On the east side of Port Massa, this place has long been far away from the real port. The cruise ships in the distance are docked quietly, and the busy scene during the day is silent in the night. Even the lights of the port became dim when they came here.
As midnight approaches, the warm spring breeze will turn bitingly cold after being eroded by the dark ocean. The crashing waves hit the cement shore, and the sound was blocked and filtered by the warehouses on the shore. On Bech Street, which was still filled with neon lights, you could no longer hear anything. Under the light of the slightly imperfect full moon in the sky, only by looking carefully can one see a pale palm holding on to the edge of the embankment and swimming slowly on the gray concrete embankment.
The rolling water splashed continuously into the mouth of the man who was leaning against the embankment wall. His face was as white as white paper, swollen and without a trace of blood. He was like a corpse that had been soaked in the sea for several months. The skin on his neck, cheeks, and palms exposed to the sea was full of wrinkles, and the scratched and upturned muscles were pale and lifeless.
He coughed and spit out the seawater that poured into his mouth, and his white breath was buried in the waves. The brown head pressed against his head, as dark as the sea after being soaked in water. Not all the heads were on the mottled scalp, but strands stuck to his forehead and back of his head.
However, the strange thing is that his skin is losing its bloat and becoming tighter. The cut muscles seemed to be pulled by some force and slowly closed and healed. On the bald head, new heads were slowly growing.
When he finally swam to a slightly lower place, he was no different from a normal person, oh no, a normal port worker who fell into the sea. His work jacket was soaked with seawater and covered with unidentifiable remains of marine life. Although his face was pale, there was blood in it. He was breathing heavily, and white mist spurted out of his mouth, as if he was expelling the cold from his body.
The man raised his arms, crossed his elbows over the embankment, and lifted his body out of the sea with force. His movements were not very agile, and he struggled to move on the slightly sloping embankment wall for a long time before his back, waist, and legs managed to climb onto the shore. But his left hand is still buried in the sea, as if he is pulling something.
The man lay on the ground and gasped. He raised his left hand hard, and white water splashed out of a black plastic bag. His lips trembling because of the cold opened and closed slightly, "One, two, three!"
The black bag was pulled out of the sea. There was the sound of the plastic rubbing against the ground, the splash of the water brought out against the cold ground, and the man's breath of relief.
The man threw aside the black bag as big as a person and stood up slowly, his whole body trembling from the cold. He moved his limbs tentatively, feeling a little awkward and numb. He moved his fingers, and a smile began to appear on his trembling cheeks. He covered his face with wet palms and breathed into them, his warm breath spraying on the cold palms.
The man's eyes were shining with light. He involuntarily bent his knees, raised his still pale face, raised his hands in front of him unconsciously, and said with uncontrollable excitement from his trembling lips: "Thank you! Thank you!! "The subtle and subtle sound gradually became clearer, "I'm back! I'm back! Thank you! Papa-midnight!" (papa-midnight)
The excited man's expression suddenly froze, his excited expression turned into pain, and his hands were carelessly picking at his chest. The port worker's work jacket was pulled open by him. On the pale skin of his left chest, a circle of red-shaped marks appeared through his skin and slowly took shape.
The man's face changed from pain to fear again. He knew that he needed to 'work'. The man began to look around. As a 'former' port worker, he was no stranger to this area. This place has left the port and is a gathering place for warehouses around the port. Because it is not close to the center of the port, except for the occasional night watchman, there are not many people coming and going here. Good, this provides convenience for him.
The man endured the biting cold night wind and dragged the black bag away from the embankment. He first found a secret place, and at the warehouse management office, he stole other people's clothes and warehouse keys and put them on while others were not paying attention.
This man who had returned from death walked through warehouses and felt a strange feeling in his heart. He used to hate these things, cargo, cold machinery, cranes... now? He loves these!
9, 1o, 11, 1. The man hid his figure and looked at Warehouse No. 1 in front of him. Three men held various tools in their hands and pushed open the door of the warehouse. They threw the tools back into the trunk of an old-fashioned car, stood by the car and chatted. After a while, they got in the car and drove away.
The man waited patiently and made sure that no one would pass by again before returning to the place where the black bag was stored. The man who had regained his strength did not waste much time and carried the bag to Warehouse No. 1.
The smell of decay and musty smell filled the entire warehouse, and the man could tell immediately that this was a semi-abandoned waste storage warehouse. This was better, he didn't have to worry about anyone disturbing him.
In a corner of the warehouse, there are obvious signs of fresh paint on the cold walls. The man put down the bag on his back and began to restore the scene that was handled by the three hunters...
******
It had been half a month since the last full moon, and the marks on Benjamin's skin had completely faded. The werewolf didn't need to move around in a tight bag. As the temperature really warmed up, Benjamin had already changed into a short shirt.
As a result, Alice reluctantly took the bowl from Laura's hand. Five minutes had passed, and the egg white and egg yolk were still clearly distinguishable.
