My mouth fell open and my eyes grew wide. I thought, this was from the turn of the fifteenth century that you read about in old tales, but here Tony was explaining it in modern day. “How do vampires hide from these people?”
“They don’t.”
“But how……”
Tony held up his forefinger and I stopped talking. “They only come out at night to hunt when the town’s asleep. For us, who don’t look like vampires, it’s easy to be in public without being noticed. You never see my father out in daylight and he travels in a vehicle that has very dark tinted windows.”
“But the blood bank in London is located in the heart of the city. How does he get in without being seen?”
“The back door,” Tony said, and then laughed.
“Did you witness the fate of the dhampir?”
“I did.” Tony looked down when he said that. “That was the reason for this meeting. To ensure that we witnessed and knew what would happen if we didn’t obey.”
I wrapped my arms around Tony and hugged him as tight as I could. “You always do what Victor says, okay. I don’t want anything to happen to either of you.”
“Don’t worry Jess; I will never let anything happen to my father or myself.”
The sun was setting in the sky and the moon was coming up over the horizon by the time Tony finished telling me about the meeting. I was getting up to dress for bed when the voice from the other night cried, ‘Help us.’ We looked at each other and I whispered, “Do you know the story about the basement?”
“Is that where the voice came from?”
“Yes, it’s a family. There are soldiers down there too.”
“Wonder why we never heard it before?”
“The wall was always up. Your mother and I tore it down when you and Victor went to Italy.”
“Hum, well that’s interesting.”
“Tony, do you know about the basement?” I asked again.
“No, I sure don’t, but I’ll talk to father about it in the morning.”
Tony and I laid there listening to the woman crying for help. I was glad he was home and the crying didn’t bother me since I knew what it was. Soon I was asleep.
The morning sun peeked through the curtain and I woke to a beautiful day. Tomorrow I would be heading home to Oregon. Tony had already left so I stretched and went to the bathroom to take a shower. I packed my suitcase and took it down stairs, sitting it beside the front door.
“Jess, could you come in here a minute,” Jennifer called from the living room. “I have some news about the basement.”
Jennifer had caught my interest. I couldn’t wait to hear about the ghosts.
“I talked to Victor about the ghosts. Apparently, they showed up after the house was built. An old farmhouse stood here before William had the house built. The story is an English family would hide peasants in the basement of the old farmhouse so the soldiers wouldn’t find them. The soldiers were required by the king to bring in anyone who did not pay taxes on time. This family in the basement could not pay so they hid. The soldiers searched for them until they found them. The room where the ghosts are is the last place the family ever saw.
The ghosts of the soldiers are there because the owner of the farmhouse shot them after they killed the family. As for the barred door around the corner of the staircase, it’s still a mystery. I guess we will never know and I am not going to find out.”
“Would you like for me to see what’s behind the door?” I asked.
“No dear, that won’t be necessary.”
Hearing the front door open and close, I saw Tony walk by the doorway of the living room. “Excuse me Jennifer.” Getting up I ran to the elevator, but the doors closed just as I got there so I watched the ancient arrow slowly moving from number to number until it stopped on three. I pushed the button and waited for the doors to open so I could see Tony.
On the way up to the third floor my cell phone rang. It was Tony.
“Hello.”
“Sweetie, where are you?”
“I’m in the elevator.”
“See you in a minute.”
The doors opened at the third floor and Tony was waiting for me. “Our plane leaves in the morning. Are you packed?”
Tony and I walked toward our bedroom.
“I’m all ready, but I want you to go with me to the basement.”
“We don’t need to. Father told me about the family and soldiers you saw down there.”
“I know, but I want to see what is behind the barred door before we leave.”
“Jess, you don’t need to know what’s there.”
“Do you know what is behind the barred door?” I asked thinking he knew.
“No and I don’t want to know. Please let us leave it at that.”
“Where is Victor?”
“He was heading towards his bedroom. Why?”
“I need to talk to him.” I started for the elevator when Tony caught my arm and stopped me.
“Jess, please, leave it alone.” Tony looked at me with concerned eyes, which only made me more curious.
“Okay,” I said and went to get his suitcase from the closet. Sitting it on the bed, Tony went to the dresser and started getting his clothes.
Taking the opportunity with his back to me, I ran for the elevator. With the doors already open I reached for the buttons with my hand and pushed a button hoping it was for one. I looked up to see Tony running toward the elevator. “I’m going to talk to Victor,” I said as the doors were closing.
Instead of going to Victor, I went to the first floor kitchen and up the stairs to the door that led to the basement. Opening the door, I descended the stairs and flipped on the light. Looking around, I saw a board just the right size for prying leaning against a wall with several nails sticking out along the end. Taking the board, I pried off the boards which held the door shut just enough for me to get around them and into the room. As I was getting the last board away from the wall, I heard footsteps behind me. Looking behind me I saw a soldier with its back to me walking toward the room with the family.
