Chapter Fifteen
A few days later Amanda and I leave early, before sunrise. Callum stands close to me and I lean toward him to hug him goodbye. He folds me into his strong arms and I sink into him. He holds onto me tightly and when Amanda walks past us with a low growl in her throat, he lets me go slowly.
Before Amanda gets into the car, she looks at Callum across the width of the roof of the car and she reminds him sternly, “When I get back, I do not want to hear of any villagers disappearing. Do you understand me, Callum?”
He nods his head affirmatively. Besides Peter, who was turned in his late thirties, Amanda is the eldest in this group of eight in human years. She was human until the age of twenty-six when a man in Romania turned her, violently. Shayne always used to tease her, to her chagrin, that she might have been made into a vampire by the infamous, Count Dracula himself. Amanda does not enjoy talking about it and only Shayne knew the full, dramatic details of that night. Amanda has the natural ability to assume the mothering role though and I always thought she would have made a great mother.
We drive away with Callum standing in front of the stairs leading up to the old mansion. Amanda has given all six of them a long list of things she wants fixed, scraped, cleaned and restored by the time we get back.
The sun rises behind us, while we drive along the road that would take us to Paris and we reach Paris before lunch.
In Paris, we drive along the roads of an affluent neighborhood looking for the address of Jean-Michel. He is the vampire selected to distribute the ‘sunshine’ pill in France. In each country, there is one vampire appointed as a kind of minister of affairs. It is not as if we could walk into a pharmacy and buy it over the counter. I know we will not meet personally with Jean-Michel himself, because he will deem himself too important for selling and distribution. He will however have several employees, all vampires, who manages the various administrative duties that entails making sure the community of vampires in each country is regulated and governed within prescribed laws and regulations as set down by the High Court.
The High Court, I know, liked to deal out the death penalty personally. They have lived longer than anybody cared to remember. They have always been there and nobody ever knew of a time when they were not in charge in some or other way. This is also not a democracy, we could not vote whom we wanted in the High Court, and nobody dared go against their decisions, because death will come swiftly and extremely painfully. The four members, or as they refer to themselves, the Four Judges, enjoyed killing. They lived and ruled from Mont-Saint-Michel, an island off the coast of Normandy; where an imposing abbey was build in the thirteenth century.
Amanda parks the car when she sees the address. The street is lined with trees which forms a canopy across the road and the houses lining both sides of the road are colonial. It is an old and wealthy neighborhood.
She tells me to wait in the car, but I refuse and together we walk up toward the beautiful old house.
She rings the doorbell and almost immediately, the heavy door opens.
The door attendant invites us in and I notice that it looks like a normal business premises. It does not look Goth or spooky. The decoration is lavish, with antiques and old rugs. Alongside the one wall, there is a big black board and in elaborate cursive, each department is listed alphabetically.
Amanda searches the list for the department we want to go to and then I follow her deeper into the building. This is the first time I have ever gone with her to get the medication and I am astonished that everything looks so commonplace. I should have known this, because we have integrated so well.
The old house had been turned into a functional office building and the large rooms with their high ceilings housed different departments.
When we get to the right department, the beautiful girl behind the reception desk asks Amanda for her details. Amanda gives her, her name and surname.
The girl smiles and then taps on her keyboard.
She looks up frowning. “You received your year’s supply a little over a month ago. Who would the additional pills be for?”
They regulated the drug carefully, because although punishable with death, there are those who deal the pills on the black-market, because it also cures man’s impotency. With irritation, I think back to Ethan and I am sure he was one of those who sold it illegally. If Amanda did not kill him, he would have eventually been judged and found guilty without the benefit of a trial, by the Four Judges.
The girl looks toward me friendly and Amanda replies awkwardly, “We moved back to France two weeks ago.”
She nods her head affirmatively, while she glances at her computer screen. They know our every single move.
Amanda continues, “My mate died fifty two days ago.”
The girl nods her head again and smiles sympathetically.
I look at Amanda sadly. I did not realize she was counting the actual days since his death.
Amanda continues explaining, “Anyway, when we arrived at our new home in the historical province of Lorraine, we discovered six men who do not have a clue of what has been happening.”
The girl across the counter frowns.
Amanda hurriedly gives more details, “I then decided that I would come and buy them each a supply and then educate them into life as it is today.”
The girl smiles friendly toward us, and then while she pushes her chair back, she says in a heavy French accent, “Excuse me, just for a small moment.”
Amanda smiles friendly and I look at her worriedly.
I see the woman talking animatedly with another man, behind a glass window and then they both come walking toward us.
The man addresses Amanda, “Madame.” He leans toward her and I see Amanda lift her hand, while he bends down toward her and fleetingly he brushes his lips across her hand.
I smile nostalgic.
The man continues, “In these circumstances, where members outside of the community are discovered, they have to be brought in front of the High Court. You understand this does not happen often and the Four Judges are always extremely interested in meeting them.”
