Where Loyalty Lies (24 page)

Now I understood why he’d asked me if it had been my first time. He must have taken my moan as an agreement.

“You’ve never been bitten?” I asked.

“No, when it comes to drinking, most vamps prefer it to be someone of the opposite sex and, as it’s mainly male vamps here, we guys hardly ever get called for.”

“So how come there are so many guys living here?” I asked.

Dale gave me an odd look, like he was surprised I had to ask, and I realised that if I’d been a member of staff this would have been common knowledge to me.

“We’re mostly here to do work, you know gardening, maintenance – all the stuff the vamps can’t possibly do for themselves. I can’t complain, though; I could do a lot worse than live somewhere like this.”

I chewed my lip. My intentions had been to come clean to Dale about the fact that I wasn’t staff but, in the few minutes I’d been with him, he’d made it clear that he didn’t think much of the vampire race. I didn’t know what his reaction would be if I told him that I was in fact half vampire and, although I hardly knew him, Dale was my only connection to a place where I could go to feel ordinary. In my absence of conversation, Dale continued.

“So how are you finding it here?”

“Well...” I hesitated, trying to think of an appropriate answer. “It’s amazing but, you know, I get a bit bored sometimes.”

“Bored? You’re kidding?”

I shrugged, mentally cursing myself for saying something that I should have known wouldn’t be right.

“You mean there isn’t enough here to keep you busy? Have you been to the sports complex?”

I shook my head. “I’m really not the sporty type.” That was no lie.

Dale gave me a considering look. “Do you like reading?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He grinned. “Then, come on, I’ll show you something that’ll keep you occupied for a while.” We were back at the front doors now but, just before we left, Dale stopped.

“It’s freezing outside, did you want to go and grab a coat?”

Bugger it. Most guys wouldn’t even have thought about that; typical that Dale would be so considerate. It was cold outside but I couldn’t exactly get a jacket when my rooms were over in the main part of Rillith.

“Um, no, I’m fine,” I mumbled.

“You’re sure?” He gave me another odd look. My paranoia told me that he was about to figure me out but then he pushed open the door and followed me out.

“So how come you’ve been here so long?” I asked as I followed him towards the main house.

“Same reason as most people, I guess. I was brought here when I was sixteen and, after I got over the strangeness of it all, I soon realised that I’d have a better life here than I would on the outside.”

“Why did they bring you here?” I said before realising that it might be a personal story that Dale didn’t want to share. Dale’s pace didn’t slow but I saw the look of sadness cross his face.

“It was a car accident. I was in the car with my parents and my little sister on the way home from a trip to the beach and a deer ran out in front of the car. My dad swerved to miss it and we went off the road. I don’t really remember much but it was in the middle of nowhere. When a car finally did drive past, it was a vamp. He took one look at my family, told me they were all dead and asked if I had anyone else I could go and live with. There wasn’t anyone, unless you count my mother’s step-brother who lives somewhere in America, but I’d never even met him. Anyway the vamp told me he could take me somewhere where I could have a happy life and, as it seemed like my only option, I took it.”

Again I was amazed by Dale’s honesty. I felt awful for bringing up something so personal. I could tell by his face that despite his seemingly carefree attitude, this was a topic that upset him.

“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling like it was too simple a response after all he’d been through.

“It’s okay; it was years ago now. Besides it pretty much fits in with most people’s stories here.”

I watched as Dale made a visible effort to come back to his happy-go-lucky self. Thankfully, we’d reached the main house and it seemed to help bring him to the present time and out of his memories.

After winding through a labyrinth of hallways, he stopped outside a door. I waited as he gently opened it and stuck his head inside, then he tugged me through and left the door open a crack behind us.

“Wow.” That was about all I could manage as I looked around the room. It was everything a library should be. I walked through the room, taking in all the mismatched comfy chairs strewn around in front of various fireplaces. 

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Dale watched me as I ran my fingers along the spines of books on a shelf at eye level. “I know our own library back at home isn’t exactly lacking in books, but it’s nothing compared to this.”

My attention returned to Dale as he called the staff quarters his home and I wondered if he was truly as happy as he made out. I wondered if he had anyone there he could rely on, like you’re supposed to do with family.

The sound of female voices made us jump and Dale rushed at me and pulled me down behind one of the bookcases. We both crouched there and he held his finger up to his lips, telling me to stay quiet. I assumed this must be a place like the swimming pool, where humans weren’t supposed to be.

The door opened and the voices got louder.

“Just hurry up and find it, we were supposed to be at Ian’s an hour ago.”

I recognised that voice, it was Monique. I resisted the urge to peer around the shelves and get a look at her; I knew if Dale or I made the slightest movement they’d hear it. As it was, I’d opened my mouth slightly so that I could breathe more quietly. A glance at Dale showed me that he was doing the same thing and something about the sight of him made me want to laugh. He seemed to be thinking the same thing and we smiled at each other before quickly looking away in a desperate attempt to stay quiet.

“If I remember correctly, it should be on one of the shelves over here.”

That voice I didn’t recognise. There was no sound of footsteps but that was hardly surprising – the carpet was thick and luxurious and vampires glided at the best of times. A minute or two ticked by. The only noise was Monique’s impatient huffing, which gave away their location at the front of the library. I was beginning to worry about my feet going numb from squatting down when the door opened again. I lifted my head, thinking it was them leaving, but a male voice made me freeze. It was Saul. I closed my eyes to concentrate on listening.

“Monique, Katherine,” he said.

“Saul,” Monique purred. “What a nice surprise, I’ve seen so little of you lately.” Something about the way she said that made me clench my fists.

