I turn toward her, ignoring her question. “Do you need any help setting up the refrigerator and generator?”
Firmly she says, “I do not want to see you alone with them.”
“Why not?” I ask frustrated.
“You know what? I actually do think I need help with this.” She turns away from me toward the fridge and the generator. She looks back at me across her shoulder, “Do me a favor, please. I left the gasoline outside, next to the stairs. Don’t you want to fetch it for me?”
I walk out the kitchen without replying. I hear the notes from the piano fade as I walk away from the kitchen, so somebody down in the cellar is playing the poignant tune.
I get the can of gasoline and I walk back toward the kitchen. The light is fading fast and when I get back to the kitchen Amanda is busy connecting the fridge to the generator.
I put the can of gasoline next to the table and I ask, “Do you want me to start cutting this meat into strips for the popsicles?”
“Please.” I hear her voice from behind the fridge.
While I cut the meat into thick strips, I ask, “Why don’t you want me to talk to them?”
I hear frustration in her voice when she replies, “Susie, you are still so young, only two hundred and a few years old. That Edward knew your father.”
“They all still look so young though. It is only Peter who looks as if he is in his late thirties.”
“They are too old for you Susie. Compared to them and the years they have lived, you are a baby.”
I do not insist and I am lost in thought when I jump with fright as I hear voices behind me.
They come from the cellar one at a time.
Callum stands close behind me. “What are you doing, Susanna?”
Nobody uses my full name, except Amanda when she is irritated with me, but it sounds nice on his lips. The night before, when Amanda introduced us to them, she introduced me as Susanna.
I say softly, shyly, “I am making popsicles.”
He asks, “Popsicles? What are they?”
I hand him one and say, “They are nicer when they are frozen, especially on a hot day.”
I feel sorry for him, when I see sadness flash in his eyes. He takes the meat on a stick, and looks back at me frowning.
I smile. “Suck on it.”
He puts the meat in his mouth apprehensively and I see understanding in his eyes when the taste of blood touches his tongue. He slowly takes the meat from his mouth and I notice his full lips. He asks smiling amused, “Is this how you manage your cravings?”
I smile in agreement.
Amanda comes from behind the fridge and looks at me admonishingly.
She starts pushing at the fridge and Claude rushes to help her. They push it back against the wall. Amanda says thank you and then she comes toward the table. She takes the meat from the bags and then she starts packing it into the freezer.
Claude asks, “What are you doing?”
Amanda explains patiently, still flabbergasted that they know so little of modern live, “If we freeze it, it lasts longer. The sun and heat makes it go off.”
Claude nods as if he understands and I cannot help myself when I start laughing at his ignorance.
I see Callum look at me amused, while I offer them all an unfrozen popsicle, and they start to suck on it tentatively.
Amanda breaks the silence of their curious wonder, “When you go out to feed tonight, do not go to the village. I do not want them to get suspicious. I actually think you should consider going somewhere else permanently.”
I interrupt her, “Amanda, couldn’t we help them? We could give them some of our pills and educate them so that they can also…”
Callum agrees, “If you did that we would be eternally grateful.”
Amanda says, “No, we cannot share our pills. We only have enough for ourselves.”
I insist, “We could get more.”
“That means you and I will have to go Paris to buy some more. I would not get a dealer in an area as rural as this.”
“We could, couldn’t we?” I look at her expectantly.
She sighs and looks at me angrily. “We will discuss it later, Susie.”
Callum smiles while he turns his gaze back to me. “Susie?”
I smile bashfully.
Amanda says calmly, while looking at me with her piercing, cautioning gaze, “Callum, would you please be so kind and light the fire in the front room hearth.”
He twirls the empty stick from the popsicle in his mouth and smiles. “Of course. Susie, would you join me?”
I start to follow him out of the kitchen and I feel Amanda’s gaze follow me.
I hear Herman ask, “So all you need is this blood. Is it human?”
Amused I hear Amanda sigh annoyed and she starts to explain that it is beef and although there was a difference in taste, eventually you get used to it and it helps to suppress the demon inside.
She has given up tobacco and she is more irritated than she used to be before.
Callum moves to the side so that I can walk beside him. “Susie, tell me all about you,” he says softly, curiously.
I chuckle self-consciously. “It’s a long story.”
“I have a lot of time.”
Chapter Fourteen
Amanda and I sit in the lounge, while they have gone out to hunt. Callum promised that he will keep strict control over his friends and that they will go far away from the château, perhaps across the border into Germany.
I turn toward Amanda apprehensively, where she sits knitting a sweater. She has always liked to keep her hands busy and although we have enough money to buy designer clothes and she has more garments that she would ever have a use for, she still likes to sit and knit. Over the years, she has developed her skills perfectly and sometimes she would ponder starting a label of hand-knitted fashion wear. Shayne always encouraged her to do this and I think now that he is dead she is considering it even more. It would channel her passion into a new direction.
I ask softly, “Do you think we can help them? Help them to fit into everyday life?”
