RBC06.50 - Marcella, Vampire Mage (31 page)

They were standing in the grand foyer looking at a perfectly balanced, floating, curved, stairway. To their right, the front parlor, on the left a stunning formal dining room.

Everything was in place. The furniture still sat on lush, Persian rugs. Oil portraits still graced the perfect plaster walls. Though dust and cobwebs clung to the crystal chandeliers, not a prism was out of place. They sparkled in the light and cast rainbows across the amazingly intact, ornate plaster work of the ceilings.

“Maybe all you need is a maid,” Bill said as he looked around in total amazement.

“This is going to be really difficult isn’t it? I mean you have to get electricity in here, and plumbing, air conditioning and heat; all without doing extreme amounts of damage to the structure.”

“I’m sorry, what did you say? I just…well I don’t know what I was expecting. But this wasn’t it. Think how much has gone on in the years since this was abandoned. Hurricanes, world wars, you name it, yet here we have stepped back in time. I can do it. I know just how I’m going to proceed.”

“Great, let’s see the rest.”

They walked through the hallway to the back of the house.

“I was right, there’s only a butler’s pantry, no kitchen.”

“They cooked with fire. In that time kitchen fires were commonplace, so the cooking was done in a separate building to keep the house from burning down. The space is still pretty good and we could always borrow some from the back porch.”

Abbi smiled, he was totally in his element now. She had a great feeling about him, but her experience with Dallas was keeping her cautious and suspicious. She didn’t trust herself, not yet.

“I think I hired the perfect man for this job.”

“I can’t wait to get started. I just can’t believe the condition it’s in,” Bill said as the two continued the tour. “Oh, this must have been the General’s office. This is a different kind of wood than I ever seen in this area before. Its pecan.”

“His library is intact too. The decanter still has liquor in it. There are still papers on the desk.”

“And oil in the lamps. This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I want to go upstairs. I have to see the bedrooms.”

“Front or back stairs?”

“Back.”

“The servants quarters would have been on the third level, we can look at that next.”

Abbi and Bill went from room to room, six in all, but the last bedroom stopped Abbi in her tracks.

“This is my room,” Abbi said as soon as she opened the door.

“You bought it; you can have any room you want.”

What Bill didn’t know was Abbi meant that this was really
her room
. In her dreams, this is where she slept.

“Every piece of linen, every rug seems perfect, it’s like they left last month, not a century ago.”

Abbi knew more was going on here and she wasn’t sure she should share her feelings with Bill. They had just met and she wanted him to do the work. Scaring him off with stories of ghosts and dreams of the past was not something she wanted to do.

“I’m going to go around the place again and record some notes. Plus I need to go into the basement. You coming?”

“I just want to look around here some more if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not.”

Bill took out the small recorder he kept in his pocket, “Just yell if you need anything.”

“I will.”

What Abbi saw was the same white, beveled wood, paneled walls with carved shell detail. The same blue and silver silk draperies and bedding that she’d always seen in her dreams. Every detail was here.

The silver hair brush, mirror and comb were on the dresser.

Abbi walked over and picked up the brush. No tarnish, none at all. She then picked up the mirror and looked at it. No crazing on the century old mirror either. She was looking at her reflection when the image changed and James was suddenly smiling back at her.

“Welcome home,” he said.

“Now what, James?”

He looked deeply into her eyes. “Stay with me.”

Then the image faded.

Abbi set the mirror back down and walked out of the room to find Bill.

“There you are,” Bill said as Abbi descended the curved, front staircase. “I think I’m done for now. Do you want to look at the other buildings?”

“I could show you where I slept last night and then can we take a look at the gardens? I want a full restoration for them as well.”

“Whatever you want, lead the way.”

As they walked down to the carriage house Bill turned back to look at the house and stopped. He took out his cell phone and snapped a couple of pictures.

“Do you feel like someone is watching us?”

“Getting spooked, Bill?”

“So you don’t have that feeling?”

“I didn’t say that. It just doesn’t bother me, that’s all.”

Abbi pulled on the door of the carriage house.

“It’s locked.”

“That’s why I brought keys.”

“It wasn’t locked last night, or this morning, Bill.”

“These old locks have a mind of their own. There, see the key worked fine. Wow, I love the carriages. You’ll need some horses.”

“I think I’ll pass on that for now. It’s this way.”

Abbi led Bill to the small stairs and he went up through the trap door.

“Oh my God!” he said. “You stayed here?”

“What do you mean?”

Bill stepped up and helped Abbi through the narrow opening.

“It looks the same to me. What’s wrong with it?”

“A dirty, dusty iron bed and a couple of chairs?”

“What are you talking about? Wait, you don’t see what I see?”

“I see just what I told you, nothing.”

What Abbi saw was just what she had seen last night. She hadn’t dreamt it. She slept in the bed, wore the nightgown. Hadn’t she?”

Now it was her turn. She pulled out her cell phone and took two pictures and then walked back to the stairs.

“Let’s go and look at the gardens.”

“You don’t want to tell me what you saw?”

“No, not really. I don’t want you to question my sanity any further than you probably already do.”

“Just like the house, I want the gardens to be just the way they were when they were completed. There is a maze and formal gardens. I hope the statues are still there.”

