The Vampire Pirate's Daughter (13 page)

“Yeah, let’s go and get it over and done
with.”

We walk out of the house and down the stairs
toward the rental car parked to the side of the house.

“
I wonder how Callum never noticed the car
last night.” I say.

“The grass is long here and the car is hidden
from that side of the house. If you did not rip the curtain from
the wall, they probably still would not know we are here.”

I look at her apprehensively, but she is
smiling. Laughing I defend myself. “I did not rip it off the wall,
you know. I touched it to pull it aside and it must have rotted out
of the wall, and only needed that final prod to fall.”

We slam the doors and Amanda starts the
car. She laughs hysterically. “I wonder if they know about
cars.”

I laugh loudly with her. “And airplanes, and
nice clothes and meat.”

We laugh unstoppable. It is unbelievable
that there are still vampires in this day and age who live the way
Callum and his merry five live. At this moment, they are hiding in
the cellar, too scared to come out, because if they did, they would
turn to dust when the sun touches them.

Amanda stops laughing and says seriously,
“Shayne would have been fascinated to meet them. They are like a
lost breed. Like a cave man to the humans.”

I agree with her and a quiet sadness fills
the car. It is still going to take a very long time for Amanda to
be able to laugh without feeling guilty. Vampires are like the
albatross that may fly great distances over the oceans, but despite
its extensive travels, it will always return to the same place and
the same partner when it is time to breed.

We stop in the small village. It still looks
the same as when I was little and it is as if time has stood still
here. The structures have changed in the building materials used,
but it is still the one main road running through the centre with
all the businesses alongside it. Each inhabitant of the village
owns a business and they live on the second floor above their
individual business premises. The village services, and always has
serviced, the surrounding wine producing farms.

The villagers are friendly, although some of
them look at us suspiciously. Amanda still speaks French fluently
and she talks casually and naturally. My French is rusty, but here
and there, I understand a word or two. She tells them
conversationally that we have been employed by the owners of the
château to restore it.

The woman behind the counter warns Amanda to
be careful, because people have been disappearing from the
village.

I feel apprehension and I know if Amanda and
I want to stay here, we will either have to convince Callum,
Justin, Peter, Claude, Herman and Edward to move away or to stop
feeding on the villagers. I feel sorry for them and I would like to
help them.

After Amanda buys enough cleaning products to
clean a lot of houses, hardware products and utensils, orders a
fridge/freezer and a generator, we drive back to the château in
silence.

When we get there, Amanda starts cleaning
immediately. I can sense she does not want to talk and I respect
her need to be with her own thoughts. I clean with her and at
lunch, Amanda takes the two steaks she bought from the bag. She had
also bought paper plates and plastic knives and forks. Amanda
believes that no matter where you are there is no excuse not to
behave civilized.

She puts the raw meat on the plates. She
pulls the dusted, shiny chairs closer to the occasional table in
the centre of the room. We sit down and hunched over toward the
plates on the table, we eat silently.

When we are finished eating, Amanda clears
the plates and cutlery into a plastic bag. She walks out to the
kitchen and when she comes back, she says, “There is so much to do
here. There is not even a bin in the kitchen. Thank goodness we do
not cook either, because the stove is still one of those coal
burning furnace things.”

I smile. “You said there is nothing else to
do and just imagine how nice it will be when we are finished. We
could live here like they did in the olden days, with all its
splendor and grandeur.”

She smiles softly. “I do miss those
days.”

We continue cleaning and Amanda makes a list
of all the damages that need repairs. She taps the walls, rocks
back and forth on the balls of her feet on the wooden floors, and
then scribbles in her notepad.

I hear her mumble, “They do not build houses
like they used to anymore. After all these years, this house is
still in a good condition.”

Later in the afternoon, a truck arrives with
the generator and refrigerator Amanda ordered.

The four men carry the appliance and
generator into the house. I catch a word or two as they mumble
amongst themselves in French. I smile at their amusement of two
women trying to restore this dilapidated building, while they
follow me toward the kitchen.

Too late, I realize that the stairs to the
cellar lead off from the kitchen, but then with a sigh of relief, I
notice the bright sun filling every corner of the kitchen as it
shines through the wide windows.

When the men return to their truck, Amanda
thanks them and asks where she would be able to employ some strong
men.

We would not need them, obviously, but when
they started seeing the restoration and refurbishment of the old
house, they might start to wonder how two woman did it all by
themselves without the brute strength of a few capable men. Before
Amanda can even think of employing any local people though, we will
have to get rid of Callum and his friends.

I walk back into the house and I hear a piano
faintly. Frowning, I tilt my head slightly to the sound and I
follow it. The sound leads me back to the kitchen and I am just
about to take the first step into the cellar, when Amanda asks
behind me, “Where do you think you are going?”

I turn toward her, ignoring her question. “Do
you need any help setting up the refrigerator and generator?”

Firmly she says, “I do not want to see you
alone with them.”

“Why not?” I ask frustrated.

“
You know what? I actually do think I need
help with this.” She turns away from me toward the fridge and the
generator. She looks back at me across her shoulder, “Do me a
favor, please. I left the gasoline outside, next to the stairs.
Don’t you want to fetch it for me?”

I walk out the kitchen without replying. I
hear the notes from the piano fade as I walk away from the kitchen,
so somebody down in the cellar is playing the poignant tune.

I get the can of gasoline and I walk back
toward the kitchen. The light is fading fast and when I get back to
the kitchen Amanda is busy connecting the fridge to the
generator.

I put the can of gasoline next to the table
and I ask, “Do you want me to start cutting this meat into strips
for the popsicles?”

“Please.” I hear her voice from behind the
fridge.

