by Sam Stone
After the formal introductions, I looked around to see Pepper talking to a frail blonde woman who was wearing a dress that seemed to be far too wide for her slender, delicate frame. Mother and Sally were with Maggie Pollitt.
‘Is that Maggie?’ I asked Orlando even though I already knew that it was. Orlando took my arm and led me over to meet my new sister-in-law.
Maggie had lovely eyes. Similar in shape to Orlando’s but instead of the odd amber that Orlando had, Maggie’s were a pale green. She had dark auburn hair, just like Amelia, but she had a prettier face. There was no sign of the woeful tears I had witnessed earlier. I immediately liked her, and felt again an urgent desire to mend whatever rift had begun between her and Henry.
‘Your brother will be here soon,’ Maggie said. ‘He’s been having a little trouble with his leg. He gained an injury in the war, and he fell today when we were out. He wrenched it really badly and it hasn’t helped his temper. I’ve heard so much about you though, and I know he’s going to be thrilled to see y’all.’
As if on cue, Henry came into the room with a wooden crutch under his left arm.
Mother hurried over to him, but I hung back. Even though we hadn’t seen Henry in over five years, he seemed to have changed little in appearance. I wondered about his manner though. Even as he hugged Mother he seemed distant, reserved.
‘What happened to your leg?’ Mother asked.
‘Fell over drunk … again,’ Amelia Pollitt-Beaugard said beside me.
I looked at her sharply, but she didn’t have the grace to be embarrassed by her outburst.
‘Amelia!’ hissed Michel. ‘Please.’
Michel met my eyes and gave me an apologetic look even as Amelia skulked away. She clearly didn’t like him correcting her bluntness. I liked her less than I had earlier. She was a strange, unpleasant and somewhat contemptuous character.
When I looked back over at Henry he was hugging Sally. The reunion was touching, but I felt outside of it. You see, I knew that on the inside, Henry had seen things that had changed him during the war, just as I had seen many things during and since. We had both aged, our souls tarnished, and now poor Henry wasn’t even obtaining the happiness he truly deserved. I stayed back watching him, almost afraid that he would see the same changes in me that I could detect in him.
Maggie took my arm and pulled me forward as though this gave her the excuse she needed to be near Henry.
‘Darlin’, your sister is about the loveliest woman I have ever seen,’ she said.
Henry looked up at her, his eyes flickered with pain, and then they fell on me and filled with the expression I had hoped to see in his eyes when he looked at Maggie. Love. Happiness. Excitement.
Henry threw his arms around me and hugged me as tightly as he could with one arm. It felt genuine and when I stepped back I saw love and warmth in his eyes, even though I could still detect this innate sadness.
‘Kat, I’m so glad you’re here.’
After that I made the introduction to Pepper and he and Henry sat down together and discussed the one thing they had in common – the war. Although in the current circumstances it hardly seemed to be the best topic. Even so, the Pollitts didn’t seem to mind too much.
‘You smelt it didn’t you?’ Amelia said appearing like a ghost once more beside me.
‘What?’ I said.
‘The fumes from his intoxicated breath …’
I glanced back at Henry. ‘He has no more liquor in him than the rest of us do.’
Amelia raised her eyebrows at me. ‘Give it time, the night is young.’
At that moment the old black servant we had met at the station, Isaac, came into the drawing room and announced that dinner was served.
When the huge double doors to the dining room were opened, Orlando was at my side offering his arm. I took it without thinking and let him lead me into the room but as I glanced over my shoulder I saw a look of agitation cross the features of my best friend. Though Pepper quickly hid the emotion and offered his arm to the fragile blonde he had been talking to earlier and followed the rest of the group into the room.
The family was spread around a magnificent dining table that seated around forty people. Big Momma and Big Daddy were at either end presiding over the evening like the matriarchs they were.
Place cards indicated where we were to sit and once again I found myself positioned next to Orlando, but on the other side was the charming Michel Beaugard. Opposite me was Pepper with Amelia and the blonde who I learnt was Michel’s cousin: her name was Kristina and she was, it appeared, single.
Glancing up the table I noticed that Maggie and Henry had also been separated. Henry was placed between Mother and Big Momma, and Maggie had been positioned all the way down the other side of the table next to Big Daddy. I thought it odd that they had separated the newlyweds like this, but wondered whether it was just the family’s attempt at involving everyone at the party.
‘Well we are here to celebrate the union of Maggie and Henry,’ Big Daddy said.
He stood, holding up his brimming glass of full-bodied red wine.
‘I’d like to propose a toast to my eldest daughter and her new husband. I know they are going to be very happy and I look forward to seeing some new grandchildren coming along pretty soon.’
‘Not much chance of that …’ said Amelia.
Michel frowned at her across the table.
‘My other daughter, Amelia, and her husband Michel, have made Big Momma and I so happy and proud with their lovely offspring. Maggie and Henry, I know, will contribute to our ever growing family,’ Big Daddy continued. ‘To Henry and Maggie.’
We all raised our glasses but the toast felt hollow, insincere, as though Big Daddy knew that things weren’t right with Maggie and Henry, and Amelia was the voice of that discontent. His words were like a warning but I didn’t know what that warning was.
