History of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Castle Series Book 4) (14 page)

When I opened the door to our quarters again, the first thing I saw was Mrs. Denkler’s hard eyes glittering in the darkness. I could see her clear as day, but there was something about the darkness that may her eyes glow in a different way. “Oh,” I said, rather surprised. “I thought you’d gone to bed.”

“No,” she told me. “I just needed to rest for a minute.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. “I hope you’re not unwell.”

“No, I am well,” she insisted. “The loss of your grandfather was quite a shock, but I’m sure the family feels it more than I do.”

I nodded, unwilling to commit words to the topic.

“I greatly appreciate your understanding when I…” Mrs. Denkler waved a thin hand through the air. “When I became upset. I was very fond of your grandfather.”

“Yes, of course,” was all I could think to say.

“And I appreciate your assurance that your family stills values my services,” she said.

I tried to smile. “I don’t think we could run the castle without you.”

“Do you mind if I turn on a light?” she asked. “It makes things easier for me.”

“Yes, of course,” I said. “Don’t get up. Let me do it for you.” I quickly found the switch.

“I have something for you,” Mrs. Denkler said, holding out a small cup covered with a  cloth.

I asked, “What is it?” but my nose had already told me. It’s was blood. “Where did you get it?” I exclaimed. Then I noticed that her left arm was bandaged at the wrist. “Denkie, you didn’t!”

“Of course I did,” she said, still offering me the cup of nectar. “I know you’re trying to be brave and not say anything to your family, but it’s going to be hard for you to make it another two full days without feeding. Better to have some of my blood, given voluntarily, than to have you lose control and…” Her voice cracked a little. “And get caught the way your grandfather was.”

“I couldn’t,” I told her, although my eyes were glued to the cup in her hand.

“Of course you can,” she said, sounding a little cross. “And besides, what do you think will happen if you slip up and the passengers discover another vampire aboard this ship?”

She was right. If I did make a mistake, then she and Emily would also be held responsible. And it wouldn’t stop there. They crew would probably search the boat, cabin by cabin, until my mother and brother were also discovered. If I lost control, then my whole family would more than likely be killed.

I took the blood, noticing how, when I reached for it, my hand trembled. It seemed somehow obscene to drink Mrs. Denkler’s blood in front of her, so I hurried to my private cabin before gulping down the red nectar. It was still warm from when she’d drained it from her arm.

After the cup was empty, I was lost in a confusing swirl of ecstasy and revulsion. Mrs. Denkler had been our housekeeper my entire life. I had never thought of her in any sort of intimate terms beyond her being an older woman who felt at liberty to scold me if I acted up. But drinking her blood, even if it was from a cup, was somehow so intimate. It made me feel uneasy, like I had accidentally stumbled across her in her bath.

Once I fought passed all the confusing sensations, I felt much better. I was in control of my appetite again. I could face being with mortals and not break out into a sweat, visualizing them with their necks’ laid bare. I felt an extreme amount of gratitude toward Mrs. Denkler. She was more than just a good housekeeper and a loyal servant. She really was part of the Vanderlind family. I wouldn’t forget the gift she had given me.

Chapter 19

Colette

I stayed away from the castle for as long as I could. Not going there had me so distracted that it was a challenge to concentrate on my school work or even carry on a simple conversation. Our final exams for the year were quickly approaching and I wondered how I would ever get through them with my thoughts always straying to the massive gray structure on the other side of town. I couldn’t help but daydream about who would be living there and how they would spend their days. I wondered if they had any children, and if yes, how old were they? I knew it was silly to believe that anyone so wealthy would send their offspring to Tiburon High, but I wasted hours daydreaming about it. I didn’t dare include myself in the world I was creating in my mind. I knew that there were thousands of novels where a young man from a wealthy family falls in love with the lowly shop girl, but I knew better than to believe something so magical would ever happen to someone like me. Still, I found the longer I stayed away from the castle, the more it consumed me. After two weeks, I decided I would have to visit the site again or my grades would start to suffer.

That afternoon, I set out on my bicycle immediately after school. I hoped that the Italian workers had finished their tasks by then and were on a boat back to Italy. I didn’t relish the idea of having more stones thrown at me while men scolded me in a language I did not understand.

As I coasted my bike down the recently paved road, I was stunned to see how complete the castle appeared. If I didn’t know differently, I would have assumed that the Vanderlind Castle had been standing on the shores of the Tiburon since the crusades.

Then I caught sight of more barges on the river. The family’s furniture and personal effects had arrived. Giant crates were being used to unloaded the cargo onto the shore. Men wielding claw hammers and pry bars were opening large crates and carefully removing the contents. Everything had been packed in straw, so there were a dozen women efficiently wiping down each item. Then the contents were being moved into the castle by dozens of men. From a distance it looked like a line of ants hefting away the remnants of a picnic.

The entire process was being orchestrated by an older woman wearing a long gray dress with a high collar. Her dark gray hair was pulled back in an elaborate coil and her hands never stopped moving as she gave orders to each man as he entered the building. I was amazed that she could look at a lamp or a dressing table and know exactly where it belonged. She wasn’t even consulting a clip board. She apparently had the entire contents of the castle memorized.

I stood there for several minutes, just watching the progress and admiring the beautiful furnishings of the Vanderlinds’ home. It was probably the only opportunity I would have to see anything so fine, outside of a museum, so I was doing my best to soak it all in.

