Mercy's Debt (Montgomery's Vampires Series Book One) (11 page)

Marge took our order and
sauntered away, her step a little lighter than when she’d first appeared. “You two kids behave,” she pouted wickedly from across the room before disappearing into the kitchen.

I couldn’t believe that this was the cold, uptight vampire Erika had w
arned me about. I propped my chin up on my hand and studied the lipstick he cheerfully wiped from his forehead using a paper napkin.

“You know, you’re a lot different than I expected,” I said.

“How so?”

“I don’t know. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re a lot more easygoing than I expected. You’re actually a really fun vampire.”

“You think so? Humph.” He thought about this for a moment. “You know, I honestly cannot remember the last time anyone has described me as fun.”

“Why do you think that is?” I asked.

“
Why do you think that is
?” he mimicked jokingly. “You sound like a shrink.”

“I have a degree in
psychology, actually,” I said.

“Really?”

“Yes, but let’s not get off topic. Why do you think that you aren’t fun? Marge clearly likes you, and she despises almost everyone,” I teased.

“I do not
know,” he said reflectively. “This may sound strange, but I feel different around you, like I can be myself.”

“That’s nice to know. I’m happy you feel that way.
I feel relaxed in your company, too. Why can’t you be yourself around others?”

“
You ask a lot of questions,” he jested. “I actually think that it is the other way around, Mercy. Most individuals cannot be themselves around
me.
Most of the vampires I meet do not know quite how to behave in my presence because of my wealth. I am quite rich even for vampire standards. The men within my species usually dislike me because they envy me, or they find me disagreeable because we have done business together. The only thing vampire women want to do with me is bleed me dry. Financially, I mean.”

“Interesting,” I commented.

“I rarely meet human men outside of work,” he continued. “Most human women I encounter in social settings find me dreary. Some are fearful of me because I am vampire. But, contrastingly, there are also those who
only
want to be with me because they find my vampirism sexy. I am no fool. I may not be able to read minds like some of my associates, but I know when a woman is merely telling me what she thinks I want to hear.”

“They say it’s lonely at the top,” I remarked.

“Indeed. When a man is in my position, it is difficult to find any genuine companions. Mostly everyone I meet is out for something. The closest thing I have to a true friend is Carl, and he works for me.” He shrugged. “I guess over the years, I have just learned to cut myself off from others. Life is a lot less complicated that way.”

“Yes,” I countered, “but I imagine it’s also a lot
lonelier.” I reached across the table and gave his hand a quick squeeze. “What I don’t understand is how a guy like you is still single. You’re smart, funny, gorgeous”- I flushed- “and you’ve got your act together. Yes, you’re rich, too. Have you never had a special girl in your entire life?”

He shifted
uneasily. “Only once.”

“I hope I’m not getting too pers
onal. You can tell me to shut it if I’m prying,” I said timidly.

“No, I do not
mind. I like talking to you.”

“
I like talking to you, too. So, who was the girl?” I asked, feeling ridiculously jealous.

He settled
back in his seat, preparing himself for a long one. “Mercy, I admit to having quite a few romantic affairs in all my years of being a vampire,” he began. “But I have truly only loved one woman. Her name was Raquel. She was a human, like you. I met her in 1922 down in Los Angeles, where I resided for some time. We dated for two whole years before I asked her to be my wife, but I knew from the first night that I met her that she was the woman I wanted to spend eternity with. Raquel was the only woman I had ever met who made me remember what it was like to feel human. She was a free spirit- an actress- and she loved me
in spite
of my money and immortality, not because of it.”

My heart sank as I made the connection
. Marlena had also told me a story about a girl named Raquel; the actress who vanished back in the twenties.

“What hap
pened to her,” I asked, but I was fairly confident that I already knew the answer.

His face clouded over.
“Raquel disappeared on the night I proposed to her. We were at the beach, swimming in the ocean, and she left me to go onto the shore to remove a piece of jewelry. When she did not return after a few minutes had passed, I began to worry that she had gone back into the water without me noticing, that maybe she had drowned. Humans are just so fragile,” he digressed. “Almost everything in a natural environment can harm you.” He paused, pursing his lips into a thin line.

