Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
She could feel the vigor coming back as it absorbed into her system. She felt sharper and more alert as she walked over to the sink to rinse the plastic container, then drop it into her purse, so she could bring it with her to the butcher’s shop where she bought her blood.
Sure, she could sometimes find some donated human blood to drink. But it was hard to come by and far too expensive for her budget. These days, she saved that for special occasions.
And learning she was about to lose her rightful fortune was certainly not a cause for celebration.
Pandora let out another long-suffering sigh before making her way up the servants’ stairs at the back.
There was no use staying awake now. Her parents had likely been in their coffins for the past hour. Better she drag herself to her bed and get some sleep herself before confronting them again.
The second-floor hallways were narrow and labyrinthine, and the air was colder there, the silence thicker. The only sound to be heard was the creak of the floorboards as Pandora walked.
Everyone, even the house itself, seemed to be asleep.
Pandora passed endless doors. More bedrooms than they could ever use. Not even when the extended family came to visit.
But all of them felt cold and lifeless to her.
By contrast, she swore she could feel the pulse of her own room from several feet away. A small hint of life within the mausoleum they called a home.
She eagerly moved into her room, taking a figurative breath of fresh air.
There was brightness there.
She’d invested some of her salary after she’d started at the coffee shop on a specially-made film to cover her windows, so she could walk safely around her room in the daylight without concerns of getting burned or outright combusting from the unyielding sun.
There were no heavy drapes in here. Just thin sheers that allowed her collection of plants to get the light they needed to thrive, taking over nearly an entire wall of the room. More life. More things her parents didn’t understand.
Her room actually had a bed, instead of a coffin. And what a bed it was. A colossal king-sized bed was centered in the space, with a golden four-poster frame featuring a canopy with drapery. But not in the somber shades of black, grey, and red that her family adored. Instead, it was all light, happy yellows and pinks, purples and blues.
“Oh, hello, Vlad,” Pandora said when she heard the flutter of wings, making her turn to see her family’s undead raven perched on the bed’s canopy. “What are you doing in here?” She moved over to offer him her hand, waiting for him to step up before bringing him down.
He was a gorgeous bird, his feathers so black they seemed to drink up the surrounding light. As she shifted him around, he shimmered with hidden depths – iridescent swirls of purple and blue rippled across the surface of his feathers like oil spreading across water.
But the effect was fleeting, disappearing as soon as it appeared, leaving only shadow behind.
“How was your night?” she asked, reaching up to rub his head, loving the way he always leaned into the touch and let out little gurgling sounds.
“Got called emo by a bunch of stupid pigeons,” Vlad said, making a snort escape Pandora.
“They’re just moody because everyone calls them flying rats.” She set him on the ornate brass perch her uncle claimed had once belonged to a king. But seeing as that same uncle also claimed to be in possession of several tomes from the actual Library of Alexandria before it had burned, she was dubious.
“Then I sat on a headstone and stared ominously at the groundskeeper for an hour or so. When he was good and spooked, I cawed at him. He dropped his rake and ran. It was a real highlight.”
“You’ve been busy,” Pandora said as she stepped inside her ensuite bathroom, closing the door so she could strip out of her work uniform and slip into a pair of pyjamas featuring festive jack-o’-lanterns.
“Saw a magpie stealing a ring off of a table,” Vlad continued chatting as she made her way back out of the bathroom. “Considered starting a side hustle.”
“What do you need a side hustle for?” Pandora asked as she climbed into her bed, sighing as the mattress curved around her frame. Who would choose a coffin over this luxury? “Mum spoils you rotten.”
“For you,” Vlad said, picking at the nuts in the food bowl at the end of his perch. “Since you’re going to be disinherited.”
“Gee, thanks for the reminder, Vlad,” Pandora grumbled before breaking off into a big yawn.
“Someone has to help you pay for all those hideous pyjamas.” Vlad started to preen his feathers.
Pandora pulled the covers up over her body, then rolled onto her side to hug her squishy pillow in the shape of a capybara.