The Caretaker of Showman's Hill (Vampire Romance) (13 page)

"The picnic's going to be inside. In case it rains," he added for her benefit or was it for his own peace of mind?

"How quaint."

He watched Cassie survey the cabin, and then walk up boldly to the front door and enter.

He followed her inside only to find her flat on her bottom, having tripped over something in the dark. Basil sped across the room, put down the groceries on the dinette table and grabbed a candle from the shelf above. He lit it and two others and made it back to Cassie to help her up even before she had a chance to move.

"You're making my head spin with your fast movements. Slow down a bit, will you?"

He placed his hands under her shoulders and brought her to her feet. Slow down. He knew he should. He knew it was a mistake bringing her here. It was a mistake the
first time he brought a human woman to his secret lair. A mistake he'd paid for dearly - and so had the girl.

"Cassie, I think I'd better bring you back to the Bat House."

"Nonsense." She slipped out of his arms and surveyed the small room. Her eyes gazed over the dinette table and the make-shift kitchen. She ran her hand over the back of one of the wooden chairs, smiling all the while. "I like it here. It's rather cozy, don't you think?"

He thought alright. A little too cozy. The kind of cozy that brought out his longing for the pleasures of a woman. That was just what he was craving right now. It was more a human feeling that excited him and disgusted him at the same time.

He walked over to the bag of food and scooped it up, intending to throw her back over his shoulder and head back to the Bat House before he lost control and did something he'd regret in the morning.

"Not bad. Not bad at all,” came Cassie's voice."

When he turned around, he eyed Cassie sprawled out across the only other piece of furniture in the cabin - the massive oak bed that filled the entire other half of the room.

Too late. He already pictured himself naked and pressed against Cassie's own naked body atop the quilted comforter of the bed. He then pictured himself making love to her, and her throwing back her head in ecstasy as she cried out and . . . exposed her long, beautiful neck.

He felt his fangs protruding beneath his lips and the saliva already flowing down his chin at the idea of biting her neck. Embarrassed and disgusted by his own reactions, he turned away from her and threw the bag down on the counter.

Cassie was walking up behind him. He felt her presence though her soft footsteps were almost inaudible even to a vampire's ears.

"Don't!"

He turned his head slightly to see her putting her hand back down to her side. She'd noticed his fangs, he was sure of it. Yet instead of being frightened like anyone with a lick of sense would be, she came over to investigate.

"I'm trying to comfort you, Basil."

Antagonize or tempt him was more like it.

"I have all the comfort I need." Basil moved over to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Bacardi, 151. He unscrewed the top and slugged some down, reveling in the burning sensation that blazed a path from his lips all the way to his stomach. His fangs retracted, and he took a deep breath before turning back toward Cassie.

"You must be hungry," she said innocently. If only she knew just how hungry he really was. She dug through the bag and pulled out the jar of green olives. She tried to unscrew the lid but it was stuck tight. Without thinking, Basil grabbed the jar from her, his hand brushing hers in the process. Her scent clung to his skin and weighed heavy upon his soul. He felt his body trembling, and he knew the jar was about to shatter in his hand. He quickly opened it with a mere flick of his wrist, and set it down on the table and headed back for his security bottle.

He took another swig with his eyes closed. When he opened them, Cassie was standing before him with two green olives almost touching his lips.

"Try one," she coaxed.

"I'm a vampire, Cassie. Green olives aren't going to quench the burning desire that's running through my veins right now.

"No, but it may help the hunger."

"I doubt it." He couldn't keep his gaze from her long, sleek neck. Damn her for having such short hair that didn’t cover up the tempting sight.

"So who says vampires can't eat olives?" She popped one in between her moist, lush lips, and Basil found himself raising the bottle back to his own lips in defense.

"I say so - that's who. Olives are wimpy appetizers when what I'm craving is the main course."

"Don't knock it until you try it."

When Basil opened his mouth to protest, Cassie popped an olive into his mouth. He found himself salivating again - this time without the fangs. This time he almost felt human and it intrigued him. Though he didn't care for the taste of the olive he liked the idea that it took his thoughts off of sex or draining her blood.

"Give me another one."

Cassie picked up the jar and popped another olive into his mouth, seductively licking the juices from her fingers afterwards. Basil swallowed it down and grabbed the whole jar from her hand. With one foot he pulled the chair out from under the small table and sat down, plopping his feet atop an edge of the table. One after another he devoured the olives, not sure if he was starting to like the damned things or if he'd be sick afterwards.

"Told you you'd like them." Cassie dug into the bag and came out with some crackers and a hunk of cheese. Basil watched intently as she slowly peeled off the wrapper and cut several small pieces, placing them atop the crackers.

"Care for one?" She held one out and Basil thought he was going to be sick. He looked down to the empty olive jar in his hand, realizing he'd devoured every last one.

"I think not. Cassie, I'm a vampire - not a human. I'm not even sure what effects this damn food is going to have on me."

She bit into the cracker and gave him a big smile.

"Cassie, don't you care about what I am?"

"Not tonight I don't, Basil." Her eyes swept the room and landed on the bottle of rum on the counter. "Gee, am I thirsty."

"No more alcohol for you." Basil dug into the brown paper bag and handed her the diet cola. "I don't think you can hold your liquor."

"What about you?" she asked innocently.

"What about me?"

"The way you've been downing that rum I'm surprised you're not flat on your face by now."

