by Yirak, Laura
“So you’re on tonight, and I’m on after my exam tomorrow and then you’re off for a few days. Do you have any plans?” Patrick asked
“Well, I need to finish moving, I still have some packing to do and the movers will be there Friday. I’m putting a lot of my things into storage and just bringing the necessities.”
“Wonderful, if you need help, let me know,” Patrick offered.
“Maybe some help carrying some boxes up here, but nothing too heavy.”
“Ah, I can handle it, even if it is,” Patrick laughed and then flexed.
Judy laughed, “You’re too funny.”
“Okay, Allister is going out! We’ll have peace for dinner. Alesta should be up soon.”
“Should I make her something?” Judy asked.
“No, no, we just worry about the guests, Alesta does her own thing.” Patrick said. “The room looks superb, Judy, good work, you are getting the hang of it then?”
“Aye, I am.” Judy put the duster back and pushed the cleaning cart out into the hallway.
Patrick closed the door behind them, “Now, I have to study, even though I don’t want to.”
“It’s worth it Patrick in the long run.” Judy put her hand on his sturdy shoulder.
“I know, I know, I keep reminding myself of that. I’ll be in my room if you need anything,” Patrick said as he headed down the hall.
“Righteeo!” Judy said, “Oh do you want me to make you something for dinner?”
“Sure, I’ll have what you’re having.” Patrick closed the door and Judy put away her supplies.
Judy was going to have left over roast from one of the extravagant dinners. Although Judy was beginning to dislike Claire, she thought her cooking was phenomenal. She put together a quick plate for the both of them and warmed the meals up in the microwave. The phone on the wall rang as she was waiting.
“Hello, this is the McKenzie Manor House, Judy speaking.”
“Yes Judy, this is Alesta.”
“Hello, how are you?” Judy asked and the microwave beeped.
“Good. Is Patrick there?”
“No, he’s upstairs studying for his exam.” Judy pulled the hot plates out and put Patrick’s on a tray.
“Oh good, he’s in his room?”
“Yes, he is, do you want me to connect you?”
“No, no, I’ll be over.” Alesta hung up.
“That was odd,” Judy said. “She hung up on me.”
Judy dismissed it and took the tray upstairs. She knocked on the door to Patrick’s room and after a long minute he answered.
“Oh Judy, thank you.” Patrick took the tray from her.
“Be careful, it’s hot,” Judy said.
“Thanks again.” Patrick was about to close the door.
“Alesta’s coming over.” Judy stopped him.
“Oh she is?” his eyes brightened.
“Yes, she called a few minutes ago. She seems to be in a hurry.”
“She has to go to the hospital tonight. Thanks for telling me.”
“Sure.” Judy went off to enjoy her meal as well.
Patrick quickly went into the bathroom to make sure his appearance was well. He combed his hair, checked his teeth and straightened out his green shirt. He had changed out of his uniform kilt earlier and into some jeans. There were no other odors that he noticed and he went and sat down to eat at his table by the window. After taking the first hot bite of tender roast there was a knock on the door.
He opened the door to a smiling Alesta, “Sorry excuse me I am in the middle of eating…..hi,” he said.
“Patrick, I had to see you before my shift. How are you feeling?”
“Better. Come in,” he said.
“Oh that looks good and smells good too, let me guess, Claire’s leftovers?”
“Yes.” Patrick took another juicy bite.
“Is it okay if I interrupt you? I just want to check you over to make sure you’re healing, no infection, that sort of thing.”
“Right.” Patrick stood up.
“Any pain with breathing?” She motioned him to lift his shirt and he smiled revealing all his purpled bruising.
“A little, not like it was before.”
“It doesn’t look as red but the bruising will get worse probably. I don’t think you broke any ribs, since the pain is going away.” Alesta placed her hand on the side of his ribs and ran it down to his waist lightly. “Still some swelling though. And let me see your head.”
