"When the sun came up"

"Amberle, it's good to see you. I hope Ama hasn't been causing more trouble."



Amberle sat down in the chair before Orlando Centowski's desk. The poor man looked a bit more frazzled than usual. Even the fact that Amália Centowski was his daughter was not enough to explain the tired look in his eyes.

"No-- er, well no more than usual." Amberle looked off to the side as she though on how to frame her next statement. "I'm actually here because we were thinking of having a spring dance for the high school students. But, uh, Ama was asking me some odd questions a few weeks ago, and well, I thought I should ask you."



Orlando sighed as he lifted his eyebrows and tilted his head in what could have been disbelief.

"She mentioned something about a murder that occurred a while back. And she was asking me about, uhm, vampires."

Orlando didn't say a word at first. He sat with a hand on his desk and his eyes on his hand as if he were waiting for it to do something without his knowledge. "That girl. I should have known better." He sighed again. "There's been two more murders since the last time. Two in one night and killed the same way."



Amberle gasped. "So it's true?" The elves had stories about vampires. Folk tales claimed that the vampires now dwelled underground, resting and waiting for their return.

She had eventually reached the conclusion as an adult elf that the stories were simply to frighten young children so that they wouldn't play too rambunctiously for fear the vampires would get them. But if it was true, if there was a vampire and Leander found out, it wouldn't bode well for the town. She hadn't seen him since their last chat, but she continued to keep an eye out for him. As if he could be seen if he didn't want to be seen.



"We've been trying to keep it quiet. We're on it, but this is definitely beyond the books."

Amberle was feeling quite tired herself, so she could only imagine how Orlando was feeling. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just report anything suspicious. That's all. We'll figure something out." Orlando tried his best to smile. "Hey, don't worry. We'll help you with the dance too, as best we can. We're enforcing a curfew though, so you'll have to be sure to let the kids know that they have to head straight home after the dance."

Amberle nodded, trying her best not to show how shaken she really was. "Thank you, Orlando. I know Sam's really looking forward to it."




*********

Welcome to Spring. :D

This spring turned into one large story. But at least the two story lines I've been playing with are resolved in their own ways.

As I post this, I have pretty much played through the conclusion of spring. Everything is written, pictures have been gotten for all but one entry. I'm most likely set for the next four weeks (excluding this week).