by Zara Novak
Will York stood from the table, clenching his fists. Eric was pushing him, and he could tell that he was on the last string of his patience. Will took a deep breath. He knew that if he snapped, he would lose all chance of gaining help from the Belmont clan.
“It’s not that we are weak.” Will explained. “But they are absurdly strong.”
“They’re only human.” Atticus said. “Surely your physical strength out paces them ten fold?”
“You’d think so.” Eli interjected. “But it’s not the case. There’s something different about them. We think they have a witch, and we think they are working with a local shifter troupe as well.”
Both Eric and Atticus felt ice pass over their bodies at the mention of shifters.
“Shifters? Werewolves?”
Will and Eli nodded solemnly.
“Can you prove this?”
The brothers thought for a second. Eli spoke first. “There is no-”
“We have proof.” Will said. Eli shot a furtive glance at his brother as if to silence him.
“We do not.” Eli hissed at Will.
“If you want our help.” Eric said. “You will show us the proof. We will not rise to assist you with the White Order alone. But if you are fighting shifter kin, I feel compelled to step forward and help.”
Atticus nodded, mirroring his sons’s sentiment. “Our families may have had difficulties in the past, but we are united in one thing. Our hatred for the shifter kin.”
Eric brought a thumb and finger to the bridge of his nose at the very thought of the wretched kind. He had never understood the disparaged relationship shared by their kind. All he knew was that shifter kin were dangerous, and the two kinds were destined to hate each other for all time.
Eli took a deep breath, before turning back to his blood servant in the corner. “Natalie darling, come here.”
Darling? Eric held Eli’s words in his ear in bemused regard. There was definitely some kind of affectionate relationship going on between this vampire and his blood servant, which was unheard of to Eric.
The young girl stepped forward from out of the shadow nervously.
“Tell them what happened at the ridge that night.”
All eyes in the room shifted to the face of Natalie. Fear flashed through the young girl’s face seemingly at the memory. Eli brushed a hand down her arm in reassurance. “It’s okay. You’re not there now, you’re here with me. You’re safe. I need you to tell Eric and Atticus what happened that night.”
Natalie stared at Eli for a long moment, and Eric could sense a deep warmth flaring in the space between their eyes. However unconventional their relationship might be, it was clear to Eric that the young girl meant a lot to Eli, and him to her in turn.
She pulled her eyes from her master and her gaze fell squarely on Eric.
“I had finished working in Blackstone for the day. I was on my way back from the letting parlor to the servant chambers. It’s connected usually, but there was a storm last winter, and part of the house became damaged. It’s nothing really, but it means us servants had to take a short detour outside to get back to our quarters. I was on my own. It was night. The moon was out. That was when I saw him up on the hill. He was a man - and then he wasn’t. Then he attacked me. I nearly died. I would have, were it not for Eli…”
She broke off from the story, her words and the angst ridden expression on her face tale enough that the wasn’t lying. The girl’s whole body trembled in remembrance of the ordeal. A solitary track of tears rolled down her face and Eli grabbed her her, pulling her into his grasp.
“It’s alright Natalie. It’s okay. You’re safe, I’m here - I’m here.”
Eli cooed the girl gently back to normality. Eric and Atticus stood on the edge of their feet, staring at each other unsure.
“I don’t doubt what happened Eli. But we need evidence of this you understand. We can’t just go off the words of a blood servant.”
The brothers looked at each other as if they were lost for words.
“We can’t prove anymore than this old man.” Will said with disappointment hinged on his voice. “This is all we have.”
“Actually.” Natalie’s voice broke the silence this time, causing everyone to stare at her. “It isn’t.”
The young servant pulled herself free from the reassuring grasp of her master.
“Natalie, no!” Eli reached after the girl but she pushed his hand away.
“It’s alright Eli. I’m not scared anymore.”
