A Dark, Secret Room

There was a huge knock on the main door.

'Knock! Knock!! Knock!!!'

Sir Shkodra, with his chest out, walked toward the door. With quick steps, he pulled the door open.

It was Jerry.

"Sir Shkodra."

'Crrrrrkkkkk'

A door creaked, making them look around, waiting for the creaking to stop.

"I'm completely sorry for your loss. I haven't been able to get Magdalena out of my head. She was more than a friend." Jerry said, with a heavy heart.

Sir Shkodra nodded in understanding.

Just then, Jessica walked downstairs. Jerry walked straight to her, pushing Sir Shkodra aside, and he frowned. Like seriously, he was always playful with Magdalena too when she was alive, but this was unexpected. Sir Shkodra frowned at the both of them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, beautiful lady. You must be Jessica." he bowed and requested for and handshake. She replied him with a smile as they ended up staring into each other's eyes.

"Yes. Are you Jerry?" Jessica asked.

"Of course. How do you know?"

"I saw your complementary card the other day. I've been trying to meet you." She explained.

"This is really gross, but you look younger than I imagined. And sorry for your loss. I mean, Collins and I were close through business, though."

"It's okay, I understand. " Jessica smiled. "Um, come in."

Sir Shkodra rolled his eyes and heaved out a frustrated breath. Jessica turned to him with a frown and he walked away, leaving the both of them.

"Oh, wow! This castle looks more beautiful than I last remembered." He bursted and Jessica couldn't help but to join him. He seemed so free and different. Unlike anyone, she has met in Wolfsberg so far.

Adrian rushed downstairs while Stormie walked behind him. "You must be the cute little Stormie and the adorable Adrian." Jerry assumed.

"Do we know you?" Stormie asked, startled.

"C'mon, be nice." Adrian tapped his sister by the arm. "Behave! " He whispered.

"You might not know me, but I know you, Stormie. It's not everyday we get guests in Wolfsberg, but let me tell you, little lady. You're already pretty famous around here." He chuckled, and Jessica joined in with a smile. Stormie wore a frown wondering what was funny while Adrian admired the both of them.

Staring at him closely, Jessica noticed his beautiful Grey eyes and how tight his black suit hugged his masculine body.

"So, Jessica. I was wondering if we could both go for dinner tonight." Jerry brought up.

"No!" Stormie hissed. Looking at both Jerry and her mum with angry eyes.

"Yes!" Adrian smiled and pressed. "Say yes, mum."

"Yes." Jessica replied, unable to object.

"Yes, it is?"

"Yes, I'm totally free." She answered.

"Good, I know an exquisite restaurant that would be the perfect place for us to get to know each other." Jerry said, staring into her eyes and once in a very long time, Jessica felt she should try something new.

She wore a pink dress and a four heels mosquitoes shoes with her wavy hair styled to the side. It's been ages since Jessie dressed like this, but as usual, she looked simple and elegant. After she was through with dressing up, Jessica followed Jerry with his black Honda Jeep.

It only took ten minutes. They got to the restaurant, though it was a little crowded. In, Jerry's plate was a piece of raw meat and Jessica wondered if they got the order properly or not.

Jerry had eaten while she wonder how possible he's eating his raw.

Just then, one of the server in a white shirt and black jacket, walked towards her.

"Why aren't you eating, Ma'am?"

"Actually, mine is a kind of uncooked." She said.

"That's my bad." Jerry interrupted, noticing that Jessica hadn't eaten. "I like my stake raw."

He made a funny facial expression, and Jessica blushed.

The server took her plate away, leaving the both of them to discuss.

"It's really been a while since I went out with a man, even for lunch or dinner. It's been like a year. Yes, since when Collins passed but my kids have kept me busy and work. So, it's really nice to finally meet you." Jessica started.

"Nice to meet you, too. Collins only came here once, and we talked to a point. He was a responsible person." He added.

"Yes, he was. Adrian, my son, has been trying to convince me to get out more meeting people. Stormie is the other way round."

"She's not just into you meeting people, right?"

"Yeah. Which is understandable. Stormie was really close to her father and her resemblance to him is striking."

"How on earth do you know?"

"I have thus crazy six sense. Some people call me the spooky villain. Imagine anyone call me villain."

"Boom!" jerry jerked and frightened Jessica mistakenly slipped the wine on her dress.

