The Vampire Laird (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery/Romance) (9 page)

***

The small French mantle clock had just ‘pinged’ midnight, when something woke Meg. She looked around groggily. What was it, she wondered? A noise…a touch? It had to be something…something that had taken her from what promised to be a very good dream. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Moonlight streamed through the open doors and cut a wide swathe in the darkness at the foot of the bed. The rest of the room was in deep shadow…and quiet…very quiet. Then she heard it. A rustle…a sibilant whisper…a low growl. Something was definitely there and not the
good kind
of something, she thought, as she poked Charlie hard in the ribs and whispered, “Wake up! We have company and its not the friendly sort!”

Charlie was awake instantly. Sitting up in bed, she whispered back, “What’s going on? Why don’t you turn on the light?”

Then they both saw it…or rather…her. It was Orianna dressed in a filmy white gown of another era, her long dark hair writhing like Medusa’s snakes around her white face. Her eyes were enormous…her mouth contorted as she pointed a long bone white finger at them and hissed, “I will come for you.”

“Like hell you will,” Charlie shouted, as she flung herself off the bed and made a grab for Orianna only to have her arms close around thin air. Meg fumbled for the bedside lamp, but by the time she managed to find its pull chain, Orianna had vanished. Both sisters simply stared at each other, then Meg raked her fingers through her short blonde curls and smiled dryly. “Well, you have to admit…that woman gets around!”

Charlie returned her smile. “And quickly! Where do you suppose she disappeared to?”

Meg shrugged and patted the bed next to her. “The question we need to ask first, is how did she get in here? I locked the hall door and the adjoining one to your room. But the French doors are open and if she is a
you know what
, maybe she came in that way?”

“So…you think she turned into a bat and flapped her way in? That would be the only way she could make it through that window. I checked when we first got here and it’s a sheer drop to the flagstones below with no ivy or convenient drain spout like in the movies.”

“Okay…Miss Knows Everything, how did she get in?” Meg asked, chewing on her lower lip thoughtfully.

“Well…that sort of leaves two possibilities. One being she really is a vampire and can turn into a bat at will, which I am not inclined to believe or…..”

“Or what?” Meg asked not liking the first possibility at all.

“There’s a secret way into this room. You’ve had a good look at this place…or at least the beginning of a good look. Doesn’t it seem likely this manor is riddled with secret doors, rooms, and passages?”

“More than likely and I’m not going to sleep a wink in here until I’ve found the one that coughed up Orianna,” Meg said emphatically. “I’ll take this wall and you can get started over there.”

Charlie sighed. “Now who’s being the bossy boots? I really think this could wait till morning. Orianna has done her best to scare us and I don’t think she’ll be back again tonight.”

A long time later, Chalrie crawled wearily back into bed and pulled the covers over her head. “That’s enough, Meg!” she muttered. “If there is a hidden door, I will help you find it…in the morning…at a decent hour! Good night!”

Meg bounced up next to her and said close to her ear. “Fine! Go to sleep like there’s not a chance we’ll be bitten in our sleep. See you in the morning. Good night.”

She turned off the light and sighed heavily, then bounced around a few more times just to annoy her sister. When that didn’t produce a reaction, she sighed again and slid under the covers just as something landed on the foot of the bed. Sitting up quickly, she looked down at a glowing ball of light. “Charlie….” No answer or, at least, no articulate one. “Charlie…” Meg tried again, peeling back the covers.

“Meg, if you don’t shut up and let me get some sleep I swear it won’t be a vampire that bites you!”

“Look! There’s something at the foot of our bed.”

Charlie rolled onto her back and reluctantly opened one eye. “I don’t see…” she began and then she did. “What the…?”

As they watched in fascination, the ball shape-shifted and grew more and more solid, then morphed into a large white cat.

“Cloud!” they both exclaimed at once. “How did you get here?” an astounded Meg asked. He answered with a long “meow”, then made his way daintily up the bed between them. First he gave Meg a cat kiss on her nose, then rubbed his head under Charlie’s chin and settled on top of her stomach, where he began to purr loudly.