She looks up at me briefly, and then frowning she looks back down at her melodiously clicking needles.
I stare at her silently. I do not want to persist to the point of making her decide against it.
After a long while, she sighs softly. “I suppose we could. We will go to Paris next week.”
“Only next week?” I exclaim.
“Yes, Susie. Next week. I will have to make a few phone calls first to establish where we can buy it in Paris. I have not been in Paris for the longest time. We will go early in the week.”
“Okay. Do you think they will be able to adjust and that they will be able to control their desire, that awful, permanent craving?”
“It takes determination and control initially. I do not think they will all adjust, it has been too long for some of them to feed whenever they have the need, which as you rightly said is permanent.”
“It has been so long, I cannot even remember it. I remember though when Ethan kidnapped me. I thought I would die from the hunger inside of me.” Too late, I realize that once again, I am talking about something she does not want to be reminded of and softly I whisper, “I am sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
She smiles sadly, but she does not look up from her knitting.
I get my book from my bag lying next to me. I put my feet up onto the couch and lean my back against the armrest. I continue reading the story of the girl who fell in love with a vampire.
I start to feel sleepy and I hear Amanda say, “Tomorrow I will have to go into the village again, to go and collect the materials we ordered to start fixing the little things. If Callum decides to stay, we would not be able to get contractors to help us with the larger things, so they are going to have to start helping us, so I suppose it is better if they can work by day. It would look less suspicious.”
She is trying to convince herself why she should help them and sleepily
I reply, “Okay.”
*
I open my eyes groggily, something woke me, and I gasp softly as I notice the dark figure sitting on the couch by me feet. The fire, still burning in the fireplace, is behind his back. My eyes adjust to the dark and then I recognize Callum. I open my mouth to ask him what he wants, but softly he puts his fingers over my lips and I hear his silent hush. He smiles slowly and then he stands up. I look up at his tall figure and then I see him bend down toward me. Softly I feel his lips on my forehead and then he is gone.
*
I wake up with sunlight streaming through the large windows and immediately I remember seeing Callum sitting next to me on the couch, staring at me while I was sleeping. My fingers come up to my forehead and tentatively I touch the place where I felt his lips. Surely, I convince myself it was only a dream.
Looking across to the other couch, I see that Amanda has already left. I get up and I walk toward the kitchen, but everything is quiet.
We need water, so I decide to go for a walk along the river and to bring some water back with me. I carry the empty buckets with me and they clang noisily against each other.
I consider that there must be a blockage somewhere in the piping, because the house does have plumbing, but the water is not coming out of the taps.
When I get to the river, I have an urge to jump in and swim. It would be nice not to have to wash my body from a pitcher. I am used to bathing in a lot of water and now the small action of only washing with a cloth seems insignificant. Although, not so long ago bathing from a jug was the preferred way of washing yourself.
I look around me, even though I know that there is nobody around and then I pull my shirt over my head and my pants down my legs. I take off my underwear and then leave it on the bundle of clothes under the weeping willow. I jump into the water and it feels refreshing and uplifting. I swim to the middle of the river and I feel the pull of the river against my legs. The sun is hot on my shoulders and it reminds me of the day I went to the dam, the first day Andrew singled me out and started talking to me. I sigh despondently and consider that it might be time to let him go. If he were supposed to be my soul mate, my albatross, he would not have been a mere mortal.
I climb onto the riverbank and then I sit naked in the sun. I pull my fingers through my long hair and the sun dries me quickly. The sun feels delicious on my skin and later I reluctantly decide to go back home. I put my clothes on and fill the two buckets with water. I walk back toward the house with a bucket in each hand, carrying it easily.
Walking through the back door, I walk straight into the kitchen, and once again, I hear the music coming from the cellar.
I put the buckets on the kitchen table and then I walk toward the door leading to the cellar. Taking the first step down, I wait for Amanda to stop me, but she is still in the village.
Softly I turn the doorknob and I open the door silently. Walking into the cool darkness of the cellar, memories flood back from when I was little and I remember when I used to play down here, running through the long tunnels lined with barrels. Francois used to run a very profitable wine farm and he used to produce a very good wine. I wonder if Amanda and I could do that as well. It would be fun.
I follow the music through the arched tunnels and slowly my eyes adjust to the complete darkness. It always saddened me in earlier years, when we only lived at night, how darkness sucked all the colors from your eyes, sucked the colors out of everything. Living at night, was like living in a black and white world.
I see him before he notices me. Callum is sitting in front of the piano. His head is bowed forward and I see his slender fingers move across the keys flawlessly. I stand where I am, looking at him in awe. It sounds like raindrops falling on a tin roof, then softly in a meadow, on the surface of a river, falling between leaves. It is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard.
He finishes the melody and then he looks up. He is startled when he sees me and then slowly he smiles. “How long have you been standing there?”
“A while.” I grin.
He stands up and again I notice the dignity in his posture.
I walk toward him and he takes a few steps toward me. I say softly, “That was beautiful.”
