In the early morning, the Grand House was busy. A long wooden table was placed in the backyard. Alice shuttled between the courtyard and the kitchen. In addition to Benjamin, Matthew and Old Hank, there were seven or eight strange men sitting at the table enjoying the free breakfast. Not a stranger, but a nearby farmer, or a relatively distant neighbor. Accepting employment from the Grand House can usually earn you a day's bread.
Zach was not in Grande, but in the church to the west, watching several nuns cleaning the church, holding a list in their hands, checking the list of furnishings that had been delivered.
"Then we wait for Benjamin to deliver the coffin?" Louise asked, standing behind Zach.
Zach nodded, "Yeah." The vampire looked at the woman behind him. Louise looked at the church with a hint of curiosity on her face, "Have you never been to a church?"
Louise glanced at Zach and shook her head, "No, I just rarely see churches with the theme of 'The Atonement of the Son'. I grew up in a correctional institution, and I am very familiar with the Gospel Hall."
Something flickered in Zach's light green eyes as he watched Louise perform a standard blessing ceremony to several cleaning nuns, lowering her head and making the sign of the cross on her forehead and chest. The nuns smiled, stopped what they were doing, and returned the favor. This is a ritual of praying for each other and blessing each other. Of course, it has no practical effect.
"This reminds me." The look in Zach's eyes retracted, he put his arm around Louise's shoulders, and there was a smile in the corner of his eyes, "We have never talked about our past life. If you want to find someone to talk to, I am a very good person." listener."
This week, Louise has been cold to everyone, and today she suddenly asked to help Grande with his work. Zach was a little surprised, but obviously he couldn't let Louise do the hard work that Benjamin and the others were doing, so he asked Louise to follow him.
The vampire takes this as a sign that the cold period has passed. Now Louise suddenly brings up her past. This is an opportunity to enhance the relationship. How could the vampire let it flow away
Louise was pulled by Zach, and her blue eyes under her eyelashes looked at the vampire. After a brief dazzle, she also curved the corners of her eyes, and her cheeks bulged slightly because of the raised corners of her mouth, like a ripe apple.
"You're not." Louise pushed Zach away and smiled, "Jin is."
Zach thought of Jin's always-on-his-face expression and smiled, "You're right. Wouldn't you rather chat with him?"
Louise stretched out a finger and waved it in the air, her red lips pursed slightly, her eyes seemed a little wandering, "It's not called chatting with him, it's called talking to oneself on the wood."
Zach's raised corners of his mouth slowly retracted, and his eyes wandered to nowhere. After thinking for a while, when his eyes returned to Louise again, he found that Louise's smile had also disappeared, and she was looking at him quietly.
"We can chat, I can tell you everything, as long as I still remember." Zach looked at Louise without any extra expression on his face.
Louise's eyelashes trembled, her slender eyebrows were slightly raised at the end, and her slight emotional ups and downs were caught by the vampire. But immediately, Louise's eyes left Zach, with a hint of a woman's unique complaining tone, "This is too cunning. If I ask 'How many other women were there before me', you can just answer that you have forgotten." I can get through it with you."
Zach thought about the true meaning of Louise's words, whether it was the 'past' brought about by the huge age gap between vampires and humans, or what 'woman' refers to, or what 'forgetting' really means Meaning, Zach didn't even want to touch it.
Louise looked at Zach again, with a hint of comfort in her eyes, "I won't ask, and you don't have to answer. It doesn't matter."
Zach raised his eyes and looked at Louise. He seemed to understand something about his recent relationship with her and why Louise suddenly asked for a job. With a hint of complicated emotions, he reached out to Louise.
Louise pulled, breathed slightly, and changed the topic, "When will the funeral start?"
"Nine." Zach adjusted his breathing to increase the temperature of the hand holding Louise. "The ceremony will take about an hour, and then there will be free time. After the guests have dispersed, the burial ceremony will be carried out."
"Oh." Louise nodded, looking at the person being delivered and the flowers and incense placed on the wall. These are things that can only be arranged after the coffin is delivered. The nuns checked all the facilities one last time, headed towards the two of them, and retreated towards the church.
Louise took the checklist from Zach, and at Zach's signal, she settled the items with the delivery person. Zach walked out of the church and looked at the hearse coming from the east. Benjamin, who was impossible to see with normal human vision, waved his hand behind the car window.
After a while, Zach and Benjamin stood behind the church, in the backyard connected to the clergy's accommodation. The hearse was parked here. Matthew and several hired farmers carried the coffin behind the hearse and walked towards the church.