Charlie’s hand trembled as she stroked his long silky fur. She had never told anyone how much she missed him. “I never thought I’d see you again,” she told him as tears ran freely down her cheeks. “How did you ever find us?”

He stared at her, unblinkingly, with knowing eyes that gradually closed in sleep.

Meg smiled. Cloud had visited everyone at Hensley Hall, but he’d always been Charlie’s. And then she corrected herself. Charlie had always been his. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that he found his way here. I can’t even begin to imagine how.”

Charlie brushed away her tears with the back of her hand. “Do you think he’ll be safe here? This is all strange turf to him and not the friendly kind.”

Meg reached out to pet him. “Probably safer than us, but I’m glad to see you have a fur child of your own to worry about. Besides, what’s the worse that could happen to him? He’s already dead.”

Charlie didn’t find that very comforting. Long after Meg had fallen fast asleep, she lay awake with Cloud sprawled across her. She was afraid to close her eyes…afraid that he would vanish as suddenly as he had appeared. Towards dawn she dozed off and, when she awoke her fears were realized…he was gone.

***

Seth was just leaving the breakfast room when a sleepy Meg and Charlie were directed there by Mrs. Bently. “Ah, ladies. I hope you slept well. Charlie, I will be back to pick you up in say half an hour? It’s a bit of a drive up to the lodge and the trail rough so we’ll take the Land Rover. I was afraid I’d have to cancel. Thick sea fog earlier, but an eastern breeze has pushed it off shore. Meg, I’m not sure what we have to entertain you.”

“No need to worry about me. I’ll be fine,” she murmured, trying to stifle a yawn. “I’m sure I’ll find something to amuse me.”

He lifted one brow and smiled sardonically. “I’m sure you will. Half and hour, Charlie. I’ll meet you out front.” Then he was off.

They had almost finished eating, when Orianna drifted slowly through the door dressed in a designer something or other that suited her to perfection and made both sisters feel woefully frumpy by comparison. “If it isn’t the Ravynne sisters all busy with their day. I trust you slept well?” she purred as she made a pass along the breakfast buffet, lifting a cover here and there.

“Very well, thank you,” Charlie replied evenly. “In fact, never better. How about you, Meg?”

“Out like a light. Though I did hear a noise, which turned out to be a rat. Did you know you have rats here? Someone should do something about them.”

Orianna’s dark eyes narrowed to mere slits and her smile was far from amused. “Are you quite sure you didn’t mean ‘bat’? There is a Baobhan Sith…a vampire…that walks these halls who reportedly looks a lot like me. Might even be me. Good day.” Then she was gone.

The sisters smiled. “She does work rather hard at being mysterious,” Meg commented as she took another bite of her potato scone.

“Yes…and does an excellent job of being a thoroughly offensive bitch. Where do you suppose she’s headed?”

“Don’t know, and without definite proof she’s not with Allyn, it’s back to biding our time. Something I don’t do all that well and I’m not half as impatient as you are,” Meg replied glumly.

They finished their breakfast without further interruptions and, a short time later, Charlie drove off with Seth, leaving Meg at loose ends. She decided to explore the main floor and opened one door after another. She relocated the summer parlor where they’d had tea…found another parlor decorated in Regency style furniture with sage green accents and a very masculine card room with animal heads sprouting from the walls.

Meg shuddered and moved on. The ballroom was elegant with a row of crystal chandeliers marching down the length of its high-coffered ceiling. She closed her eyes and imagined the music…the dancers in their kilts and plaids. There would be a piper and the music would swell and drift out over the moors. But that was long ago…now the air was heavy with something she could not name…or wouldn’t even if she could. She opened her eyes and looked around slowly. There was something very wrong here. Some evil that was associated with the large stain on the parquet floor. Whatever it was, it didn’t welcome her intrusion.

She moved on and decided to settle in the library. Selecting a book, she curled up in a deep leather chair next to the window, where she could see past the gardens and the moors beyond.. The sky was gray and brooding and the castle high on its bluff looked bleak and haunted. She smiled to herself. Of course it was haunted. It just had to be, didn’t it? It was quite probably the last refuge of the MacMorley vampire, the Laird of Blackcreag.