“Thank you. Sometimes I feel as if I belong in a time far away from here and in those moments I like to lose myself in the music of long ago.”
I look up at him surprised, because often I also feel as if I did not belong here in modern times. I grew up in a time of extreme good manners, decorum, grandeur and etiquette and sometimes I find it sad that the world has changed so much, and most of the times it has been for the worst.
He takes my hand softly into his, but he does not move and for a long moment, he just stands there looking down at me. I start to feel self-conscious, so I move away from him.
He asks, “Would you like to stay with me for a while. We could talk.”
I ask, “Here?”
He grins. “We carried down the chairs, piano and some books. We tried to make things as comfortable as possible.”
“Where are the others?”
His smile reaches his eyes. “We intended on making this home for a while. We have our own bedrooms down the different passages.”
I laugh softly. “So once I dared go upstairs to the bedrooms I will find most of the furniture missing.”
“Not really missing, but right here.” He smiles impishly.
We sit down on the chairs and we talk about our lives past. His live spend at night, and mine during the day in recent years. He is curious and wants to know everything. It feels as if I am in a magical, two tone world down here in the cellar with him. He touches my hand briefly and I feel a flutter where my heart should be.
The voice of Amanda calls me from a distance. I stand up quickly, and explain, “I better go. Amanda is scared you lead me astray.”
He stands up and taking my hand in his, he pulls me toward him. I stop myself from bumping into him by bringing up my hands. I feel him under the palms of my hands and I close my eyes for a moment.
He brings his head down toward me, and he whispers, “Come back whenever you want to, I will be here reading old books and playing the piano.”
He stands deadly still, staring at me, while I turn away from him and walk toward the panic-filled voice echoing through the tunnels.
When Amanda sees me, she exclaims, “Susanna! Where have you been? I have been calling forever.”
I hear laughter behind me in the darkness of the tunnels and then Amanda yanks me by the arm out of the cellar.
When we are in the kitchen, she whispers, “Susie, what do you think you are doing?”
Softly I say, “We were only talking.”
“There is something I have never told you. If either one of them bites you…” She stops talking and I can see her mind working overtime.
“What?” I ask.
“If they bite you, you will die.”
“Please Amanda. Nobody is going to bite me. We were just talking. Callum fascinates me with his eagerness to learn everything about living in the light.”
I see she wants to say more, I get the distinct impression there is more to be said and I want to ask her, but I hear their voices coming from the tunnels in the cellar.
I turn toward the door and I am genuinely pleased to see Callum walking through the door. Callum walks straight toward me, ignoring the look on Amanda’s face. He takes my hand and silently he leads me out of the back door.
We walk away from the château and into the night. The heavy full moon hangs low in the sky and it feels as if we are walking through the long knee-high grass into the moon. We spend the first half of the night together. We sit on a little hill, facing the huge moon next to us and we talk.
He tells me, “A woman, Veronica, turned me when I was twenty-four. I was leaving from a ball in Munich, when we came across a woman walking along the side of the road. She looked up at the carriage and I remember as if it was yesterday. Her face was so beaut
iful and her eyes so sad.” He smiles softly. “Almost as sad as yours.”
I look down shyly and pull at the grass around my legs. He continues, “I told my driver to stop and ask her if she needed help. I could not leave a woman alone in the middle of the road late at night. She did not look poor or destitute and I was intrigued to find her there in the middle of nowhere. As soon as she entered the carriage, she said thank you politely and when my driver turned his back to go back to his seat, she attacked me. I remember waking up days later with a terrible thirst. She helped me though. Justin and Herman were already with her and Claude joined us later. Not so long ago, she turned another and one dark moonless night four cloaked men killed her. She and the girl were brutally murdered and butchered in front of Herman, Claude, Justin and me. We wanted to avenge Veronica, but as mysteriously as the murderers appeared, just so strangely they disappeared.”
I explain, “In our community, the vampire community, we have a high court and those cloaked men were them.”
He asks, “High court?”
“Yes, everyone needs law and order. They declared a law against turning humans, because should it have carried on, it would have spread like a virus and today there would have been no humans to feed on. Also, vampires aren’t allowed to…” I hesitate embarrassed and then I say softly, barely audible, “Make babies with human woman anymore, because there have been too many half-breeds. Now, when the illness inflicts a human, the Four Judges or their appointees come and kill them shortly after they turn.” He frowns and I say, “I cannot believe you do not know any of this.”
He smiles forlornly. “I think the world left us behind. This is the first time I have ever heard any of this - civilization, order, law, vampire community.”
I reach toward him sympathetically. “I will teach you everything. I promise.”
He continues to ask questions and I continue to answer them patiently.
At midnight, he walks me back to the door of the room where Amanda and I are sleeping and softly he says, “So long have I been dreaming of something more and now here you are with a promise of day.” He leans toward me and he kisses me fleetingly on my cheek. I hear him murmur softly, “My red-haired girl.”
The Vampire Pirate's Daughter Page 10