by Gayla Twist
Viktor wheeled around. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“This is my house,” Jessie informed him. “If you do not want to obey the rules of the house then you need to leave.”
The older vampire laughed, his fangs fully exposed. “Try to make me.”
What happened next went so very quickly and the vampires moved so fast that I could barely follow it. Jessie went to grab Viktor by the collar, presumably to force him from the castle. Viktor knocked his hand away, and then the two of them were slugging and tearing at each other. I guess Viktor had underestimated Jessie’s strength because it was only a few seconds before he was racing for the dungeon stairs, Jessie hard on his heels.
I could hear the scuffle for a few minutes, but then it faded, and I heard nothing. I sat alone in my cell and tried not to cry. Vampires were real, and one of them had developed a strong dislike for me. That couldn’t be good. I had no idea what had happened to Blossom. For all I knew, Jessie had drained her, and she was already dead. I never should have told him where she was.
But that didn’t seem right. Something told me that wasn’t an act of violence Jessie was willing to commit. My heart kept telling me I could trust him.
I forced myself to remember he was a vampire. By his own admission, he was a bloodsucker. The undead. A creature of the night. How trustworthy could he be?
After what felt like a year, Jessie finally returned, carrying the still unconscious Blossom in his arms. The shoulder of his jacket was a little torn, and there was a fine spray of blood staining his face and the white collar of his shirt.
Before I knew what I was doing, I sprang to my feet and ran to him, shoving my hands between the bars. “Are you all right?” I touched his ear, his cheek, his chest. I could find no wound that went with the blood.
Jessie gave a small shiver under my caress.
“Where is Viktor?” I asked, feeling embarrassed and quickly withdrawing my hands.
“He’s gone,” Jessie said, shaking his head as if to wipe the memory away. “He won’t be bothering you again.”
I didn’t know if that meant the other vampire was dead or just driven from the property. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. “How’s Blossom?” I asked.
He looked down at my friend. “Still out cold. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“We shouldn’t have snuck into the party.”
Our eyes met. “Would it be too terrible if I said a small part of me was happy that you did?” he whispered.
I held his gaze, feeling lost but also found. His face was so perfect, so beautiful. His eyes so deep and warm. He looked at me like I was the most precious thing on the planet, like I was a treasure that he had to keep gazing upon to convince himself that it was real.
He was a vampire. I had to keep reminding myself that he was a vampire. “What should we do about Blossom?” I asked, looking away and feeling my face grow hot.
“I want to put her in there with you. Hopefully, by morning she’ll be able to walk, and you can both leave.”
“And if she can’t?” I wanted to know.
“We’ll figure something out,” he assured me. “If you open the door, I’ll put her inside.”
It was only after I looped my hands through the bars, shoved the largest skeleton key into the lock, and gave it a twist that I considered how dangerous it was opening the door to a vampire.
Hurrying in, Jessie placed Blossom on the bunk, went back out immediately without even glancing at me, turned the key in the lock again, and then tossed the ring on the bunk next to my passed-out friend. “Listen,” he said, only then meeting my eyes. “It’s only four o’clock, so there are still a few hours before dawn. Same rules apply. I’m going to stay with you if I can, but if I have to leave for any reason, do not open this door for anyone until dawn. Are we clear on this?”
I nodded, and he sighed, letting his shoulders sag a little with relief. I tucked the key ring under Blossom and then, after a moment’s hesitation, spread the thin blanket I’d been wearing like a shawl over her. It was a little damp, but warm from my body heat.
“Here.” Jessie stripped out of his tux jacket, thrust it through the bars, and tossed it at me. “I’m sorry; I didn’t think to get you any dry clothes or anything. I was just worried about, you know, making sure you were safe.”
“Thank you,” I said, catching the coat and slipping it on. It was reasonably dry, so he must have taken it off before diving in to save me. I can’t say it was still warm from his body, but it did smell very nice, like one of those oranges that someone has studded with cloves to make a sachet. It smelled like Christmas, familiar in a way that made me feel cozy and safe.
Daniel came striding into the dungeon. He was no longer in his tux, but dressed impeccably in a dark suit that had obviously been custom tailored to fit him to perfection. His shoes made a judgmental snap, snap, snap as he walked across the stone floor.
“Now you have both of them in there?” he growled. “What’s next? Are we going to be taking in stray cats?”
If I had been a cat, I would have tried to claw his face.
“Daniel,” Jessie said in a calm voice, “please try to remember a time when you actually felt compassion for another being.”
His brother sniffed. “That was too long ago.”
“Can you at least understand that I still feel the emotion?”
“If you insist,” Daniel said, giving an affected sigh. “But what are you going to do with them?” he asked, jerking his chin in my direction.
“I’ve got everything under control,” Jessie assured him. “You’ll have to trust me to do the right thing.”
It was obvious from Daniel’s expression that he had very little faith in his brother’s ability to make good decisions. “She’s not your precious girl, you know.”
“You keep saying that, and believe me, I know.”
Daniel shook his head. “I will never understand what the Bishops see in you.”