I feel dread fill me, but Amanda smiles accommodatingly, while she says, “Of course. It is totally understandable.”
The man turns toward the girl, “Please, Sandra, make an appointment for Madame Von Wellich with the High Court.”
The girl sits down behind the desk again. She picks up the receiver of the red telephone on her desk and not long after, she is speaking to the person on the other side in hurried French.
When she ends the call, she turns toward Amanda and the man. “The Secretary made an appointment for next month.”
Amanda says, “Thank you kindly.”
The man once again leans toward her and brushes his lips across her hand, while he smiles friendly in my direction.
He turns toward the girl again. “Please, Sandra, make the necessary arrangements.”
He walks back to his office and I hear Amanda and the girl discussing the details.
We leave the office, walking through the hushed atmosphere and over the soft, deep carpets. We walk out into the sunshine and it feels as if a heavy load drops from my shoulders. The feeling of dread fills me quickly though, because I have never before had to appear before the High Court, and I do not know anybody who has.
We get back into the car silently and then we drive away from the sunset on our way home. We get home shortly after nightfall and it is new moon. Amanda has kept our ritual of only hunting when there is no moon in the sky. Although I feel anxiety at the prospect of having to appear before the High Court, I am still weirdly excited to go hunting, because tonight Callum will be going with us.
Callum is surprised when he sees us. Herman and Claude greet us excitedly. We have all clicked easily, and it feels nice to be surrounded by so many people, after it was only Shayne, Amanda and me for so long.
Amanda waits as always for midnight before we are allowed to go. While we wait she explains to
them what we have to do so that they can get the pills that will help them to eventually live in the light. She explains the High Court to them and she makes it clear that they understand the etiquette required when you attend the Court.
We leave at midnight, Herman convinces Amanda not to take her car, and that we should run. I feel exhilarated. It will be like in the olden days without the convenience of cars. It has been so long since we have just run and let the world rush past us in a haze. It has been too long since I have hardly felt the ground under my feet, as I ran, because it happened so fast.
We start running slowly, but soon it turns into a competition. We reach the northern coast of France quickly and then just outside of Calais we nourish ourselves.
There seems to be a deep bond between Callum, Herman, Justin, Claude, Peter and Edward, that I have not seen in the longest time. They laugh and joke, including Amanda and me. Amanda walks separately from us though and I can feel sadness radiate from her. This is only the third time we have gone out to hunt without Shayne.
When we get home just before dawn, I am exhausted, but satiated. I say goodnight.
When Callum says goodnight, he smiles at me, his eyes holding mine for a moment.
Chapter Sixteen
I sleep late and when I wake up, I look toward the couch opposite mine. Amanda, as always, is already up and I get up to go and look for her.
She is inspecting the restoration jobs Callum and his friends have been doing during the last week. I see her smiling appreciatively while she looks at their work. When she notices me though, her smile disappears.
I laugh softly. “Amanda, when are you going to stop being so angry? I was watching you and I know you think they are doing a great job. There is nothing wrong in acknowledging it.”
She sighs. “I don’t want them here, although I agree they are a great help, because a construction company would not be able to recall from memory what it is supposed to look like.”
“Why don’t you want them here? I think it is nice to be so many, because it does not seem so lonely anymore.”
“I am scared. They are savages and when they get desperate, they might notice that you are not like them. They will notice that your skin is softer and they will realize that you are half-human. In a moment of uncontrolled hunger, they could bite you.”
I say determinedly, “No, they wouldn’t.”
She says, “Just be careful.” She looks at me. “I am serious, Susanna.”
“Yes, Mom.” I smile.
She laughs. “Go on. Get started on the ballroom. The cornices need scraping. That should keep you busy and your cheeky mouth quiet.”
I walk toward her and I hug her tightly to me. I say softly, “You know, I love you?”
She says, barely audible, “I know and I love you too.” I pull away from her and she says, “Thank you for doing this. If I did not have this to keep me busy, I do not know what I would have done. I doubt I would have wanted to continue living and like the mother you accuse me of being, you are now my purpose.”
I smile at her, but I suddenly feel nervous to have such a huge burden on me. “I am glad you are so concerned about me, where would I be if you did not look after me?”
She laughs. “Exactly. Now off with you, time is wasting.”
I turn away from her, and say across my shoulder, “See you later.”
“I will come and help you just as soon as I see what has been done already.”
“Kay,” I call from the passage.
The ballroom is the biggest room in the château and I have always imagined the parties that were once held here. Francois never held any social gatherings when I was little, so I have never experienced the true splendor. I could imagine the French women with their hair piled high onto their heads, their powdered faces and arms. I could see them in my mind dancing and twirling to the music. It must have been so spectacular.
I start scraping at the cornice from one end of the room, so that I can work myself around. My mind is blank and I am focused on what I am doing.
