by Helen Bright
I was at this funeral at Maggie Saunders’ insistence. The Night Movers office manager said that as the recently deceased Beryl Fraser had worked for Night Movers for so long before her retirement two weeks ago, at least one of the owners should attend.
It appeared that I had drawn the short straw as it were, because I stood there on this cold winter’s day, at the funeral of a woman I had only met twice.
Beryl Fraser had sought me out after she had made up a mixture of oils and cleaning products that removed blue dye from my hands. Yuri and I had a bit of a mishap with Daisy on a day out we had planned for her, and we all ended up with blue staining our skin. Keeley had sought out the woman to see if she knew of any way to remove the dye.
Beryl had been a cleaner at Night Movers for twenty years, so she knew her stuff when it came to removing dirt and stains.
Keeley had told her not to tell me she had a way to remove it, but Beryl found me and gave me a bottle of something she had made up herself and it removed the stain after leaving in on my hands for ten minutes, although I’ve no idea what it was.
I thanked her with a large bouquet of flowers that I made up myself, as I was filling in for Chloe, Gregor’s woman, at her flower shop, at the time, and the only other time I had conversed with this woman was when she came to thank me.
I had sent the lovely Chloe to Russia with a drunken Gregor, as a way to get them together after they had a falling out. Less than a week later, they were bonded, and three weeks after that, Chloe found out she was pregnant. So my interference proved positive in more ways than one.
I was happy for my friend and welcomed the fact that there would be another child for me to love and be an uncle to. But since they found out, Gregor had become extremely overprotective, and it seemed to be getting the normally independent Chloe down.
I had stayed on at her flat while my cottage was being built on Night Movers land. It would be next door to Nik and Gina, although I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea now. The build was in motion, but was held up by the weather at present.
Since my move to Chloe's flat, I had spent less time with Nik and Gina, other than when we were at work. I chose to pass some of my spare time with Alex and Julia, instead.
Their baby, Rory, was so pleasant, I spent time with him whenever I could. It was great to see him as often as I did, as it enabled me to see every new development he made, no matter how small.
He was just over three months old, and could push himself up on his hands and roll over from his belly to his back. Alex and I have some videos of this on our phones and will often argue over which were the best.
But half an hour with the baby every couple of days was not enough to fill up my time. I found myself spending more and more time with the humans in the small Yorkshire village where I was currently living.
I had bought into the English branch of this company during the summer, and had worked Joshua York’s evening shift for him on a four on three off night shift pattern.
He had recently bonded with his love, Keeley, and wanted to spend more time with her and her daughter Daisy (who he was in the process of adopting), but the night shifts he worked didn’t allow for much of that. I was happy to take on a partnership here because I considered everyone to be a great friend, and in Nik and Gina’s case, family.
But months had passed since that decision was made, and as time has moved on, I have been less comfortable with the situation as I was previously.
It seemed that most of my immortal friends were busy being a couple and had little time to spare, as weddings and babies took precedent over social time.
I normally relied on Nik and Gina to keep me company on my days and nights off, but after some revelations that I made after Keeley was attacked, Nik, someone who I always thought of as a brother, had become distant and seemed to resent my close friendship with his woman, Gina.
I had always loved Gina, and many years before I thought she could have been it for me, but Nik had met her first, and I would have never had come between them, then or now.
Over the years I realised while my love for Gina was strong, it was not, and had never been, as powerful as the love between true soulmates destined to bond. I think Nik understood this, but the vampire side of him probably still saw me as a threat.
Yuri is over from Russia with another of Gregor’s guards, Dmitry. We have gotten together on occasion, but I feel that something is not right between the two of them, although they hide it well when around Gregor.
I have seen the way that Yuri looks at Mel, the bar manager of the Red Lion, the pub that he owns in the village. But the last time I was with them I noticed that Dmitry shared the same look with her, and from experience, I didn’t think that would go down so well.
Because of all this, I have found myself integrating more with the humans of this village, and I find that I greatly enjoy their company. I feel that I have made great friends here, and if it were not for that and my position within Night Movers, I would have gone back to Russia.
