by Auriane Bell
When Adrijan fell asleep the shadows of his past paid him another visit, filling his dreams with desperate screams and the stench of blood and burnt flesh.
The library was at least twice the size of her bedroom and also exceeded it in height by at least two-and-a-half metres. Tall wooden bookcases with fine ornaments covered the walls but they weren’t nearly enough to hold all the knowledge that had been gathered in Mondstein castle so that another floor of shelves had been erected on top of the ones surrounding her. It was supported by richly ornamented corbels and accessible by a fragile looking golden staircase in each corner. Six sturdy wooden writing tables stood in the centre of the room, arranged like the six black pips on a die. For everyone who was neither in the need for a desktop nor in the mood to read in a leather chair, more comfortable seating furniture in the shape of a semicircle had been placed at both ends of the library. Mairin walked to the one closest to the entrance and sat down carefully, as if her weight were sufficient to break it. The couch was more comfortable than her old bed in Sunflower Garden, yet she disliked the coolness of the leather and how difficult it was to get up again.
“I definitely wouldn’t put one of these into my castle,” she thought.
Mairin grinned. Living the life of a princess for little more than a day and she had already become megalomaniac.
The next few steps took her closer to the desks which bore artful intarsia within the table tops. In amazement she let her fingers slide over the smooth surface, following the various shapes and abruptly stopped when she heard a silent giggling that reminded her, that she wasn’t alone. Hilda had discretely followed, keeping her distance, but not without showing her amusement about her mistress’ child-like curiosity.
“Don’t you think it’s beautiful, Miss?” she remarked proudly, as if she were the true mistress of the castle.
Mairin simply nodded and proceeded further into the vast room, feeling a little overwhelmed. As impressive as the library was, she had hoped for a small, comfortable hiding place, a sheltered corner where she could read in peace. Even so she knew that in consideration of the library’s grandeur it was ridiculous to have such complaints and decided to be content with one of the chairs next to her.
“Oh, won’t you take a look at the adjacent room, Miss?”
Mairin stopped in the middle of sitting down.
“Another room?”
Hilda nodded energetically and led the way to the small door Mairin had missed. She had to crouch down to walk through the entrance without bumping her head and after descending a few steps she found herself in a room that exceeded all her hopes.
“It’s master Vivian’s reading area,” Hilda explained.
The homely room was minuscule compared to the huge library. On the wall opposite to her dwindled a fire in a small fireplace. There were no book shelves at all, only two simple side tables just in reach of two big basket chairs, each of them with an equally sized cushion. Hilda had turned to some sort of controlling panel and soon the room was lit by daylight. Mairin frowned. There weren’t any windows, only tapestries. How was it possible? And where did the fresh air come from?
“I’ll go fetch the books Father Adrijan asked me to get for you,” the maid announced and rushed out of the room, leaving her behind with a dozen unanswered questions on the tip of her tongue.
Mairin accepted it with a shrug and made herself comfortable in one of the chairs. She was far too tired to remain standing until Hilda’s return. The disappointment that Adrijan hadn’t come to take her to the library just added to her lack of motivation to try anyway. What had happened to him? Had he gone back to sleep after giving Hilda instructions? Mairin hadn’t been able to get a lot out of the maid when she had picked her up in her room.
A sigh escaped her lips as she leant back and vanished further into the over-sized cushion. The chair was even big enough for her to lie in if she drew her legs closer to her body. How nice it would be if Adrijan were here with her now, perhaps resting in the seat next to hers. There were still so many things she wanted to ask him but above everything she had been looking forward to being able to spend more time with him. The thought that she might not see him again at all made her feel queasy.
After last night he had probably realised that she had been a bad choice as a bride and regretted saving her. Or did he avoid her because he had noticed her feelings for him? Mairin turned around to see if Hilda was coming back. There was no sight of her and she was again left to her thoughts. Just why hadn’t Adrijan come? The nescience was driving her insane. If one knew the reasons, one could work on accepting them. Regardless of how bad it was, it was always preferable to know rather than to be left in the dark. Mairin grumbled loudly and pressed her face into the cushion. Her inability to change the situation made her want to pull her hair out.
“Are you alright, Miss?”
Mairin blushed and hastily slipped into a proper position as if Hilda were the guest and she the maid.
“Certainly, Hilda. Won’t you put down the books?” Mairin felt silly attempting to act as if she hadn’t been caught.
Hilda smiled knowingly and gave her the first of the tower of volumes that was dangerously swaying in her hands.
"Father Adrijan picked a variety of vampire books for you, Miss. You should choose one of them.”
“Von denen Vampiren,” Mairin read and turned a few pages. There were six-hundred-and-nine of them. “In German?”
“Father Adrijan suggested it. He said it’s a must read if you’re interested in… blood suckers of all kind. It contains several texts written by famous authors.”
Mairin shivered and sceptically glanced at the book once more before putting it on the side table next to her. She didn’t want to ignore Adrijan’s suggestion but at the moment she was simply too tired to deal with the language.