While I cut the meat into thick strips, I
ask, “Why don’t you want me to talk to them?”

I hear frustration in her voice when she
replies, “Susie, you are still so young, only two hundred and a few
years old. That Edward knew your father.”

“They all still look so young though. It is
only Peter who looks as if he is in his late thirties.”

“They are too old for you Susie. Compared to
them and the years they have lived, you are a baby.”

I do not insist and I am lost in thought when
I jump with fright as I hear voices behind me.

They come from the cellar one at a time.

Callum stands close behind me. “What are you
doing, Susanna?”

Nobody uses my full name, except Amanda when
she is irritated with me, but it sounds nice on his lips. The night
before, when Amanda introduced us to them, she introduced me as
Susanna.

I say softly, shyly, “I am making
popsicles.”

He asks, “Popsicles? What are they?”

I hand him one and say, “They are nicer when
they are frozen, especially on a hot day.”

I feel sorry for him, when I see sadness
flash in his eyes. He takes the meat on a stick, and looks back at
me frowning.

I smile. “Suck on it.”

He puts the meat in his mouth apprehensively
and I see understanding in his eyes when the taste of blood touches
his tongue. He slowly takes the meat from his mouth and I notice
his full lips. He asks smiling amused, “Is this how you manage your
cravings?”

I smile in agreement.

Amanda comes from behind the fridge and looks
at me admonishingly.

She starts pushing at the fridge and Claude
rushes to help her. They push it back against the wall. Amanda says
thank you and then she comes toward the table. She takes the meat
from the bags and then she starts packing it into the freezer.

Claude asks, “What are you doing?”

Amanda explains patiently, still
flabbergasted that they know so little of modern live, “If we
freeze it, it lasts longer. The sun and heat makes it go off.”

Claude nods as if he understands and I cannot
help myself when I start laughing at his ignorance.

I see Callum look at me amused, while I
offer them all an unfrozen popsicle, and they start to suck on it
tentatively.

Amanda breaks the silence of their curious
wonder, “When you go out to feed tonight, do not go to the village.
I do not want them to get suspicious. I actually think you should
consider going somewhere else permanently.”

I interrupt her, “Amanda, couldn’t we help
them? We could give them some of our pills and educate them so that
they can also…”

Callum agrees, “If you did that we would be
eternally grateful.”

Amanda says, “No, we cannot share our pills.
We only have enough for ourselves.”

I insist, “We could get more.”

“
That means you and I will have to go Paris
to buy some more. I would not get a dealer in an area as rural as
this.”

“We could, couldn’t we?” I look at her
expectantly.

She sighs and looks at me angrily. “We
will discuss it later, Susie.”

Callum smiles while he turns his gaze back to
me. “Susie?”

I smile bashfully.

Amanda says calmly, while looking at me with
her piercing, cautioning gaze, “Callum, would you please be so kind
and light the fire in the front room hearth.”

He twirls the empty stick from the popsicle
in his mouth and smiles. “Of course. Susie, would you join me?”

I start to follow him out of the kitchen and
I feel Amanda’s gaze follow me.

I hear Herman ask, “So all you need is this
blood. Is it human?”

Amused I hear Amanda sigh annoyed and she
starts to explain that it is beef and although there was a
difference in taste, eventually you get used to it and it helps to
suppress the demon inside.

She has given up tobacco and she is more
irritated than she used to be before.

Callum moves to the side so that I can
walk beside him. “Susie, tell me all about you,” he says softly,
curiously.

I chuckle self-consciously. “It’s a long
story.”

“I have a lot of time.”

Amanda and I sit in the lounge, while they
have gone out to hunt. Callum promised that he will keep strict
control over his friends and that they will go far away from the
château, perhaps across the border into Germany.

I turn toward Amanda apprehensively, where
she sits knitting a sweater. She has always liked to keep her hands
busy and although we have enough money to buy designer clothes and
she has more garments that she would ever have a use for, she still
likes to sit and knit. Over the years, she has developed her skills
perfectly and sometimes she would ponder starting a label of
hand-knitted fashion wear. Shayne always encouraged her to do this
and I think now that he is dead she is considering it even more. It
would channel her passion into a new direction.

I ask softly, “Do you think we can help them?
Help them to fit into everyday life?”

She looks up at me briefly, and then frowning
she looks back down at her melodiously clicking needles.

I stare at her silently. I do not want to
persist to the point of making her decide against it.

After a long while, she sighs softly. “I
suppose we could. We will go to Paris next week.”

“Only next week?” I exclaim.

“Yes, Susie. Next week. I will have to make a
few phone calls first to establish where we can buy it in Paris. I
have not been in Paris for the longest time. We will go early in
the week.”

“
Okay. Do you think they will be able to
adjust and that they will be able to control their desire, that
awful, permanent craving?”

“It takes determination and control
initially. I do not think they will all adjust, it has been too
long for some of them to feed whenever they have the need, which as
you rightly said is permanent.”

“
It has been so long, I cannot even
remember it. I remember though when Ethan kidnapped me. I thought I
would die from the hunger inside of me.” Too late, I realize that
once again, I am talking about something she does not want to be
reminded of and softly I whisper, “I am sorry, I wasn’t
thinking.”

She smiles sadly, but she does not look up
from her knitting.

I get my book from my bag lying next to me. I
put my feet up onto the couch and lean my back against the armrest.
I continue reading the story of the girl who fell in love with a
vampire.

I start to feel sleepy and I hear Amanda say,
“Tomorrow I will have to go into the village again, to go and
collect the materials we ordered to start fixing the little things.
If Callum decides to stay, we would not be able to get contractors
to help us with the larger things, so they are going to have to
start helping us, so I suppose it is better if they can work by
day. It would look less suspicious.”