Dhampir Love (Dhampir Secrets)

by Shirlee Lewis

  “Jess,” Tony said.

  I opened my eyes to see him sitting on the side of the tub.

  “I always under estimate you…”

  I took my hand and placed it on his lips.

  He gently moved my hand and kissed my palm. “I will never under estimate you again.”

  I smiled and said, “I love you.”

  “I love you.”

  He got up and grabbed a towel from the cabinet. I stood up and he wrapped the towel around me, picked me up and carried me to the bedroom. He sat me on the bed, then went to the dresser and took out my over-sized sleep shirt. I put it on and then a loud bang sounded from outside our bedroom window. We looked at each other. Tony went over to the window and pulled back the curtain to find Mildred staring at him.

  I turned to see Mildred wide-eyed and her mouth in the shape of an ‘o’. What on earth is she doing? I thought. Of course, Tony and I had been gone for a week and the suspense of our private life was bugging her.

  “Mildred, do you mind a little privacy,” Tony said sarcastically.

  I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

  “If you want to know how the trip went, wait until morning,” he spouted at her angrily.

  I couldn’t help but laugh even harder.

  Tony closed the curtain and said, “Wonder what she’s doing here this time of night?”

  I shrugged my shoulders and pulled the covers back. It was the first time Tony had actually seen her around the house after dark. I knew she was snooping, but I didn’t tell Tony.

  Tony climbed into bed and started kissing my neck. I was to worn out for loving him. I never could tell him no, so I just lay back and let him kiss my neck and love me.

  Chapter Seven

  When we woke up the rain was pouring down hard. Looking out the front door, I couldn’t see the porch. It couldn’t have been a better day to open the blood bank. It always rains in Oregon and sunny days were far and few. Tony and I arrived by five to make sure everything was ready. The staff arrived around six-thirty. We unlocked the door a few minutes before seven and then stood in the lobby and waited for our first customer. Tony wanted us to meet everyone who came. He said ‘it will be better for business if the customers are comfortable with the new owners.’ So there we stood for an hour waiting for our first customer.

  Mrs. Salibaster was the first to arrive an hour after we opened. I showed her to the first room on the left where our staff eagerly awaited to get started. As soon as she was in the seat another customer arrived. I repeated the process of taking the customer to the room and going back to the lobby all morning.

  “We won’t have to do this tomorrow, will we?” I whispered.

  “No, just for today,” Tony whispered.

  The paperwork was filling up the box I had hanging on the outside of my office door. I would be here until dark getting it into the computer and filed.

  We closed for lunch at noon and I was glad because my feet were killing me. The break room was filled with employees. At my office door, I grabbed the papers out of the box, closed the door, laid the papers on my desk, sat down and put my feet up.

  Tony came into my office from his office through the adjoining door with a flask in his hand. Sitting on the edge of the desk, he took a drink and then rubbed my feet. That felt good and I didn’t want him to stop.

  “We’re having a great turnout for being closed for almost a year.”

  “Hum,” was all I said.

  “Why don’t you stay in your office for the rest of the day? I can see the paperwork is piling up and I know you don’t want to be here late since we have to do it all over again tomorrow,” Tony offered.

  “I’ll be okay.”

  “Well then, I hate to interrupt your break, but it’s time to greet customers.”

  I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling. Taking my feet off my desk I said, “I’ll leave the paperwork until tomorrow.”

  Tony finished his flask and sat it on my desk. We went back to the lobby and greeted customers until five o’clock.

  The staff left a little after five and the cleaning crew Victor hired arrived as Tony and I got in the car to head home.

  “Aren’t you hungry? You missed lunch.”

  “I’ll just make a sandwich at home.”

  “I believe it was a successful day, don’t you?” Tony asked.

  “I do.”

  We got home a little after seven and I went straight to bed forgetting to eat.

  “Jess,” Tony whispered beside me.

  “What?” I said halfway asleep.

  “We won’t have to go so early in the morning.”

  “Okay,” I said, and then I lost consciousness.

  In the morning we headed back to Portland. I slept so hard it felt as if I hadn’t slept at all.

  The staff was already at the blood bank when we arrived. I went straight to my office, turned on the computer and then went to the break room to put on a pot of coffee. To my surprise it was already made. Grabbing my cup, I went back to my office and started on the paperwork.

  The software program was an exact replica of the program Victor had in London. Thankfully I had familiarized myself with it when I visited the blood bank in London. I started putting in the names of the clients from yesterday and around lunch; I was halfway through the huge pile.

  Tony insisted I eat because I didn’t have anything yesterday. He took me to the Steak and Grog. I wanted a salad, but Tony ordered me a steak with all the fixing’s. After I finished eating, I was more awake.

  Back at the blood bank, I finished with the computer and it was time to make folders for the clients and file them in the filing cabinet. Not wanting to be a day behind, I started in on the day’s paperwork in hopes to have it done before we left for the evening. At five o’clock, I had only two left and I smiled.

  “Jess, you ready to go?” Tony asked coming into my office.

  “I have two more and then I’ll be ready.”

