History of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Castle Series Book 4) (10 page)

“I should probably return to my cabin now or my husband will wonder where I’ve got off to,” Mother said. “It’s was very nice speaking with you. I hope you have a good night.”

As she turned and left, an elderly couple approached, walking slowly, arm-in-arm. Part of me wondered why they were up at such an hour. And another part of me mourned that I would never have the chance to grow old with someone that I loved.

The little French maid continued to be persistent in her quest to be of service to Mrs. Denkler, my sister and me. Emily reported that she had knocked on our door twice the next day. She even had the temerity to ask if she could check with me directly to see if I needed anything, even though Denkie had told her I was resting.

Resting was not an accurate description of what I was doing in my oversized trunk. I couldn’t lie down completely straight and that made it a challenge to get comfortable. I tried not to thrash around too much because I didn’t know if there happened to be anyone lurking in my cabin. I didn’t want a maid or cabin boy to wonder about the rustling in Mr. Vanderlind’s enormous trunk. Emily tried reading to me to pass the time for both of us. After the initial excitement, she found life aboard ship too sedentary. I could have just as easily taken a book into the trunk with me, but it hadn’t occurred to me when I’d climbed in for the day. Turning my mind off was the problem. We vampires didn’t exactly sleep; we went into a state of repose that was supposed to be similar to deep meditation. At least that was what I had been told. So far I hadn’t been able to find any type of repose, sleep, meditation or otherwise.

Eventually my sister became restless. “Would you mind if I went up on deck?” she asked, her voice apologetic. “Just for a little while. There’s shuffleboard up there and…” Her voice faded. I could tell she was trying to decide if she was being selfish.

“Emily, don’t worry about me,” I told her. “I’ll be fine. You go and enjoy yourself. It’s what I want you to do. And take old Denkie with you. She could use some fresh air.”

Emily giggled. She loved when I referred to Mrs. Denkler in this way. “I won’t be long,” she assured me and I could hear her getting to her feet.

“Take as long as you like,” I insisted. “It’s not like I’ll be up and about until nightfall.”

After Emily and Mrs. Denkler went out, I tried to turn my thoughts off and just focus on nothing. But my life had gone through so many changes in the last week that it made it almost an impossible thing to do. Even so, after an extended period of frustration, I eventually found myself starting slip into the void.

That was until I heard somebody in my room. I was immediately jerked into consciousness by the slight creak of hinges being opened. Who was out there? I couldn’t begin to imagine. It wasn’t Emily or Mrs. Denkler. Of that I was convinced. Neither one of them had any cause to sneak into my cabin. Perhaps one them was looking for something and trying not to disturb me. I gave that idea some thought.

But then I heard the light clinking of bottles and I was filled with rage. The only bottles I had in my room were my food supply. Why was someone rifling through my trunk? Was it the same person who had dumped the first bottle? Was he back to finish the job? I felt an impotent rage. I wanted to burst from my trunk and confront the scoundrel, but that was a bad idea for numerous reasons. There was nothing I could do but sit there, not making a sound, and hope the person was not doing what I suspected he might be doing.

The bottles eventually stopped rattling, but then a more alarming sound reached my ears. It was someone trying to open the very trunk that contained me. He was fiddling with the lock. I froze, afraid even the slightest movement might give me away.

The thief struggled with the lock for several minutes. Then there was the sound of a door opening and closing. I could hear the voices of Mrs. Denkler and my sister. The person standing outside my sleeping trunk instantly grew very quiet. And then I could hear him walking lightly across the room.

I made a vow that if whoever was out there tried to hurt Emily or Denkie in any way, I would burst from my makeshift coffin and dispatch the thief to the great beyond. I thought I could probably cause their demise before the sun burnt me to cinders. Even with this resolve, I understood that even the smallest bit of sunlight was excruciatingly painful to a member of the undead. But it was a horror I would have to face in order to protect my family.

Emily and Mrs. Denkler must have gone into their cabin for a moment because their voices grew more muffled, but they didn’t sound agitated in any way. I strained my ears in my custom-made prison for any sound that might indicate a struggle. All I heard was soft footsteps crossing the floor and the sound of a door being quietly pulled open and then shut again. With the click of the latch, I felt myself relax slightly. Whoever had been snooping meant my family no harm. The person was probably just a petty thief looking for easily concealable items.