Matthew looked at his two bosses, searching.
"Louis is inside." Zach waved his hand, Matthew nodded, and carried the coffin into the church.
Benjamin glanced at Zach and said teasingly, "Louis what?"
At dawn today, Louise went to work with Zach without any warning, which really surprised everyone.
Zach gave Benjamin a resentful look, "Everyone can see the joke, but you can't."
"Why?" Benjamin frowned in confusion.
"Because you gave Matthew a job." Zach sighed and continued to use a 'gloomy' tone.
Benjamin scratched his neck hidden under his beard, "What does it matter? Does she need money? You can just give it to her."
Zach glanced at Benjamin who was watching the show, "Why don't you just give Matthew money to keep him by your side?"
Benjamin stretched his arms to avoid his weakness, "She is too sensitive. If Ian is here, he doesn't have to work."
The vampire's spirit weakened, "Why do you mention Ian."
The conversation between the Grande brothers is to finish off each other.
Benjamin smiled and patted Zach on the back, "I'm just giving you an example. Otherwise, do you have other 'descendants' wandering around that I don't know about?"
"No more." Zach shook his head, and the flash of emotion in his eyes was not noticed by the werewolf, "But you really made it difficult for me. Now, she is trying to find her place in the Grand House."
"She has one." Benjamin curled his lips, "Your girlfriend. What else does she want?"
Louise's foothold in Grande is just feelings. What are feelings? The relationship between humans and vampires seems to be tragic.
Benjamin was out of luck.
"That's the problem." Zach frowned, "Now she is caught in unclear boundaries. Unlike you and Matthew, she can't see her place."
"Then transform her." Benjamin was impatient as he didn't want to discuss any more about the vampire's emotional affairs.
Zach lost his voice.
It took Benjamin a while before he realized what was happening. Zach stopped moving and said, "Hey, your face looks like shit."
Zach raised his head and shook it with a painful expression, "I shouldn't give her a choice. If I propose it now, she will definitely refuse."
Benjamin saw that Zach was really worried, and no longer acted like he had nothing to do with himself. He frowned and thought seriously for a while, shook his head, and sighed, "You are right." Benjamin chuckled. Twice, "Ian is a really, really bad role model, and you are a really, really bad 'father.'"
Do you still remember when Zach explained the vampire heritage to Louise
There was no ethical conflict, loss of personality, or physical and mental pain. On the contrary, it seemed more like the beginning of an entanglement of fate.
So let's take a look at what happened to Ian and Zach, whose fates are intertwined. As Benjamin said, 'a very, very poor example'.
Louise is so smart, she looks, she waits, she thinks, she draws conclusions. This conclusion is not pretty.
"So what are you going to do?" Benjamin asked Zach.
Zach thought for a moment, stretched out his hand, and pushed forward without any goal, 'Just live like this.' This was the message Benjamin received.
"Mr. Grande." Father Constantine's voice came from behind.
The two turned their heads and saw that the priest was already wearing the ceremonial attire, a black robe, a long white collar spread directly on his chest, and light silver cross marks on both sides.
Constantine bowed his head slightly and saluted, "The inside of the church has been prepared, and the back hall has been decorated. The host of the ceremony will arrive soon. You two should go to the back hall to rest and wait."
Zach smiled and returned the greeting, followed the priest, thought for a while, and suddenly asked, "Father, has anything happened in the church recently?"
The people at Constantine and Grande House are very familiar with each other, and the two have been working together for almost ten years. At first it was just prisoners sent from prison, but in the past two months, there have been more real funerals. The two families usually chatted when they met, so Zach's question was not too sudden.
Constantine smiled, "Except for the altar yesterday?" He thought for a while, "It seems that nothing special happened."
"Oh." Zach responded with a smile, "I'm just curious. The priest must have heard about accidents in other churches."
Constantine put away his smile, crossed himself on his chest, and said, "Listen, the second floor of Mary's Church collapsed, which is the most serious. But fortunately, there were no casualties. God bless you."
Zach also made the sign of the cross, with a hint of 'sincere' sorrow, "Does the priest think it's a coincidence?"
Constantine smiled helplessly, "Besides coincidence, there is no other reason to explain it. The church is already making arrangements. It seems that our church in Barton will be renovated." Constantine said this with a trace of apology. .
Zach was stunned, smiled, and understood what the priest meant. If it had to be closed for renovations, the funeral would be postponed again.
"Has the time been set?" Zach asked.
"Not yet." Constantine, "I will let you know if I have any news."
Zach said, "Then it will be troublesome for the priest."