us for entertainment purposes.”
Jenny got on the floor with the cat. It morphed into a lioness, and they started to wrestle.
“Oh, good lord.”