“Clang, clang, clang…”
After hearing the clock bell rang ten times, Zach raised his head and moved his sore neck.
I once asked Mr. Vampire, would the vampire really feel sore? Zach replied like this, “Of course! When the blood flow is not smooth, we will feel sore and numb just like you humans do.”
Zach picked up the wine glass near his hand and finished it in one breath. This was how he solved the problem of unsmooth blood flow – increasing the blood flow.
An old man with a humped back pushed open the door of the office, and said loudly like a big bell rang, “little Zach! There are people outside!”
This old man’s name was Hank. He was a coffin-maker of the [Grande Funeral Home] and a close friend of the old Grande, who passed away. So, in a way, he was also Zach’s father.
Zach was a little surprised that there would be someone here in the Southern District. He got up and adjusted his clothes, “Thank you, Father Hank.”
“They are not good people!” Old Hank glared angrily and said loudly that everyone in the reception room could hear, “They don’t like my coffins!”
Zach smiled and patted Hank’s back. Hank was a man with an eccentric character. He was straightforward regardless of occasions. But Zach liked him very much, because of his existence, the funeral home in the Southern District lost a lot of business, which gave the three non-humans here more freedom.
“Father Hank, would you mind helping Louise clean the room on the second floor?” Zach helped the old man to walk into the office, opened the back door, and watched the old man walk upstairs.
“Huh!” Hank looked very annoyed, “Woman! Pretty Woman! What kind of help does she need from an old man like me!”
Zach smiled, closed the door to block Hank’s complaint, and turned to meet the guests that had already been waiting for a while.
After the property became privately owned, Zach had to find a way to run this poorly performed funeral home, perhaps he needed to ask Hank to move around on the first floor less often.
The two rows of sofas in the reception room were already full of people. They were mostly elderly people, with grief on their faces. A row of sturdy men in black suits standing behind the sofa should be bodyguards. Everyone’s eyes were looking in the direction of an elderly woman next to the sofa. Her body curled up in a wheelchair, and behind her a young woman in a nursing dress was holding the wheelchair.
After Zach glanced around, he knew that he should invite the real customer into the office. He nodded to the elderly woman in the wheelchair and invited her to come in, “please don’t keep old Hank’s words in mind, he treats his work like his child.”
The elderly lady had no expression. She simply nodded, and the caregiver behind her pushed the wheelchair to the office. At the same time, a young man on the sofa stood up. His expression was a little gloomy. After he adjusted his clothes, he walked to the side of the wheelchair.
The old people on the sofa glanced at each. The vampire could see the trace of disgust in their eyes.
Because there was no business for a long time, there was no food or drink prepared in the reception room, Zach leaned slightly towards and gave an apologetic bow to the people on the sofa, “food will be served soon, I’m sorry to keep everyone waiting.”
The old people nodded and did not say much. Judging from their dresses, these were the influential people of Barton City. But Zach did not understand why they came to the remote Southern District.
Zach closed the door of the office, pressed the bell that told Alice to prepare food, and sat back at the desk.
“Huh! It is still morning, but you already started to drink wine!” The eyes of the young man next to the wheelchair landed on the wine glass that still had a trace of red liquid in it, on Zach’s desk, “Grandma, I don’t understand why we have to come here!”
Zach would not explain that this was not wine, but his food. Zach’s eyes were on the elderly woman in the wheelchair. When his grandson was talking, the woman’s fingers were clenched, her dry and wrinkled skin was stretched by the bones, and a flash of hatred appeared on her face for a moment, but it was immediately covered with wrinkles all over the face.
“We can go to [Ford Funeral Home], which is closer to the city and much more convenient! Why did we have to come all the way here early in the morning? The smell of rotten smell and cow dung is everywhere here! It has already ruined my interest in lunch…”
While the young man was chattering non-stop, the young caregiver at the back of the wheelchair had lowered her head and bit her lip. Her hand was gently resting on the elderly woman’s shoulder as if she was trying to comfort the elderly woman. The elderly woman’s fists had started to tremble, wrinkled skin where the joints were already turned white, and the blood vessels became even more visible all over the back of the hand. It was just that her fists were covered by the blanket, and the young man could not see it.