  “I’ll make a few phone calls to potential clients.”

  “Okay. It shouldn’t take me more than ten minutes.”

  Tony left my office with the door open. I heard him on the phone talking about an order of one thousand bags of ‘O’ positive blood to ship to Japan.

  Victor was right about how busy we would be, but I wasn’t expecting it to be the second day after we had officially opened.

  On the way home, I asked “Is business going to start picking up?”

  “Business is going to be wonderful. I have an order from Japan and Australia. From the looks of the clients we’ve had after the second day, I’d say we never have to worry about closing our doors.”

  “That’s fantastic, but who is going to run it for us when we get married and go on our honeymoon?”

  “Father has some people from his blood bank coming a week before the wedding.”

  “I should have known Victor would have it all taken care of.”

  “He’s nothing if not thorough,” Tony smiled when he made that comment.

  I couldn’t help but smile too.

  Victor was one to never leave anything undone.

  Back at home, I made a sandwich and grabbed a soda from the refrigerator. Tony grabbed a flask, retreated to the living room and I sat at the kitchen table. The wind picked up outside and the rain was starting. Wonderful, I thought. Not again. You had to expect rain if you lived in Oregon.

  My laptop sat on the corner of my dresser. I needed to look up material for my wedding dress. I went to get it when I saw a shadow move across the hall bathroom window. Knowing it wasn’t Charlotte, she was dead, so it had to be none other than Mildred. Hurrying to the spare bedroom window, I opened the curtain to see Mildred trying to find a peephole in the curtain. “This is getting old,” I said through the window. “If you want to know what is going on, please feel free to move in.”

  Mildred gasped and headed to the north end of the house. I hurried to the front door, opened it and waited for her to come aro
und to the front of the house. When she was by the porch, I went outside. Instead of saying anything to her, I headed down the street to her house.

  Frank was getting up from his recliner when I knocked on the door.

  “Hi Jessica, please come in. I’ll get Millie for you.”

  “You won’t have to. She’s coming from my house,” I said patiently. Mildred was on my last nerve and it needed to end.

  Frank looked at me as if I had lost my mind. “What do you mean?”

  “It seems she can’t stay away from our house.”

  “I can’t imagine her doing that. She never has before.”

  “Could you please keep her away? Tony and I don’t like being spied upon.”

  “I’ll do my best. Once she gets something inside her head, she won’t let it go until the task is complete.”

  Mildred walked into the house. I turned to glare at her. Not thinking I blurted out, “Stay away from our house. If Tony and I want you to know what is going on I’ll post it in the newspaper or better yet, I’ll advertise it on a bill board.”

  Storming out of the house I walked home, almost running. When I got home, I was fuming mad and forgot what I was going to do in the first place.

  Tony jumped when the door slammed behind me as I headed to the kitchen.

  “Jess, what’s wrong?”

  “Mildred is what’s wrong.”

  Grabbing the coffee pot, it banged against the side of the maker. Not caring if I had cracked it or not, I started putting water in the decanter.

  “Jess, sweetie, you need to calm down.”

  “Right now I could strangle her.”

  Tony came around the corner, took the pot from my hands. “Jess, what did she do?” he said calmly.

  “I found her at the spare bedroom window. Apparently our life is intriguing to her.”

  “So, this isn’t the second time she’s been outside our window?” Tony asked.

  “No, it’s not.” I looked up at Tony and he just looked across the room.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  “I’m thinking about talking to Frank. This needs to stop and now.”

  “I’ve already talked to him.”

  “When?” he asked.

  “Just a few minutes ago when you heard the door slam. He said he would try, but Mildred had a mind of her own.”

  “We’ll just see about that.”

  Tony put the filled decanter on the counter, grabbed a fresh flask from the refrigerator then headed to the front door. Before I could stop him, he was gone.

  I went to the front door and watched him walk to Frank and Mildred’s. Hopefully he could get something done about her snooping.

  I went back to the kitchen and finished making the pot of coffee. Then I remembered I was getting my laptop from my dresser and headed to the bedroom.

  Tony wasn’t back yet when I got the laptop and sat it on the kitchen table. Waiting for it to come on, I got a cup of coffee and went back to the front door. Tony must be still talking to Frank. Mildred must me horrified with Tony in her house, I thought. I had to laugh. It served her right for being so nosy.

  I went to see if the laptop finished loading, then sat down to look at all the material for my wedding dress. I found silk and chiffon material reasonably priced, so I order it with express delivery. The beads were difficult to find, but I finally came across a company that had beads in the shape of roses. Looking over the assortment, one caught my eye. It was a rose with a yellow tint. Perfect! I also found blue material and ordered it. The lace for my veil I also order. In a few days everything would be here and I couldn’t wait to get started.

  Closing the laptop, I went to the spare bedroom and dug out my sewing machine from the closet. I didn’t have a table to put it on, so I put it back. Tomorrow after work, I would find one.

  Hearing the front door, I went to see what had taken place over at Frank and Mildred’s. Tony went to his recliner.

  “Did you get it settled with Frank about Mildred?” I asked sitting on the arm of his chair.