Patrick tilted his head down as he was taller.
“The stitches look good, no redness.” Alesta took his hand, “I was worried you know.”
“I know you were.” Patrick sat down to eat, he was starved. “Thanks for the other night.”
“You’re welcome, no need to thank me, it’s the least I could do. I’ll take the stitches out for you next week and I promise it won’t hurt.”
“I’ll hold you to it this time,” Patrick laughed.
“Yes and so you should,” Alesta laughed cheerfully. “Well, I’d like to stay and talk, but I don’t want to be late again to the hospital.”
“Late? When did that happen?” Patrick paused on his chewing.
“My last shift. I’ll see you in the morning then?” Alesta asked.
“Yeah.” Patrick looked up at Alesta, who was watching him eat intently.
“Sometimes I wish…” She stopped, gaze moved away to some other place and some other time.
“You wish what?” Patrick put down his fork hoping for an answer.
“Oh nothing….. I’m off. I’ll close the door behind me.”
She did and lingered a moment at his door and softly spoke.
“I wish I could eat like a normal person.”
The report room was almost full. Alesta actually got a seat next to Monica and Mary sat at the head of the table, peering down her tartan frames at her board as usual. It was a predictable scene filled with that pre-shift tension.
Alesta nudged, “So, tell me, how’d it go with Thomas?”
Monica flashed her a thin lipped grin, “Good, good.”
“Come on, that’s all you’re going to tell me.” Alesta nudged her again.
“Not here silly, later.” Monica tapped her pen on the table excitedly.
“Ahh….. So you’re going to keep me hanging.”
Monica giggled and continued tapping, “Yep!”
The clock struck nine and Mary read out the Matron’s report. The nurses wrote the details down under each room number, names, ages, diagnosis, and at the end of it all began to pick their assignments. The assignments were divided up based on order of chips. The lowest number picked first and so on, but a nurse could follow their patients from the previous day if they wished. Alesta happened to have chip number two and picked a nice single patient who was quite ill. She knew she’d have a steady shift but not as busy if she had picked two patients. Monica had a worse number and ended up with a busy pair.
“You lucky,” Monica said as they all left the report room.
“I never get a good chip,” Alesta said. “I was due.”
“Yeah I’m due too. But I always am.” Monica sighed as she pushed the big metal button to open up the doors to the Critical Care Ward. “Sometimes I think it’s rigged.”
“Well, you know I heard a few months ago that someone was coming in early and stealing chip number one out of the bag before the shift started,” Alesta said.
“What!” Monica was pissed. “Who?”
“They never figured it out, but they announced it before a shift once that they knew it was happening and whoever it was stopped.” Alesta put her bag down next to her substation, she looked over at Mary’s desk.
“God, I can’t believe someone would be so dishonest. They need a right boot up the arse.” Monica motioned the booting with her hand. “Anyways, I’m in the hole tonight, see you!”
“Yeah, tell me when you’re going on break and I’ll meet you,” Alesta said.
“By th
e looks of things I might not get one tonight.” Monica headed down the hall.
“Don’t worry, I’ll come down there and see you then,” Alesta yelled after her and waved.
The substation had charts pilled all over the place, papers, ECG strips. It was a mess. It was the signs of a busy day. Most of the nurses tried to tidy up a little at the end of their shifts but only after everything else was done. Alesta watched the heart rhythms buzz across the monitors above her. The patients in her vicinity looked stable, so where was the day nurse she wondered? Alesta stood up and decided to look in the room of her new assignment, but there was no nurse to be found, then she heard the medication room door slam behind her. A young nurse with frazzled hair came out holding a bag of saline and some other medications.
“I’m so sorry, I got behind. Dr. Mooney came and wrote a bunch of orders twenty minutes ago and I’m just getting through it now, cause, well I had to change all the linens and….”
Alesta interrupted the young new nurse, “Don’t worry, just give me report and I’ll finish the orders up.”
