The House on Blackstone Moor (The Blackstone Vampires)

by Carole Gill

  It was the stench that did it, for the very repulsiveness of that stink only meant one thing—it was my father. There, he was—the evil sacrilege floating near the children.

  I could see him gazing down at Ada while she slept. “She is pretty, but not as pretty as you were.”

  I stood up quickly as if I could do something against an evil spirit. “Go away, you rotten thing! Go back to whatever lost region you belong in.”

  He only laughed and began to drift toward me slowly. Just when it seemed he was about to surround me in his stink-filled mist, Ada and Simon cried out. “Rose! No!” They both rushed toward me, but he blocked them, knocking them to the floor.

  I hollered their names. When it looked as though he was reforming himself into two cords, I hurled myself at him.

  I felt the icy horridness of his spirit as it began to envelope me. “I am taking you now, Rose. You will come and dwell with me forever.”

  “No! I will not go.”

  Suddenly another voice hissed out its venom. “Get away from her, you fiend!”

  Though I could not see her, I knew my mother’s spirit had returned to do battle yet again.

  And so they did engage in battle. The children were screaming and so was I for it was fierce and frightening to behold.

  And just when it seemed I could stand it no longer, I heard Marta shout. She had rushed in with Louis and Dr. Antor. “Be gone evil spirits! Be gone!” she cried, rushing past both Louis and Dr. Antor.

  If they tried to follow, they could not as an invisible wall held them back. It was part of the spirit attack.

  “I cannot push past!” Louis cried.

  It was Marta who answered. “Wait where you are. I will do it.”

  The spirits were angry—they now turned their fury on her, each combining whatever frightful energy they possessed to attack her.

  Yet, she was stalwart. She would not be cowed, and stood repeating the demand over and over. “Evil, be gone! You are through here. Your power is fading.”

  They hissed and spat—they knocked her down at one point. I could see they were hurting her, pulling her hair and trying to strangle her as well, and still she fought back.

  “Rose!” she called, motioning to her dress. “In my pocket, in my pocket. Get it out!”

  I hurried to help—though the spirits tried to stop me, I fought against them. “You will be gone today!” I shouted. They grumbled and cursed but I cared not for I was too intent on my purpose.

  The ghosts roared in anger as I gripped it. It was warm and comforting and pulsating with its own energy.

  “Hold it up!” Marta screamed.

  I did as I was told, that is I attempted to, but the spirits converged upon me and knocked the medal out of my hand.

  As I hurried to pick it up, they began to get in the way. “You shall not win,” I spat at them.

  I handed it quickly to Marta. “Leave, you unclean corrupt spirits! Your power is usurped. You are consigned to whence you came!”

  Just as she said this, a great and powerful wind appeared seemingly from nowhere and began to whip around the room.

  “It is like a cyclone!” Dr. Antor cried. “I have seen such things as this.”

  The children cried in terror, screamed for it to go, for it was terrifying them.

  “It will soon be gone!” Louis cried out, more in hope than in conviction.

  Then at last, we heard an almost deafening wail as it blew all the specters from the room. I shall never forget that sound.

  It was over. We were finally alone for the spirits had gone—none of their evil remained.

  The library had nearly been ripped apart. The book cases were shattered and the books destroyed, but we were safe and that is what mattered.

  Whether we were to remain safe—that was the question.

  Chapter 30

  Marta was exhausted by it all. Both Dr. Antor and Louis advised her to rest for as long as she liked.

  I think actually Louis wished for Marta to remain, to replace Molly, for we did need our nourishment.

  Even vampires ate food, though it was, shall we say, enriched with a different ingredient which, under the circumstances, Louis would have insisted on doing himself.

  As for me, I would be eating what Marta prepared for herself.

  “We could use your help here,” Louis offered at one point.

  Marta smiled. “I thank you sir, but I will be returning to my people when I can. We are one, and are rarely apart from each other.”