Even so, Maggie played the happy bride well, and she left Big Daddy’s side to walk down to the other end of the table. Then she bent and kissed Henry. He offered her his lips and kissed her back, but as Maggie returned to her chair I noticed how he wiped his mouth on his napkin after the kiss, as though he felt somehow tainted by her touch.
I glanced back at Maggie and saw that Big Daddy had also seen what Henry did. He frowned but said nothing while he took his seat again and the meal commenced.
We had all returned to the drawing room. Some of the ladies were playing cards, while a few of the men had retired to the study for brandy and cigars. Orlando, Pepper and Henry had stayed behind though. It was late and Sally had been taken upstairs to her room by Maggie’s former nanny, Nanny Simone, and the girl had gone surprisingly willingly soon after dinner. She was exhausted from the travel and excitement of meeting so many new people, just as Mother, Pepper and I were, but the evening had been fun and I was slowly getting to know more about our new in-laws. Pepper was uncharacteristically quiet, as though he were merely assessing everything, and I noted his measured gaze on Orlando and Amelia many times.
‘It’s a beautiful night, Miss Kat. May I take you for a walk outside in the gardens?’ Orlando said. ‘The water fountain looks particularly beautiful by moonlight.’
Orlando’s suggestion took a moment to sink in. He was proposing I walk out alone with him. No one had ever done that before and I realised that this situation I found myself in with Orlando was far more alien than the times when I found myself faced by a horde of demons. At least in those circumstances I knew that pulling out a gun was the right response. How do you respond to someone who seems to have a personal interest in you.
‘That’s not really a good idea,’ said Pepper at my side saving me from making the decision. I knew that his words had little to do with the idea of me being alone with a man I barely knew and more to do with the fact that Orlando was a nephilim and couldn’t be trusted. Orlando’s presence was dulling my senses somewhat, perhaps this was part of the nephilim power?
The bulk of my weaponry was upst
airs in my room. It didn’t seem appropriate to carry anything down to dinner, although I did have my Perkins-Armley – a discrete purse pistol, made of copper, with a leather handle that made it comfortable in the hand – strapped in a holster around my thigh, hidden under my dress. The gun was made for me some years before by the gunsmith Jerome Perkins. Perkins had been devilled by a rogue demon until Pepper, Martin and I took care of it for him. The gun was his personal thank you to me at the time, but the real payment came when Martin and he exchanged ideas.
‘Really, Mr Pepper,’ said Orlando. ‘Miss Kat will be perfectly safe with me. I have never once in my life taken advantage of a lady.’
Pepper weighed Orlando up carefully. ‘It’s not her safety I’m concerned about.’
‘Why don’t we all go outside?’ I suggested.
‘What a good idea,’ Amelia said. ‘May I join you? I could do with some air.’
We walked out through the large veranda doors that led off from the drawing room and out into the expansive gardens. At this side of the house there was a beautiful lawn that panned out towards the cotton plants. The grass was parted with a long path, marked by stone flags that lead down to a large pond, and a small patio which was set with a table and chairs. A row of oil lanterns lit the way down the path, and surrounded the patio area. In the middle of the table was a tray containing a jug of wine and several glasses.
‘Looks like we were expected,’ said Pepper.
‘I had it set a little while again,’ said Orlando. ‘As I was hoping to take some air.’
Amelia laughed. ‘Brother you are so obvious! Just as well you have your chaperone, Mr Pepper, with you, Miss Kat. I’ve never seen Orlando this smitten before!’
I was glad of the darkness outside which I hoped concealed my awkwardness and embarrassment. I wasn’t used to having someone continually thrown at me like this, and the evening had seen quite enough of it. I felt tired, confused by the sense of strangeness in the Pollitt household. There were politics at play which I didn’t quite understand yet and I was worried about Henry and Maggie.
‘Enough of this silliness,’ I said. ‘We all know it’s just a game you’re all playing.’
‘Whatever do you mean?’ Amelia said.
‘I’m rather straight speaking myself, Miss Amelia,’ I began. ‘And let me tell you …’
A terrified scream echoed from the house cutting short the angry words I was about to use. Words that would have revealed my knowledge about Orlando, and his association with the Darkness.
The scream came again before I realised who it was.
‘Sally!’ I gasped. I picked up my skirts and ran back towards the house.
6
I took the stairs two at a time, not in the least bit ladylike, with Pepper, Orlando and Amelia close on my heels. As I reached Sally’s room, Nanny Simone was just about to enter.
‘Miss Sally, whatever is the matter?’ the black nanny said as she opened the door.
‘Sally?’ I rushed in to find her huddled up in the big bed. Her finger was pointing towards the window. The drapes were open, the balcony door ajar.
‘Someone came in!’ Sally stammered. ‘There was a man …’
‘No one here would hurt you, Miss Sally,’ soothed Nanny Simone. ‘You is safer on Pollitt land than anywhere in the world …’
I sat on the edge of the bed and hugged her. She sobbed in my arms in a way I had never known her to do.