“
When I went on the shore, there was only one set of her wet footprints leading away from the water, and none returning to it. Nothing was missing; her dress and shoes were right where she had left them, even her diamond bracelet was still sitting exactly where she had taken it off. There was, however, a large pool of blood.” He paused, clearing his throat. “There you have it,” he said pragmatically. “I never saw her again.”

His
recollection gave me goose bumps. “What do you think happened to her?”

“I honestly
do not know. I like to believe that she perhaps was scared off by my proposal, and that she ran away to lead a happier life elsewhere. But there was the blood…”

“Well, maybe it wasn’t hers,” I said lamely.

“
Before she disappeared, she said that she had the ‘heebie-jeebies,’ like somebody was always watching her. I dismissed her because she tended to be a bit melodramatic, being an actress. I used to remind her that she participated in theatre, so it was not a wonder that she felt scrutinized.” He shook his head guiltily. “You have no idea how much I regret not taking her worries to heart.”

“There’s no way that you could have known, Robert.”

“Some vampires actually suspect
that
I
killed her, if you can believe it,” he said frostily. “Like your new friend, Nathaniel. Raquel was a friend of his. I do not think that he
truly
believes that I did anything to her, but it is evident that he blames me for not protecting her properly. I blame myself for that, too,” he said sadly.

I placed my hand on top of his
arm. “I’m sorry, Robert. That’s really-”

“You get on out of h
ere RIGHT NOW!” Marge’s voice bellowed through the restaurant. “I said GIT!”

There was a
loud commotion in the kitchen. A few moments later, a chef the size of a linebacker barreled through the double doors, on the heels of a man with a large camera.

The chef grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt
and dragged him to the front door. With his boot planted firmly on the photographer’s ass, the chef kicked the interloper out into the parking lot.

“Goddamn
paparazzi,” the chef grumbled, dusting off his hands.

Marge approached our
table with my slice of pie and Robert’s omelet sitting on a tray. “Sorry about that, kids,” she said, placing the food on the table. “I don’t know how he got in here.”

“Who was that?” I asked, totally lost.

“Like you don’t know,” she said slyly, winking at me.

“
Did he snap any photos?” Robert asked, grinding his jaw. He did not look happy.

Marge looked apologetic. “I
don’t think that he did sweetie, but don’t worry. He won’t be back,” she said, quickly leaving our table.

“I’m lost,” I said to Robert.
“Who
was
that?”

He waved his hand disgustedly.
“Paparazzi. Every now and then, I will catch one of them following me around, trying to capture me doing something scandalous. You think they would have given up by now, as I never provide them with any decent photo opportunities. Since the recent economic downfall, they have been out for blood. They love to photograph CEO’s on their worst behavior so they can crucify them in the papers. Carl usually catches them before they can get any shots off, but I believe this one snuck in through the back door.”

“
I guess the whole thing about a vampires being invisible in photographs is untrue, then,” I said. “I can’t imagine how weird that would be, having people following you around like that.”

Noticing my
dim mood, he made a noticeable effort to be jovial. “I am not troubled,” he said nonchalantly. “I have gotten used to it.” He pointed to my slice of pie. “That looks appealing – for
human
cuisine. What kind is it?”

“
Boysenberry.”

He held up his
watch. “Shall I time you to see how many bites you can get down in a minute?” he asked, referencing our earlier conversation. “Pie is an eating contest staple, is it not?”

I giggled. “I’m good, thanks.” We
stared at each other in a relaxed silence. “Can I ask you a personal question, Robert?”

“
Now
you ask if you can get personal? I think it is a little too late for that, Mercy.”

“Since you put it that way…
” I snickered.

“
Go ahead. Ask me anything that you want.”

“
Okay. How old are you?”

He looked up from inspecting his greasy plate of food. “How old am I in vampire years or what year was I born a human?”

“Both.”