Without saying another word, the servant girl turned from the group and pulled her shirt up, over the tops of her narrow shoulder blades. She slipped her arms from the sleeves, and unfastened the clasp to her bra, holding it firmly against the front of her body.
Drawn down the length of her back were four deep scars, white lines broken across the pink expanse of her otherwise flawless flesh. The paw of the offending beast must have easily been four times the size of a normal wolf. The cuts raked from the top of the spine, all the way to the bottom, veering off to the left just at the end.
“That’s the mark of a shifter alright.” Atticus nodded. “I’ve seen enough in my time to know what those bastards can do.” Atticus turned to Eric. “What do you reckon?”
“I’ve only been in battle with them up close once, but it certainly looks real to me.”
Natalie redressed quietly, while the vampire held each other in silent regard. Will was the first to speak, finally breaking the silence.
“So.” He said. “Can we count on your help then?”
Eric and Atticus shared a glance with each other. Even though Eric knew the choice was ultimately up to his father, power would be succeeding to him soon, and his father wanted Eric to start taking lead of things. He saw the look in his father’s eye, nodded and faced the brothers once more.
“We’ll help.” He said finally. “But I have things that I have to attend to here first. I’ll need a week or two, and then I’ll come. And I’ll bring help.”
“No Wraith. That bastard is more crazy than help.” Will said.
“Trust me.” Atticus interjected. “I know shifters and I know Wraith. You want all the crazy you can get.”
The meeting broke finally, and the York clan were back on the road again within an hour of leaving the table with Atticus and Eric.
“It’s serious business you’re getting into.” Atticus said to his son. “You understand any vampire that goes on this expedition may die.”
“I do.” Eric said flatly. “But what I said stands. Will and Eli may be scared of the White Order first, but I know the real truth. Men are men. I will deal with them as they come. The real threat is that of the shifter kin. The York are only a few hundred miles from us. If we start allowing shifter kin to run around unchecked…” A shiver passed over him.
“It won’t be long before they start cropping up here.”
“Exactly.” Eric said.
After reviewing the meeting briefly with his father, Eric was away again, returning once more back into the castle to find Sophia and Claire. They had arranged that morning to meet at Sophia’s room on the fifth floor at the end of the night, but once Eric got there he found they were nowhere to be seen.
There was no fear in his stomach this time, for he knew that Sophia would keep Claire in good company, but she was often late - and he always came to expect delays whenever Sophia was involved. As they weren’t coming to him, he would try and seek them out, but finding a solitary inhabitant of the castle was a task easier said than done. He decided to go and pay Ira a visit first at the blood banks. After he’d quenched his thirst, he’d find Claire, and pick up right where they left off.
Thoughts of his curvy mate had stalked through Eric’s mind all night, and had been at the forefront of his thoughts, right up until the troubling meeting he’d had with the York brothers. Despite the serious nature of the conversation, Claire had stepped back into his mind’s eye as soon as the serious conversation was done. Even as
he sat in Ira’s waiting room for blood, she danced in his imagination, wearing little else but scant lingerie, tempting and teasing every fiber of his being. He sat in the room, far removed from it’s walls, floating a thousand miles away with thoughts of Claire, and thoughts of what he’d do with her once he had her alone again that night.
“I said ‘Hi’ Eric!”
A blow sunk into his arm and Eric shook his head, pulling himself from his day dream and coming back into the waiting room. He was disappointed to see a blonde and scantily clad female vampire stood in front of him.
“Oh, hey Lana.” Eric said flatly.
“Oh come on Mr. Belmont!” Lana threw herself down beside Eric and batted her long black lashes. “You can do better than that. There was a time when you were running after me along with all the other boys in the castle.”
“Actually, there wasn’t - you’re getting me mixed up with Wraith.” Eric picked a magazine up off the side and thumbed through it to try and show Lana that he wasn’t interested in talking. The gesture seemed to madden the blonde. Eric had grown up with Lana and he knew the tyrant well. She was the eldest daughter and heir to the Cavotti Vampire line, and she had spent the last several decades vying for Eric’s attention.