"Benjamin, you don't need to help." Alice stirred the eggs.
"It's okay, I don't have anything else to do." Benjamin answered unconsciously and continued to knead the dough on the counter. The muscles of his upper arms tightened the white cuffs under the exertion.
Now, we can see why Laura was distracted.
Zach opened the kitchen door. Naturally, he didn't want to be absent from this kind of collective activity at the Grand House.
"What can I do?" Zach said with a smile.
"Yeah." Alice looked at the kitchen, "Stir the mashed potatoes."
Head Zach was assigned the same job as Louise.
Today is not a holiday, and the food Alice prepared is not for the Grand House, but for Laura's volunteers.
For various reasons, Laura quit the cheerleading team, which had no chance to perform anyway, and spent all her afternoon class time on social practice. In other words, Laura found a part-time volunteer job. I am teaching painting to my first and second grade friends in Parker, Paising District.
This act of atonement and compensation was supported by Mrs. Barton, and of course by Alice.
The environment at Park School is not good. Its facilities and teachers are at the bottom of Barton. It has long been supported by a group of volunteers and kind-hearted teachers.
Today was not a special day, but Parker studied with a teacher named Trisha Jon. Her husband survived the accident. This was a surprise for Trisha, who had to leave her job due to economic oppression. It is also something worth celebrating for the entire academy. So a group of teachers and children who were seeking happiness from suffering thought that Teacher Cuisha should be given a celebration party.
Hence the current scene, Laura took over the task of preparing food. Between the Buttons' flashy meal and Alice's simple but delicious food, the Buttons' cook's bloatedness and Benjamin's... Well, Laura used the word 'sexy', which I decided to omit considering her age.
In short, Laura came to the Grand House with excuses, and even used Old Hank to carve fruits, but she was indulged in admiring the scenery.
"Vampire! The phone is ringing! Can't you hear it? The phone is ringing!" Great Dane Jin's ears perked up and he raised his eyelids to see that Ryan was harassing Zach and continued to lie down on the ground in boredom.
Now Jin has mastered a rule. When Laura comes, Alice will make delicious food. So as soon as Barton's car was parked outside today, Jin ran back to the kitchen and waited patiently.
Ryan kept shouting behind Zach's head, "Phone, phone!" Everyone in the Grand House pretended not to hear. Apart from harassing others, this earth-bound spirit has not shown any use so far, for example, now.
Benjamin frowned, as if he was annoyed by Ryan's noise, "Zach, the phone seems to be ringing."
The vampire turned around in surprise. The werewolf had been neglecting him recently and rarely spoke. Apart from the incident of giving away clothes, the werewolf must still be angry about something else.
"Really? Then I'll go take a look." Zach smiled at Benjamin and passed through Ryan's transparent body in a happy mood, leaving the kitchen and heading to the office.
Zach didn't want to answer the phone. The Grand House suddenly received a lot of attention more than half a month ago. After the initial surprise passed, the current vampire only felt troublesome. We know that the vampire is not really the undertaker's boss, but now, he is helplessly getting better and better at this job.
"House Grande..." Zach picked up the receiver.
"It's me! Lance!"
Zach raised his eyebrows. After Connor Herman's funeral, the vampire did not give James any more trouble. The endless punishment might have the opposite effect. So Jin, who stayed in Mrs. Coulson's kitchen every day, was recalled, and James' identity was returned.
Since then, James once again had to worry about changing his image, and he had to digest the complicated emotions in his heart, so he didn't contact Grande for a while.
"Long time no see." Zach said with a smile on his face, "Can I help you? Detective Lance."
"Don't you read the newspaper! Strange things are happening in Barton City!" The voice on the other side of the receiver was obviously a little excited. Forgive James, he has not yet gotten out of the psychological shadow that vampires have given him. Right and wrong are here. The son of a general who received a strict education had a vague mind.
"Calm down, James." Zach curled his lips: "This is a city, strange things happen every day."
"No! It's not normal weirdness, but weird weirdness!!"
James was devastated.
"Are you weird for wanting to have a relationship with us 'monsters'?" Zach smiled even harder and deliberately used words to stimulate James. This seemed to have become a vampire habit.
The sound of deep breathing came from the other side of the receiver, and James said in a calm tone: "You know what I mean."
Zach tilted his head: "I know." Zach stopped teasing James, "You must be in a 'suicide incident'. I don't think this is anything noteworthy."
Of course Zach had read the newspaper and was aware of the recent suicide incident that suddenly aroused discussion, but in Zach's opinion, this was just normal social news.
"No, Zach! In the report, some things were omitted!" James on the other side of the receiver seemed to be excited again: "I saw the autopsy report. Every suicide was engraved on the heart. ''shaped mark!"
Zach frowned, "What kind?"
"That's it! Slanted cross, can't you read?"
After all, James still couldn't face the vampire calmly, even on the phone.