Several hours later, I felt the ease that comes over all vampires with the setting of the sun. While I waited a few minutes for the last rays of the day to dwindle, I listened for sounds of anyone being in the cabin that shouldn’t have been there. And then, feeling reasonably sure I had taken all necessary precautions, I popped the interior locks on my trunk and opened the lid.

No one was in my cabin. That gave me some relief. I peeked out the door to glimpse Denkie and my sister reading books in our shared living space. They both looked perfectly fine. Then I turned to see what was missing from my room. A watch and chain, a pair of gold nail scissors, and a pearl lapel pin had all disappeared off of my bureau. These were annoying losses, but nothing to cause me great regret. I had shipped anything of real value when the contents of the castle were sent over.

Taking a fortifying breath, I turned my attentions to my true concern; the trunk holding my food for the next few days. The lid was closed and I was reluctant to open it. But whatever had happened, I had to face it.

Flipping open the lid, I surveyed the eleven bottles that had been so carefully packed. They were all empty. Someone had snuck into my cabin and drained every single one.

Chapter 13

Colette

“Good evening, Mr. Gibson,” Walter Bennett said. I could tell he was using his very best manners. “Mrs. Gibson.” There was a big smile on his face and he couldn’t stop from looking in Lilly’s direction. It struck me for the first time that my sister and Walter might be in love. It was more than likely what older people referred to as “young love” but that probably didn’t keep it from feeling any less real to them.

“Good evening, Sir,” Lev said, shaking Papa’s hand. He was obviously part of the good-manner’s club. “Mrs. Gibson,” he said with a nod to our mother.

“Good evening, boys,” Mama said.

“That’s quite a bruise you’ve got there,” Papa said, referencing a purple discoloration and a small plaster high on Lev’s left cheek.

Lev’s hand self-consciously flew up to gingerly touch his injury. “Nothing much,” he said rather quickly. “I was roughhousing with some friends and there was a little accident.”

“Was anyone else hurt?” our mother asked, immediately concerned.

“Oh. No, it was nothing like that,” Lev assured her. “A couple of us were wrestling where we shouldn’t have been and my face got banged on the corner of a table.” He touched his cheek again and then forced his hand back down to his side. “It looks a lot worse than it is.”

The four of us piled into Lev’s new car. It was shiny black and showroom new. Lilly and Walter claimed the back seat, so that left me to sit up front with Lev. “What do you think of her?” Lev asked as he started the car up. “Isn’t she a beauty?”

I was a little surprised that Lev had bothered to ask me a question. But seeing that he was really fishing for a compliment, it wasn’t too much of a shock. The sun was just starting to set, so there was still a lot of daylight left. I couldn’t help but notice as Lev gripped the wheel that his right hand was purpled and slightly swollen.

“Did that happen while you were roughhousing, too?” I asked, nodding toward his hand.

Lev glanced at his bruises and then shot me a rueful grin. “You could say something like that.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of his comment, but I didn’t feel the urge to dig for details. If Lev had gotten into a fight with one of his friends, then that had nothing to do with me. And if afterward, they had decided to patch things up and just call it roughhousing, then that was their business, not mine. All I was obligated to do was be polite and go see the castle.

Lev drove his car with surprising caution, keeping under the speed limit and being considerate of other motorists. He even showed remarkable patience when a farmer pulled his tractor out onto the road ahead of us and we had to inch along for several minutes until the man turned off the main road and onto a dirt one.

I began to wonder if I’d misjudged Lev. Maybe he was just nervous during our first date. Male animals in the jungle were known to show off colorful plumage or magnificent manes to attract a mate. Maybe Lev’s constant bragging was just his ill-judged attempted to impress me. I decided I should at least try to give him another chance.

When we reached the dirt road turnoff that led to the castle, Lev used additional caution, moving the car forward at a pace that was even slower than the tractor that had blocked our way. “Don’t want to scratch her,” Lev told me. “Her paint’s barely dry.”

“Gee!” Lilly exclaimed when the castle finally came into view. “It’s just so massive.” I turned in my seat to look at her. It occurred to me that my sister probably hadn’t seen the castle much since the first day when the family had headed down to watch the barges come in. Or, if she’d gone with Papa, she’d been too busy daydreaming about Walter to notice any progress the workers had made. She wrinkled her nose. “It’s not very pretty, though.”

