[Write the Story] Tea Time in and English Inn

Prompt: Tea Time in an English Inn

Words: vampire, tiara, badlands, brag, empty, mauve, winged, trillion, axis, cone

Story

“Oh. My. Goodness. Civilization.” Betty pushed through the doors of The Winged Rose Inn and headed straight to the desk clerk. “Do you have a room with a bath?”

“Of course, madam. How long will you be with us?”

Betty sniffed the air. “I smell…Assam and Gunfire?”

“Tea is served in ten minutes.” Betty hurried through registration, dumped her bag in her room—pausing only long enough to wash her face, change into a mauve blouse. The tiara would wait until supper. Betty paused in the doorway to the tearoom and drank in the aromas. A trillion memories washed through her in an instant before she was escorted to an empty table on the room’s short axis. She felt all eyes on her as she took her seat and ordered tea and a cone of chips.

“May I join you?”

Betty looked farther up than expected to see the gaunt young man hovering over the table. “Honey, I am old enough to be your mother but suit yourself.” He folded himself in to the chair across from her. “I’d offer you tea, but the pot is empty.”

“I’m not thirsty for tea.” He showed his fangs.

Betty rolled her eyes. “Vampire. Great. Look, I just spent two weeks in the Badlands and lived to tell it. Not a brag. Truth. You don’t scare me.”

“I didn’t mean to scare. I want to make a deal. For some of your blood. You have no idea what you are.”

“We’re going to need more tea.”

Word Count: 253

Written: 11/20/2020

Tags: fiction, flash fiction, Piccadilly, vampire, Write the Story