“Compassion?” Jessie suggested, but his brother ignored it.
Scarcely sparing me a glance, Daniel departed, calling over his shoulder, “I expect this to be cleaned up by tomorrow night, or I’ll be forced to clean it up for you.”
Chapter 6
“How long have you been a vampire?” I asked. We’d been sitting in silence since Daniel left, Jessie lost in his own thoughts. There was a small stool in the cell, and I moved it over near the bars with the excuse that I didn’t want to disturb Blossom. But the truth was it was because I wanted to be close to him.
“Too long,” was the reply.
I humphed, hating those kinds of answers but realizing he was evading the question.
After a few more moments of silence, he said, “I was born in 1918.”
That was hard to digest. He looked no older than me, but he was closer to my great grandmother’s age. “Have you killed many people?” It was a question that I should have been afraid to ask, but I needed to know.
He shook his head. “Just one. And that was a long time ago.”
I wanted to ask him how he stayed alive without drinking human blood, but a large part of me didn’t want to know, so I satisfied myself by asking, “Have you always been a vampire?”
“No, vampires aren’t born; they are made. I was human for my first seventeen years,” he explained.
“I just turned seventeen,” I told him. I couldn’t imagine being transformed into a creature that would never die, but had to feed off the living. Especially as a teenager.
He stared at me again with his penetrating eyes. “That was how old Colette was when she...” he trailed off.
“When she what?” I asked, laying my hand to my cheek.
“When I was young, a very new vampire, I loved a girl. A human girl. You remind me so very much of her. The way you look, your mannerisms, even your feisty personality... I just find it so very hard to believe you’re not her. But how could you be?” He shook his head sadly. “You don’t even know me.”
I wanted to tell him that I felt like I knew him. That a part of me felt like I was his, even though we had never met. But it sounded so crazy, and he looked so sad. I didn’t want to torture him with the false hope that I was somehow his lost love reborn.
“What happened to her?” I asked. “What happened to Colette?”
He closed his eyes to suppress some deep-seated grief, a wound that had never closed. “She was human,” he said. “She died.”
“Oh.” I felt foolish for asking him such stupid questions. He was in pain, and I was making it worse.
“I need to talk to you about when you leave here,” he said, his face very earnest. “You can’t tell anyone about what you saw tonight or who we are. You can’t share any of it.”
“You can trust me,” I assured him. No one would believe me anyway. “But Blossom might say something.”
“No.” He shook his head. “She’s been asleep the entire time. The most she’ll remember is the party.”
“What happens if people find out?” I asked. “About you and your family being... you know...”
“That can’t happen,” he said gravely. “No one must know. It would be very unhealthy for Tiburon, and I don’t want anything bad to happen. It’s best if you say nothing.”
“Unhealthy?”
“Colette, please,” he said, reaching through the bars to grab my hand. “I want to protect you. Daniel has agreed to let me handle this, but if word got out, I don’t think I could stop him from causing trouble. Do you understand how important it is for you to keep our existence a secret?”
“Yes,” I whispered. The mere touch of his hand in mine filled me with such yearning, I would have promised him anything. It was almost enough to make me forget that he had called me by another girl’s name.
“It’s getting late; I have to go,” he said, standing up and releasing my hand.
“Now?” I asked, feeling like something had wrenched at my heart. “It’ll be hours until dawn.”
“It’s best that I go now.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice, my disappointment was so intense.
“You must leave as soon as it’s light. Do not go out through the house. It would be best if the servants didn’t see you leaving. There’s a hidden passage beneath the steps, the ones that lead up to the castle. Look for the stone that is a little lighter than the rest and press it. You must press very hard. You’ll see an opening that will take you down to the water. You can make your way along the river from there.”
“I’m not sure I can carry Blossom,” I said. She was still out cold, and her body being limp would make her extra heavy.
“I’ll try to send a servant down to help you, but I can’t promise. His name is Viggo. You can trust him as you would trust me.”
He reached through the bars for my hand and lifted it to his lips. The brief contact of his mouth against my flesh gave me more pleasure than I had ever experienced from the kiss of any boy. He released my hand, and I felt the loss acutely. I did my best to suppress a wave of panic. “When can I see you again?” I blurted.
“Never,” he said, shaking his head. “I’d be no good for you. I’m no good for anyone.”
I don’t know how long I just sat there after he left. It felt like my brain was full of molasses. I couldn’t process everything that had happened in the last few hours. I hugged his tux jacket around me and then realized I was wearing his coat. With greedy fingers, I searched the pockets for little clues to his life. I found a crisp linen handkerchief with the initials JAV embroidered in the corner in an ornate script.
Next, I found his pocket watch. It had no chain and wasn’t an expensive gold piece like I had first assumed. Up close, I saw that it was only gold plate, and most of that had been worn away in spots. I popped it open, like I had seen him do. It was ten minutes after five. There was maybe another hour and a half until dawn, two hours tops. On the inside of the cover was an inscription. I squinted in the dim light of the dungeon to make it out:
Our love is timeless.
All of my heart,
Lettie
That’s when my hands began to tremble.
