NIGHTS OF HALLOW

Mr. Humphrey pointed at Theodore and Donovan who stood beside him and answered, ”These gentlemen came from the church, and they are looking for Mrs. Perkin for a few questions.”

”M...Mrs. Perkin? Church members? Questions?” Rosie, Mrs. William, and Mrs. Castor who were among the women simultaneously answered Mr. Humphrey’s question.

”Yes, they have some questions for her. Have you seen her today? Where is she? We went to her house but didn’t find her, that’s why we came here.” Mr. Humphrey replied still waiting for them to tell him where Mrs. Perkin was.

The women glanced at each other in surprise and also confusion. Mrs. William spoke up this time. She asked Mr. Humphrey, ”Head warden, are you not aware?”

”Aware of what?” Mr. Humphrey questioned back in confusion.

Again the women looked at each other, then at Mr. Humphrey and the churchmen who came with him. Rosie answered, ”Are you not aware of Mrs. Perkin’s dismiss?”

”What dismiss?” Asked Theodore who looked impatient with the bits and pieces of information the women were giving.

Rosie and the women turned in the direction of the voice that questioned them. Seeing the bloodred eye of Theodore had them instinctively take a step back in fear.

”A...ahm... Mrs. Perkin has not been in t...the village for three days now.” Rosie stuttered to answer fearing she would be asked what happened to the woman.

”What?!” It was the head warden, Mr. Humphrey that exclaimed in shock this time. He stared at the faces of the women in disbelief. He queried in a hard voice, ”Is this another of your false news, Mrs. Williams and Rosie? I can remember the last time you gave your news, it ended with me wrongly arresting Mrs. Perkin.”

Rosie immediately turned alarmed with her eyes widening in the process. She quickly waved her hand in denial of the accusations, ”Please, head warden. You have to believe me, you have to believe us. We are saying the truth.”

”You can also ask around too, head warden.” Mrs. Castor quickly concurred with Rosie. If the head warden and the church members didn’t believe what they said and any problem should arise because of it, they knew it will be the three of them that would take all the blame.

Mrs. Williams vigorously nodded her head in support of what her fellow village women said. She added, ”Head warden, I can swear on my children’s heads that Mrs. Perkin is not in the village anymore. The villagers can testify to this,” As Mrs. Williams spoke, she looked around trying to find someone who will be their witness, and her eyes landed on Perdita whose face twisted in worry.

”Perdita dear!” Mrs. Williams cried and pointed at her. She said to the head warden and the church members, ”Ask her, ask the lady, she will tell you the same thing. Everybody in the village will tell you the same thing.”

Perdita’s eyes darted around the place as she felt she was put in a dangerous spot. What was she going to say? That yes, Mrs. Perkin is not in the village or that, No, Mrs. Perkin is in the village and in my house? How can she give out a piece of information that would surely implicate her? What if the church members decided to search everywhere and then found the woman in her house? What will she then tell them? Several questions swirled in the head of Perdita as her thoughts got the best of her.

The eyes of Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Castor, and Rosie were pleadingly looking at Perdita as they waited for her to give the church members and the head warden confirmation of what they said.

Slowly and consciously, Perdita opened her sealed lips to speak. She wetted her lips and took a deep breath before saying, ”What they are saying is true, head warden. Mrs. Perkin is truly missing.”

”What?!” Mr. Humphrey exclaimed for the third time now staring at Perdita who he remembered to be the woman who came with that vampire to release Mrs. Perkin and now he was hearing she was missing.

Were vampires really in this village? Mr. Humphrey questioned himself. Were it the vampires that took Mr. Perkin and now his wife? Why will the vampires only target them? No! Mr. Humphrey shook his head. There was no way they will be the only ones to be attacked if at all, there were vampires in the village. Something was definitely amiss.

Donovan and Theodore stared at the village women with narrowed looks. A deep frown now settled on Theodore’s face as he inquired from the villagers.

”You said she has been missing for three days?” Theodore asked.

”Yes,” Rosie answered and added, ”She ran away because her husband left her when he found out she was whoring around the village. She was also taking birth con...”

