Chương 50: Chapter 50
☆ ☆ Beta Morgana ☆ ☆
The server brought our drinks and an appetizer of hushpuppies, deep-fried cornbread with hot honey butter. They were delicious and the perfect start to our meal of Southern comfort food. After a while, the server returned as we were finishing and asked, "How is everything tasting so far?" Darius said, "It's delicious.", as he popped the last few into his mouth before taking a gulp of his beer. I nodded in agreement, "That's awesome; the rest of your food will be out soon."
When he left again, I pulled out my camera to review the hundreds of photos I had taken. Making this a working lunch, I asked Darius if he had noticed the female scent in the library where the books were missing and again on the stairs. "I did." He responded, "It was more prominent than the passers-by that toured the halls, but it faded as though she hadn't been there in several days."
I responded, "I agree with your assessment." I continued to peruse the photographs on the screen until I came across the scroll on the office desk. I handed the camera over to Darius and asked, "What do you think of this?" He studied the photo briefly before commenting, "It looks old; I don't know what language it's written in."
He paused, "There was the stagnant smell of death in that office. It's apparent a vampire is there regularly, and since this language isn't like English, French, or Italian, I could go out on a limb and assume this is something that belongs to the vampire that spends his time in there." I cleared my throat as I saw our waiter approaching.
He held a large tray with four different dishes on it. He rested the tray on the table and offloaded the plates of food, "This is the shrimp and grits; the smoked gouda in this dish is from the estate." Then he grabbed the next plate of food, "The stable burger, black Angus beef raised here on the estate."
He added, "You can't come to the South and not try the smoked pork barbeque; we have a blueberry barbeque sauce." He paused as he grabbed the last plate, "The chicken salad sandwich is a customer favorite; I figured if you didn't like one of the others, this would be a pretty good backup."
"Thank you, everything looks delicious.", I said. The waiter responded, "Awesome, I'll be back to check on you both soon." We dug into the scrumptious dishes. I tried some of everything, but I couldn't pick one that was better than another. The waiter had done an excellent job picking out the dishes. Darius, of course, was a bottomless pit, and he happily finished all the dishes.
An hour or so had passed since we had sat down, we finished our meal and got refills of our drinks. I asked, "Do you have any other insights about the estate?" Darius took another sip of his beer. "I'd estimate around 1,000 security cameras in and about the immediate property. I also noticed some security guards posted indiscreetly while you were snapping your photos."
I asked, "What do you think about the break-in they claimed happened a few nights ago?" Darius inhaled deeply. "There's no way that they don't have private security here to guard the valuables; if they didn't show up, it wasn't because of a break-in." He thought deeply, "I didn't smell the female's scent in there, so if something happened, she wasn't involved."
Assumptions and questions rushed out of my mouth, "It's a safe bet that the girl we're smelling is Kara. Do you think we've been compromised? Why else would they move her?" Darius paused and thought deeply, "It's a high probability, but I don't think we should use her name so openly. He looked around, ensuring no one overheard, "I don't think she was moved because a male and female booked a guided tour."
He added, "It's eleven days before the full moon counting today; they could have moved her in preparation for the ritual or a number of other reasons." I nodded, "You're probably right; I just hope she's okay." He laughed at my remark, "Of course, she's not okay; she's being held captive by vampires. They are probably using her as a blood bag and just biding their time for this prophecy to take hold."
We got our check, paid for our meal, and then returned to our SUV. There was a bit of a drive to the winery, which was still on the property, but in fairness, there were 8,000 acres of property. We paid for our wine and chocolate tasting tickets, $130.00 for the two of us. We were taken downstairs, where the wine barrels were kept for aging, and the process was explained to us as we walked.
We were led down to a long table; Bob and Judy were already there. I waved warmly as we approached them. The man who led us down said a sommelier would be in shortly to review proper tasting techniques and the pairings. Judy said, "I'm so excited; we've never done this before." I nodded as I was, too; Darius and Bob, on the other hand, sat there appeasing our wishes.
Waiters carried out little plates of artisan chocolates from French Broad Chocolate and four different glasses of red wine and placed them in front of each of us. They also passed out little galvanized buckets. The sommelier followed behind them and opened a brand new Hersey bar, breaking up a piece of the bar for each of us, placing it on the plate with the other chocolates.
He began, "First, I will teach you the five S's: see, swirl, smell, sip, and savor." We followed his instructions and first sipped the wine like we usually would. Then, we tilted our glasses to view the wine, noting the richness or dullness of the color. We swirled one of the four glasses before us, not lifting it from the table as we allowed oxygen to mix into the wine.
We observed the glasses after swirling them to determine how the wine settled. The sommelier called this portion the legs of the wine, determining how long the wine clung to the sides of the glass. Then we picked the glass up and inhaled deeply. After swirling, more scents could be noted, and my mouth watered from the intense smell of vanilla and blackberries.
He instructed us to take a little of the wine into our mouths and then add some more air by slightly opening our mouths and sucking in, it completely changed the taste of the wine, and I was in awe of the experience. We then had the option to spit the wine into the buckets or to swallow it. Judy and I happily swallowed while our men chose to spit it out.
The sommelier said, "That is our Antler Hill Zinfandel Rockpile 2017. I recommend pairing it with the fresh raspberry truffle." I did, and it was perfect, even heavenly. We continued to test each of the wines in front of us, following the five S's and tasting them with the different chocolate truffles.
I asked, "What is the Hersey's chocolate for?" "Ahh," he added, "I want you to understand the difference between artisanal chocolate and mass-produced chocolates." I nodded as he added, "Go ahead and try to pair it with one of your wines." I did, but the chocolate felt like it left a film in my mouth; it didn't enhance the flavor of the wine at all.
"It's not as good, right?", he said as he chuckled, "I never want to lead anyone astray and have them thinking they will get the same experience at home with a mediocre product." Judy tried it simultaneously with me and said, "That makes sense; thank you for including that." I nodded in agreement. The sommelier had been very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the tasting.
As we finished, he thanked us for our time and allowed him to impart his knowledge to us before he bid us adieu. I turned to Judy and asked what she thought of the experience. She responded, "It was wonderful; thank you for your kindness." I smiled, "I was happy to, besides I didn't want Darius and I to be the only ones here, and it seemed slow today."
Bob interjected and said, "Alright, we need to start heading back; it's an hour-and-a-half drive, Dear." I thanked them for joining us and told them I had a wonderful time with them today." It was just after 4:30 p.m., and the estate would close in an hour. We went our separate ways, and Darius and I walked around the Antler Hill Village, where two hotels were nearby.
Just by walking near them, you could tell that the main covens resided in them. Darius and I made eye contact, and I asked, "How many would you estimate are there?" Darius shook his head, "Definitely more than I originally surmised." I nodded in agreement. We found our SUV shortly after making this discovery, and we headed off the property.
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