The Caretaker of Showman's Hill (Vampire Romance) (9 page)

Chapter 13

Cassie sat with the door cracked open all night, watching the three women take men up to their rooms and back down again. It disgusted her to think of what was going on behind those closed doors. She should have asked Basil how he could condone such a thing. The women were very entertaining the way they shook their feathered boas, or twisted their waist or wrapped a snake around parts of their body to lure the men to go with them. The men seemed very eager to go, but their reactions when they left the rooms were confusing.

Every time a man would emerge from behind a closed door, Cassie noticed that he was rubbing his arm or leg or even his backside. Still, they had a satisfied look on their face, but a very confused, distant look in their eyes. Odd indeed.

She wondered if the girls were dominatrices. She’d heard how some women even used handcuffs and whips while having sex. Some men seemed to like it rough. She also found herself wondering how Basil liked it. After all, he was pretty rough around the edges.

She noticed that the men at the bar never seemed to pay for any of their drinks. From her position she could just see the bar downstairs, and Andre serving the men. La Roux seemed to serve as hostess and cocktail waitress too. The men didn’t pay for the drinks, but still tipped La Roux generously.

She learned from the conversations she overheard that the three women's names were Hope, Charity and Faith. Fitting names, considering the job they were doing. Cassie wouldn’t be caught dead in one of those gaudy, scanty outfits that they wore. The girls were not much older than Cassie, and very pretty considering the heavy makeup covering their faces. They also had very fit bodies on them that looked like they'd been working out. Even the short stouter one with the snake was in good shape.

Working out, Cassie thought. Well, they sure had their share of workouts per night considering the many men they'd taken to their rooms.

Cassie finally got tired of watching and fell asleep at her post. She awoke with a start several hours later when she heard Basil's deep voice from the room below. She looked around and realized that all the customers were gone. The only people in the room below were the employees.

"Well, are we ready to start this meeting?" asked Basil from behind the bar. He looked more handsome than usual for some reason. The sleeves of his khaki shirt were rolled up to his elbows, not to mention the shirt was unbuttoned down to his waist. Cassie's eyes absorbed his wide, strong chest and forearms. His black jeans hugged his slim waist, and she wished for a mirror behind the bar at that moment so she could see how they fit on his backside as well. She'd have to get a wall-sized mirror next time she went to town.

"We're still waiting for Sefu and Louie to come up from the basement, Caretaker," said the girl named Hope, playing with that disgusting snake wrapped around her shoulders.

"SEFU, LOUIE, get up here now!" screamed Basil.

They barged in from the kitchen at his command.

Sefu waved his arms in the air and touched his stomach. Louie translated.

"We've been feeling quite sick all day, Basil. And you didn't have to shout. We could have heard you whisper."

What an odd thing to say, thought Cassie. Their voices lowered and Cassie sneaked out into the hall to hear better. She turned on her tape recorder so she wouldn't miss a thing.

"Sorry about that," Basil said softy. "What do you mean you feel sick? Our kind never gets sick."

Cassie figured Basil was bragging, and they were all just a healthy lot of people.

"It's that food that the reporter brought," piped up Antonio. "The ice cream they ate. The girl is trying to poison us I tell you."

So that's what happened to all the ice cream, thought Cassie. It served those two right for eating the whole half-gallon and not leaving any for La Roux. And La Roux said they wouldn't eat!

"Cassie is only trying to help." La Roux walked to the side of the bar by Basil. "She means no one any harm."

"Who invited you to this meeting?" Antonio asked.

"I did," said Basil.

"She doesn't belong here," sneered Antonio. "She's not one of us."

"Let her stay," added the usually quiet Andre as he shined a glass with a soft cloth.

"Enough of this bickering. We've got business to attend to." Basil walked around to the front of the bar and the rest crowded around him.

"What about the girl upstairs?" asked Faith, the tall, skinny one of the three. Cassie flattened herself against the wall when Faith pointed to the stairs. She could hear her heart pounding and hoped they couldn't hear it as well.

"Don't worry about Cassie," Basil reassured her. "I've taken care of her for the night."

So, he did try to put her in a trance. Taken care of her. Is that why they'd referred to him as the caretaker?

"I'm hungry," complained Antonio. "Couldn't we have a little snack while we're discussing this?"

Cassie watched Basil's face redden as if he were about to explode. Everyone became deathly quiet and the chandelier began to jingle on the ceiling.

"Basil, control yourself," warned Louie.

Antonio looked up and moved far away from the lighting fixture. "I can wait," he said. "No problem. What was it you wanted to say?"

Cassie watched the chandelier swing back and forth and wondered if they were having an earth tremor.

"We have several problems." Basil paced back and forth as he spoke. "The vampire bats are very sickly. I expect one or several of them to die at any time."