“Sir!” Zach said suddenly, stopping the young man. He pointed to a nameplate on his desk, “as you can see, I am Zachary Grande, the owner here. Before we can talk about the business, can you introduce yourself first?”
The young man dazed and shut up.
Yes, Zach was reminding him that the owner of the Grande House wanted to talk to the main person, that was, the real customer, rather than him, a mannerless person who just accompanied her here.
The elderly woman’s half-covered eyelids slowly lifted up and looked at Zach, still expressionless, but the caregiver behind her showed a grateful smile.
“This is Mrs. Blair Quinn.” The caregiver’s hand pointed to the elderly woman in the wheelchair and then pointed to the young man next to her, “This is Mrs. Quinn’s grandson, Pooky Quinn.”
2
Zach’s face revealed a surprised expression but quickly disappeared. His light green eyes looked at Mrs. Quinn, “I am really sorry. Is it because of Mr. Quinn?”
Mr. Quinn and his wife were famous philanthropists in Barton City. During the war ten years ago, they financed many families torn apart by war, built orphanages, and provided homes for children who had lost their parents. After the war, they continued their good deeds and helped the homeless former soldiers and many orphans. Now the three orphanages in Barton City were named after this couple.
And at the New Year, news came out that the healthy Quinn couple was suddenly sick. The whole upper, lower, and middle-class society of Barton City was praying for this kind couple. Now that the only person that was not here was Mr. Quinn, Zach made a speculation that why those people were sad.
Mrs. Quinn’s lowered her eyelids again. The caregiver behind her nodded with her mouth closed. A flash of a smile appeared at the corner of Pooky’s lips.
Perhaps, no one would be able to notice this little movement, but Zach was not no one.
“Seven years ago, we reserved a cemetery in the Western Cemetery of Grande Funeral Home, but a few days ago, we received news that the Western Cemetery was about to be taken back by the city government, so…”
Zach suddenly interrupted the caregiver, and there was a glimmer of hope in the vampire’s eyes, and he stood up excitedly, “So Mr. Quinn is still okay now?! ”
The hope in Zach’s eyes was not hypocritical. Because what they did deserve respect from all races.
Zach’s behavior once again caused different reactions from the three people opposite him. The young caregiver opened her mouth and looked down, and the faint mist had filled her clear eyes. Mrs. Quinn’s eyelids were raised again, and her turbid eyes were fixed on Zach’s light green eyes. And Pooky, the disgust on Pooky’s face no longer could no longer be hidden.
Zach shook his head and slowly sat back in his seat.
The young female caregiver adjusted her emotions and continued, “Mrs. Quinn followed the last wishes of her husband and hoped for a traditional funeral. So we came here. According to Mrs. Quinn’s wishes, she still hopes that there is still room for two people to be buried together.”
Zach sighed, nodded, opened the information of the Western Cemetery, and began to find Mrs. Quinn’s previous reservation. A moment later, Zach found the deposit slip: The marble tombstone, the Gabriel statue, and the Phoebe zhennan coffin…
Old Hank was very particular about the making of coffins, even the cemetery in the Western District also used his work, Zach was not worried about the coffin. But the tombstone and the statue, Zach felt that this was slightly difficult.
There were two main clients of Grande Funeral House’s southern district cemetery. They were hospitals and prisons. Therefore, most of the people buried here were criminals and nameless people, and there were almost no requirements for coffins and tombstones, so Zach was not prepared.
As for the funeral of nearby citizens, he just needed some mountain stones and then asked Benjamin to carve it. In recent years, after the cremation trend appeared, more people have gone to the [Alan Funeral Home], which was also in the Southern District for cremation. After all, the cost of cremation and urns was much cheaper than the hand-made coffins.