“Whatever.” Lana threw a hand through her blonde hair and placed a hand on Eric’s shoulder. “What have you been up to these days? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. It is true that you’re going around telling everyone you’ve got some dumb human girl as a mate? Such a dumb rumor, we should go out hunting sometime, Veronica and I found this great little town just an hour south of here…”
“I’m not interested.” Eric stood up, throwing the magazine down onto the table. He needed blood, but he knew he couldn’t sit here and listen to the vapid blonde rattle on any longer. Eric was about to duck behind the counter to see exactly what the hell was taking Ira so long, when he remembered he’d had three days of personal supply brought up to the chiller in his bedroom on the ninth floor.
“I’m such an idiot.” He said to himself quietly. He turned around to leave and saw Lana staring at him in expectation. There were half a dozen other vampire in the waiting room, all of whom had their eyes glue to Lana. The other Vampire in castle Belmont might have fallen for Lana’s good looks, but Eric could care less. As far as he was concerned she was the devil in a blonde wig. Lana did things that made Wraith look like a puppy.
“What do you want?!” Eric hissed.
“I said do you want to go hunting this weekend? Me and Veronica have found a great spot.”
“No.” Eric shook his head. “The rumors you heard are true. I’ve got a mate, and she’s human.”
Eric pushed past Lana, his shoulder turning her body as he went passed. Lana scoffed at his rejection and swathed her hair once more.
“Ugh. Human mate!? Gross! There’s no way she looks anything like me!”
Eric stopped and turned, his eyes firing dagger’s at the leggy blonde. Lana saw blood in his eyes and her smile dropped immediately.
“You’re right.” He said. “She looks nothing like you.”
Lana looked shocked for a moment, then she smiled and her eyebrows danced, as if she was flattered.
“She’s beautiful. And you’re ugly. Ugly as you are on the inside. She’s nothing like you and she never will be, and that’s why I love her.”
The words stunned Lana into silence, along with the rest of the room. Eric’s admission even stunned himself for half a second. He glowered at Lana, whose mouth was stammering in effort to say something in return. It was to Eric’s satisfaction that the mouthy blonde had nothing to say for what must have been the first time ever.
He turned on his heels and thundered out of the room without another word.
*
As Claire retold her life before Castle Belmont, Sophia sat in the water quietly, listening intently to her words. Claire skirted around some details, giving Sophia the basics of who she was and what her life was before she came here. As always, her thoughts of her previous life were vague. She was already looking ahead to her future with an eagerness, putting as much distance between her past and present as possible.
“It’s beautiful down here.” Claire said, trying to shift the focus of conversation away from her. “I almost feel like I’m in some luxury hotel.”
“We did think about getting a steam room and a sauna fitted.” Sophia joked. “But even Atticus drew the line at that one. Looks like we’ve still got plenty of time until we’re due back to see Eric. I could show you the blood bank, but something tells me you wouldn’t be so interested in seeing that.”
“Blood bank?” Claire swallowed.
“It’s not nearly as tragic as it sounds. Both Eric and myself are something of an anomaly here at Castle Belmont. Most other vampires tend to hunt their food. We lost the taste for such activities a long time ago.”
“But how does it work? Do you need blood to live?”
“Unfortunately. We have tried to go without it, tried to reduce out uptake - but it’s no good. The side effects are too numerous. Headaches, nausea, trembling.”
“Sounds similar to the symptoms of people who go through addiction withdrawal.”
“So I’ve been told.” Sophia’s eyes flitted down to the ground and her smile faltered. She paused for a moment before looking back at Claire. “You never mentioned your family.”
“Huh?”
“When you were talking about your life just now. You never mentioned your family once. You mentioned you were a nurse, you mentioned you lived alone and that you wanted children - but you didn’t mention anything about family.”