Gasps of concern went up from the small group.

"Maybe that's why Sefu and Louie are feeling sick," added Charity, emptying dirty glasses and beer bottles onto the bar for Andre to take. Cassie couldn’t believe the girl could hold so many without dropping them.

Sefu and Louie looked toward Basil.

"Is that what's happening to us, brother?" asked Louie.

Brother? That puzzled Cassie. Basil didn't tell her Louie was his brother. Matter of fact, he didn't tell her much of anything at all. She thought about the sick bats in the attic. If that’s why Sefu and Louie were feeling sick, then maybe the bats were the carriers of some contagious disease. She’d been up in the attic, and could only hope she wouldn’t catch it too.

"I’m not sure what’s going on," answered Basil, "but strange things are happening to all of us lately and I don't know what to make of it."

"Maybe it's time for us to drink the potion you've been guarding for all these years, cousin." Antonio stepped forward as he spoke.

So that creep Antonio was Basil’s cousin? Cassie shook her head. No wonder he didn’t kill him for attacking her in the graveyard that first night.

"No, we’ll not touch the potion,” Basil continued. “You know we're not supposed to. Besides, it's only enough for one of us. How could I ever choose who was to have it?"

"Let me choose," volunteered Antonio. "Or let me take care of it for a while. How do we know we can trust you with it?"

"It's no secret I keep it in my home," said Basil. "Anytime any of you think you want to try and steal it - go ahead. But I warn you, you’ll have to deal with me, and it won’t be pretty."

Cassie couldn’t believe how coveted this old potion sounded. If they needed medicine or antibiotics, why didn’t they just go to the doctor and get some instead of fighting over the last bottle?

"The guardians would never let us in," said Hope. "They'd never let any of us take it."

Cassie had no idea who the guardians were. She hadn’t seen any cops standing outside. Why, she wondered, would someone hire a guardian to watch over old medicine? These people were very odd indeed.

"There's no way we can even enter your home without your permission," added Charity. “No one’s going to try to steal it.”

"Madra set that up, not me," explained Basil.

"Madra's dead!" snapped Antonio. "She should no longer have any power over us or any of the circus."

Circus? Cassie couldn’t have heard right. Was he referring to everything weird around there as a circus, just being funny, or did it mean something else? She leaned a bit closer to the railing trying to hear more of this strange conversation. The banister squeaked slightly and Basil's eyes darted up toward her. She ducked out of sight and hoped he hadn't seen her.

When they lowered their voices to nearly inaudible tones, she had to strain her ears to try to hear them. They sounded soft and clicking, almost like the noise she'd heard the bats make up in the attic. She knew they were being cautious now and she wasn't going to get any more information tonight. She turned off her tape recorder and headed off to bed.

"Do you think she heard us?" Andre talked in tones only a vampire could hear.

"I'll pick her mind tomorrow and find out." Basil raised a glass of scotch to his mouth and then put it down. His need for blood was getting stronger since he'd tasted the potion. So was his need for a warm woman - one in particular. "La Roux. Go get some fresh blood from the refrigerator. Suddenly I have a powerful hunger."

Chapter 14

Cassie woke up and left for work Monday morning, not bothering to wake La Roux. As she entered the office of Strange Sightings magazine, she clutched her tape recorder in her hand. Her heels clicked loudly over the wooden floor, causing Jay to look up from his phone conversation. He hurriedly cut it short and made it to her desk almost before she did.

"Where've you been, Cassie? I tried to phone you this weekend but the hotel said you checked out."

"I did." Cassie sat down and rearranged some papers on her desk.

"Where are you staying now?" Jay grabbed a cigarette from his pocket, put it between his lips and searched his pockets for a match.

"What do you care?" Cassie wished he'd just leave her alone. She really didn’t like him.

"I've got a lead on the vampire sightings that I thought might interest you."

"Oh?" She tried to sound nonchalant. If Jay was giving her a lead, it meant he found some kind of dirt on someone and wanted her to reveal it. Either that, or it meant there was something in it for him. Jay would never help anyone unless he benefited from it directly.

He found a match in his back pocket and lit up, causing Cassie to flinch. She hated cigarette smoke and wasn’t fond of anything Jay did.

"I need a cup of coffee." She got up and walked over to the coffee maker just outside of Gregg's office. As she poured herself a cup, she noticed Gregg's office was dark. He was either late for work which was not likely, or out trying to get a story. Bob, her other co-worker, wasn't in either. He usually shared a desk with Cassie, filling in the hours that she was off.

"An anonymous caller this weekend said they were walking by that old house near the cemetery and saw something strange going on." Jay had followed her over to the coffee machine and was proceeding to back her into a corner.

