"Look at these pearly white flakes of... Uhh, what's the saying again?" Rachel tugged at his sleeve.
Gabriel raised a brow. "How am I supposed to finish the sayings you yourself invented?"
"Imagination, of course." Rachel began spinning around in circles, acting silly, and slightly embarrassing the two of them in front of their new staff.
Despite that, Gabriel coughed once and glanced at the only two people that were left after Rachel just so happened to give them all work before he even woke up.
Still...
"Letty, and Melania. Now what am I supposed to do with you two?" Rachel crossed her arms and scoffed.
"I'm pretty good at everything, so just assign any task to me, and I'll get it done," Melania said.
Letty flinched. "I-I'm uhh... I'm..."
"Letty, can you show us some alchemy?" Gabriel chimed in, causing her expression to light up.
"Yes! Of course. I just need some flasks and a bunch of herbs."
Rachel harrumphed. "Well, I guess you can talk to the botanist about the herbs, and as for the flasks, do empty wine bottles work?"
"Pardon? Um... Yes? If they're small enough, I might be able to make them work," Letty said, lowering her gaze.
Gabriel sighed at the sight. "If there's a risk that the potion's going to get messed up, then we can get some actual flasks for you."
She stared at him for a moment, then slightly nodded.
"Please..."
Of course, Rachel wasn't that heartless either. She realized that although Letty was a mumbling mess, she might actually be capable. If she wasn't? Well, she'd just get tossed out. There was no place for weaklings here, especially since she didn't want anyone putting Gabriel in some unnecessary danger.
That was also where Melania came in.
"I can run into Houlton and grab us some flasks if you'd like. It would only take me a few minutes."
"No need for that, vixen. I can order some," Rachel said.
"Are you just not giving me any work out of pettiness, or do you trust me so little?" Melania replied.
Silence ensued for a few seconds, followed by...
"I'm heading out to grab some flasks. Be right back."
Before Rachel could say a word, Melania was already gone. She was obviously pissed, but with no one to vent on, and nothing to actually say, she sucked it up and turned to Gabriel and Letty.
"Let's go to the garden."
***
The trip to the garden was pretty brief and uneventful for the most part, as Letty just went around and ripped out some weeds. Reluctantly a flower or two as well before eventually going back into the mansion.
Since they didn't have an alchemy room prepared, the three of them went to the kitchen. As it so happened, there were now five new staff here as well as Sasha who had served Gabriel some food to his room.
As if on cue, Melania finally came back, holding an assortment of flasks. Some were a little cracked and shattered.
"I was in a rush, so some of the duplicates broke. My apologies," she apologized.
Rachel gave her a disapproving look, then glanced over to Letty.
"Is that everything?"
Letty nodded enthusiastically. "Yes. All I need now is some time, and I can make you a two potions. One is for increasing your speed, and the other for increasing libido."
"Sex drive?" Rachel raised her brow, interested. Gabriel was the same. Even though he hadn't even thought of sleeping with Rachel yet, it never hurt to be prepared.
"Yes. It's an aphrodisiac. It's, um... I didn't learn it from anyone. It's more like a personal creation," Letty admitted.
'The innocent and shy Letty is actually an aphrodisiac dealer?'
Gabriel was too stunned to speak. Was this the case of to not judge a book by its cover?
"Ahem. Well, just in case, make an extra libido potion. An extra speed potion too if you can," Rachel said.
"Okay... I do need some time. It takes a while to brew and mix everything. I think I need four hours...?" Letty pondered, then nodded. "Five hours to be safe, six if you want the best effects of the potion, since it takes some time to settle."
"Ah. Yeah, no problem. We'll be back after the sun goes down then." Rachel gestured at the other staff around. "Gabriel and I will be going out, so you can put your recipe learning on halt and help out Letty. Get to know each other a little better, yeah?"
The new staff nodded their heads. As Gabriel and Rachel finally stepped out, the staff began helping Letty out by cutting the herbs and cleaning the flasks.
On the other hand, Gabriel and Rachel decided to take a little well deserved detour.
Gabriel rested his chin on his palm and stared out of the car's window. There was a small but cozy house up ahead, as well as middle-aged man watering the garden.
But there was also a woman out on the porch, sitting on a chair and petting a black cat.
These people were none other than his parents.
"Are you sure you want to go in? The windows are tinted, so you can just stalk them from the car," Rachel said.
Truthfully, he had brought up the topic of his parents when the two of them were coming back from the Italian restaurant. Even if they forced their ideals on him, Gabriel didn't hate them. So even though the threat of Vampire Hunters was there, he wanted to see them.
Gabriel shook his head. "It's fine. I'll be right back anyway, unless you want to come along with me?"
She raised a brow. "Do you want me to come along? Do you need me to?"
"...No, I guess I don't," he replied with a chuckle, then stepped out of the car. He was a bit taller than before, and unless they really focused on him, his parents wouldn't recognize him.
And as expected, they didn't. They just glanced over the man who exited the car before returning to chatting amongst each other and continuing their work.
Gabriel let out a sigh.
'Let's get this over with.'