"The alcohol doesn't affect me,” he explained. “It's nothing more to me than eating a big meal." Just the thought of eating a meal brought his eyes back to her neck. Damn her for mentioning the alcohol. Damn him for bringing her here in the first place.

"We've got to get back." He got to his feet but she didn't budge.

"I'm on a picnic," she answered. "Though you may be finished, I'm not. Now I'd appreciate it if you'd just sit back down and wait till I'm done."

Where the hell had that come from? Maybe this intoxicated little woman was a lot more demanding than the sober one. Basil raked his hand through his hair and thought about it for a minute. The food might help sober her up a little before she passed out. Maybe letting her finish her meal wasn't such a bad idea after all.

He collected the bottle from the counter and headed over to the bed. He would just lie down and close his eyes for a moment till she was finished. That may just take her image off his mind until he could get the hell away from her. He closed his eyes, but Cassie's continual chattering kept him from drifting off.

"So, how did you and the others become vampires after all?"

"Don't ask."

"I did. Now answer me and stop beating around the bush."

Gee, she was feisty when she had spirits in her.

"I don't want this ending up on the front page of that cheap magazine you work for."

"Now how could I do that when you've already told me you're basically holding me captive from now until kingdom come?"

She had a point. Well, what harm would it do to tell her what she wanted to know? After all, he hadn't repeated the story since he told it to . . . no, he knew he shouldn't tell it again. He found himself being persuaded anyway.

"Our circus train crashed back in 1819. We were all performers." Why was he telling her this?

"That much I already know. So you didn't . . . didn't die I take it."

"Of course not. Although I wish daily that I had."

"Instead of being a vampire?" He could hear Cassie munching on something else as she spoke. He tried to block out the smell of the food as it was only upsetting his stomach.

"Instead of being goddamn immortal, Cassie. You have no idea how frustrating it is not to be able to die."

He felt the bed dip as she sat down next to him. His eyes popped open in surprise. He should have sensed her coming across the room and got out of the bed before she ever reached him. Those damned olives must have been dulling his normally sharp senses.

"I don't want you to die, Basil." She spoke in a soft, caring voice and Basil had the urge to draw her into his arms and comfort her the way she tried to comfort him with the olives. Instead, he took another swig from the bottle and continued with his story.

"Some of us were bitten by vampire bats at the crash site."

"Don't tell me that had anything to do with your condition!"

"Normally it wouldn't have had such strange affects, but these were cursed bats, Cassie."

She looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, then burst into laughter. "This is a joke, isn't it? You're hoping I print something as absurd as this in Strange Sightings just so you can have a good laugh."

"It's not a laughing matter, sweetheart. Those of us who were bitten by the vampire bats are somehow attached to the bat that did the damage. If a bat dies, whoever is connected to that bat dies with it. If one of us purposely kills a bat, we'll be condemned to a place worse than hell itself."

"Are you trying to tell me that those bats you feed in the attic are the ones . . . "

"Exactly."

"They couldn't live that long, Basil."

"You're forgetting that they're vampires like us. They're basically immortal unless they don't feed."

She looked stricken at the thought. "So how did they get cursed?"

"By an old witch who used to travel with us in the circus. When the train crashed, her lover died and she swore the whole incident was somehow the fault of my family. Those of us who were unlucky enough to survive the crash were condemned to walk the earth as vampires forever."

"So where is this witch now?" Cassie leaned in a little closer almost as if she wanted protecting.

Basil thought it humorous that she'd get closer to a vampire to protect her from a witch who had been dead for two centuries. In actuality, it was him she needed to be protected from.

"She's dead, Cassie. Even witches are basically mortal. She died shortly after losing her lover."

"Then why isn't her curse broken by now?"

"Witches die, but not always their curses. I think you have a lot to learn about all this."

"Is there any way this curse could possibly be broken?"

Basil picked up the bottle of alcohol and stared at its golden contents. He could break the curse - could have years ago. But now he was no longer sure it was the right thing to do.

"There's a bottle," he answered softly. "My mother gave it to me just before she died, one week after the crash. My mother was a witch too."

He could feel her body tighten without even looking at her expression. He kept his eyes glued to the bottle of booze as he spoke.

"My mother never finished making the potion before she died. I only have the one bottle. One bottle is only enough to break the curse for one of us."

Of course, draining a virgin of her blood was what would activate the potion, but hell if he was going to divulge that tidbit of information. It was bad enough his mother never had time to finish the potion, having to confess before she died that in its state, a virgin would have to die to set one of them free. The effects of the potion would not be permanent unless mixed with the entire body of blood of a virgin.

"Then use it, Basil. Use it and save yourself."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"What would happen to my brothers Sefu and Louie if I weren't here to keep them in line? And who am I to think I should die and my Uncle Andre or my cousin Antonio or Hope, Faith or Charity should be the ones to be condemned to this awful life? And La Roux . . ." He stopped before he said any more. He'd already divulged too much information and there was no way he'd drag La Roux into the midst of his confessions.

"What about La Roux? Is she a vampire too?"

Basil ignored her and raised the bottle to his lips. Cassie's hand stopped him and their eyes interlocked.

"Basil, I know there's more that you're not telling me. What is the connection between you and La Roux?"

The bottle shattered between their hands and Cassie jumped from the bed.

"I'm sorry, Cassie. I didn't mean to do that. It just sort of happens. Are you all right?"