  “I did and I also found out Frank is related to me.”

  “Really! How?”

  “He’s a distant cousin.”

  “Wow!” I said. “Now you have a relative living right down the street. Maybe you both will get to know one another.”

  “I don’t think so,” he said.

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “After we discussed Mildred, he got offensive. I don’t think I’ll be welcome back.”

  “Oh,” was all I said.

  Tony and I went to work as we had every day. Instead of eating lunch, I went to the furniture gallery and found a sewing machine table, and then went to the hardware store and bought a door handle with a key. Tony surely wouldn’t see the dress now. Everything was back on track and going to plan.

  Jason called every other day to give me a report on Abigail. The main rule for her, he told me, was she was never to hurt Jennifer. If the urge, so to speak, hit her, she was to immediately grab a bag of blood and down it. I couldn’t see her ever doing anything to Jennifer, but I guessed ground rules had to be set in order for her to live in the mansion and around Jennifer.

  Every night after work I could work on my dress. Weekends would be harder to find the time to sew because Tony didn’t go anywhere, but when he was busy watching his program, I could sneak into the spare bedroom, lock the door and sew until he knocked and asked what I was doing. When I wasn’t sewing I would keep the door locked and the key hidden.

  Sometimes Tony would be on the phone for hours in the backyard after we got home from work. Maybe, he was talking to potential clients for the blood bank.

  My cell phone rang. Looking at the caller ID it was Jason. He hadn’t called in several weeks, so I thought everything was going okay with Abigail.

  “Hello,” I said into the receiver.

  “Hi Jess, it’s Jason.”

  “Hi Jason, how is Abigail?”

  “She’s doing great,” he paused.

  “Jason?”

  “I don’t know how to put this,” he finally spoke.

  “Just say it,” I said a little worried.

  “Well, Abigail and I are engaged.”

  “Really!! When?”

  “Well, I just asked her a few minutes ago and now she’s bouncing off the walls.”

  “Congratulations Jason, but isn’t it a bit soon to propose marriage?”

  “I know, but Abigail gives my heart so much enjoyment.”

  “I’m happy for you and Abigail,” I paused. “May I offer a few words of advice?”

  “Sure, I’m so new to this,” he said.

  I heard Abigail squeal in the background.

  “Abby, I’m on the phone,” Jason said.

  “Oh sorry, I’m just so happy right now,” she said and then went silent.

  “Go ahead Jess,” he said.

  “Is that Jess? Can I say hi to her?” Abigail asked.

  “In a minute, we are discussing something important. Now be quiet. Please!”

  “I’m sorry, but she is over the moon right now.”

  “I can understand that.”

  “What is your advice now that she has left the room?”

  “Have you set a date yet?”

  “No.”

  “That’s good for now.

  “Why is that?”

  “Well, most people wait until they’ve known each other for several years before getting engaged. The engagement can last anywhere from two years or more. But since you have proposed only knowing Abigail for a month now, then my advice for you would be to wait at least a year to get married.”

  “I don’t know about waiting a year. We both aren’t going to find anyone else and,”

  “And,” I said wanting to know what else was on his mind.

  “And, at night,” Jason paused for a few minutes.

  “Jason, she’s been staying in your room.”

  “Well, yes,” he finally got out. “H
ow did you know?”

  “It wasn’t hard to guess. Remember the first night after you met her?”

  He didn’t say anything.

  To break the tension I figured he was feeling, I added, “I don’t see anything wrong with that. It doesn’t call for marriage though, but if you are truly in love with,”

  “Oh! Jessica. I am head over heels in love with her. I am so thankful you introduced us.”

  “Is there any way to talk to Mrs. Mureaux? She could give you some insight.”

  “Jess, I don’t talk to Mrs. Mureaux. Not like I do you. I am only her butler. I didn’t expect anyone to talk to me and I have to say, you surprise me.”

  Tony came into the house. I held up my finger to say, give me a minute.

  “Would you like for me to call her and talk to her for you?”

  “Well, well,” Jason stuttered.

  “Jason would you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll talk to Tony and get his opinion. I’ll call you as soon as I, I mean we, figure something out, okay?”

  “That will be just fine. I won’t marry her tomorrow,” Jason laughed. “I’ll wait until I hear back from you.”

  “That’s a very good idea. Bye Jason.”

  “Goodbye Jess. Talk to you soon.”

  Tony asked, “Get my opinion about what?”

  “Brace yourself, okay?”

  “I’m braced. What is it?”

  “Jason proposed to Abigail a little while ago.”

  Tony looked at me in shock. He sat down at the table and said, “He didn’t.”

  “He did. He wants to marry her as soon as he can.”

  “Do my father and mother know?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Tony got up, picked the phone up from the cradle and started out the back door when I stopped him.

  “Tony, could we talk about this first then you can call your parents.”

  Tony kept the phone in his hand, but sat back down at the table.

  “They have known each other about a month now. What could he possibly be thinking? Marriage is a huge step and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Look how long it took for me to ask your hand in marriage,” he grinned. “A year because I wanted to be sure it was what I wanted and it was.”