“Are you looking for someone?” That was Katherine speaking and I noticed that her voice had altered too; she was attempting to mimic Monique’s sultry tone.

“I’m looking for Faine; if you see her, can you tell her I’m looking for her.” Saul’s voice was just the same as usual, no false huskiness there. I couldn’t help but smile as I imagined how much that must annoy Monique.

The door closed again. For a second I thought they’d all left and then Katherine’s voice piped up.

“I’m getting really fed up of hearing about that little half-breed brat.”

“It won’t last long.” Monique’s voice had returned to normal, although now there was a distinctly sour note to it.

“I can’t believe all the fuss everyone’s making over her. Everywhere I go, she’s all people are talking about,” Katherine whinged.

“She’s one of a kind. The only half-breed we’ve ever had the displeasure of having to live with. Every man here wants to get her into bed, so he can claim to be the first to get her on her back.”

“It’s disgusting; like they don’t even care that she’s half human.”

“Well, you know who we have to blame for that,” Monique snapped. “She’d have been treated like the dirty little half-breed she is but for Saul who had to go and make it clear he was interested in her. You saw her at the Autumn Ball; nobody wanted anything to do with her until Saul showed an interest, then suddenly every man here thinks it’ll be the perfect opportunity. If they can get her into bed before Saul, it’ll knock Rillith’s top enforcer down a peg or two.”

“You think someone will beat Saul to it?” Katherine asked.

“I doubt it. I’ve yet to see Saul not get something he wants, especially when it comes to women. To be honest, I don’t really care who does it, but the sooner that girl stops playing coy and uncrosses her legs, the sooner things will go back to normal. Now hurry up, I’m fed up of waiting.”

They fell into silence again. I felt a splash on my arm and I looked down to see that a tear had rolled down my cheek and landed there. Dale was staring at me and I was grateful that, for the time being, we had to keep quiet as it gave me a chance to process what I was going to say to him.

“Ah, here it is,” Katherine said and then the door opened and closed for the last time.

I finally let myself collapse onto the ground and stretched my legs out in front of me, where they were greeted with jolts of pins and needles which did nothing to distract me from the pain in my chest. I wondered if this was what it was like to get staked through the heart. I’d suspected that I liked Saul more than he liked me, but to discover that he didn’t actually like me at all was unbearable. The pain was enough to make me realise that what I’d felt for him was so much more than “liking”. I was such an idiot. It had been painful enough when I’d thought that Saul’s interest in me would be short-term, but to find out there was no interest at all, just political games, was almost more than I could bear. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this worthless and humiliated.  I took a couple of shaky breaths, willing myself not to break.

“So you’re the half-breed girl I’ve heard so many rumours about,” Dale said as he lowered himself down onto the floor next to me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, but the words came out hoarsely as they worked their way around the lump in my throat. “I was going to tell you today but then everything was just so easy and... normal.” Yes, I was pathetic.

“I understand that,” Dale said. “What I don’t get is why you thought that telling me would change anything?”

I looked sideways at him and was grateful to see no anger or disgust; there was only concern in his face which added to the guilt I was feeling.

“From what you said, I got the feeling that you didn’t like vampires; I thought maybe, if I told you, you might look at me in the same way.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I don’t have much like for them, mostly because of the way they see humans as such a sub-species but, no matter what’s in your blood, you’re nothing like them.” He indicated to where Monique and Katherine had been moments earlier.

“Well, that’s to be decided. On the fifteenth of January, The Sénat will decide if I’m officially a human or a vampire.”

Dale snorted. “That’s ridiculous! Who are The Sénat to tell you what you are or aren’t?” He paused. “If I were to guess, I’d say you won’t ever truly be either.”

“Great, so I’ll never really fit in anywhere.”

Dale considered. “Or maybe it means that you’ll fit in everywhere. Being half of each puts you in a position that nobody has ever been in before, maybe you’re destined to do great things.”

I leant over and gave him a playful shove.

“Speaking of great things, what are you doing on Halloween?” he asked.

“Nothing, as far as I’m aware.”

Dale stood, stretched and offered his hand to help me up. “Well, we humans throw an excellent Halloween bash every year so, if you’d like to join us, I can guarantee you’ll have a good time.”

I took Dale’s hand. “Sounds good, count me in.”

Dale grinned. “Come on, then, we should leave before they come back.”

Back at the staff quarters Dale gave me the grand tour. The place was much larger and more complex than I’d realised. It was split into four different units known as Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. Each unit was identical in design but the difference was the type of people who lived in each one. The Yellow unit was for people who chose only to work for the vampires, not to be used as a food source.  The Green unit was for people who’d been brought to Rillith but were not yet eighteen and so were not allowed to be classed as labour or food; they could stay here until they reached eighteen and could choose to stay or be given a decent enough wad of cash to leave and keep quiet. The Green unit was also where anyone new to Rillith was asked to live for one month before they decided which unit best suited them. The Blue unit was for people who were happy to be used as food and labour and who liked a quieter lifestyle. Dale lived in the Red unit which, like the Blue unit, was a place where people lived who were happy to work and be drunk from but, unlike the Blue unit, the Red was a place for loud music, late nights and parties.

“So does that mean that you’re not allowed to mix with people from other units?” I asked as Dale showed me around the sports complex he’d mentioned earlier.

“We can mix with whoever we like and we can transfer from one unit to another whenever we like but most people tend to stick to their own units, just because they’re usually surrounded by similar people. Are you hungry?” Dale asked, running straight from one topic to another.