The door didn’t want to budge. Using all my strength, I managed to open the door, but not without the door hinges squeaking. When I had the door open enough I slipped inside closing it behind me.
The room was dark and cold, musty smelling. Feeling a breeze it chilled my arms so I rubbed them hoping the goose bumps would go away. I started feeling for a light switch and wished I had the candle and matches or a flashlight. The wall was rough, but there was no switch on the right side of me. Running my hand along the door to the left side of the wall, my hand stopped when I felt what could have been a finger. My heart started to race for fear of the unknown before me in the dark. Squeaking sounds could be heard throughout the room. Hopefully they were just mice.
My eyes soon adjusted to the darkness. My legs were shaking, but I had to find the switch. Inching my hand across the door, the bump was gone. Frightened but determined to find the light switch, I searched until I found it. With my finger on the switch, I slowly started to push the switch up.
“Don’t turn the light on,” a soft angelic whisper came from across the room.
My head snapped to where I heard the voice. “Why not?” I asked trying to stay calm.
“I don’t want it on.”
“Who are you?”
The voice was quiet now.
With my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, I glanced around the dark room noticing a small white light. It was from where I heard the voice.
Leaving the light off, I walked toward the light.
“Please don’t come any closer.”
Stopping a few feet from the door I said in a louder voice, “If you need help, I’ll help you.”
“No one can help me.”
I didn’t know what to say. I stood in the middle of the room looking toward the voice; frozen.
The small white light was going up the wall. Maybe I shouldn’t have been eager to know what was beh
ind the barred door, I thought. I just had to be nosey.
The white light was getting bigger. Where the eyes were I saw only black. The oval shape of the white light I recognized as a face. “May I ask who you are?”
“I am someone you don’t want to know,” the voice said.
“How did you get here?”
I heard a sigh and the angelic voice spoke, “I was brought here in the middle of the night a long time ago. A lady said she had something to show me. I followed her to this room and I have been here ever since. She told me she would come for me. I am still waiting.”
“How did you come to be here, at the house, in the first place?”
“My parents were invited to a party. My father thought it would be a perfect time for me to meet a young man. The house was decorated in strings of beautiful twinkling lights of different colors. I remember a Christmas tree in the picture window lit up with the most beautiful angel sitting on top. New Years Eve party, it was.
I stood there listening, not blinking, and not moving. I just listened.
“I am too shy to offer conversation to anyone, so I sat against the wall watching everyone talk and dance. Not one fellow showed an interest in me. My first thought was, am I ugly or was there something wrong with me since I was secluded my whole life.
“You see, my parents kept me away from the town people or rather my father did. I was never allowed to go into town and no one was allowed to visit either. My father was very private and strict,” she paused. “I don’t remember my mother speaking when my father was home. He would go off to work at the mill, but not before he gave me my list of daily chores.” The voice was silent and the white light disappeared. “My father wasn’t a kind man. He was very hard on me. I always obeyed.”
“My mother would tell me stories of when she was a little girl and how she met my father. Behind a shelf that stood beside the fireplace, my mother kept a book that her mother had given her. My father didn’t allow reading. He thought it was useless.”
The voice was silent. The white face moved from side to side as if it was looking for something. A fingernail on the chalkboard sounded then something hard hit my shins. “Please have a seat. There is a lot more to tell.”
Feeling for the hard thing in front of me, I realized it was an old wooden milk crate. As I sat on the crate a board gave way making a loud snapping sound. I jumped and the voice giggled. Adjusting the crate under me, I waited for her to continue her story.
“The princess in the book, I believed was me. Countless nights, I lay in my bed dreaming of a prince to rescue me from my life, but he never came. The prince searched for his princess and eventually found her deep in the forest, but she belonged to another. The prince would ride to the forest to see her every day of his life. One day he came, but she was gone. You see, she died. I feel like I am here to die myself. But that lady promised me she would come for me.”
The white face looked down.
“Do you know who this lady is?” I asked.
“No, but she was very beautiful. Her hair was black as night and her eyes red as blood. When she smiled all you wanted to do was smile back. Her eyes seem to hold mine. I remember feeling as if someone was watching me. Hoping it was a young man. I looked at everyone in the room, but they were either talking or dancing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blur. Looking where I saw the blur, I noticed her. That smile, I will never forget.”
“Do you know her name?” I was thinking of Charlotte and that thought was enough to send chills up my spine.
“She never said her name.”
“How long ago was this party you attended?” Remembering Charlotte had been gone for almost three years now.
The white face looked up and turned to the wall. “Guessing, I would say four or five years ago.”
My mouth fell open because that would have put her here when Charlotte was alive. Jennifer always held New Years Eve parties here at the mansion for her close friends and she always invited everyone whether she knew them or not.
“Does the name Charlotte or William mean anything to you?” I asked.
“No,” the voice paused. “Should it?”