Cassie's curiosity picked up. This sounded like it could possibly be a legitimate tip. It also sounded like he was talking about the Bat House. She knew by the conversation she'd overheard last night that there was definitely something strange going on there. Still, she'd never give Jay the pleasure of knowing his tip was right.

"Are you talking about the Bat House?" Cassie asked and blew on her coffee.

"Yeah. You know the place?"

"You could say that. What did this anonymous person say they saw?"

"Bats. Lots of them flying around the house. Then one of them turned into a vampire and flew to the ground with a girl in his arms."

"Now that sounds like a story Strange Sightings would print."

"Want to thank me personally for telling you the tip?" He smiled, took a puff of his cigarette and leaned closer.

"Why should I when it's not even true?" She pushed past him and headed back to her desk with her Styrofoam coffee cup in hand.

"How can you say that?" He followed her and placed his rump on her desk.

"Because I was there and I tell you nothing like that happened. True, they raise bats in the attic, but that's as far as it goes."

"What were you doing at the Bat House?" She loved the surprised tone in Jay’s voice. She wanted him to know she was a better reporter than he thought.

"I live there now."

Jay smiled from ear to ear and his eyes raked down her body. "I've never been there but I heard about the girls upstairs. Are you by any chance taking on a side job, Cassie?"

His accusations disgusted her. "The only job I have there is as a cook. I took it not only to save money, but to be close to the cemetery so I can finish my story. Now I'll thank you to get your ass off my desk so I can get back to work."

Jay didn’t budge. "So what really goes on in the Bat House, Cassie? Who are these people with bats in their belfries?"

She had about enough of Jay as she could take. "You know as much about it as I do, Jay. But don't worry, you'll be the first to know if I find a vampire living in the place."

Jay's phone rang and he shuffled over to his desk to answer it. Cassie felt relieved. She was uncomfortable being here alone with him, so decided to go to the library to research the circus train that supposedly crashed there years ago, instead of using her computer on her desk.

Last night she'd overheard a circus mentioned in their conversation at the Bat House. Since nothing else they said seemed to make sense, she figured she'd work on that angle and forget about trying to understand anything about the people who lived in the strange old house. After she researched the circus, she'd replay the tape and see what else she could dig up.

She saw that Jay was finishing up his conversation and decided the faster she got out of there the better. Even if a vampire really existed, he’d be better company than Jay.

"Tell Gregg I'm doing research today," she told Jay as she quickly slipped out the door.

* * *

Cassie had spent most the afternoon in the library amazed at the information she'd found. As she drove to Showman's Hill Cemetery, she pondered the data in her head. If only she hadn't been in such a hurry to get away from Jay, she wouldn’t have forgotten her tape recorder at the office. She could have used it to record the facts she'd found. She hadn't wanted to deal with Jay again, so decided to get the tape recorder tomorrow.

A circus train had indeed crashed there back in 1819. Actually, it had stopped to fix a problem, and another train conductor asleep at the wheel rammed them from behind. The sleeping car was demolished and the wooden cars caught fire. Many of the animals were killed along with most of the performers. It was such a huge mess, with so many dead people and animals, that they'd buried them all together on the hill and called it Showman's Hill Cemetery.

She pulled into the cemetery and parked on the small overgrown road in front of the strange little mausoleum with the two sphinxes in front.

Since the crash, people had sworn they could still hear the animals roaring and people screaming to get out of the burning train. A shiver went up her spine and she stepped from the car. It was a dreary day, and looked like rain to make matters worse. She'd have to inspect the cemetery quickly and hopefully make it back to the Bat House in time to make dinner and ask some of the customers if they'd seen her sister.

She'd been so tied up with this nonexistent vampire story that she'd barely had time to continue her search for Didi. She already figured she'd talk to Gregg tomorrow and ask him for more time to do her personal business.

She took a step toward the mausoleum and stopped short when she thought she heard a lion's roar. She looked around and shook her head. Surely the rumors were starting to haunt her too. She passed animal after animal of carved stone elephants, dogs, and even bears. The closest thing to a lion she saw was the two sphinxes that guarded the strange little mausoleum.

Then she remembered her notes in her pocket and pulled them out, scanning them quickly. Sure enough. There was a lion tamer killed in the crash, along with his two lions, so the article said. She read through her scribbled writing and picked out one of the only names the article stated. Wensilton. Supposedly the circus was owned by a family named Wensilton who traveled all over the world before coming here.

She pushed her notepad back in her pocket and glanced up at the mysterious little building. Wensilton was carved in stone above the wooden door that sat atop the three stone steps.

So, thought Cassie. Maybe I can dig up some kind of story in this old cemetery after all. Cassie had worked as a newspaper reporter back in California for two years even before she’d worked for the business magazine. She knew how to make a story out of nothing, and she figured this tip was better than she'd expected. Maybe if she peeked inside the mausoleum she'd come up with something of interest.