“I was born
a human in 1820. I was reborn a vampire just after I turned thirty-one, in 1851.”

My jaw dropped.
“Wow.”

“Does this bother you?” he asked softly.
“Knowing that I am an old man?”

I’d
bruised his feelings. “No, not at all,” I muttered swiftly. “I was just shocked because you decided not to tell Marge that you wanted the senior citizen’s discount, that’s all. You definitely qualify.” I flashed him the biggest, cheesiest grin I could muster.

He looked reli
eved. “I am sure that was
exactly
what you were thinking,” he smiled. “You really do not find my age peculiar? Unbecoming?”

“No,” I said with
genuineness. “On the contrary! I can’t imagine the world of knowledge and history you must have inside your head, the things you’ve seen. You’ve lived through two world wars, the civil rights movement, the advent of lights, airplanes, telephones, rock-and-roll, and… Elvis!”

He chuckled. “I was a big fan of Elvis. I saw him in concert a few times
, actually. He was quite controversial for our day.”

“You’ve lived through some of the most revolutionary times in human histor
y. I don’t find that unbecoming,” I said breathlessly. “I envy you.”

“You are something else, Mercy
, you know that? I have never viewed my life that way. What is it about you that makes me feel so good about myself?”

I sh
rugged. As if I had to give the man a reason to not deem himself anything less than amazing. “Okay, Robert. I want to know everything.”

“Well, I cannot
tell you everything-
everything
. That would take weeks.”

“Okay. Let’
s start with you,” I said, lacing my fingers under my chin. I want to know all about you. Tell me how you came to be a vampire.”

ELEVEN

“As I stated before,” Robert began, “I was born a human in 1820.”

“
My birth name was Robert Joseph Campbell. I was raised and educated on a farm in Bracknoll, a rural settlement located a few miles east of London. When I was ten, my parents passed away of smallpox, which, amazingly, I failed to contract.

“
I was a young boy with no siblings or other family, thus I lost the farm. I was shipped off to the city, where I was given a place to rest my head on a single-sized mattress that I shared with two other boys inside a community house for orphaned children.

“
I was put to work the same day I arrived in London. The Industrial Revolution was in full force by this point, and so was the need for factory workers. Things were very different back then, and it was not uncommon for children as young as five to become laborers.

“
As an adolescent, I would frequently work eighteen hour days in the factories, toiling away behind equipment that could easily rip a boy in two. Needless to state, the wages were terrible. If a person made enough coin to put food in their belly every day, they were considered lucky. The manufacturing plants were oppressively hot during the summer, bitterly cold in the winter, and the conditions were unsanitary. There were few windows, no sanctioned toilets, and the ventilation was inadequate. As a result, disease was rampant. And so was death.

“One night in 1849- I was a twenty-nine year old man at this point-
I witnessed something which changed my life.

“
I was one of the few men skilled enough to maneuver some of the more complicated machinery located by the manager’s top level office; thus I would frequently work on the floor completely alone. It was very late on this particular evening, about midnight. I was just finishing up for the night when an elegant man entered the building and went into the office.

“
He was an aristocrat, wearing the finest clothing that I had ever seen. But he was also as white as a sheet, so I believed him ill. I immediately recognized this man for being what he was: the factory owner. They would come by from time to time late at night in order to remove money from the safe after the cash bundles grew too large to store.

“
The man was unaware of my presence as he left the office and crossed the room carrying a tall sack of money in his arms. Knowing my place as a filthy underling, I deemed it in my best interest to just stay out of his way until he left.

“A
s the factory owner neared the exit, two men entered the building and rushed towards him. One of the men was carrying a wrench; it was apparent that they had it in their sights to steal the cash. Without hesitation, the robber with the wrench hit the owner in the skull.

“
The owner did not flinch away from the weapon because of the tall sack obstructing his view, thus he absorbed the full impact of the blow. He hit the floor with a
thud
, and a pool of blood began to form around his body.

“The two robbers
began to argue. From what I ascertained, the unarmed burglar did not realize that the other man went into the robbery with the intention of harming the owner. The armed robber paid no attention to his partner, and continued to beat the wounded man’s lifeless body with the wrench.