Hilda didn’t comment on her reaction and clumsily handed her another book that seemed to hold about the same amount of pages. The promising cover showed the revealed neck of a young woman – the victim of a gruesome blood sucker, Mairin assumed.
“To be honest, Miss, I was surprised to find this in the library. Father Adrijan suggested I gave it to you if you looked scared again.” The moment the words had left her mouth Hilda put her hand over it. “Oh, I shouldn’t have said that, Miss!”
Mairin frowned and put the book next to the other with a hint of disappointment. Maybe she would read it another time when it was less vital to gain authentic information.
“What else did he ask you to give to me?”
Hilda handed her another book. “Oh, please don’t tell Father Adrijan I blabbed, Miss!”
Mairin shook her head. “Of course not, Hilda.”
If she was going to see him again, she wouldn’t waste any time speaking ill of her maid.
The book with the yellow cover was upside down and Mairin curiously turned it around. It looked a lot older than the other two and the title Dracula was written on it in big red letters.
“You might want to be careful with it, Miss.” Hilda said awkwardly. “It’s a first edition copy from 1897.”
Mairin didn’t know what to make of that date, since it technically meant that she was older than the book.
"Is this one not to your liking either, Miss? Father Adrijan gave me a list of seventeen books. I have two more with me and can get the next few at once, Miss!"
Hilda had misinterpreted her confusion about the publishing date, put down the remaining books and already wanted to leave to fulfil her task, but Mairin held her back.
"Thank you, Hilda, but that won't be necessary. I'll just start with this one."
Mairin slightly raised the yellow book to present her choice to the maid and nodded appreciatively.
"Oh, an excellent choice, Miss! Do you require anything else, Miss?"
Mairin shook her head.
"If you need any assistance don't hesitate to push the blue button on this panel over there, Miss! Then I'll come right away!"
&n
bsp; The maid gestured towards the place where she had stood before the artificial daylight had appeared.
"I'll do that," Mairin assured her and impatiently waited until Hilda had left. As soon as the maid was out of sight Mairin completely disregarded her posture and once again sunk into the cushion of the chair. By then she was more than eager to start gathering information about the creature that was depictured above her bath tub. Impatiently but also carefully she opened the book and began to read.
Father Adrijan looked up from his desk. His appearance betrayed his efforts to conceal the fact that he hadn’t been able to get much rest.
“Ah… you’re back. Did she choose any of them?” The priest’s voice lacked energy yet it was unusually warm and friendly.
Hilda nervously went further into the room and curtsied. She respected Father Adrijan but he often seemed callous and distant. If she hadn’t witnessed what he had done for her mistress she wouldn’t have believed it possible.
“Miss Muriel chose Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Father Adrijan.” This time she was going to make sure not to blab.
“A fine choice,” he remarked wearily and continued typing on the laptop. Hilda lowered her gaze and stared at her folded hands, uncertain what to do. Was he expecting her to tell him more about what had happened in the library?
“Hilda, you’ll have to take good care of your mistress. For the duration of Master Vivian’s tutoring I shall refrain from interfering in their lives.”
Hilda furrowed her brow.
Father Adrijan paused to focus on typing a few more words. When he was done he turned towards her and raised his head to look into her eyes. His gaze was so intense that for a short moment Hilda believed, that her mistress may not have been mistaken in her assumption that Father Adrijan was a demon.
“I’d appreciate it if you could occasionally report back to me and tell me about Miss Muriel’s progress.” Again he paused, as if he were looking for words. “That includes telling me about any problems that may arise. Do you understand?”
“Of course, Father Adrijan,” Hilda replied without hesitating.
“Then you may go.”
Hilda quickly turned around, ignoring the priests clumsily feigned smile. She was unpleasantly aware that she was in a hurry to leave. There was something eerie about Father Adrijan, something she couldn’t quite explain. When she had finally reached the door, he called her back.
“Oh… Hilda? Did Miss Muriel inquire after my absence?”
Hilda faced the demonic priest once more to tell him just how much her mistress had pestered her to obtain the information she had been instructed to withhold. She wasn’t going to word it quite like that though.
“Miss Muriel-“
“Never mind, Hilda. It doesn’t matter,” Father Adrijan interrupted her. “You may go.”
Hilda turned away before frowning again. The rich and their friends were certainly hard to serve, especially when one of them was immortal.
It tickled in a pleasant way. Mairin lowered her shoulder a bit, moving her head into the opposite direction and pressing it further into the cushion. Her body acted without her doing, revealing more of her neck and shoulder and thereby allowing the source of the wondrous sensation to continue. Her breathing had changed and overall she felt more relaxed than she had thought it possible. It was-
Realisation jolted Mairin out of her drowsiness and she sat up so quickly that she caught Vivian off-guard, causing both of them to collide with their heads.