As the room gets darker, I look up toward the large windows. The sun is touching the tops of the trees and I still wanted to go to my mother’s grave, before it got dark, because when it is dark, I want to spend every moment until midnight with Callum.
Dropping the scraper, I rush out of the house. I walk into the conservatory and I look for a hand shovel and shears. I want to clean up the two graves a little as well while I am there. I find the tools in a corner under a lot of rubble.
When I reach the graveyard, I greet my mother, as if she can hear me, as I have always done. I kneel down onto her grave.
I start cutting the long grass with the shears and I do a good job. Half the grass on the grave is already neatly cut and I did not notice the sun settle behind the horizon, as my eyes adjusted to the change of light.
Startled I look up when Edward says my name. I turn around and see him smile down at me. “William really loved Susanna.”
Shocked I ask, “You really knew him?”
He laughs and sits down across from me in the grass. “I knew him very well. He used to captain the pirate ship I was a crew member on.”
“He did?” I ask surprised.
“We never knew he had your mother hidden in his cabin after we attacked The Majestic, because we never took anybody alive. We always killed everybody on the boat and only taking the gold, silver and jewels. We were surprised when he announced that we were going to our secret island.” He smiles. “You will forgive me, if I do not tell you exactly where it is?”
I chuckle. He is such an easy person to like. “What happened next?” It is nice to have someone tell me about William, the man who is my biological father.
“We sailed to our island and stashed our loot. We could not understand why he wanted to leave the rowboat on the island, but he was the captain and in those days, you did not question the captain of a pirate ship, unless you wanted to meet your end. Days later, he ordered us to sail to Calais. We only found out decades later that he actually left the rowboat for your mother, so that she would be able to get off the island.”
I interrupt him, “That is where we went the other night, to feed?”
“Correct. William disappeared and Charlotte was very agitated. Charlotte was your dad’s mate, before he met your mother. You could not even speak to the woman, never mind look at her or she would growl and attack. She sat in the mast every night. The rest of the crew enjoyed the short reprieve from pirating and we pillaged Europe for a time.”
“Did William come back?”
“We started talking about mutiny and leaving France without him and Charlotte, because by then Charlotte left to go after him. Then one night he climbed over the hull of the ship and we sailed away from France. William was never the same though after that and at first I thought it was because Charlotte did not return with him. Years later, he made me captain of the pirate ship and he left us. He was running away from his feelings for your mother, but little did he know you could not run away from love, it follows you like a dark shadow.”
“How do you know he loved my mother?”
“Francois set fire to this house after he locked your mother in her room. He had decided that if he could not have her, then no one could. William came to safe her even though it was day. He saved her, but in the process, he sacrificed himself.”
“But I know Francois loved my mother a lot. I lived with him and for sixteen years I witnessed his sadness and despair.”
Edward smirks. “I am sure he was suffering from despair. Your mother chose him, but he treated her badly and he thought she was his possession. The love he felt for her, he never showed.”
“Some people find it difficult to wear their hearts on their sleeves,” I insist.
“No, Susanna. If you truly love another, you cannot help but show that person they are indeed the most important person in your life.”
I insist, “I know he loved her.”
“I am sure he
did, but she was his third wife and he was a pompous, arrogant man.” I start to interrupt him, to defend Francois, but Edward holds up his hand to still me and he continues, “I am sure that after Susanna and William died, your father did feel remorse for the hand he had in her eventual death. She mourned William until the night you were born.”
Sadly, I ask, “Are you saying that she chose to die, rather than stay with me?”
Callum steps from the shadows surrounding us and I hear him say softly, “No, she did not choose to leave you. How could she? She must have loved you very much because you were created in a moment of absolute love. It is an unfortunate event, but when a mortal woman gives birth to a child fathered by a vampire, the mother dies.”
I suddenly realize that they know I am a half-breed and not because of the softness of my skin or anything else, but because of my legacy. Because of the lost love between my mother and father, and the death of a man who is considered to be a legend. A vampire pirate named William.
I feel a moment of apprehension, but then Callum softly takes me by the hand and pulls my up from the ground gently.
I smile down at Edward. “Thank you for telling me about my mom and my dad.”
Edward smiles amused, while he watches me walk away with Callum.
When we are a distance away from Edward, Callum softly says, glancing at me sideways, “I wish I could take you to a place where we can dance and I would not feel like killing every human there.” He pauses for a moment. “I would like to hold you close to me and to taste your sweet lips.”
He stops talking abruptly, when I stop walking and my hand pulls him back. He turns toward me frowning.
I look up at him. “You are not supposed to say these things so casually, you are supposed to …”
He steps toward me and I feel his hands fold around my waist tentatively. I move into him and his arms around me tighten. He bends his head toward me and I close my eyes. He whispers, “I want to lay you down amongst the heather, and then I want to make you mine.” I feel air whisper above my lips and then I feel his lips softly brush over mine. He rests his forehead against mine, and he says, “But I can’t.”
The Vampire Pirate's Daughter Page 11