  Louis looked as though he understood. “Something will be figured out, I am certain.”

  It seemed to me he was putting on a brave front for he looked troubled. There was a great deal playing on his mind as there was on mine. I think we both felt ourselves confused and frightened of what lay in store for us.

  Our downstairs arrangements were more than adequate. Marta was quite happy to sleep in the kitchen. Louis and I fixed up a bed for her there.

  It was late September and the odd night tended to be frosty, so there was always a small fire going, which pleased her for she did so like to stare into it.

  “I like looking into the flames,” she said. “I cannot tell the future but I can see the past in them.”

  “And do you like to see your past?”

  “Yes, though it was difficult, it is good to see where I have come from, for that is the measure of a person…how far they have come…”

  “Yes,” I replied, wondering how I would measure up. Perhaps well, as I had overcome tragedy to be where I was now. But where was I now?

  I was in love with a demi-demon, an occasional imbiber of blood, a creature most of the world feared and hated.

  Yet, I still loved him and the children—demons all.

  As for myself, I’d have preferred Marta to stay for I did like her. She quite fascinated me. I had never seen anyone like her. I had read about gypsies in books and was interested in them.

  They travelled and danced and told fortunes, and I found that thrilling. How much better off I’d have been growing up with them than having come from my own home.

  And here was one now, a real gypsy who had come to help us.

  She told us of the encampment and mentioned the elder she had spoken of before. “She did warn me of evil.”

  “And you have exorcised the evil away, Marta.”

  She stared hard into my face. “They rest now, your mother and sisters and brother, and will rest for the evil that was in them did take flight. But your father’s spirit will not be with the light, not ever…”

  I took this to be heaven. “He damned himself.”

  “Beings often do…”

  I felt that a pointed remark, yet one I did not resent, for it is good not to resent the truth.

  I think she thought she might have spoken too harshly so she added, “Caution is the best friend any of us has.”

  *

  Louis decided the children should stay with the Lodge sisters for all that they had been through. And so they did. Dr. Antor took them.

  “You will be here when we return, won’t you Rose?” Ada asked, her pale green eyes looking sad and doubtful. Simon too seemed worried.

  Their words and expressions touched my heart. “Yes, of course.”

  They nodded yet it seemed to me they weren’t entirely convinced I was telling them the truth. I did try to reassure them, but I could sense they remained doubtful.

  When they were gone I asked Louis about it. “They are disbelieving of me.”

  Louis sighed. “They have told me that they are frightened you will go. They love you more than anything, Rose.”

  “Not more than you, surely.”

  Louis didn’t answer but to kiss my forehead as though I were a child. I wasn’t surprised for I had noticed certain changes in his attitude toward me. I felt differently about him, as well.

  We seemed more distant, less like lovers and more like friends. I questioned that in my own mind. As far as I was concerned, I had given
Louis my heart, yet I still retained my soul.

  Was that the issue that might be dividing us? I didn’t know. I became increasingly dreamy and took to taking strolls outside. I found I preferred the moors to the garden, for the garden would always remind me of Eve, and though I didn’t despise her, I did not wish to think of her.

  Very often Louis would find me staring off toward Egton. “If you would like to go Rose, you know you may at any time.”

  “No, Louis, I am not bound for there…”

  Very often I would see Marta watching us from the kitchen. I wondered what she thought. I particularly wondered what she thought of me, for I have always sought for people to have the best opinion about me and have fretted and worried if I thought they didn’t.

  I wondered if she liked me, if she felt sorry for me. Sometimes when just she and I spoke I thought she had questions that she felt unable to ask.

  I guess I really would have wanted her to have been a fortune teller, for I did so want to know the future.

  “You would have to ask the wise one who is like a mother to me, Rose. She could tell you.”

  I wondered if I ever would.

  *

  Louis stayed in the library and I stayed in the parlor. And when sleep didn’t come I would lie awake wondering if he was resting, for vampiric creatures do rest and dream as well.