Zach held the previous order receipt and frowned. He handed the order receipt to the female caregiver and said, “We have space, and the coffin, I believe that the craftsmanship of Old Hank will not disappoint Mrs. Quinn, but the statue…
“We can wait.” A dry, hoarse voice came from Mrs. Quinn’s throat. This was the first time she opened her mouth. “I promised him that I will give him a traditional funeral. We can wait!”
“Grandmother!” Pooky turned to the woman in the wheelchair and said, “It will cost a lot of money to preserve the body! And we don’t even know how long we have to wait!”
Zach’s eyebrows frowned and looked at the elderly lady, whose body was shivering, “may I ask, when did Mr. Quinn die?”
“This morning, 8:20.” The female caregiver answered Zach’s question under the approval of Mrs. Quinn.
The vampire nodded, his eyes followed with the blood vessels under Mrs. Quinn’s skin, and took a deep breath. He was feeling a faint smell of strangeness. Why did he do this? Because the vampire was a very sensitive creature, he could feel that Mrs. Quinn’s life was disappearing quickly.
You have to know that I was always curious about the behavior of vampires, so I once asked Mr. Zach carefully, “Dear vampire, why can you feel the vitality of a person?” Do you have the ability to predict death just like Alice?”
The vampire replied like this, “I don’t have that unfortunate ability. I am just sensitive to the smell of blood. Do you know what the correct way to kill a vampire is?”
I opened my notes and began to repeat, “Beheading, burning, wooden stake, silverware penetrating the heart, werewolf bite…”
The vampire snatched my notebook and looked at it with interest, “You actually recorded those things?”
I tried to make my smile look cute and harmless.
But the vampire didn’t care that I recorded his weakness. He picked up the pen and added a note to my note.
I leaned over to see, ‘Blood of The Deceased’.
2
Oh, just like a person could be poisoned by eating spoiled food, the expired blood was poisonous to vampires.
And now, the vampire scented the smells of poison and medicine from Mrs. Quinn.
“Clang, clang, clang…”
After hearing the clock bell rang ten times, Zach raised his head and moved his sore neck.
I once asked Mr. Vampire, would the vampire really feel sore? Zach replied like this, “Of course! When the blood flow is not smooth, we will feel sore and numb just like you humans do.”
Zach picked up the wine glass near his hand and finished it in one breath. This was how he solved the problem of unsmooth blood flow – increasing the blood flow.
An old man with a humped back pushed open the door of the office, and said loudly like a big bell rang, “little Zach! There are people outside!”
This old man’s name was Hank. He was a coffin-maker of the [Grande Funeral Home] and a close friend of the old Grande, who passed away. So, in a way, he was also Zach’s father.
Zach was a little surprised that there would be someone here in the Southern District. He got up and adjusted his clothes, “Thank you, Father Hank.”
“They are not good people!” Old Hank glared angrily and said loudly that everyone in the reception room could hear, “They don’t like my coffins!”
Zach smiled and patted Hank’s back. Hank was a man with an eccentric character. He was straightforward regardless of occasions. But Zach liked him very much, because of his existence, the funeral home in the Southern District lost a lot of business, which gave the three non-humans here more freedom.
“Father Hank, would you mind helping Louise clean the room on the second floor?” Zach helped the old man to walk into the office, opened the back door, and watched the old man walk upstairs.
“Huh!” Hank looked very annoyed, “Woman! Pretty Woman! What kind of help does she need from an old man like me!”
Zach smiled, closed the door to block Hank’s complaint, and turned to meet the guests that had already been waiting for a while.
After the property became privately owned, Zach had to find a way to run this poorly performed funeral home, perhaps he needed to ask Hank to move around on the first floor less often.
The two rows of sofas in the reception room were already full of people. They were mostly elderly people, with grief on their faces. A row of sturdy men in black suits standing behind the sofa should be bodyguards. Everyone’s eyes were looking in the direction of an elderly woman next to the sofa. Her body curled up in a wheelchair, and behind her a young woman in a nursing dress was holding the wheelchair.
