Chapter 546

They pushed the furniture back and headed downstairs. After lunch the new entertainers were set up, and Katelina followed Jorick outside onto the bricked patio. A platform stood at the far end where a huge bright colored puppet stage sat.

The outside lights dimmed, and stage lights blazed. A pair of giant marionettes appeared, one female and one male. They skittered across the stage on their toes, then jerked to a loose limbed stop. They turned to one another, bowed, then skittered back to the edges. Katelina wondered that anyone could control puppets that big. Was there one puppeteer per string?

A narrator appeared, dressed in a suit and tie, as he set up the story, Katelina realized the puppets weren't puppets, but living vampires.

"Holy crap. How do they do that?"

"Lots of practice," Jorick replied. "When you have forever what else is there to do?"

"You seem to think eternity is for reading."