"Awww... Sorry. I really didn't mean that." he apologized, bringing out a white hanky from his pocket and wiped out the red, wine stain on her, but Jessica collected it to clean up herself.

"Would you go to clean it up in the ladies?"

"No, it's not so stained. Jessica replied him. I can manage."

"Oh, someone is a scaredy-cat. You weren't prepared for that?" He asked amidst his smile.

"So sorry, Jerry, but I wasn't expecting that." she giggled.

"Don't mind me. I just wanted to test you as well. Just to have fun, you know." He explained to himself.

After eating, the server came to pack up the table, leaving the both of them to discuss.

"So the castle, what do you think?" Jessica brought up.

"Wolfsberg Manor. Spectacular."

"Yeah, it is. Isn't it?"

"Jess, are you sure you want to sell it?" Jerry brought up, realizing the uneasiness in her eyes. "You know, it's been in the family for years."

"Yes, I know. Although my husband didn't live or get to know Magdalena that much, I'll still love and respect her so much. Times are tough, especially with the kids." Jessica admitted.

And for a moment , she stared into his eyes, lost in thought. Tears filled up the white part of her eyes. Jerry placed a hand on hers in comfort. "We don't really have a choice, Jerry. Times are tough."

"I never got married or had a child, but I understand your pain. Don't worry, okay. Sit back and leave everything to me. I won the Austria real estate ownership award for five years in a row." Jerry admitted.

"Wow, congrats."

"Thank you." He smiled, and she looked around nervously. Jerry smirked at her, as if thinking of something else.

***

Meanwhile, Adrian was having a video call with John. He was at a friend's house party and everyone in their class was invited, including Ashley Hill. It was Friday night.

"It's been over an hour now and Ash isn't there yet?" Adrian uttered, unsettled.

"Just hang up for a while. I definitely heard her telling Denise that she would attend." John smirked, proud of himself.

"What if she doesn't attend? What if she changes her mind?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, eager for that earlier.

"Calm down, buddy. Jason and Fabian are here already."

Adrian gave a sigh of hope, placing a hand on his forehead. He was already exhausted and there was a possibility the girl next door won't be attending that party.

He adjusted his glasses, staring into the screen if his laptop.

"Maybe you should take a break for a while." John advised his friend. "Hydrate, come on. Move around a bit, so you won't get bored."

Adrian sneezed as he started having a cold since he got to Wolfsberg. He kept it to himself and hadn't told his mum. It wasn't that serious.

In Stormie's room, she was on her bed, chatting with Stella and Helen.

"So I checked werewolf.net and lovelylycanthrophe.org and riptoshred.com, but there is no single article that supports the fact that werewolves are real." Stormie informed her friends, really pained. "Even quora digest tells me that werewolf is fantasy. I read somewhere that in werewolves are adults in costumes. So with this, my conclusion is that Wolfsberg Alpha would definitely be a guy in a weird suit!"

"What a commercial garbage, worn by lame grownups. That would be a waste of time and energy. Do they think we are fools to believe?

"Yesterday evening, I got a reply that proves that werewolves really exists." Stella intervened.

"Really?" Stormie asked, as her eyes sparkled with joy.

"Yes, I wrote it down." Helen handed stella her phone while she scrolled through.

"This comment is from a man in his late 60s and I quote. There is no doubt in my mind.... Crraaakkkk... that the Wolfsberg beast exists. Crrrrrraaaakkkk... I have seen it, from as close as one hundred years and..." the laptop suddenly stripped off after cracking.

" HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" Adrian screamed in terror.

Stormie psyched up, wondering what had just happened. She jerked up from her bed and rushed to Adrian's room.

"What happened to the internet?" He roared.

"What happened to your face?"

"Nothing, I'm just trying out some skin-beauty recipe. It's egg and honey on my face, so stop looking at me like that." He warned.

"And what were you doing in your system?"

"There was a party."

"A costume party?"

"It was a normal house party, Stormie! I need to wash my face in ten minutes and continue my video chat else. I might not see her tonight." He disclosed. "I planned to see her. At least, if I'm unable to attend the party, I will chat with her tonight."

"Who's the girl?" Stormie raised an eyebrow. "Ashley?"

"Stop asking me questions, okay? Let's get the network!"

"Okay, bro." Stormie rolled her eyes at him. "Come on. Let's do this!"

They both left the room, searching around for network.