After Zach glanced around, he knew that he should invite the real customer into the office. He nodded to the elderly woman in the wheelchair and invited her to come in, “please don’t keep old Hank’s words in mind, he treats his work like his child.”
The elderly lady had no expression. She simply nodded, and the caregiver behind her pushed the wheelchair to the office. At the same time, a young man on the sofa stood up. His expression was a little gloomy. After he adjusted his clothes, he walked to the side of the wheelchair.
The old people on the sofa glanced at each. The vampire could see the trace of disgust in their eyes.
Because there was no business for a long time, there was no food or drink prepared in the reception room, Zach leaned slightly towards and gave an apologetic bow to the people on the sofa, “food will be served soon, I’m sorry to keep everyone waiting.”
The old people nodded and did not say much. Judging from their dresses, these were the influential people of Barton City. But Zach did not understand why they came to the remote Southern District.
Zach closed the door of the office, pressed the bell that told Alice to prepare food, and sat back at the desk.
“Huh! It is still morning, but you already started to drink wine!” The eyes of the young man next to the wheelchair landed on the wine glass that still had a trace of red liquid in it, on Zach’s desk, “Grandma, I don’t understand why we have to come here!”
Zach would not explain that this was not wine, but his food. Zach’s eyes were on the elderly woman in the wheelchair. When his grandson was talking, the woman’s fingers were clenched, her dry and wrinkled skin was stretched by the bones, and a flash of hatred appeared on her face for a moment, but it was immediately covered with wrinkles all over the face.
“We can go to [Ford Funeral Home], which is closer to the city and much more convenient! Why did we have to come all the way here early in the morning? The smell of rotten smell and cow dung is everywhere here! It has already ruined my interest in lunch…”
While the young man was chattering non-stop, the young caregiver at the back of the wheelchair had lowered her head and bit her lip. Her hand was gently resting on the elderly woman’s shoulder as if she was trying to comfort the elderly woman. The elderly woman’s fists had started to tremble, wrinkled skin where the joints were already turned white, and the blood vessels became even more visible all over the back of the hand. It was just that her fists were covered by the blanket, and the young man could not see it.
“Sir!” Zach said suddenly, stopping the young man. He pointed to a nameplate on his desk, “as you can see, I am Zachary Grande, the owner here. Before we can talk about the business, can you introduce yourself first?”
The young man dazed and shut up.
Yes, Zach was reminding him that the owner of the Grande House wanted to talk to the main person, that was, the real customer, rather than him, a mannerless person who just accompanied her here.
The elderly woman’s half-covered eyelids slowly lifted up and looked at Zach, still expressionless, but the caregiver behind her showed a grateful smile.
“This is Mrs. Blair Quinn.” The caregiver’s hand pointed to the elderly woman in the wheelchair and then pointed to the young man next to her, “This is Mrs. Quinn’s grandson, Pooky Quinn.”
2
Zach’s face revealed a surprised expression but quickly disappeared. His light green eyes looked at Mrs. Quinn, “I am really sorry. Is it because of Mr. Quinn?”
Mr. Quinn and his wife were famous philanthropists in Barton City. During the war ten years ago, they financed many families torn apart by war, built orphanages, and provided homes for children who had lost their parents. After the war, they continued their good deeds and helped the homeless former soldiers and many orphans. Now the three orphanages in Barton City were named after this couple.
And at the New Year, news came out that the healthy Quinn couple was suddenly sick. The whole upper, lower, and middle-class society of Barton City was praying for this kind couple. Now that the only person that was not here was Mr. Quinn, Zach made a speculation that why those people were sad.
Mrs. Quinn’s lowered her eyelids again. The caregiver behind her nodded with her mouth closed. A flash of a smile appeared at the corner of Pooky’s lips.
Perhaps, no one would be able to notice this little movement, but Zach was not no one.