“How do you know that?”

“I must have been told by Andrew. Or it was in the packet he gave me.”

Bill looked skeptical, but didn’t question her further.

“There are the boxwoods, tremendously over grown boxwoods. That must be the maze.”

“That is going to take some work. I don’t have any idea how we would figure out how it was originally. But we can recreate a maze, that’s no problem.”

Abbi knew from her dreams exactly what the maze looked like. She would be able to make a drawing of it.

They walked together around the overgrown grounds and as they did again Abbi saw flashes in her mind of what they used to look like. On each side of the maze were the formal walking gardens with reflecting pools. The white marble statues were still guarding them from their pedestals. Four gods and four goddesses.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Voices.”

“I don’t hear anything. These gardens will be beautiful again, Abbi. Are we finished here for today?”

“
He must really think that I am crazy
,” Abbi thought. “I guess so. I have to take care of some things with my lawyer. And get settled into my new apartment.”

“That’s right,” Bill said with a big smile as they walked back towards the truck.

Bill turned and looked back around. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

They both laughed. “This place is something, isn’t it?” Bill said.

“It certainly is. I don’t think we are even close to finding all its secrets. I love it though, every inch of it.”

“Me too.”

Abbi was a little shocked by Bill’s statement. “Does that mean you’ll take the job?”

“Let’s see if you still want me after I run some numbers.”

“Oh, I think I’ll still want you.”

Bills smiled, his face slightly flushed.

“Have dinner with me tonight and we’ll talk some more about it.”

“Why not? I want to get started as soon as possible,” Abbi said as she stepped up into the pickup. As she did she caught a glimpse of second floor window of the mansion. “
See you soon, James.”

The truck slowly bumped its way back down the drive when suddenly Bill was startled by what he saw in the rear view mirror.

“Look! Look behind us!”

Abbi swiveled around to see the vines were filling in the driveway behind them as they left the plantation.

“It’s protecting itself! Don’t you get it now?”

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen in real life does it?”

“Well, unless we’re
both
crazy, it does.”

As the truck approached Cemetery Road Bill stopped the car and they both got out. Abbi took out her cell phone and took a picture again. The road to Collier was completely blocked now by the vines.

Abbi clicked two pictures and then pulled up the two she had taken in the carriage house.

“Take a look at this. What do you see?”

“Where was this? I don’t remember being in this room.”

“Those are the pictures that I took in the carriage house.”

Bill looked down at the pictures again. He was clearly standing in the middle of the room she had described. Not the one he had seen earlier. It was as opulent as the main house, only it was clean, and looked new.

“I…I don’t know what to say. This is what you saw? What it looked like last night too?”

Abbi shook her head in acknowledgement. “Yes. Now what do you think?”

“I have a feeling that we are embarking on a great adventure.”

“Maybe we are crazy. Any one that wouldn’t just race out of here and never look back must have issues, don’t you think?”

Bill laughed. “Obviously!”

They talked and laughed like old friends all the way back to town.

“Mattie, is the lease for the apartment upstairs ready?”

“It’s right here. Just needs a signature.”

Abbi looked over the document, signed the bottom and paid for six months in advance.

“Here’s your keys. Do you need any help getting things up the stairs?”

“Thanks, Bill. But I think I can handle it.”

“I better get to work then. I’ll pick you up for dinner at seven, if that’s all right for you?”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

Abbi walked to her car to retrieve her suitcase. “Oh, man. I forgot about the cooler,” she said when she saw the full trunk.

The cooler full of ice had kept the fresh food from turning bad in the few hours that she’d been gone and everything else was just fine. It took several trips, but finally the car was empty.

Abbi enjoyed the relaxing monotony of putting everything in its place, including the meager amount of clothing she had purchased, most of which now needed washing.

She remembered that there was a stacked washer and dryer in the hall closet next to the bathroom so she took a pile of clothing and started a load of laundry.

“Well I guess I need something new to wear, but first I better call Cameron.”

She pushed the speed dial button to his private number and the phone started to ring.

“Cameron Bennett.”

“Cameron, its Abbi. First of all thank you for wiring the money to purchase Collier.”

“You’re welcome. How are you, are you sure you still want to do this?”

“Yes, in fact I want you to create a perpetual trust for this property. I never want anything to happen to it. Make sure that it’s iron clad and that funds will be available to take care of it, even after I’m gone.”

There was stunned silence on the other end of the phone.

“Cameron, are you still there?”

“Yes, of course Abbi. Just taking some notes. I’ll have to do some research on Mississippi law, but this should be no problem. Now, I have troubling news. Your house in Memphis burned to the ground last night. The fire marshal is investigating, but I am convinced it wasn’t lightning.”

“You think Dallas did this, don’t you?”

“Yes, he’s dangerous Abbi. Please be careful. A restraining order is not going to stop a man like that.”

“I will. I decided to rent an apartment in town. I’ll email you the address, but you can call my new cell and reach me anytime. I hired a contractor already, the best one in town.”

“What’s his name, I want to check him out myself.”

“Bill Calvert, Calvert Construction.”

“I’m still going to send Tom down when I get all this paperwork finished. Let him help you, okay Abbi?”