She took a step forward and stopped as her foot lifted to the stair. The sound of the lion's roar echoed in her mind and she couldn't help but feel she was being watched. She looked over her shoulder but couldn't see much through the tall grass. The wind picked up and the sky clouded over, causing night to fall sooner than it should have.

She looked to one sphinx and than to the other. They lay there proudly, very regal. They reminded her of watchdogs doing their duty. It almost seemed as if they were watching over the little house. What was inside the mausoleum? She found herself wanting - no - needing to know.

"Nice sphinxy." She stuck out her hand and stroked one sphinx on the head, glad there was no one near to see her absurd action. Then she did the same to the other. "I only want to take a peek. I promise I won't hurt anything."

A feeling of approval bathed down upon her, and she felt it was the sphinxes telling her to go ahead. "I must be crazy," she mumbled to herself as she climbed to the top of the three stone steps and stood on her tiptoes to look into the little window in the wooden door. Spying on the dead wasn't something she did often, thank goodness. She felt very nervous about the whole idea.

The trees bent in the breeze around her, a storm rolling in threatening to cut her exploration short. She could no longer tell what time of day it was, as the sun was so hidden behind the clouds it made it seem like night.

Cassie couldn't see well with the iron gates in front of her, and reached down to move them away. She toyed with the padlock on the grates. As old and rusty as it was, the lock was clamped shut tight. She released it and tried to peek in the window again but being on the short side, found it difficult to see in. A gust of wind blew past her face and she held on to the grates so she wouldn't be blown over.

"I gotta get out of here before I'm blown half way to Kansas." She turned and started down the steps but froze in place when something metal clinked on the stone steps behind her. Pushing a stray windblown hair aside, she turned and found herself staring at the padlock on the ground.

"There's no way . . " She walked up and inspected it. Open. The wind must have been stronger than she thought. She toyed with the idea of retreating and coming back another day but something - some strange force seemed to push her to go forward. In one motion she whipped the grate aside and found herself trying the handle of the door.

It opened easily. A little too easily she told herself. Thunder boomed in the distance as she poked her head inside. Musty air filled the eerie little room. A thick blanket of darkness greeted her with only a slight glow of skylight coming in through the opposite stained glass window. On the window, an Egyptian scarab, or beetle, graced the panes with spread wings.

"A sign of good luck," she told herself, having heard her mother tell her that years ago. Behind the scarab were three pyramids. A stained glass sun with long rays pushed out from behind it. Cassie reached for her camera and cursed when she found she'd left it in the car. It was unlike her to be so forgetful. First the tape recorder, now the camera. She wondered just what happened to her brain since she’d met Basil. Well, she'd have to come back with the camera later to get a picture.

Her gaze traveled to the crypts on each side. Three vaults were stacked atop each other making up the walls. The ones on the left hadn't any inscriptions as far as she could tell. The ones on the right seemed to be engraved. She dug out her mini flashlight from her other pocket, and shined it on the top vault.

The name read Madra Wensilton. “Madra,” she repeated, remembering this name from the conversation she overheard last night. Could this be a distant relative of someone in the Bat House? The dates on the vault read 1766 to 1819. Maybe, she thought, the name she heard mentioned was a relative named after this woman, as she had died a long time ago.

Her hand reached out and traveled down the smooth stone and came upon the middle vault. She made out the name of a man. Probably the women's husband she told herself, knowing mausoleums usually held family members. Her hand stopped on the stone as she realized the name of the man was Basil Wensilton II. Born 1760 and died 1819.

Her mind was triggered of the Basil she knew. This man had the same name. Maybe some great, great-grandfather or something. She'd have to ask him about it later.

Her hand went out to the last drawer as she bent down to inspect it. Her fingers seemed to tingle as she felt the letters on the stone. She traced out the name Basil for the second time. The last name was Wensilton, only this corpse was Basil Wensilton III.

How many of these guys were there anyway? She fingered the dates and found out the man was born in 1785 but oddly enough the day of his death was never recorded. Just as she got to the end of the date, lightning struck nearby, followed by a loud crash of thunder. She pulled back instantly, swearing she could feel the charge of electricity through her fingers. Her heart raced as she heard the distinct roar of a lion for the second time that day.

She felt someone's presence and jumped to her feet. Lightning lit up the sky again and she saw Antonio standing in the doorway.

"Come to visit Basil?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear. She noticed he was wearing his odd cape again over his dark pants and white shirt.

"Visit Basil?" she asked, thinking he meant the names on the vaults. "Sorry, but I'm not into visiting dead people I never knew. I was just curious and wandered in here."

"This place is always locked, how'd you get in?" His eyes settled on her neck, and her stomach clenched as she remembered that night in the graveyard. She didn’t want to be around Antonio alone. Oddly enough, he didn't step over the threshold.