Chapter 7
When the watch read a quarter to seven, I began trying to wake Blossom. At first, I was gentle, patting her hand and calling her name. When that produced no response, I got a little more aggressive, giving her a good shake and even going so far as to smack her cheeks, but not very hard because that just didn’t seem right. I did not try shouting in her ear, remembering Jessie’s warning about not being caught by the staff. Nothing I did produced any response, and I began to wonder if, instead of trying to sneak Blossom into her bed at home, I should be taking her to the hospital. At seven, I gave up and decided I would have to drag her from the castle. It wasn’t going to be easy on either of us, but it was better than leaving her there.
As I inched along, Blossom’s feet scraping on the rough stone of the dungeon, scuffing the heck out of her mother’s heels. They also left a trail of where we had been. When I got her to the stairs that led to the castle, I set her down on the steps so I could rest for a moment. Once I had caught my breath, I returned to our cell with a broom made out of twigs that I found in a corner. I used it to scatter the dirt in a random pattern so the vampires would not be able to track us once they were awake.
Next, I examined the stone work at the base of the stairs. There wasn’t much color variation of any of the stones; they all appeared a uniform gray. But then I noticed there were smaller stones mixed randomly in with the larger ones, and several of those were a bit more pale than the rest. I pushed each of them one by one and nothing happened. Not good. I thought about Jessie’s instructions and tried again, giving each a hardy shove with the palm of my hand. The third stone gave a little, hung for a second, and then gave a little more. A seam in the stonework appeared. I pushed on that, and it widened to a gap. Further effort made an opening large enough for me to slip through. Dragging Blossom through took a lot more effort.
The passageway was dark and narrow, but I could see a small light at the far end of it, which I assumed was the shore of the river. And I could stand up, which was helpful for dragging my unconscious friend. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d had to crawl.
Every few yards, I put Blossom down and backtracked to cover our trail by sweeping the ground. It wasn’t easy, and I wasn’t fast moving, but I figured I had quite a few hours until the sun set again, so I wasn’t going to stress about it.
Then I heard someone open the castle’s door to the secret passage. The door made a loud squeak. For a second, I froze with indecision. Should I run, or should I stand and fight? I looked down at Blossom’s unconscious form. I wanted to strangle her for being such an idiot, but I didn’t want anyone else to cause her harm. I had to face whoever was headed down the passageway. At least, I knew he or she probably wasn’t a vampire.
“Okay,” I said to myself, hopping up and down a little and shaking my arms to keep loose. I reminded myself: knees to the groin, heel palm strikes to the nose. If I were facing an assailant on the street, I would have added shouting “No!” to my defense strategy, but I really didn’t want to call the attention of everyone who happened to be awake in the castle. Something occurred to me. The previous summer, my mom had made me take a self-defense course through the Tiburon police department. I had complained bitterly at the time, but I was suddenly profoundly grateful.
Whoever was approaching had brought a flashlight and was keeping it pointed toward the ground. I could make out a bit of his silhouette; he was ridiculously tall and had to stoop a little to fit in the passageway. I wondered if there was a way to use his height in such a small space against him. “You better stop right there,” I said in as firm of a voice as I could muster. “We don’t want trouble, but we are willing to fight you.”
My comment elicited a deep, rumbling chuckle that echoed through the tunnel. “Are both of you going to fight me, or vill you start the scuffle vhile
your friend rests a little longer?”
Great, an assailant with a sense of humor, I thought.
“My name is Wiggo,” the man said in what sounded to me like a Russian accent. “Jessie Wanderlind said you might be vanting some help vith your friend.”
“Yes, please,” I said, going almost limp with relief. “I can take her head if you’ll grab her legs.”
“There is no need,” Viggo said, coming forward. “I vill take her. You may hold the torch.” I had no idea what he was talking about until he thrust the flashlight in my hands. “Give me some room,” he said, crowding me away from Blossom. I stumbled for a moment then found my footing and positioned the flashlight so he could see what he was doing. Viggo scooped Blossom up like she was a rag doll and started walking with a heavy tread down the tunnel. “You can sweep vith your little broom if you like,” he told me. “It doesn’t really matter because the wampires can smell you no matter vhat, but if it makes you feel better...” Feeling completely foolish, I trailed behind them, dragging the twig broom.
After what was probably another hundred feet, the tunnel got shorter and shorter, so even I had to hunch. Viggo set Blossom down. “You have a car by the pier, or you need I should come vith you?”
“Uh... I can probably handle it from here,” I told him.
“Good,” he nodded. “I do not like going through the little door.” He pointed to a small opening that was blocked with the same type of iron bars that were in the dungeon. “You go first, and I vill shove her through. Be sure you close the gate before you leave. It is never healthy vhen people sneak into the castle.”
“Okay.” I handed him the flashlight and squatted down. There was a strong-looking, rusty latch on the inside. Once released, which took a little effort, I was able to push the bars open like a door. Before I wiggled through, I called back over my shoulder, “Thank you so much for your help, Viggo.”
“Remember, you must never come back to Wanderlind Castle,” was his reply.