Claire stared down into the water, studying the reflection of the torches as they danced on the rippling black canvas. “I was always something of a black sheep. An outcast. I was always an outsider to them for some reason.”
Sophia sat in expectant silence, daring Claire to go on.
“I don’t know why.” She said. “But my parents always loved my sister so much more than me. And I know I wasn’t imagining it. She was their obvious favorite. I love my sister Lisa, and I think she loves me to an extent, but I always felt like I was on the outside looking in.”
“I’m sorry.” Sophia said. A smile came over her face. “Maybe you were just waiting to find your real family?”
Claire smiled at her words and she felt a warmth spread inside her at that thought again. The thought that maybe her place really was here with Eric at Castle Belmont. “Maybe.” She smiled and looked across the cavern.
“What about you Sophia? You certainly seem to have an eclectic family. Do you like it here at the castle? How long have you been here?”
“Our family first settled in this castle in the 17th century, but we tend to move around quite a bit. I was actually born in Florence, and we spent much of my childhood traveling around Europe. When I reached adulthood my father said it was time for him to return back to Castle Belmont. He said the rest of us were free to move about as we wished, but we must return to the castle once a year to stay within the family favor, and we have to carry out our duty when it is required of us.”
“Duty?”
“It can mean many different things.” Sophia rolled her eyes and waved a hand. “For the most part it’s not something that comes up that often.”
“So there’s Eric, Wraith and you?”
“And Veronica.” Sophia reminded her. “My oldest sister. You’ll meet her at some point. She’s… not like me, but she’s no Wraith ever. It’s been a while since we’ve all lived together in one place. I think now that father is getting older, it is important for us to be here, as the reigns transfer over to Eric.”
“And what about your love life Sophia?” Claire smiled. “Is there anyone special out there for you? Or someone in the castle perhaps?”
Melancholy seemed to wash across Sophia’s face and her smile disappeared quickly. “There was maybe once. I’m not so sure any more.”
Claire sensed that th
e topic was sensitive for Sophia and she decided to move on from it. “Well if Veronica is anything like you I’m sure she’s a treasure. You’re certainly the nicest vampire I’ve met so far.”
Sophia smiled, some of the happiness returning to her face. “Veronica is okay. She can be a bit of a nightmare sometimes. Of all my brothers and sisters Eric is my favorite. Wraith is… well. Wraith is Wraith.”
“Was he always like this?” Claire asked, thinking back to the brief but horrific entanglement she’d had with the man.
“Who Wraith? Oh heavens no.” Sophia sat up straight, puzzlement upon her face. “Didn’t - didn’t Eric tell you what happened to him?”
“…no? Whatever do you mean?”
Sophia looked around the cavern as if to check no one was listening in on their conversation. She leaned it as if to whisper a deadly secret to Claire when an alarm sprung from over Claire’s shoulder.
“Christ!” They both jumped at the noise. Claire turned around and grabbed her phone from her pile of clothes, silencing the alarm. Claire looked down at the time on her phone, seeing that they were late for meeting with Eric.
“That was the alarm for meeting Eric back at your room. It was supposed to go off a half hour ago. We’re late!” Claire climbed from out of the pool hurriedly, Sophia following quickly behind.
“Oh crap.” Sophia ran to the wall and grabbed two towels for them both to dry off. “I must have messed it up with undead mumbo jumbo. I’m sorry!”
“It’s alright. Thanks.” Claire grabbed a towel from Sophia and they both dried themselves down, changing hurriedly back into their clothes.
“Come on then. Let’s hurry back to my room. Hopefully Eric is still waiting for us there. I don’t like to keep my brother waiting. He’s patient but I don’t want to keep him from you. He gets a temper when he’s kept from his Claire…”
Claire laughed to herself as Sophia locked the door to the caverns behind them. She felt a strange sense of pride whenever she heard people talking about how protective Eric was over her.
They walked back up through the gardens of the castle, into the main walls through one of the many side entrances.
