BXBX NOVEL Chapter 22 - Pay Back
Laura stopped eating and looked at her father. "It\'s about time we will honor the deal, Father. No matter how I analyzed the situation, it all boils to one thing...you made a deal with those vampires a long time ago. This is the price we have to pay for resurrecting me from death. Let\'s face it...we owe those vampires a lot. First, for my life... then second... they give you gold nuggets that help improve our lives tremendously. We should just pay them back what we owe them...we can\'t keep running away from them and put our lives in danger..."
Simon and Rosa stared at each other for a few minutes trying to digest Laura\'s reasoning.
"Alright... since you already decided for yourself, we respect your decision," Simon finally said.
Rosa\'s eyes widened. "Husband, you can\'t just give away our daughter that way!" she protested.
Laura sighed. "Mother, I\'m going to marry the vampire son. They are not going to kill me or make a slave out of me. There\'s nothing to worry about. Let me deal with vampires peacefully. It\'s only by agreeing to what they want...we can make sure our lives are safe. There\'s no other way, Mom," she insisted on her logic. She finally concluded the issue that has been bothering their minds since the vampires start appearing in their lives.
Simon addressed his wife. "Wife, let\'s respect our daughter\'s decision," he said.
Rosa sighed deeply, clearly not agreeing to her daughter and her husband\'s decision regarding the pressing issue that their family was currently facing. She will try to talk to her daughter in her bedroom later, after dinner.
"Let\'s continue eating..." Simon said.
They resumed eating in silence, no one dared to talk about the pressing issue again.
After finishing dinner, the family retired to their bedroom.
Laura continues on her last-minute preparation in her room. She paused for a minute and looked at the window. She remembered Luke all of a sudden. Her countenance turned sad. She missed him already....she sighed... tears welled in her eyes...she wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. She resumed her packing, she\'s almost done.
Tomorrow, her life will be changed forever.
A few minutes later, she was done packing. She lies in bed and buries her head on the pillow, feeling depressed. Although she already made the final decision and her father finally approves of it, she can\'t help but agonize over it. She\'s terrified of meeting her vampire husband! She has no idea how he will look like. Now that she has agreed to go with the vampires, she might not be able to visit her family for a long time.
These depressing thoughts troubled her a lot.
~
Meanwhile, in the couple\'s bedroom.
Rosa walked towards the door, she\'s going to put some sense in her daughter\'s head. If she can convince Laura, they will start their journey towards South Pond Town tomorrow morning.
Simon looked at his wife heading to the door. While it\'s hard for him to accept his daughter\'s decision but he understood why Laura has to do it. He knows too well that Laura is not willing to marry the vampire\'s son but she must insist on it so that there will be no bloodshed happening tomorrow.
He was sure that was the only reason her daughter has for marrying the vampire. "Where do you think you\'re going, wife?" he asked her before she can reach the door.
"I\'m going to Laura\'s room, I will try to convince her to change her mind..." she replied adamantly. Laura\'s decision doesn\'t sit well with her. It doesn\'t help that her husband finally agreed with her daughter\'s stupid decision, it\'s making her feel depressed and agitated. She had a hard time accepting the fact that her daughter will marry a vampire and going to be taken to a faraway place. And she had no idea where they will take her. Being a mother, she can\'t allow that to happen!
Simon sighed heavily. "We already agreed to honor your daughter\'s wishes. Let Laura decide for herself, after all, it\'s her life to live," he firmly said.
Rosa turned around and looked at her husband with pain in her eyes. "H-how can we just give up on our daughter like that?" she said, her eyes watered.
Simon sighed and went to his wife\'s side. "Wife, let it be. Let Laura decide for herself. She already made a decision. Forcing her against her will doesn\'t work anymore..."
Tears shimmered in Rosa\'s eyes. She went to the bed and slumped on it. "What can we do now?" she asked in a dispirited voice.
"Nothing...let\'s just wait for the vampires tomorrow...and see how things will unfold. Since Laura is willing to go with them... I think the vampires won\'t create trouble anymore. Tomorrow, they will finally return Sofia to us," he said confidently.
"We\'re going to lose our real daughter but regain the adopted one?" she said in a mocking voice. "Why can\'t we just offer Sofia to the vampires so that they will leave Laura alone?" she suggested. Although she loves Sofia as her child, she loves Laura the more because she is her flesh and blood.
Simon was shaking his head. "Wife, you seemed to forget that the baby they resurrected a long time ago was Laura, not the adopted daughter that we had. They want our real daughter specifically! They come for Laura, not for Sofia!" he emphasized his words so that his wife can understand that they can no longer avoid the deal they had made with the vampires a long time ago.
Rosa released a deep sigh and lies in bed, finally resigning her daughter\'s fate to her destiny.
~
Back in Laura\'s room.
She was hugging the clothes that Luke had given her. In her mind, she was wondering... what\'s he\'s doing right now? She wanted to go back to his side because she was yearning for his touch, longing for his wonderful presence that could make her feel happy and complete.
Sadly, their short intimate relationship no matter how sweet and romantic it was not meant to be.
Hours went by...
Laura finally drifted into a deep slumber.
She forgot to close the window.
Unknown to her... a dark shadow entered the room undetected through the window.