“Ow, ow, ow...” he complained, letting himself fall into the chair next to hers, rubbing the spot where her head had hit him.
Mairin was certain that her pain wasn’t less excruciating but she was too proud to even raise her hand. She still had problems trying to understand what had actually happened. Hadn’t there been something similar in the book she had been reading before dozing off? Maybe Vivian had done to her what Count Dracula had done to Lucy.
“You! Are you one of them?”
Mairin hastily picked up the book that was resting in her lap and aggressively held it towards Vivian. The immortal chuckled and took it from her.
“You can’t lie around like that, totally defenceless and expect me not to seize the chance. After what Adrijan had told me and finding you with a vampire story I simply couldn’t resist.”
This time Mairin did raise her hand, even if it was only to see if there was blood on her neck. The result was negative.
“I didn’t bite you, silly princess.”
Mairin thought that Vivian’s grin had broadened – if that was even possible. Her idea had fit to the story she had just read and to the scene above her bath tub, but there was no blood. Calming down and coming to her senses she also realised, that he hadn’t touched her neck, rather the part further down, where her neck met the rest of her body.
Vivian got up from his chair and started walking about in the room. Not having to look at him made it easier for her to talk.
“Did you... kiss me?” she asked nervously, sitting uptight in the chair.
The sound of his steps faded right behind her, giving away his position. Mairin tensed when she suddenly felt his hand on the back of her neck and subconsciously held her breath as he slowly let his fingers slide towards her shoulders. Then he stopped.
“Right there,” he said calmly, without trying to hide the amusement in his voice.
Mairin was unable to bear his touch any longer and jumped up from the chair.
“Don’t do that!” she demanded irritated.
Vivian didn’t seem to mind her mood.
“Take a look at these,” he invited her, gesturing at the tapestries. “They show some of the most famous lovers. Over here for example: Pyramus and Thisbe, separated by a wall, but not letting it get between them. Right next to them: Romeo and Juliet, likewise kept apart by the hate of their rivalling families, but proclaiming their love to each other over the balcony. And here: Orpheus guiding his beloved Eurydike out of Hades. And last: The Irish princess Iseult in the arms of her lover Tristan, who makes plans to run away with her.”
Mairin followed Vivian’s gestures, letting her gaze wander from one tapestry to the next. She had already taken a look at them before, wondering if they showed characters of some texts she had read back at Sunflower Garden.
“But they all... tragically died in the end,” Mairin argued.
“Ah, you’re proving my point. As you can see, there’s no great love without great passion.”
“Who said I was in love with you?” she snapped at him.
“Who said I wasn’t in love with you?” he replied smiling.
Mairin blushed. With that one question he had taken away her anger and replaced it with an entirely different feeling.
“Well, no matter. I’ll be tutoring you starting tomorrow. We’ll meet every day here in the library until you’re ready to hear my proposal.”
Mairin nodded dumbfounded. Her heart was beating fast.
The immortal bowed. “Then I bid you good day, princess,” he said still smiling and returned the book to her.
Adrijan did his best to keep his mind occupied. When he wasn’t exercising to keep in shape he visited Nebel in the stables or tried to focus on the problems in Traumstadt. Against his prior assumptions, having averted the crisis hadn’t broken the rebellion and he was led to believe that they hadn’t caught the ringleader after all. A week ago he had sent out more spies and was carefully supervising them, so he wouldn’t run into danger of being betrayed again. He had split them up into small groups and each of the members had to report back once a day to give a detailed account of their findings to Alfred or himself. Even so he wouldn’t be able to avoid going back to Traumstadt. Maybe it was best to go without delay. The artificial town wasn’t far and since he always had some changes of clothes at his cottage, there wasn’t much to prepare. The only reason why he hesitated was, that he wouldn’t be able to see Mairin again. Even if he avoided her, there had always been hope to encounter her a
ccidentally as long as he stayed at Mondstein castle. Adrijan sighed, disliking how weak he was.
In the end he was unable to make up his mind and decided to take the easy way out by leaving the decision to fate. If he didn’t run into Mairin by evening, he would leave for Traumstadt at night.
Vivian grinned mischievously. “Today is going to be special!”
Over the past weeks Mairin had gotten accustomed to the master of the castle. She had enjoyed learning with him and had found out that he was smarter and wiser than she had thought it possible. It had just been very unlikely that one person was handsome as well as intelligent – and not to forget rich.
Vivian had proven his patience, never growing tired of finding different ways of explaining a variety of things that were unfamiliar to her. He had constantly motivated Mairin to ask questions, even at times when she felt that she had to be the only person on earth not to understand what he was trying to teach her. Often she had become victim to his teasing, but none of his remarks had been hurtful. She had experienced Vivian like that, childish, making jokes about everything, but she had also come to know his serious side.
In the many hours they had spent together Mairin had learnt a lot about the wonders and evils her ‘new’ present had to offer. Most importantly though, she had learnt to enjoy Vivian’s company.