“I guess you wouldn’t know. How about Victor or Jennifer…”
She looked up at me and I knew then one of these names she knew.
“You mean Mr. and Mrs. Mureaux?” The girl asked.
“Yes, which name do you remember?”
“Mrs. Mureaux. Jennifer. I remember her best. She was the hostess of the party.” The girl smiled.
“Do you remember anything else?”
“I remember she would come up to me as I sat along the wall and talk to me. My father was watching, so I never spoke to her. She also brought me a plate of food and some punch. Come to think of it that was my last meal. Now all I want is the blood of the rats.”
“What’s your name?”
“Abigail Carter.”
“Abigail, my name is Jessica.” I paused. “How old are you?”
“I am nineteen.”
“Let me rephrase that—How old were you when you came to the party?”
“I was fifteen, almost sixteen. That’s the reason I was at the party. My father wanted me to find….”
“Your father was trying to find you a husband,” I whispered under my breath.
Abigail turned to face the wall. “I have scratched lines in the wall. I guess you can’t see the scratches, but I know I am nineteen.”
Remembering Victor’s and William’s story, I knew vampires didn’t age. Victor would forever be twenty-one and Abigail would still be fifteen. I wasn’t sure if she knew what she was.
“Jennifer who lives here would be more than willing to help you and you wouldn’t have to stay here in this dark room.”
“No one can help me,” Abigail repeated.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know that. You see, the woman who brought me down here hurt me. For a long time I felt pain and it was unbearable. I screamed for the woman, but she never came. With the pain being so much, I finally closed my eyes hoping the pain would kill me, but then the pain stopped and I opened my eyes. I noticed I could see everything clearly.”
“Can you see me?”
“Yes.” Abigail’s white face turned upward. “The sun shone through the window above my head. My eyes were very sensitive, so I tore my dress and covered it. That’s when I noticed my hand was white as snow. I could hear footsteps behind the door. They would get fainter and fainter until they were gone.”
“Have you ever heard anyone talking?”
“I heard you and the nice lady down here not too long ago.”
“Have you heard anyone else?” I had to ask because the wall dividing the third floor would have made it possible for her to only hear Charlotte and William.
“I remember a woman discussing a girl that smelled like roses and she was trying to get the man to bring the girl to her.”
The hairs stood up on the back of my neck when Abigail said this. I didn’t want to hear anymore about Charlotte so I asked, “Do you know what you are?”
“I’m guessing I’m a vampire, but I’m not sure. Why do you ask?”
I wasn’t sure how to explain that she was a vampire. How was she going to react if she knew?
“Well, I don’t want to scare you or have you…”
“Jessica, I won’t be scared. I want to know.”
“What kind of food are you eating down here?”
“I live off the rats. I let them live until they get big. The small ones don’t help me with my thirst.
“Thirst?”
“I’m never hungry. I smell the rat, my throat burns and I know it’s time to eat.”
“I know someone who looks just like you,” I said cautiously.
“You do?”
“Yes, I do and they are a vampire.” I watched the expression on her face turn into amazement.
“Then I am a vampire,” Abigail whispered, and held her hand up in front
of her face. She put her hand down and then said, “But you aren’t afraid of me.”
“I have no reason to fear you. Like I said, I know a vampire and I only want to help you. And I know just the person who can.”
“Like I said before—No one can help me.”
“I know what you said. There is someone and I need for you to stay here until I talk to them, okay.”
Abigail nodded and then a rat, as big as a cat, ran in front of her. She stopped it in one swift movement. The rat squealed, but Abigail held it to her mouth. The rat went limp in her hands.
“Did you just…..”
“I told you. It’s my way of survival.”
I stood up and started for the door. I turned toward Abigail and said, “I’ll come back okay, I promise.”
Abigail moved the rat from her mouth and said, “Okay” then put the rat back to her mouth.
I turned to the door when I heard Tony yell.
“Jess, are you down here?”
Abigail’s eyes looked at the door then back at me. I wanted her to be very quiet so I held my finger up to my lips. She nodded once and put the rat back to her lips, then turned to face the wall. I opened the door, slipped out from around the boards and turned the lights off.
If there was another way out of the basement, I hadn’t found it. Tony would be furious with me, but I wanted to know what was behind the barred door. I saw a light coming around the bend of the stairs. I didn’t want him knowing I was here, so I headed in the direction of the room that held the family of ghosts.
Turning around, I saw the light flicker against the wall. Tony was coming.
My eyes adjusted to the dark and I saw slivers of light coming from the wall. I knew Jason didn’t know about the hidden stairwell because he had to use a door to bring the coffin down.
At the end of the hall and from the corner of my eye, I saw the door slightly open. Hurrying to the door, I gently pushed it until I had enough room to exit. Once outside, I closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
The lake was in front of me and the patio to my left. Running to the wrought iron table and chair which faced the lake, I sat down hard and worked on slowing my breathing.
Dhampir Love (Dhampir Secrets) Page 8