”How did you know it is the reason why she ran away? Did she tell you that herself?” Theodore cut Rosie off from completing her sentence.

”N.no, no, no,” Rosie quickly shook her head negatively. ”She didn’t tell me that. I felt it is the reason why she ran away.”

”You felt? Is that enough reason to spread false news around?” Donovan fired at Rosie who immediately shut her mouth from saying more lest she complicated herself in another mess she knew she wouldn’t be able to quickly get out of unlike last time nothing happened to her.

Mr. Humphrey glared at Rosie for spouting something she was not sure of again. He interjected in an annoyed voice, ”Why are you always saying things that are not true? The last time you did it, Mrs. Perkin got into trouble.”

”What trouble is that, head warden Humphrey?” Donovan questioned. The anger he was trying to hold back was slowly resurfacing because of the situation in the village which Mr. Humphrey had failed to take care of.

Mr. Humphrey deeply exhaled and hugged his coat to his body. The snow had reduced and was now falling in gentle drops, but the cold was still high as the wind blew very chilly air in the kingdom.

”Mr. Humphrey,” Theodore called in a nerve-cracking calm voice that sent warning shivers down the body of Mr. Humphrey.

”Yes, churchman Theodore,” Mr. Humphrey answered with bowed head.

”People are missing one by one in this Woodbridge village but yet, you don’t know about them? You don’t know that another villager went missing but you call yourself the head warden?”

Mr. Humphrey shifted on both legs and began to narrate everything that had happened in the village.

”Headchurch Donovan and churchman Theodore, it is like you are saying it. When Mr. Perkin ran away because of his wife, his wife was accused of taking birth control pills by these women here.”

When Mr. Humphrey mentioned the women who were none other than Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Castor, and Rosie, they shifted uncomfortably among themselves. They didn’t want to be blamed or neither do they want to be held accountable for what they did in the past.

Mr. Humphrey continued, ”When I investigated and found the pills, Mrs. Perkin was arrested by me and after a day, the lady you see there,” He paused again and pointed at Perdita who immediately became stiff and attentive, he continued to say,

”The lady you see there after a day came with a man w...who is a v...vampire and asked me to release Mrs. Perkin saying she was innocent.”

”And you complied with the order?” Donovan questioned in a hard voice. His eyes still peered down at the small body of Mr. Humphrey as if he would consume him with his burning rage any minute.

”Y...yes, I did. I released her b... because.” Mr. Humphrey stuttered as he felt the words he wanted to say stuck in his throat. He didn’t know if he should also reveal the part where the vampire who came with Perdita showed him a rare pendant only found and used by the king.

That pendant that Daemon showed Mr. Humphrey when he asked him to release Mrs. Perkin was not to be found with anyone except the king. And if seen with anyone, it meant the king gave it to the person as a key pass to do and go anywhere they wanted. He had been so scared that if he didn’t comply with the man’s order, the king would punish him because he felt that the man who is Daemon was working for the king.

Mr. Humphrey kept quiet. His eyes darted around the place before they briefly looked at Perdita who was on the verge of dying out of fear of what will soon come her way.

Where did this head warden come from to add to her problems?! Perdita internally cried. Couldn’t he have lied and not revealed everything? Such a dumb and stupid man! Perdita cursed and glared at Mr. Humphrey who was quick to look away.

”You released her because of what?” Donovan intently questioned Mr. Humphrey who hesitated to spill what he knew. ℴ

”B...because t...the vampire g...gave, I mean showed m...me...”

”Because the vampire he is talking about gave him proof that Mrs. Perkin is innocent.” Perdita quickly interjected before Mr. Humphrey could spill more nonsense from his mouth.

Though he didn’t know what Daemon had shown the head warden that day, she had an inkling it was no ordinary thing that could get both her and Daemon in trouble if these church members got to know about it.

The attention of Donovan and Theodore went from Mr. Humphrey and was now focused on Perdita.

Donovan stared at Perdita for a while, as if gauging if she was lying. He then calmly asked Mr. Humphrey and Perdita, ”What evidence did the vampire present and who is this vampire?”