I have trusted staff to manage my business dealings in my home country, but feel I should be doing more to oversee the business that my grandfather created.
Sergei’s Story - Chapter Two
After the long funeral service, the mourners walked the short distance from the church to the graveside. I noticed the young woman crouch down in front of the tearful boy and offer words of comfort, before taking him in her arms as he cried.
The child was scared, as well as being bewildered, and my heart ached to see his tears. I turned to Maggie, who was sobbing at the sight of the little boy’s distress, and I took her in my arms and stepped aside with her, to let the other mourners pass.
I asked why there was no other family to support the young woman and the child, whom I assumed to be Beryl’s grandchildren. Maggie informed me that Beryl’s husband had passed away just after her grandson, Matthew, was born. She said that Beryl had raised Matthew and his sister Holly, after their mother, who had been Beryl’s only child, committed suicide when Matthew was a baby.
I watched as Moira, a part-time cook at Night Movers, and apparently Beryl’s best friend, took Holly and Matthew into her embrace when they both openly wept as the coffin was lowered into the ground.
It took everything I had not to walk over to them and carry them away from here. It felt wrong that there were no other living relatives around to help, their father, maybe? But Maggie informed me that their mother “had been a bit flighty in her youth” and had taken off to some protestor camp. She came back heavily pregnant with Holly two years later.
Maggie told me that Matthew’s father was rumoured to be a married man from Lincolnshire, and as far as she was aware had little to do with the child.
Their plight disturbed me. I felt I could relate to them somewhat.
I had been orphaned as a baby, along with Nik, when both our parents had been killed at the hands of the Hunters; a religious group who sought out and killed immortals and their families. Our Mothers, who were cousins, had left us with a relative, Petre, a priest that ran an orphanage some miles from where they lived in Romania.
Our fathers had joined the immortal army and had met our mothers as they sought out the Hunters in their latest uprising, over two hundred and ninety-three years ago. But the immortals had been betrayed by one of their own, and the Hunter’s numbers were much more than anyone had expected, being backed at the time by Rome itself.
We stayed in the orphanage with our mother’s cousin, Father Petre, until our Grandfathers came to take us away when the Hunters were finally defeated.
The orphanage had been a way to hide us in plain sight, but I never forgot my roots, despite my reasons for being there, and as good a man as Father Petre and the staff were, I missed having a family to care for me.
Nik and I were as close as brothers though, and always had each other’s back. Until now, it seemed.
Maggie and I were told that there was a ‘funeral tea,’ being held in the local
community hall. We went along so we could speak to Holly there, and offer our condolences.
I watched her move around the room, thanking everybody who had attended, as Moira sat with the little boy, who now seemed more settled. Maggie said that Holly must be only eighteen or nineteen now, no age at all to take on the sole responsibility of bringing up her seven-year-old brother.
Before she got to speaking with people on our side of the room, I noticed her go and fill up a plate of sandwiches and sausage rolls and take it to her brother. I then saw her go back to the table and wrap more food up in a napkin and place it in her handbag. She quickly looked around to ascertain that no one was watching her, before doing the same again.
This was her grandmother’s funeral, and no doubt had been paid for by her, or from funds put away by her grandmother for this very occasion, so she wasn’t stealing food as I had often had to do in the orphanage when hungry.
When that memory hit me, I felt my gut clench. Holly was hungry and was taking food for her and her brother for later. My suspicions were confirmed when she came over to thank Maggie and I for attending.
Maggie embraced Holly, then turned to me.
“Holly, this is Sergei Petrov. He’s one of the new partners at Night Movers. He’s also the one who sent your grandmother that huge bouquet of flowers that she was so thrilled with.”
Holly turned to me and smiled. It was genuine, the first one I had seen on her pretty face all day.
“Thank you, Mr. Petrov, my gran loved them. They filled two of her favourite vases up and seemed to last for ages. It was very sweet of you.”
“Not at all my dear Holly, I was grateful to her for helping remove the blue from my hands,” I told her, and she looked at me confused.
“Don’t ask,” voiced Maggie, “You would never believe how his hands came to be blue even if he told you.”
