The Vampire's Maid

Part 25. The Vampire's Maid

I was shaken awake in a less than gentle manner by a guy who's manners I had long since stopped holding out for.

"Thanks for that," I grumbled to the man responsible for my unglamorous entrance to consciousness.

"No problem," Joe smiled.

He took a seat opposite me, drumming his weathered fingers steadily on the heavy wood. I focused on his arms, scared to look at his face unless he attempted to flirt with me. His arms were darkly tanned and criss-crossed with scratches from his work on the cars. The silence was beginning to get awkward and eventually I tore my eyes away from the fair hairs on his arm. Joe was smirking, amused.

"I'm not going to jump over the table and stick my tongue down your throat, if that's what you're worried about."

"No, it's...no!" I stammered, although that was a worrying thought.

Joe snorted into his hand at my hasty denial. I giggled as well, hesitant at first but then I laughed in earnest. My head was pounding from the dehydration of sleeping in the claustrophobically warm room but still I laughed. I realised then that the last time I had laughed a real laugh, the sort that had me clutching my sides for breath, had been before my kidnap. And I wasn't even wholly sure what I was laughing about.

"What's so funny?" A voice interrupted us.

I wiped tears from beneath my eyes so that June's suspicious face was no longer blurred. Her green eyes darted between us and finally settled on the diary.

"Oh, you've been reading that?" She asked.

I nodded, pleased for the subject change. The last thing I wanted was for her to suspect that something was going on with me and Joe, especially now that there wasn't.

"It's weird, though. In the last entry Helena writes as though a member of her family survived."

"Whoever he was, he's dead now." Joe dismissed it.

"Hmm..." I murmured but for some unexplainable reason something was bothering me about the last entry, this relative.

I discreetly stood up from the table and made a swift exit from the room, leaving June and Joe alone; my presence with Joe seemed to have caused June some discomfort. The cool air of the entrance hall hit like a tidal wave. I hadn't realised just how hot the kitchen had been but it had left me in desperate need of a cool shower. On the way to the staircase I glanced over at Helena Sancruor's white face, regarding me hauntingly from the very first portrait. In her portrait she had a blood stain down the left side of her face, obviously to show that she was proud of being a vampire. Scanning the wall, I saw that the portrait next to her belonged to 'Joshua Sancruor'. So she had persuaded, or threatened, her childhood crush to drink blood for her. That thought was nearly as shocking as the murder of her family.

Abriella's appearance tore through my unpleasant thoughts of cold-blooded murder. She was walking gracefully down the stairs, her dark hair still wet from the shower and her maid's uniform showing a lot of flesh but still managing to look classy in a way that only she could achieve.

"Morning, Lizzy."

I smiled at the use of my nickname. Joe had persisted in calling me 'Lizzy' until, eventually, the rest of the servants had surrendered into calling me that too.

"You are on your way to Ashley's room, no?" She asked and continued without waiting for my response. "I can make him some breakfast and bring it up?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that." I said quickly. Although she didn't show it, I knew that Abriella was slightly intimidated by Ashley.

"I insist!" She smiled brightly.