  “Why should we not rest? All creatures rest, and though we are magical (he preferred that term to any other) we too should enjoy a peaceful respite as all other creatures do.”

  Why, indeed. Aside from dreaming I thought much about him—my head was full of him as was my heart.

  And if such was the case, then, how could I possibly think I’d stopped loving him?

  I longed for him, remembered the soft velvet of his lips and the way those lips felt upon my own. I recalled too his breath upon my neck and his kiss that set my body alight.

  I had opened myself to him completely and was quite willing to be damned for all eternity, for that was how much I loved him.

  It was for us, for Louis and I, something like a dream-world, a state of limbo where anything was possible and firm decisions could be postponed.

  But then something happened. Something none of us could foretell.

  It was on the second day the children had gone. The sky was full of black clouds and we were assailed with violent thunder and lightning storms, the worst I had ever seen. The air was rife with electricity and shattering noise.

  Frankly it frightened me, though I did not say it. Instead, I lay curled up like a little ball—trying to console myself, whimpering in the dark to be comforted.

  And then one night the door opened and he came in. I saw him standing there hesitantly, holding a candle. His handsome face was caught in shadow, yet I could tell by his demeanor that he was trying to see if I was sleeping or not.

  “I am awake,” I called.

  He stepped closer. “I wished to see if you were alright Rose, for you did seem nervous at the storms today.”

  This was a moment that I had longed for, and I wished it to go on in order to savor it. “Please sit, Louis, so we may talk.”

  I felt quite mischievous to say that, for I knew he wanted to come to my bed and lie with me, but I wanted to prolong the anticipation that I felt—because it felt so good to me.

  “Yes, I shall sit with you.” His eyes now shone in the candlelight, raw desire in his gaze.

  I watched him stoke the fire and fix the screen. “I’ve always liked this room,” he said.

  “It is elegant. I’ve not seen any better.” When he moved to light a lamp I spoke again. “No Louis, it is nice to have only the fire for our light.”

  “You know—” we both started, and laughed.

  He gestured for me to carry on.

  “I was thinking about so many things, about my life and what will be.”

  “And?”

  “And how I feel about things…I am frightened Louis of so many things…”

  “Of going on with me or without me?”

  I could not reply but only shrugged.

  “But Rose,” he said this as he walked to my side. “My dear, you have a second chance, my love—do not throw it away. Take it and live as you were meant to. Why condemn yourself to damnation?”

  His words were loving words yet they hurt my heart, for they were painful to hear and more difficult to consider. “But Louis, the children…”

  “I know you love them, and they love you—” he began to move toward the door. “That is no reason to stay.”

  “Where are you going?” I asked. “Please don’t leave. I couldn’t bear it!”

  He stood there as if battling with himself. “But I must.”

  “No, you must not.” I rushed to him and we embraced. I nearly cried out from pain for he hugged me most ardently.

  “Rose, my Rose.”

  He swept me up in his arms and carried me to the bearskin in front of the fire. “My darling—let us have this time, for we may have no other…”

  I tried to disagree, to tell him he was wrong, but his lips were on mine so I could not speak.

  There we were in front of the fire, our clothing discarded—two naked beings united by the hungry passion we had for each other, bonded in spirit and in love.

  Bonded, indeed.

  *

  We made love for hours, passionate and wild and sweet, too.

  It was near dawn when we lay in the peaceful loving bliss of our coupling that Marta burst into the room. She looked terrified. “Sir, please! Come at once, there is…”

  Louis knew at once. “He has come. Eco is here.”

  Chapter 31

  “Tell him I am coming, Marta.”

  He helped me to dress. “You might as well come too, for he would certainly find you if you did not.”

  At last I saw him, Eco, the monster of evil. He stood in the hallway not far from Marta. His pose was casual and threatening all at once, for he did not take his eyes off her as a snake would not look away from its prey.