“Most castles weren’t built to be beautiful,” Lev told her. “They were built to withstand a siege.” And then he added, “There are some pretty castles in Bavaria, though. My uncle travelled there when I was a kid and he sent me a lot of postcards. Really magical stuff. Straight out of the fairytales.” Thinking it over for a few seconds, he added, “I’d like to travel there one day.”

My opinion of Lev was growing by leaps and bounds.

But then he had to go and ruin it all by saying, “I’m descended from royal blood, of course.”

No one in the car made a response to his comment. It just sounded like such a ridiculous exaggeration that I thought it would be better to ignore it.

“If I showed my face in Europe, they’d probably try to clap a crown on my head,” Lev told us, just to make matters worse.

“Is that what they did to your uncle?” Walter asked, causing my sister to giggle.

“Well, he was invited to visit many of the royal houses,” Lev snapped, unwilling to just let it go. “Royalty recognizes royalty, even if it’s a distant connection.”

I had promised myself to just sit there and bide my time through the date, but it was just too much. I really couldn’t let Lev keep bragging like he was next in line for the throne of England. “So what’s your lineage?” I asked him.

“What?” Lev gave me a sharp look.

“What is your heritage?” I wanted to know. “Which royal families are you descended from and how did you end up here, in America?”

“That’s right, Lev,” Walter jeered. “Tell us your family tree.”

The sunlight was almost gone, but I could see Lev growing pink under the collar. “I’ll have to ask my grandfather,” he said in a clenched voice. “He’s the family historian.”

“Let’s get out and walk around a little before the sun goes completely down,” I suggested, in part to end the conversation and in part because I wanted to see if any of the Italian workmen were still lingering around the castle.

“Sure,” Walter agreed. “Lev, why don’t you knock on the door? Introduce yourself. Let them know who you are.”

“Alright, cut out the smart talk,” Lev growled, flashing his friend a menacing look.

The smile quickly faded from Walter’s face. “Yeah. Sorry,” he said. “I was just joshing you.”

We walked for a little while in silence, skirting around the unfinished areas that were still mostly mud. The rose garden was nearing completion, with neat, short hedges making squares and rectangles around each bush. “Our father was speaking with one of the gardeners yesterday,” I said to whoever cared to listen. “Both the plants and the gardeners were shipped over from England.”

“I thought this pile of bricks was supposed to be Hungarian or something,” Walter said, trying to revive the jovial mood.

“It is. But just not the garden,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at him. That’s when I realized that Walter and my sister had their arms around each other. In an instant I knew that suggesting we all get out of the car was a mistake. Walter and Lilly were just looking for an excuse to find a cozy, dark corner where they could canoodle. Besides going against everything Lilly had told our folks, it would leave me alone with Lev. And who knew where his ideas might lead? I didn’t want to inadvertently put Lev in a situation where he thought kissing me was a good idea. I had to get out of there, and fast. Lev Wilson was not going to be my first kiss, if I had anything to say about it.

“Oh, we’d better get going,” I said after pretending to check the time. “Don’t want to be late.”

“You don’t need to hurry off that quickly, do you?” Lev said, trying to catch my hand. He must have also been aware of Walter and my sister’s intentions.

“We do if we don’t want to get grounded,” I insisted, eluding him by taking a few quick steps. “Our father won’t tolerate any kind of nonsense,” I said, hoping he would catch my double meaning.

“Come on, Lettie,” Lilly said, her voice carrying a bit of a whine. “We can stay a few more minutes.”

“No, we can’t,” I said, allowing my own voice to carry the firmness of my convictions. I had been foolish to agree to an evening drive to an isolated area, even if my sister was with me. “We need to start heading back to the car,” I told her. “Now.” I loved my sister dearly, but enough was enough.

“She’s probably right,” I could hear Walter say as I started walking rather briskly. “It’s time to go. I wouldn’t want your father to dislike me.” Then I heard Lev give a scoffing laugh.

Chapter 14

Jessie

I couldn’t stop staring at the empty bottles of blood. Who would do such a thing? I couldn’t conceive of what would have motivated a thief to such mischief.