“Are you sure? I mean I can go in there and do this.”
Alesta looked up at the time; the young nurse was already clocking overtime, “Your shift is over, I can do it.”
“Well okay,” the young nurse said and plunked everything down next to Alesta on the substation counter.
“What’s your name?” Alesta asked while logging into the computer.
“Uh, Charlene.”
“Did you just get off orientation?” Alesta typed in her password and clicked on her patient’s electronic chart.
“Yes, how do you know?” Charlene asked.
“Oh, …” Alesta smiled, “I haven’t seen you before, I’m Alesta, but don’t worry if you don’t remember my name the next time you see me, I’m one of a bunch.”
“Alesta, I’ve never heard that before, that’s a pretty name, what does it mean?” Charlene asked.
“It means Savior of Mankind.”
“Appropriate name for a place like this,” Charlene said.
“I suppose. I hadn’t thought of it before.” Alesta got her pen and paper ready; she was done with the small talk. “Right, what’s the story?”
Charlene began with the story of the young woman who had become mysteriously ill, with flu like symptoms to begin with, leading to unconsciousness. She was intubated upon arrival with a head bolt placed earlier that afternoon to measure her intercranial pressures.
“Wow, sounds like this has happened all so quickly,” Alesta said.
“Yes, I’ve never assisted with a bolt before. The Matron helped me through it. Watching the doctor drill into her skull was….and the sound of it….” Charlene looked a little queasy as she stopped in mid sentence.
“Yeah it’s rare to be done at the bedside, she must be very sick.” Alesta looked at the new orders. “Well off you go. Thanks for the report.”
“Sure.” Charlene, frazzled hair and all, gathered her bags and quickly scooted off; Alesta, though nice, had given her the creeps.
Alesta prepped her time sheet and went into the room. The young woman lay with her long black hair draped on top of her. She was beautiful, the rhythmic ticking of the ventilator clicked away. Alesta noticed that the young woman was not breathing over the set rate; she was completely dependent on the life support. The girl would be dead otherwise.
With that last thought a familiar sadness came over Alesta as she knew that the girl was going to die. She could sense death all around hanging in the air. It wasn’t imminent but there, waiting. When youth came into the ward, it was difficult for everyone. The girl was the same age as Alesta when she had been turned into a vampire. Alesta tried to push those thoughts away; there were just certain areas of life that Alesta could not intervene. It was an easy thing to create another vampire, but Alesta had only done it a few times, one with very bad results, she remembered those dark times clearly.
William was dead and Alesta had to escape from the Manor. Life would be so empty without him, even though she knew it was necessary. She shivered at the chaos she’d left behind. It was all in good hands though. Or was she just telling herself that. With haste, she fled in her horse drawn carriage with a storm that followed her like no other.
The vampire stood on the desolate castle top and looked up at the wild inferno sky. Lightening scattered through the thrashing clouds. Alesta almost wanted to be struck in her moment of sorrow and hatred. So many feelings passed through her. She felt lost, confused, hurt, abused and sickly wondered if any man could live up to the magnificent William; one of a kind. It wasn’t till after Ian and his heinous acts that she decided to end it all. Had she done the right thing? It was too late. She killed her own kind and her husband. She realized then that she was so very alone and in remorse missed him even after all the horrific things he had done to her.
Lightening cracked above!
“That’s it. That’s what I need.” She screamed, arms in the air cursing the sky.
The wind carried the ludicrous words away, but the idea stuck with her, she became over run with obsession. Maybe it was her way of coping with the guilt. Alesta spent the next few months observing the castle hands, mainly the young men. All she knew was that she didn’t want another dominating husband. She had had enough of that. Alesta wanted the control this time. She began the search.
“Ro!” Alesta called to the striking man below, her voice echoed down the spiral stone staircase and slapped him right in his left ear.
Stunned he looked up with a hint of blue eyes, “…..uh…..My Lady…..”