"Come on, come on...." Stormie pressed. Using her mum's laptop to find a signal. Jess gave her access to use her laptop since she wasn't able to get her one.

'Beeep! Beeeeep! Beeeeeeep!'

Stormie stopped at the beeping sound and looked through. "Adrian, this is where the signal for the wireless is strongest." She told him, facing a tall shelf.

"Great, so where is it?"

"It should be behind this bookcase."

"How is it even possible?"

"Hello? Creepy castle. I've watched this a lot in movies and I know how they work." Stormie held the laptop with an arm and pulled one book on the shelf.

It didn't work.

She pulled another, knowing one out of the hundred books would work. She pulled out the next took, and the bookcase opened. A wide smile spread over her lips as she turned back to Adrian.

"See? It worked!"

"No, it didn't." He showed her the remote he used. "Universal remote."

Her smile dropped, and they both walked into the room. It was darker than the other rooms. At least, to their assigned rooms which they've only entered. This was different. There were shelves of laboratory equipment. Test tubes sitting in test tube racks, microscope, bunsen burner, beakers, mortar, pestle and every laboratory equipment ever discovered. Bottles of acid lined up in rows and different shapes of beakers arranged on a large marble table in the middle of the room. There was no single firm of light, there except for the top of the building that gave recessed light from the moon.

Adrian held a flashlight because of the darkness of the room. He first pointed it to a corner of the floor and he saw insects crawling in the perpendicular corners of the passage. Immediately, he rubbed a hand on his shoulder, suddenly feeling cold. He looked at his skin and it looked exactly like an unfeathered, uncooked chicken. And once again, he was prey to the horrors of his incubus. From the door, he pointed the flashlight at the stoned wall and his jaw dropped.

"This room looks like a well, Stormie." he shivered. "Can we go back now?"

Stormie spin loosely and giggled at the masterpiece standing before her. As if she got a glance at paradise.

"Don't you want to see Ash today?" she smiled, facing him and the door to the secret room creaked close. They both looked back and swallowed.

"You know, maybe we should have never come here. It's risky. I mean, what if Sir Shkodra finds out?" Adrian whispered.

'Crrrrkkk'

A rusty door squeal came up again.

"I really hate that!" Adrian admitted.

"It's what he feels." She told him and gently placed the laptop on a space." "Gosh! This place is outstanding!"

"It's creepy." Adrian frowned.

Going round, he saw a chicken embryo put into a transparent jar. A dry limb of a deer, and dry mice hanged from their long tails, upside down.

While Stormie was checking the signal with her laptop. It was increasing and reducing my her movements.

"Ugh, disgusting!" Adrian hissed, checking the chemicals from green to blue and yellow. He saw a bottle filled with golden sand and he wondered... Is this pixie dust?

'Does it really exists? This... Fantasy?'

He opened the bottle to check, and it had a flowery scent. Sniffing his nose onto it, a hard sneeze escaped his nostrils. He quickly closed it up and adjusted his glasses to check others.

"Uh, gross." He tried not to touch anything again because the place was dusty and held spider webs. Adrian sneezed and sniffed, searching the place with enthusiasm. Something told him that this was Sir Shkodra's secret room and not just a science lab.

Another step closer, he saw a rack of beakers filled with blood. 'He must have experimented something recently.' Adrian muttered to himself.

The test tubes looked clean so, he checked what it was. It was at a tape on it labeled L.B. 217.

His eyes focused on it as he wondered what it was all about.

'Whose blood is this?' A cold, hairy thing grabbed him behind and he shivered. The glass tube slipped from his hand, shattering into a thousand pieces.

Adrian gasped in shock and looked back at it. It was Stormie, as usual.

"There's blood everywhere!" he hissed at her. "When would you grow up, Stormie? When?!"

"I wasn't trying to scare you, okay?!" she defended, rolling her eyes at him as if offended.

They tried picking up the pieces until suddenly they heard approaching footsteps. The fast steps got thicker and louder. It must be Sir Shkodra.

Their Jaws dropped as both of them looked startled at themselves. Taking a hard swallow that almost choked.

"Run!" Stormie yelled and flee from the spot.

Adrian, in the commotion, mistakenly stepped on the broken tube. Stormie's body trembled.

"Aww!" He cried. "My leg!"

"Come on, you'll get caught!"

"I just stepped on a freaking glass!"

"Then move! Run faster." Stormie pressed as she found another door. It was another dark, secret room.