She turned her attention to a young boy leading a spirited chestnut down the lane that edged the garden. Nearby, a man in a faded flannel shirt clipped the hedges, then moved on to the other side. All the normal, everyday stuff others saw, while she looked for ghosts in every corner, she thought, shaking her head, as she opened her book and began to read. Within minutes, her eyes began to grow heavy. She was almost asleep, when something caught her attention. A familiar figure was climbing the trail up to the moors. Allyn? It was too far to be sure, but she had to know, though how in the world would she ever catch up with him? Then she smiled. “The ‘shortest distance between two points is a straight line’,” she murmured. After checking in both directions, she opened the window, then dropped to the lawn below.

She looked around again. So far so good. No one had seen her unorthodox exit. Sprinting along the row of hedges, she made it to the lane and slowed her pace as much as she dared. Not good to draw too much attention, she thought, but found herself automatically quickening her pace. An old man currying a gelding in the paddock, called to her as she passed. “I’d not be walking up on the moors, Miss, if I were you. The sea fog is likely to blow back in if the wind shifts and it can do that most any time.”

She offered him her best smile. “I won’t be gone long and at the first sign of fog, I’ll head right back,” she told him as casually as she could manage. He was still shaking his head, when she turned the corner and, safely out of sight, sprinted ahead. She had lost valuable time and may well have lost any chance of finding her brother.

She looked around. There was no sign of Allyn…just miles of hilly treeless terrain dotted with sheep. Maybe if she climbed to a high place? She ran as fast as she could through the gorse, rough grass and heather. Rocky outcroppings poked through the thin earth and she climbed up on the highest one she could find. She turned slowly, looking in all directions, but there was no sign of Allyn anywhere. Maybe the whole thing had just been a figment of her imagination? He really hadn’t looked like he was in any shape for a hike last time she saw him.

A grouse broke cover below her and she almost lost her footing. She smiled shakily, as she climbed down from the boulder. She’d been lucky that time, she thought. .This wasn’t a good place for a fall not that there ever was a
good
place for one, but out here… Her thoughts were derailed as she realized, suddenly, that the breeze had shifted and now blew off the sea, pushing a bank of dense gray fog in front of it.

She began to run. Tripping over a stone, she twisted her right ankle and fell hard, landing on her hands and knees. She sucked in her breath as the pain washed over her, then rolled over and checked for damages. Her outthrust hands had saved her face, but they were scraped and bloody. There was a hole in one knee of her jeans and her ankle throbbed painfully. Using a nearby boulder for support, she pulled herself to a standing position and tested her ankle, then grimaced in pain. A tear slid down her cheek and she brushed it away impatiently. “Don’t be a baby, Meg,” she told herself. “Tears aren’t going to help. You need to stay cool and figure out what to do next.” Surely, things couldn’t get much worse, she thought ruefully and then they did.

She had been so busy checking her injuries, she hadn’t paid attention to the fog which now rolled over her like blanket. There was no way she was going anywhere any time soon, she thought miserably, as she sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees. There was nothing she could do about her ankle…about anything now. She was stuck here for the duration which was what? Hours? Days? Maybe the old man with the horse would eventually tell someone where she had gone, but how long would that take? Maybe a few screams would help

So she tried shouting as loudly as she could. “Hellloooo! Can anyone hear me? I need help!” But the fog deadened all sound. She began to shiver. It was damp and cold and she was feeling more than a little scared when she heard what sounded like a rider coming her way. Who would be out in this fog, she wondered? And riding so fast when you couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of you? It would have to be an idiot. But even an ‘idiot’ might be a help, so she called, “Help! Over here!”

The rider slowed, then began to appear bit by bit through the dense veil. It was a man on a night black steed. He slowed to a canter and then a trot. The black horse arched his silken neck and blew through his flaring nostrils, as the rider reined him to a stop in front of the astonished Meg. He was tall…dressed all in black…with a flowing hooded cloak that concealed his identity. The horse shifted restlessly and tossed his head, as his rider shoved back his hood and looked down at Meg with a sardonic smile and the lift of one black brow. Meg gasped. There was no mistaking the man in front of her. He was Grey…Grey of the portrait. The vampire of Blood castle. But how could that be?