Frightful Hospitality

Chapter Three

By the time their uncle arrived to collect Lawrence, it was as if nothing strange had occurred, accept that he was lying face down in the good sitting room for no visible reason. He was not moving, but luckily they hadn't gone so far that he had stopped breathing, or gotten more than a few minor scratches. He would probably never be the same, but that was not really their problem.

As Anaiah was showing her uncle to where they left Lawrence, he asked, "Why is my table chipped and my vase broken, Anaiah?"

"He threw the table because we hid our reflections from him when we passed the window. I didn't think he was going to do that."

Her uncle looked at Lawrence on the floor, and asked, "Why is he in the room with the good furniture?"

"He ran in here when he tried to escape because he thought the door was here. There was one, but not a real one."

"And you didn't drag him back into the kitchen when you were done?" he said, and she shrugged, "Why did you let him in to begin with?"

"I was not going to. I was going to let him walk right off down the road if he didn't say anything, but I think he would have used magic to persuade his way in."

"And he would be worse off if he did. The way your sister is, she might have sucked up more than the magic."

"She was trying to do that from the moment she saw him."

"She asked him to come in, I heard," he said, frowning. Everyone was always concerned by her bad habit of lurking around people she was trying to prey on. No one was quite sure if she really grasped that it was not an innocent action, or if she knew how dangerous it was that she could not control herself.

From the way she sucked every bit of energy from Lawrence with no mercy, just by grabbing his neck, Anaiah could see that her sister was shaping up to be a real monster. They had visited their uncle in hopes that he could find a solution, but it had not helped that the first day they had come, he was sent off to work, leaving them in a situation where they were practically forced to give into their nature.

"I was not immune either, since I could not make myself tell him to leave. I think this is what you were looking for," she held out the worn book, "That is what we were drawn to. Unfortunately, for him."

"I saw it in his hand when he called. I laughed for a good while after I closed the communication." He took it and nudged Lawrence with his shoe. "The head of the local police force asked me if I had a lead, and I couldn't say anything. I can tie him up and take him in tomorrow, but I think he will be unconscious for a few days."

There was a commotion of screeches and chirps coming down the hall, and Fayola appeared in the doorway with an arm full of bats. She looked at her uncle and said, "You're late."

"Put those bats outside. I can't believe you brought those little mess making monsters into my house," he said, with an incredulous look on his face. She shifted the bats in her arms and held up the one that got injured.

"Can this one stay if I put him in a box with a towel? He got hit."

"Don't have it flying around my house," he said, and she went to the window in excitement. Still holding the injured bat, she let the others fly from her curled arm. Fayola went back and hugged her uncle around the waist. He placed the book on the table and said, "Don't forget we will have to talk about controlling your urge to eat peoples' energy, magic, fear, or whatever it is you are smelling at the time."

"He started it."

"He did, but you are like that every day. You did a good job with him, though. It gave me an idea," he said, and reached under his short cape to retrieve a small bag of candy. He bent slightly to her level, "I thought you might like something after your game."