Whoever had done it must have known that I was a member of the undead. What other possible reason would they have to break into my cabin and dispose of my only food supply? Getting to New York would be a tremendous test of my self-control and I wasn’t sure if I was up to the challenge. The word “test” made me think of my grandfather. This was just the kind of thing he would set up in order to help me “build character”. He felt that Daniel and I were too soft; that our mother coddled us. He also felt that I was ungrateful for my undead transformation. I looked upon being turned into a vampire as a hardship, but he viewed it as the greatest gift he could bestow on another human.

After giving it a bit of thought, I decided that disposing of the blood was probably Grandfather’s way of punishing me for my ingratitude. I quickly became convinced that he had hired someone to break into my cabin and get rid of my food. He probably told the criminal to rob me as well, as a measly cover story. Or maybe that was just something the thief thought up on his own, since he was already in my cabin and pawing through my things. Grandfather apparently did not warn the thief not to open the oversized trunk. Or, knowing my grandfather, he had instructed his minion to search the trunk for some nonexistent item. That would serve the dual purpose of forcing me to take a mortal life and probably save Grandfather the couple of coins he’d promised in payment. Thankfully that last part of the plan was foiled.

Hurriedly, I checked my valise and was relieved to find that the two pints I had stashed in there had not been disturbed. That was a small blessing. I was already feeling edgy from not having eaten and I needed to slake my appetite before I attempted to send word to my mother about what had happened. I knew she had packed enough blood so that sharing wouldn’t cause her any hardship.

Emily tapped at my door and then let herself in. “We’re going up to dinner soon, if you’d like to join us,” she told me. And then stopped short, catching sight of all the empty bottles. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” I told her. “Someone broke into my room while I was resting and this is what they did.”

“But who would do such a thing?” Mrs. Denkler asked. She had walked into my cabin behind my sister.

If I had been speaking to my mother, I would have voiced my suspicions. But Denkie was loyal to our family’s patriarch and I knew any words that passed from my lips would go straight to my grandfather’s ears. “I have no idea,” I said. “Someone who didn’t understand that they were putting everyone on this ship in mortal danger, I suppose.”

Mrs. Denkler’s mouth twitched. “It will be a test of your fortitude,” she told me. “Would you like me to check the ship’s passenger list to see who is likely to be traveling alone?”

Emily gave our housekeeper a startled look.

“That won’t be necessary,” I assured her. “I’ll have to think things over, but I might just ask you to get a message to my mother.” I looked between the two of them. “For the moment, let’s just keep this incident to ourselves.”

Frowning, Mrs. Denkler said, “Of course.”

Was the Vanderlind housekeeper aware of my grandfather’s plan? It seemed very unlikely. I knew Grandfather confided in her about many things, but he was too wily to share this type of plans with a mortal. I took a few, careful pulls of blood from one of the pint bottles. It allowed me to focus on solving my predicament rather than thinking about my hunger or allowing my anger to take control of me.

I didn’t want to upset my mother unnecessarily. I knew she would come to the same conclusion I had about the disposed of blood. And she already had an adversarial relationship with her father as it was. None of the passengers would benefit from witnessing two vampires battling on the deck of the ship. Plus, my grandfather was much more powerful. If he truly lost control of his temper, then he might actually stake my mother in the heat of battle.

No, the best thing I could do for the health of my family was not mention the loss of my food supply. Vampires could go for days without eating, as long as they were careful. I just had to keep myself away from mortals and ration the blood I had left. It would be necessary for me to not leave my cabin for the rest of the trip, day or night. That would keep me away from temptation and the rest of the ship’s passengers safe from me.

At first things went smoothly, I had several good books to keep me occupied. When my sister and Mrs. Denkler came back from dinner, I explained that I definitely did not wish for either of them to communicate my troubles to anyone else in the family. Emily was upset by my decision, but Denkie said, “That’s probably for the best.”

Things became more of a struggle once the two of them went to bed. My cabin began to feel claustrophobic, so I moved into our shared room, just for a change of scenery. Even with this transition, I felt almost an irresistible urge to go up on deck. But I knew people were still out and about, plus my hunger was increasing. The last time I had a sip from the open pint, I realized that half the contents was already gone. I knew I had to be more conservative when I fed or I would end up having to tell Mrs. Denkler to chain me in my trunk for the remainder of the voyage.

