Chapter 134 - New and Old
Back at the Grande Funeral Home, the reporters had been dispersed. Zach sat back in the office, took out the check Mrs. Quinn sent yesterday from the drawer and started to do the accounting. Although it was a matter left over from the previous generation of Grande, Mrs. Quinn still did not treat the Grande House badly.
Zach looked at the records of Mrs. Quinn on the ledger. In addition to the first real Mr. Quinn’s funeral and the project of the planned tomb, the following were various inexplicable miscellaneous items. And the total amount of those miscellaneous items had far exceeded the amount consumed by the funeral ceremony itself. Zach shook his head helplessly, and could only continue to add new miscellaneous items.
Maybe he should ask Old Hank how the former Grande House handled the extra income.
The joint burial was supposed to have been carried out yesterday, but replacing the ‘things’ in the coffin required time and secrecy, so Mrs. Quinn moved it to this morning. For Zach, this was unnecessary, but he didn’t say much. After all, if Grande’s efficiency was too high, Zach also worried that he would be too conspicuous.
The phone rang, Zach put down his pen and picked up the phone. It was Quest, the person who had been constantly calling Zach recently. This really annoyed the vampire.
“I found that Daniel!” The voice of the person over the receiver was low, and finally, it was no longer a question, but a statement; but Zach could already hear from the suppressed breathing in the receiver. How much anger was contained in this sentence!
“Congratulations.” Zach raised his eyebrows, looked at the bright colorful glow suddenly appearing in the office, and made a helpless expression. Tulpa Daniel also smiled helplessly and shook his head, not keeping it in mind.
Zach continued to say insincere congratulations, “Since Mr. Quest has found it, please stop contacting Grande. If Mr. Quest continues to harass us, I am afraid that we will go to the court to apply for a restraining order.”
The voice in the receiver was like a deflated balloon and turned into a breathy laugh, “Grande! “Are you fuking playing with me? That Daniel has been missing for almost three weeks! three weeks!”
Now it could be confirmed that the other party was talking about Tulpa. After all, ‘Daniel’ was not a rare name. Usually, the phone call from Quest was a bunch of last names asking Zach which one was it. Of course, Zach would say goodbye politely after listening ‘seriously’ and then hang up.
“That’s too bad.” Zach said in a flat tone, “If there is nothing else, Mr. Quest, it’s time to say goodbye again. I had a very pleasant conversation with you, Mr. Quest. Goodbye.”
Zach hung up the phone and curled his lips when looking at Daniel, “I was just trying to get rid of him at the time. I didn’t expect him to be so persistent.”
Daniel waved his hand, the light of his arm was no longer wavery when it moved in the air. He has almost recovered. Today, the group of dissatisfied reporters was a very good tonic for Tulpa, “It’s okay. I’m not going to use a fixed identity again.”
Zach stared at Daniel’s face. His face has changed in the past few days. It was no longer the classic handsome face but a face that seemed to have half Inan blood and half Grande’s blood.
It was not difficult to understand; Alice’s heart was disturbed by Ryan, apparently recently this banshee’s heart began to frequently think of her birth parents. As for the other human old Hank in the Grande family, the strange old man’s recollection of life with the old Grande also contributed to the appearance of Tulpa.
One was Alice’s parents, and the other was Zachary Grande’s parents in the legal sense, so Zach’s feelings for this face were a bit complicated..
Now even if he brought Quest in front of Daniel, he would not be able to recognize him.
“Do you want to change a name?” Zach asked tentatively, Anthony might not refuse to help such a small favor.
“No need.” Daniel shook his head, a trace of persistence flashed in his eyes, “This is my real name.”
Zach nodded. Among the countless desires of others, the Tulpa must have a spiritual ballast to maintain his conscience. It seemed that this name was Daniel’s spiritual ballast, so that he could maintain himself in the whirlpool of desires and not get lost.
“Very good, we all need to remember our real names.” Zach smiled, thinking of “Shougong”, and paused for a while, looking at Daniel, who had no intention of leaving, and asked, “Anything else?”
Daniel’s expression was a bit hesitant, and he moved his gaze down to the ledger in front of Zach, but Zach knew that he hadn’t looked at anything, but was thinking about his own thing. Of course, even if the Tulpa was reading it, Zach had no need to hide it. This was the business of the Grande family, the joint work of all nonhumans under this roof.
“My friend, I want to contact him.” Daniel hesitated for a while, but he eventually said it.
historical
Zach thought for a while, a smile appeared on his face, “Is that the neighbor boy?”
“Mhm.” Daniel nodded.
Zach pushed the phone, stood up with a smile, and patted the Tulpa on the shoulder, “He is a very good kid, and you are very lucky to have such a friend.”
Daniel smiled gratefully at Zach. For the Tulpa, as soon as he knew the existence of the Grande family, he wanted to join. The weak nonhumans would naturally move closer to the stronger nonhumans. It was all about survival. It was the same as Jim watching Louise for ‘David’ as James in the past.
It was just that the composition of the Grande family was a bit weird in the eyes of the marginal nonhumans like Daniel, making him hesitant. Now he could get rid of the demon’s pursuit with the help from the Grande family, and this hesitation was no longer necessary.
Daniel dialed the number with anticipation. When Zach exited the office, he glanced at Daniel who was a little nervous, smiled, and shook his head.
When Zach and James appeared, the first thing the teenager in the wheelchair did was to defend Daniel. After being exposed that he knew that Daniel was ‘special’, he instinctively wanted to hide from them. No matter how the teenager became friends with Daniel, he at least openly accepted Daniel’s nonhuman identity. This was something most people didn’t have. James was one of those most people.
After seeing Crowlie, the detective, James, didn’t contact Grande anymore. Zach estimated the process of his mental reconstruction should almost be completed. Zach himself couldn’t do it because of the agreement with Crowlie, but he desperately wanted to teach James a lesson about ‘One Hundred and One Ways to Kill a demon’!
Walking out from the back porch, Zach stretched out his hand to block the increasingly strong noon sunlight, and walked to Benjamin’s warehouse. When passing through a piece of land in the backyard, Zach stopped and poked his finger using his fingertip. The bright red blood dropped onto the ground, and seeped into the soil; the howl could not be perceived by ordinary people rang out from the soil.
The vampire curled up his mouth with satisfaction. Unlike embracing the new member, this was a game that the vampire often played with an old member of the Grande family these days. The name of this game was: ‘The Retribution Of The Earthbound Spirit’.