“T
he unarmed robber became frightened and snatched the sack from the floor. He attempted to flee, but his partner turned on him and began to wail on him with the wrench, killing him with just a few blows.

“Their scuffle was the distraction I needed in order to sneak up behind the attacker. I grabbed a metal pipe from a nearby table and subdued the man, hitting him once across the face. I had hurt him badly, but not killed him. Still, he was injured severely enough that he did not get up to fight me.”

He sat back in the
booth, shaking his head wistfully. “Are you certain that you wish to hear all of this? I believe that I am monopolizing our conversation, Mercy,” he smiled. “I am afraid that you must find all of this terribly uninteresting.”

I was captivated
, not only entranced by the sound of his molten voice, but by his vivid recollection of such a turbulent period in his life. “I am anything but uninterested, Robert,” I gushed. “Please, continue.”

“As you wish,” he said
. “So, all three men were lying at my feet. One of them was dead, and the other two were gravely injured. I reached down and grabbed the sack, which was filled with more money than I had ever seen in my entire life.

“
I decided to flee with the cash, I am ashamed to admit. Then, however, the factory owner moaned pitifully. He reached out and curled his hand around my ankle.

“
I peered down into his face and was startled; he was nearly identical to my own father. He croaked “help me,” but I did not know what to do. He was dying. There was no doubt in my mind.

“
I threw the bag of money aside, removed the handkerchief from his pocket, and pressed it to his seeping skull. It was no use; the handkerchief was saturated in blood instantly.

“The owner then
gestured to the thief that I had hit with the pipe, asking me to drag his body over and position it at his side. I did as he asked, presuming that he wanted to look into the eyes of his killer as he passed on- many odd rituals surrounded death in the Victorian era. Instead, the owner pulled himself on top of the burglar’s body, bit into his neck, and drained him completely of blood.

“
I observed the entire incident, frozen in place with shock.

“When the owner
was finished, he stood up, extended his hand to me, giving me his thanks. His wound was no longer bleeding. In fact, he was entirely healed, as if he had never been hurt at all.” He paused, laughing quietly at the memory.

“And?”
I asked impatiently. “What did you do?”

“I would
like to tell you that I merely ran away, but that would be downplaying my reaction,” he chuckled once again. “I
sprinted
from the building and screamed my head off the entire way home. I went to bed that night with a scarf knotted around my neck, fearful that the man would come and drink my blood as I slept.”

“Did he?” I asked, rubbing my own neck.

“
He did not,” he said. “And so I went into work the next day-”

“You
actually
went back
to the factory?” I interjected. “Why?”

“A man did not
have many employment options at that time, Mercy. It was either go back to work or starve,” he stated simply.

“
Of course. I’m sorry for the interruption,” I apologized. “I won’t cut you off again.”

“I like it when you ask
me questions,” he smiled. “Not many women do. I appreciate that you have an in interest in my modest beginnings, and not merely in the wealthy vampire that I am today.”

Oh, I had an interest all right.

He reached across the table and
seized my hand softly. This time, he didn’t pull away.

“When I went back into the factory in the morning, I was told by the plant foreman that my services were no longer required.
I was furious; I had saved the owner’s life and he repaid me by having me fired.

“
As I was leaving, I was met outside by a frail old man on a horse-drawn carriage. He informed me that I was to be his replacement as a steward on a country estate, an estate which belonged to the factory owner. When I attempted to protest, he assured me that it was a requirement, not a request, and that he had already taken the liberty of packing my things for me. I looked around the carriage and, remarkably, the few possessions I owned were strapped to the rear.”

“What did you do?”

“I got in. I figured that if the owner had wanted to murder me, he would have already done so. Also, to go from being a lowly factory worker to a steward was a miraculous advancement. As the old man expressed to me on the ride out to the country, it would soon be my task to oversee many domains within the sprawling estate: the house employees, the care of the horses, the grounds. It was the modern day equivalent of a mailroom worker being promoted to vice president of a corporation overnight. It was more than I ever dreamed possible.