‘He wasn’t right …’ said Sally. ‘It was something bad, Kat. I know it was. He looked like … night. I couldn’t see his face but …’
‘You is just all out of sorts,’ Nanny Simone said. ‘New place, new people. It’s all bound to take a toll on a young girl’s mind.’
I looked up to find Henry and Maggie at the door.
‘What happened?’ asked Henry.
‘Nothing but a wandering imagination …’ said Nanny Simone.
Maggie’s face fell. She glanced around the room. ‘Why was she put in here?’ she demanded. ‘All on her own like that?’
‘Why Miss Maggie I thought she would like being in your old room. She pretty grown up – too much for the nursery with Miss Amelia’s children.’
‘I know but …’ Maggie stammered. ‘But Nanny … not this room …’
‘Why not this room, Maggie?’ I asked.
Maggie shook her head, then she backed away. ‘Henry, I’m tired. Let’s go to bed now. Please.’
Henry frowned, looking around the room with a confused expression on his face. Then he left with Maggie. Pepper, Orlando and Amelia lurked outside, all equally uncertain whether they should enter. A few seconds later Mother appeared at the door and it was soon decided that Sally would sleep in her room from now on.
‘We’ll move your things next door tomorrow,’ said Nanny Simone leading the girl through the partition door into the other room. Soon there was a bustle of servants, setting up a small bed for her.
‘Let’s all retire for the night. I’m exhausted anyway,’ said Mother.
I closed the door between the two rooms, leaving myself inside the room that Sally had previously occupied. Then I waited until everyone else left.
I took stock of the room. Maggie’s behaviour had indicated that there was something odd about it. Something so bad, that she had been too afraid to step inside herself. Maybe it was the ‘wandering imagination’ of the young, as Nanny Simone said. Or maybe it wasn’t. I had seen so many things these past few years that I was uncertain whether anything ordinary had ever happened in the world, or whether everything was really down to some supernatural cause.
I was positive that things still hid in the darkness, especially waiting for the vulnerable. Sally was susceptible. Why hadn’t I seen that until now? She had been growing up so fast, my world had been so occupied with fending for us, and destroying the evils lurking in our city, that I had barely taken much notice of the changes in her. She was becoming a woman. A dangerous time for any young girl. And here we were in a place that housed a nephilim. Although, whatever had scared Sally, Orlando, at least, wasn’t directly involved. He had the best alibi ever – he had been with me. But what other demons might be nearby?
All was silent on the plantation. I went out to the balcony and looked across the lawn and the cotton rows further on. Someone had doused the oil lamps. And I could barely make out anything now.
A breeze moved the plants, or at least I thought it was a breeze. I squinted out over the landscape. Nothing moved. The servants had all retired too it seemed. The house was deathly quiet. And so were the row of servant’s homes beyond the cotton fields.
I walked along the balcony towards my room and listened to the sounds of muffled talk coming from Mother’s room as I passed. She was still soothing Sally and although I didn’t want to make too much of it that night, I was determined to get her to describe exactly what she had seen.
As I reached my open doorway I heard quiet sobs coming once more from Henry and Maggie’s room. I felt sick, confused. I didn’t want to spy on them but despite myself I moved along closer to the open door of their room.
‘Please, Henry. Please …’ Maggie pleaded.
‘Leave me alone,’ Henry said. ‘I can’t. I just can’t do this right now.’
‘But you need to let me explain …’
Despite the outward appearance of normality, something was going on in this house. Something to do with Maggie perhaps, and that room …
Along the balcony, just past Maggie and Henry’s room I saw another figure. By the shape of the body – the wide ball gown was a dead giveaway – I knew it was female, but the person, seeing my observation, quickly slipped back inside the house before I could reach them.
There was a waft of perfume on the air, one that I recognised as that of Amelia Pollitt-Beaugard. She was curious too, or maybe she knew something already about what was wrong with Henry and Maggie. She had certainly hinted as much throughout the evening. Could it be that Henry really did have a drink probl
em? I couldn’t believe it. All evening he had barely touched his wine, and had refused the offer of brandy in the study. These weren’t the actions of a man with a problem.
I passed their room again on the way back to mine. The lamps were off now and all was quiet inside. I felt like a voyeur watching them like this, but I reasoned that my interest was for their own good. Particularly if I could help them in some way.
I returned to the exterior of my own room and went inside. Then I stripped down to my chemise and turned off the oil lamp that was on the dresser. Taking the Perkins-Armley out of the thigh holster, I placed it under my pillow. Then I climbed into the comfortable double bed, rolled over, my hand resting next to the gun, and fell asleep.
A dull, distant, rhythmic beat drifted into my dream like the sound of drums. I woke but the sound faded back into my subconscious as I became more alert. I lay in the dark for a while, listening to the sounds of the house cooling down. The steady creaks and groans that one would expect in a huge structure of this sort. Then I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep. After that the night was filled with its usual terrors.
7
‘It was all just a bad dream,’ Mother explained the next morning.
We were alone with Sally in the orangery because no one else had emerged so far. Not even Pepper or Orlando.
‘Sally’s over-active imagination just got the better of her. Plus she isn’t used to being surrounded by so many people. Or the servants. That in itself is enough to give anyone nightmares.’