“Oh, Okay,” said Holly, a little puzzled but still smiling, nonetheless.
“Maggie, I did want to ask you something,” she said before taking a deep breath. “Do you have any vacancies at Night Movers. I did my business administration course at college so would be happy to take on an office role, or perhaps even my gran’s old cleaning job. I need something in the daytime, because Matthew is at school then.”
“I’m sorry Holly, but we don’t have anything in the office in the daytime, and we filled your gran’s old job the day after she retired. Does the hotel you were working at not have any other places nearby that you could transfer to?”
“No, it wasn’t part of a group or chain. I’ve had to give my notice in so I can look after Matthew, so I have been without work since she passed away.”
“What about your boyfriend? Paul, wasn’t it? Is he still at the hotel? I thought he would have been here with you.”
“Paul and I split up before Gran died,” Holly said as she looked down at her feet. Then she seemed to pull herself together and looked back up at us both.
“If any daytime jobs come up at Night Movers, or if you hear of anyone else hiring, will you let me know?” She asked.
Maggie nodded and told her she would, before hugging her once again.
“It was nice to meet you, Mr. Petrov. Maybe next time it will be under better circumstances,” Holly stated as she held out her hand to shake mine.
As soon as I placed my hand in hers, I felt a connection so deep with Holly, that my heart skipped a beat and my mouth went suddenly dry. If Holly’s gasp was anything to go by, she too, felt the same as I.
I knew that I had to see her again, in fact, I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. I quickly thought of a way for this to happen, one that would benefit her, too.
“Holly, did you say you were familiar with business administration?” I asked.
“Yes, I did a two-year college course on the subject when I left school, and I’ve been working in a hotel up in the Lake District for the last five months, on reception and in the back office. Why?”
“Because I need a P.A, who has experience in business administration to help manage some aspects of my business dealings in Russia. It’s paperwork, mostly.”
“I’m sorry Mr. Petrov, but I don’t speak Russian,” she said with a sigh. I heard her words as soon as she uttered them, but I found myself staring at her full pink lips as she spoke, so I didn’t reply straight away.
“Sergei,” prompted Maggie.
“What? Oh yes, Russian, well, all my staff speak English and can communicate any paperwork and emails in English, also. I just need someone who is competent and reliable and can work during the day, as I do my evening shifts at Night Movers. I will understand if you need to take some time to grieve, and will hold the job open for you until you feel you are ready, that is, if you are interested.”
“Yes, of course, I’m interested, and I can start straight away. It’s Friday now, so I have Matthew off until school on Monday. But If you wanted me to work the weekend, I can ask if Moira will watch him tomorrow.”
“That is not necessary, Holly. You need to take this weekend for you and your brother to try and come to terms with what has been a very distressing time for you both. It would be unfair to ask you to work.”
“Actually, Mr. Petrov, I really need an income as soon as I possibly can. So if you did need me to start tomorrow, that would be great for me,” she said with hope in her eyes.
“Okay, but only if you are sure. I am currently living in the flat above Chloe’s Flowers and Gifts in Barrowfield Village. I will expect you around eleven a.m. You may bring your brother, also. I am sure we can find something to entertain him with while I go through some of what I need you to do.”
“Thank you, Mr. Petrov,” Holly said as she went on her tiptoes and threw her arms around my neck.
I closed my eyes as I breathed in the scent of her, savouring the exquisite fragrance as I hugged her back.
“You are more than welcome, Holly,” I said in a deep throaty voice, much lower than my usual tone.
I felt her shudder before she loosened her arms from around my neck and tried to step away from me. I held her a little longer, before letting her go, and after brushing her golden hair from out of her blue eyes, I said, “Until tomorrow, Holly.”
Then I left the hall, without looking back.
Look for Sergei’s story in Summer 2016!
About the Author
Helen Bright is forty something, married, and mum of two grown up daughters. She has one grandson who she absolutely adores, and through him is rediscovering her love of singing and dancing along to Disney movies.
She lives in a South Yorkshire village and enjoys walking her two dogs, writing, reading and spending time with her family and friends.
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