“
I was given private quarters in the rear of the house. It was the first time in nineteen years that I had my own room, that I had been truly without company, and the silence put me on edge.

“
Later that evening, the factory owner paid me a visit. He introduced himself as Leopold Sorin. He looked much younger without all the blood smeared on his face, and I imagined his age to be close to mine. He was just as pale as the night before, with jet-black hair and light yellow eyes. He frightened me in a way I cannot describe with mere words.”

“
I understand completely,” I said, recalling the night I saw Stephano sprawled on the ceiling. I’d passed out when he
waved
at me. I couldn’t imagine what I would have done if I’d seen him drain the blood from another human- probably wet my pants.

“
I was thankful for the opportunity that Leopold had provided me, yet I was not accustomed to kindness from strangers or having any sort of good fortune. Plus, there was the incident that I had witnessed the night before. While it was extremely improper to do so, I could not help but ask why he had summoned me to his estate.

“Leopold explained that his previous steward
was getting too old to properly fulfill his duties. He needed a man that he could trust. Because I had saved his life instead of robbing him, he decided that I was the man for the job.”

“Did you ask him what he was?” I inquired.
“Why he drank that man’s blood?”

“
I did not dare. It was not my place. Leopold posed no immediate threat to me, so I felt it best not to rock the boat. But that is not to say that I did not find his behavior peculiar. In the following two years that I worked on the estate, I never saw him go out in the daylight. When he did make his appearances at night, he never ate, and he never had the same companion at his side.

“Despite his oddities
, and even though my social class was several levels below his, Leopold and I became friends of sorts. He once had a wife and child who had passed on for reasons he did not divulge. I believed that he was perhaps lonely, which I now have come to accept as being a basic consequence of vampirism.

“
Leopold and I would sometimes ride on horseback through the fields at night. He was very fond of his horses. Other times, he would call me into his chambers and ask me to tell him about my parents, and of my childhood experiences on the farm in Bracknoll.

“
Just after I celebrated my thirty-first birthday, I fell ill. The sickness began with night sweats, and then progressed into a constant fever. I began to rapidly lose weight, which Leopold would often comment on, and I would downplay in return. Although he and I were friendly, I feared that he would terminate my employment if he suspected that I was in poor health.

“From the moment I began coughing up blood, I recognized
that I had tuberculosis. I had most likely contracted it back when I worked at the factory. The disease can lay dormant for many years, you see.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered. “That’s awful.”

“Yes,” he concurred. “It truly was. I would not wish the disease on even my worst enemy.”

“What did you do?”

“I kept working. I hid the illness as best as I could, but my suffering was evident in every movement I made. The staff avoided me at all costs, for they certainly knew that I was contagious. Yet Leopold continued on with our visits, mercifully suggesting less physically strenuous activities as my condition weakened. He never once asked me outright if I was ill. I believed it was his way of conserving the dignity of a dying man.

“One afternoon
, I was struck by a fit of coughs while I was in the stables tending to the horses. These coughs were like none I had ever experienced. These were suffocating coughs, coughs which brought me to my knees.

“
I gazed on the ground before me, and I discovered that I was emitting gobs of blood from my mouth. ‘This is it,’ I thought. I accepted that I was going to die.

“I crawled into the enclosure of my favorite horse, Cob
alt, an animal I loved as much as I would my own child. She whinnied sadly, nudging her head against me as if she, too, knew that I was passing. I curled up into a ball next to her. I closed my eyes, waiting for death to take me, to finally find some peace away from the never-ending pain.”

He peered into my face. “Are you
crying
, Mercy?” He reached over and dabbed a tear from my cheek.

“Yes.
” I sniffed, touching a knuckle under my eye. “I’m such a sap, I know. That bit about the horse is just so sad.”

“
It was, and you are very sweet for feeling such emotion. Cobalt was a lovely beast.” He smiled thoughtfully.

He paused, frowning at his watch.
“I am afraid our time together is up.”