As the hour drew close to midnight, I heard someone tapping at the door. Out of habit, my first impulse was to answer it. But then I remembered the state I was in and immediately withdrew into my cabin.

Before I knew what was happening, the little French maid who had been such a charming nuisance the previous evening was letting herself into my room. “Hello?” she said, her cheeks aglow. “You called for more towels?”

“No, I didn’t call for towels,” I told her in a tight voice. “And I think it advisable that you leave. Right now.”

“Do you really want me to go?” she asked, tucking her chin and looking up at me with large blue eyes that had been rimmed in charcoal.

“Yes,” I told her firmly. “That’s why I said it.”

“But what about your towels?” she asked, stepping further into my cabin.

“I never asked for any damn towels,” I insisted, inching past her and heading for the door. I could smell every fragrance of her body in such a confined space and it was making me drool.

“But Monsieur,” she said, reluctantly following me as I led her into the main cabin. “I brought them especially for you.” She stepped very close to me and tilted her head back to look up into my eyes.

I wanted to show her to the door, but I couldn’t. She was so young and beautiful, and she smelled so good. Her eyes were wide and innocent, but no one was that naive. She obviously wanted me to kiss her. But kissing wasn’t what I had in mind. At least not a mortal kiss. It would have been so easy just to bend her head to the side and expose the tender flesh of her neck. I felt my stomach give a painful growl at the mere thought of it.

“Is there nothing else you want from me, Monsieur?” she asked, blinking her wide blue eyes very slowly. “Nothing at all that I can do for you?”

“No,” I told her, and my voice came out like a creaking door. “I’m fine. I appreciate your…” I couldn’t even think of what to say. I cleared my throat. “I appreciate your concern for my comfort, but I think I would… I mean, I think you should just leave. Now. Please,” I gulped.

“You do not like me?” she said with a hint of a pout.

“No, that’s not it at all,” I assured her. “It’s just…” I was clinging to my humanity by the skin of my teeth.

“Maybe you would like to get to know me a little bit better?” she suggested. Her voice turned sultry and her French accent faded away. “That is something that could be arranged.” She glanced down at her bosom and then looked back up at me.

“No…” I began to say.

And then the French maid did something to seal her fate. She reached forward and placed one of her hands on my chest. “Why not?”

That’s when I grabbed her. I couldn’t control myself. A small part of my brain was shouting at her, “No! Get out of here! Run for your very life.” But it was too late for that. The evil that was brewing inside of me took over. I had meant to be so strong, but I was lost.

Rather than struggling, the maid melted into my arms. “Oh, Monsieur,” she said with a sigh, her accent suddenly returning. “I do not think I can resist you. I have never done anything like this before. But if I give way to you, I trust that you will take care of me. Yes?”

But I wasn’t thinking about anything that warranted her trusting me. In fact, I was thinking the exact opposite. Every fiber of my being wanted to drain her and toss the husk of her body over the side of the ship, never to be heard from again.

“I’ll take care of you,” I whispered, pulling some tendrils of her hair to one side and fully exposing her neck.

That’s when the cabin door burst open. Several burly men charged into the cabin. One of them looked me directly in the face and shouted, “Vampire!”

Chapter 15

Colette

“I’m mad at you,” Lilly said, thrusting her chin into the air and turning away from me. I already knew she was mad at me. It was obvious from the way she had been storming around our room all evening, picking up books, slamming them down again, and sighing quite dramatically. It wasn’t behavior she could exhibit in front of our mother and father at dinner, but just the two of us in the room we shared was a different story.

“Yes, I know that,” I told her.

That caught her up for a moment. “Well don’t you want to know why?”

“I think I probably already know,” I said, although mostly to myself.

“It’s because of the way you’re treating Lev,” she said without really hearing me.

“No it’s not,” was my reply. We’d gone driving with the boys the evening before and I was still irritated. If anything, I was the one who should have been mad at her. “It’s because you wanted to stay and canoodle in the moonlight with Walter and I wanted to go home.” I sat down at the dressing table we shared, picked up a brush and started trying to tame my hair.

“Well…” she stammered, “that too, but I also think you’re also being very rude to Lev.”