The workmen unloaded a very large crate that contained several smaller crates. They were all shaped the same, like long, squat rectangles. When one of the workmen started to apply his pry bar to the contents, the older woman in gray rushed over. I couldn’t hear the conversation, but she directed the workmen to carrying those specific crates into the house unopened.

I couldn’t figure out what their contents could be. They weren’t the right shape or weight to be safes. And even if they were strongboxes of some type, filled with valuables, it wasn’t likely the workmen would have been able to crack them open with all the other people swarming around. I stared after the peculiar crates with keen interest.

When I turned my eyes back to the general crowd of workers, I noticed that the lady in charge of the unpacking was looking directly at me. She had sharp eyes and wore a frown on her lips. I felt immediately embarrassed for being caught gawking. I was being frightfully rude. After all, how would I feel if we moved houses and the new neighbors turned up on the sidewalk to look over all our furnishing?

I began to turn my bike around. It seemed like my days of gazing at the castle were over. Once the Vanderlinds moved in, I couldn’t exactly show up and stare at their house, no matter how much I felt drawn to it. If I did, the family would probably call the sheriff on me.

As I placed a foot on the pedal and began to push down, I heard a voice call out, “Wait there, young lady.”

Turning my head, I saw the woman in charge, marching straight toward me. She did not look pleased.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted, unconsciously rolling the bike a little with my foot to keep some distance between us. “I just liked coming by to watch while they were building the castle. I won’t come by anymore,” I assured her.

“Do you live in this town?” the woman asked, stopping several yards away from me and waving a hand through the air toward the general direction of Tiburon.

“Yes,” I told her, rather hesitantly. “I live in Tiburon.” I wondered if she even knew our town’s name. Something told me she hadn’t bothered to commit it to memory.

“Do you like it here?” she asked. From her appearance and her association with the Hungarian castle, I had expected her to speak with a foreign accent, but besides sounding a little formal, she had none.

“Um... “It wasn’t a question I had given any great consideration. “Yes. I do like it here,” I said, inching my bike a bit further down the recently paved road. I wasn’t comfortable under the woman’s intense gaze.

“And the castle interests you?” she asked, continuing in her questioning.

“Yes,” I admitted. “I think it’s fascinating. But, you don’t have to worry. I won’t come by anymore, now that the family is about to arrive. I promise.” I put a hand to my cheek, my face feeling hot under her scrutiny.

A tight smile curled the corners of the woman’s mouth. “Would you like to work in the castle?” she asked.

“Pardon?” Now she had really caught my attention.

“I asked if you would like to work at the castle,” she said, the smile quickly fading and an edge of impatience creeping into her voice.

After thinking about it a moment, I said, “Yes, I would like to work at the castle. But I’m not sure what I’m qualified to do.”

The woman looked me over from head to toe. “You are very much the kind of young lady I would like to have working at Vanderlind Castle.”

“Thank you,” I told her. “And as it happens, I am looking for work as soon as school lets out for the summer. But I’m not sure of what kind of workers you are hoping to find.”

“You could work as a housemaid,” she said, “I would have to train you, of course. But I’m sure you’ve cleaned house for your mother, or perhaps an elderly neighbor who was ill. Of course, at the castle we have very exacting standards.”

I nodded, my stomach doing a flip. Did this dour-looking woman really mean to offer me a job at the castle that I’d been obsessing over for months? Did she really mean I would get to go inside and look at all the pretty things as I dusted and scrubbed them? I couldn’t imagine any kind of work that I would like better. Trying not to squirm with excitement, I said, “Of course.”

“My name is Mrs. Denkler,” the lady told me. “I’m the housekeeper for the castle and I do all the staff hiring.”

“How do you do?” I said in reply. “I am Colette Gibson. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Mrs. Denkler tilted her head to one side and looked me over some more. “Do you know any other young ladies like you, who might be looking for work as a housemaid?”

“My sister is also looking for a job,” I told her, sounding way too eager. “She was just let go from Zucker’s.” I immediately wished I hadn’t mentioned the general store, so I hastily added, “But that was because Mrs. Zucker’s cousin is taking the job. Not because Lilly isn’t a good worker.”

The castle’s housekeeper raised her eyebrows slightly. “Your sister?” she asked. “Does she look anything like you?”

“Oh, yes,” I told her. “People can always tell we’re sisters. Although she has nicer hair,” I felt the need to say for no good reason, self consciously sliding a hand over my own unruly locks.

“Your hair is lovely,” Mrs. Denkler said. The sun was starting to set and it made her eyes glitter. “You remind me of the Empress Elisabeth, poor child.” For a moment, I thought she pitied me for my wild mane, but then she added, “She was stabbed to death by an anarchist, you know.”

“Oh,” I exclaimed, but then I could think of nothing else to say. I didn’t know who she meant and I wasn’t quite sure what an anarchist was.

“Come by tomorrow,” Mrs. Denkler told me. “You may knock at the door around to the right, closest to the river. Tell whoever lets you in that you have an appointment to see me.”

“It will have to be after school,” I told her. “We haven’t been let out for the summer yet.”

“That’s fine,” Mrs. Denkler said, turning to return to her duties. “Just come by as early as you can. And be sure to bring your sister.”

I practically flew home, I was so excited. After I walked in the door and gave Mama a kiss, she told me that Lilly was in our room. I took the stairs two at a time. I wanted to tell the news to my sister first before we surprised Mama and Papa.

“Lettie!” Lilly exclaimed, leaping up from her bed as soon as I entered the room. “I have wonderful news.”