She leaned over a little more almost like she was going to fall and hooked her finger, “Come here.”
Ro hurried up the stairs in his guard uniform, “Yes, my Lady. Be careful.”
Alesta laughed, “I want you to meet me later in my quarters. I need to speak with you.”
“But my Lady…..” Ro reached the top enamored by her beauty.
“No buts. Please meet me later when your duties are finished.” Alesta gave him a most seductive smile.
Ro in a light daze bowed, “As you wish my Lady.”
Alesta watched him go back down the winding stairs, “So innocent, a delight.” She sighed, feeling a strong pang for blood.
The months of watching him had been fun and incredibly distracting; she was looking forward to the evening. Red was the color she decided upon, a smooth silky gown. It seemed appropriate for what was about to happen.
“Tighter please,” Alesta said.
Maggie did as she was told and pulled the laces to the corset more. Alesta stood straighter and sucked in her core and pressed up on her breasts. Maggie was Alesta’s favorite servant, intelligent, obedient and most importantly she kept her mouth shut. Alesta turned to look in the mirror. The dress was to die for, no man could resist.
“Thank you, now please bring up the food as I asked and set everything out on the balcony. I want it to be perfect.
Maggie nodded and returned. She set everything up as ordered, the finest china, linens, and gold tableware, with a big fat roast, a tart red wine and an exotic assortment of fruits and vegetables. The bread was warm and the butter freshly creamed. It was a mini feast.
“Maggie, thank you, now please leave me.” Alesta fluffed out the bottom of her dress one last time and applied the reddest of rouges to her pale hungry lips.
It was the finishing touch. Alesta waited in the dark, thinking about the future and the unknowns it held. It was a new beginning for her, a new era. The anticipation was thrilling.
The quiet knock came as expected and the door opened. The dark outline of the young man stood in the doorway. Alesta could sense his heart racing.
“Hello….. Is anyone there?” The voice was deep and uncertain.
The candles around the room instantly flickered on. The flames moved as if a breeze had whisked its way around. The young man gasped, slightly afraid. He looked at the black satin balconied bed before him. The oriental rug
s spread on the hard wood floors and the ornate vanity. The doors to the balcony were open and he decided to follow the glow of the moon.
“Wow…..” He looked at the spread, never had he seen such food. The table cover whipped in the cold wind as did his platinum blonde hair.
“My lady………?” The young man called and looked over the edge.
“Be careful,” Alesta said teasing.
Ro, surprised turned quickly around, “My lady, there you are.” She was stunning, he had to look away or be lost in her eyes.
“Yes, welcome, please sit.” Alesta directed him to the table before them.
“My lady?”
“Yes, of course, do sit and call me Alesta, please.”
“As you wish….Alesta.” Ro sat down and tried to focus on the spread and not her.
“I have prepared a meal for you. Help yourself to anything.” Alesta lifted the covers to the platters and Ro’s eyes widened.
“I don’t think I have ever eaten like this before.”
Ro sliced off a large piece of meat and bit into it. His eyes closed as he savored every bite, he grabbed the bread and spread the butter thickly over it. The salty butter melted in his mouth. Ro couldn’t get enough and ate almost everything that had been set out for him. Alesta watched his every bite, almost jealous but not quite.
“Thank you. Why all of this for me?” Ro asked.
“I’ve seen you watching me and I know you have seen me watching you,” Alesta said.
Ro looked down, “Have I offended you my Lady?”
“Remember call me Alesta.”
“So sorry, it’s a hard habit to break.” Ro looked into her deep blue eyes and found that he was caught there.
“I like you Ro. That is why you are here.”
Her words were enchanting. Ro just stared with no control. She eased up on him a bit with her spell and the two just sat there, quietly enjoying the views and each other’s company. It was relaxed but the tension was building. Ro finished the last bite and took his last sip of wine. Although it was cold the two of them did not even notice, the heat between them was on the rise.