“Seven years ago, we reserved a cemetery in the Western Cemetery of Grande Funeral Home, but a few days ago, we received news that the Western Cemetery was about to be taken back by the city government, so…”
Zach suddenly interrupted the caregiver, and there was a glimmer of hope in the vampire’s eyes, and he stood up excitedly, “So Mr. Quinn is still okay now?! ”
The hope in Zach’s eyes was not hypocritical. Because what they did deserve respect from all races.
Zach’s behavior once again caused different reactions from the three people opposite him. The young caregiver opened her mouth and looked down, and the faint mist had filled her clear eyes. Mrs. Quinn’s eyelids were raised again, and her turbid eyes were fixed on Zach’s light green eyes. And Pooky, the disgust on Pooky’s face no longer could no longer be hidden.
Zach shook his head and slowly sat back in his seat.
The young female caregiver adjusted her emotions and continued, “Mrs. Quinn followed the last wishes of her husband and hoped for a traditional funeral. So we came here. According to Mrs. Quinn’s wishes, she still hopes that there is still room for two people to be buried together.”
Zach sighed, nodded, opened the information of the Western Cemetery, and began to find Mrs. Quinn’s previous reservation. A moment later, Zach found the deposit slip: The marble tombstone, the Gabriel statue, and the Phoebe zhennan coffin…
Old Hank was very particular about the making of coffins, even the cemetery in the Western District also used his work, Zach was not worried about the coffin. But the tombstone and the statue, Zach felt that this was slightly difficult.
There were two main clients of Grande Funeral House’s southern district cemetery. They were hospitals and prisons. Therefore, most of the people buried here were criminals and nameless people, and there were almost no requirements for coffins and tombstones, so Zach was not prepared.
As for the funeral of nearby citizens, he just needed some mountain stones and then asked Benjamin to carve it. In recent years, after the cremation trend appeared, more people have gone to the [Alan Funeral Home], which was also in the Southern District for cremation. After all, the cost of cremation and urns was much cheaper than the hand-made coffins.
Zach held the previous order receipt and frowned. He handed the order receipt to the female caregiver and said, “We have space, and the coffin, I believe that the craftsmanship of Old Hank will not disappoint Mrs. Quinn, but the statue…
“We can wait.” A dry, hoarse voice came from Mrs. Quinn’s throat. This was the first time she opened her mouth. “I promised him that I will give him a traditional funeral. We can wait!”
“Grandmother!” Pooky turned to the woman in the wheelchair and said, “It will cost a lot of money to preserve the body! And we don’t even know how long we have to wait!”
Zach’s eyebrows frowned and looked at the elderly lady, whose body was shivering, “may I ask, when did Mr. Quinn die?”
“This morning, 8:20.” The female caregiver answered Zach’s question under the approval of Mrs. Quinn.
The vampire nodded, his eyes followed with the blood vessels under Mrs. Quinn’s skin, and took a deep breath. He was feeling a faint smell of strangeness. Why did he do this? Because the vampire was a very sensitive creature, he could feel that Mrs. Quinn’s life was disappearing quickly.
You have to know that I was always curious about the behavior of vampires, so I once asked Mr. Zach carefully, “Dear vampire, why can you feel the vitality of a person?” Do you have the ability to predict death just like Alice?”
The vampire replied like this, “I don’t have that unfortunate ability. I am just sensitive to the smell of blood. Do you know what the correct way to kill a vampire is?”
I opened my notes and began to repeat, “Beheading, burning, wooden stake, silverware penetrating the heart, werewolf bite…”
The vampire snatched my notebook and looked at it with interest, “You actually recorded those things?”
I tried to make my smile look cute and harmless.
But the vampire didn’t care that I recorded his weakness. He picked up the pen and added a note to my note.
I leaned over to see, ‘Blood of The Deceased’.
2
Oh, just like a person could be poisoned by eating spoiled food, the expired blood was poisonous to vampires.
And now, the vampire scented the smells of poison and medicine from Mrs. Quinn.
