The woman stood there with eyes that had a certain kind of annoyance even though it was her who had come at their door. How long had she been standing there? It had been less than two minutes since they had returned back to the inn. According to the lady they had been in here since they had returned back from the forest after Damien had come in search of her.
"I have been knocking at the door for the past hour. Will you be eating or shall I throw the food?" the innkeeper asked Damien.
"Will you be making another one?" Damien asked to see the annoyance increase on the elderly woman's face, "We'll have porridge. Don't add anything. We need it bland," he ordered the woman. Damien raised his perfectly raised brow in question when he didn't see the woman going to get them the food. The innkeeper took a step back and walked down the stairs. Something caught Damien's ears and he peeked out of the room to see the other two doors next to their room was shut close. Leaning back into the room, he heard Penny ask,
"What happened?" She padded across the room, going to step next to him and leaning forward to see the inn quiet as if everyone had gone to sleep and they were the only ones who were awake at this hour with the rest of the party who had gone to sleep. Which was if they had company.
"Our neighbors appear to be eavesdropping. How sneaky of them. I should probably give them a visit," he said, ready to apparate into the room playful when Penny caught his arm.
"Do you need to disturb them?"
"Why not? If they are awake and have time to eavesdrop I would say it is only wise to go pay them a polite visit," he beamed with a wide smile.
"Wait, Dami-" before she could utter his name completely, Damien had disappeared in thin air leaving her alone in the room, "Damien," she sighed worriedly. He was going to startle them with his presence confusing them on how he broke into the locked room.
She quickly went and closed the door not wanting the innkeeper to return and see Damien, not in the room.
Damien on the other hand who had apparated to another room stared at the nothingness in the room. There was nothing in here. No bed, no desk, no table, not a single furniture or object where the room had left to be plain and empty. How peculiar, he thought walking softly and to move to the next room which was the same. It looked like they were the only guests in the inn. It wasn't much surprise that it was so as the inn itself was built far away from the towns, standing between the forest and the barren land.
He was back in the room on time when the innkeeper arrived with the porridge which was made earlier. The innkeeper before leaving said,
"The food won't be served tomorrow at breakfast after nine."
"Of course, madam," Damien used a thick accent to reply her back and closed the door after she turned to leave the room. Turning to Penny, he said, "I don't think she likes guests."
"Yeah, I don't think so too. Do you think we skipped her sleep time?"
"Who cares. She took the gold coin. You take the gold coin, you complete the service. I wouldn't mind taking the coin back," he shrugged his shoulders which reminded her of the thrifty Damien Quinn.
"Sometimes you make it look like you're a very poor man. Haggling like one of the women in the market for vegetables and fruits."
"How s.e.xy of you to perceive me. I am the ideal husband, don't you think so? You won't have to worry about your husband being a drunk, gambling his money," there was a smugness on his face which didn't wipe away as he looked at her, "Your future will be bright. At least brighter than the weather of Bonelake."
"How romantic," Penny reached for the bowl which he was holding in his hand, taking it and starting to eat.She had by now stuffed herself with the food. It didn't matter if the food was bland as she was hungry. Though Penny didn't show it out, holding back her expression but his words warmed her heart.
There had been people out of the village who had tried to pursue her but after hearing some of the untrue rumors from the village she lived in they never showed up in front of her. Penny wasn't lonely as she had a mother with her back then to look after her but at the same time, she had started to let the reality sink into her mind that no one around the mile or radius would ever take her as his wife.
No man had ever spoken this confidently about wanting to have a future with her as Damien did. It was because they weren't Damien Quinn. The next day again, both Damien and Penny took rounds around the two towns. They didn't meet any white witches, neither did anyone suspect of the white witch who had gone missing. Even if they did, the humans were unaware and it was the witches who would be looking for the missing person, who was dead and in the cupboard of the abandoned church. Searching for a loophole in the marking so that the marking could be nullified and be of no use to the black witches or the white witches who were involved.
The second day neither did the moon appear nor the black witches to attack the town and with that, they went back to the inn where they had taken shelter.
After their untimely meal again and checking the sky before heading to bed, both Damien and Penny went to bed to rest as their day would be busy again tomorrow. The inn was quieter than the mansion as the waves didn't crash against the hill or the mansion itself which was built near to it.
During the hour of three in the morning, Penny was woken up due to the sudden heat that she felt around her and the smell of something being burnt in the room. Her eyes opened groggily, trying to get rid of the sleep which had fallen heavy on her eyes until she caught the flames that surrounded them. Snapping her eyes open, she sat up as the fire filled the room and the flame around them which was raging angrily.
Penny turned to look at Damien who was fast asleep. Confused and worried, she shook him, "Damien! Wake up!" she pushed his shoulder back and forth but he didn't wake up...