  At last he shrugged. “I don’t think she likes me.”

  Marta cried out something in her language which only made him laugh. His laugh was sharp and loud and mocking. Then he said something back to her which made her tremble so badly, she had to sit.

  “I think I’ve upset her,” he said looking first at Louis and then at me. “Ah! Louis. What have we here? What have you been hiding from the world, eh?”

  As he sauntered toward me, Louis moved in front of me. “Whatever this is, it is just between us.”

  Eco allowed himself to be blocked from my view but he leaned over in order to see me. “You see how it is, how it has always been? I try to be his friend but really, it is impossible.”

  “Why have you come?”

  He began to pace. “Why, indeed. Well, I did wish to tell you things, the first of which is how sorry I am about the coven. Poor Eve, I do miss her for I did so enjoy her.”

  I felt Louis’ body tense, taut like stretched wire.

  “Yes, Louis.” Eco laughed.”You really should watch your temper. Why don’t you practice the precepts that your lunatic father adheres to, where is it, in Tibet, where he lives—doing penance for his support of Lucifer? Tell me, does he still ring bells and chant worthless rubbish?”

  “Leave him out of it.”

  “There you go again. Whenever I attempt to make any conversation, you squelch it and me, too. That is so unkind, rude really. Didn’t your father teach you any manners?”

  “He taught me better than yours did, for yours is still in league with Satan, is he not?”

  Eco had by now moved some distance so I could see his face. He was eyeing Marta. “You’re a gypsy so why are you here? Have you brought some curses with you? Are you intent on destroying evil?”

  “Only yours,” Marta replied. “For it is the only evil I do see here.”

  “Is it indeed, now that is interesting! I think there is quite a lot of evil about the place, or didn�
�t you notice? Perhaps you weren’t here long enough.”

  “I know evil when I see it.”

  Eco sniggered. “Are you referring to me? Surely not, or you shall hurt my feelings.”

  “Get on with it,” Louis said.

  Eco shrugged. “I have come really to offer you a proposition. It is an idea that I have had along with a business associate of mine. We thought your clubs could be spread out as it were, introduced to places that are natural sites for that sort of specialized entertainment. We were thinking of Paris and New Orleans, possibly New York and Cairo, too. There are always human beings to pay off, to entreat one way or the other—I think it might be wonderful, what do you think?”

  “I think it a foul idea. “

  Eco was by this time sitting rather grandly, languishing on one of the hall chairs. “You didn’t always feel that way. You know what went on in those clubs of yours. You even took part once or twice. Why, I remember a wild orgy of blood and depraved sexual union that Eve dragged you to. Truly, it was really something to behold. There was the most exotic sort of communal participation, as it were.” Now grinning at me, he went on: “Being feasted on by three or four vampires has proven to be quiet an aphrodisiac. One wouldn’t think so, would one? Would one, Louis? You didn’t know I was there watching you enjoying it, did you?”

  “I was not there willingly.”

  “Oh yes,” Eco snapped his fingers. “That is right! I forget! There was that drug that I gave you, it clouded your thoughts and paralyzed you, didn’t it? Well, it didn’t paralyze you completely for you still pleasured quite a few women and you did enjoy it. I think I saw a flicker of enjoyment in your eyes, Louis, I honestly think I did.”

  “You are more repulsive than ever.”

  Eco feigned hurt. “Now you see, that does wound me. Sticks and stones, Louis!”

  Louis didn’t answer that but urged Marta to take me from the room. “Go to the kitchen, both of you.”

  But I would not leave and said I would not.

  “That is good,” Eco said. “For I wish to tell Rose something I think she should know. It’s something Bannion told me. Oh by the way Louis, he is on his way here. He should be here shortly. He is the business associate I mentioned and as such he wishes to discuss the club expansion idea with you. He is quite the natural businessman, you know, the adventurous sort who is not averse to using any sort of rites or supernatural help to further his success. Devilishly clever, don’t you think?”