Well, that was a weird week. I wouldn’t say I’m prejudiced towards vampires considering my dad is one and I’m half one, but I definitely did not have making out with one that kidnapped me on my bingo card. What am I Belle?

It was hard to explain why or how it happened. One minute I was me, and the next all the air was sucked out of the room. I hate to say Norman was the only thing around keeping me from drowning, but that was really how it started. When my senses returned, though, the feelings I was starting to notice for him didn’t go away.

When Norman felt I was back to myself, he decided it was time for us to leave his house. Well, he said that, but I have a feeling Harding ordered us to do so. I may have new tingly feelings for him, but it sure as hell hasn’t altered my trust or perception of the current situation. Norman’s loyalty is to one person, and when Harding says “jump” you can bet Norman was waiting with bated breath to ask “how high”.

“I think we’ll only be away for a night or two,” he said while packing the few essentials I had accumulated during my stay. “Harding thinks he knows where your father is, and we are going to coordinate a rescue plan.”

“How did he get this information?” I asked still unsure if I could trust him and almost certain I couldn’t trust Harding.

“A new informant with information on Sarah sought him out a few days ago.” Yep, I couldn’t trust them.

“Why am I only hearing about this now? Why haven’t we already gone?” This was some bullshit. I was sitting out here in the boondocks while who knows what was happening to Aaron.

Norman stopped packing and looked me over with that serious expression I had become thoroughly familiar with over the last few weeks. “We didn’t think it was prudent to tell you until we were sure your mental well-being had stabilized.”

“I could kill that Reaper. He cost me so much time. Even one day is too long. How do we even know Aaron is still alive.” Norman grabbed me by the shoulders to stop the angry pacing I had been mindlessly doing around the room.

“First off,” he said holding me in place, “even trying to hurt a Reaper will only result in your own demise, so don’t even think about it. Second, our informant assured us that the last time she saw Aaron he was fully healthy and in decent spirits. Sarah doesn’t appear to have any interest in harming him currently.” He led me over to the sofa and gently nudged me to sit down. Surprisingly, I didn’t put up a fight. He sat beside me and brushed my hair off my face. It was more than crazy how fast our relationship had changed in only a week. Was this just the fallout of being a mentally unwell damsel in distress? Was something really happening here? Either way, this was not going to end well; I could feel it.

~

We didn’t return to the house where I had originally met Harding. This new abode was just as ostentatious. I guessed living forever meant needing lots of space. While I wouldn’t call this one a castle, it could easily take up an entire city block, and that was not even considering the massive grounds that encircled the place. “Does every vampire have their own zip code?” I asked Norman as we drove up.

He smirked, and let me know that this was another one of Harding’s properties. “He really does take the title ‘King’ literally sometimes.” Apparently, Harding has many such homes all across the country and in many others as well. He was rarely in any of them according to Norman, but when he was in town he liked to live as he was accustomed. Yeah, it was official; I hated this guy.

Surprisingly, a human greeted us at the door, and he wasn’t the only one. They were littered throughout the would-be castle. “Is Harding running an all-you-can-eat buffet?” I jokingly asked Norman.

“Not exactly,” he answered looking uncomfortable. “I mean, yes, I’m sure he and others probably feed from some of them, but these are predominately what you would call Renfields.”

“No shit,” I said stopping in my tracks. “That’s real? Seriously?”

Vampires have always been a part of my reality. From the moment I could understand words, Aaron began teaching me about what I was and the real world I was going to grow up in. Dracula was one of the first books I can remember reading, and over the years, I’ve read it numerous times. Not that any of it is real, or so we believed, but it was one of the closest looks at vampire behavior. Sleeping during the day and coming out at night – check; mesmerizing their victims – check; death by wooden stake through the heart – check. My recent encounter had also shown that lavish living was true for some of them. I’m not entirely sure about the whole regeneration thing, and I don’t know of any vampires who can shapeshift. It’s really close though. I have a theory Bram Stoker was either a vampire or was taken hostage like his Jonathan Harker and yours truly.

“Yes and no,” Norman answered tentatively. “They are here to serve, but they aren’t held against their will. These are people who found out about us, and some are here hiding out from the human world. Others are basically like Harding’s children. They were forgotten or abused and Harding took them in, and he gives them the means to rebuild while having safe housing, food, and money. Then, finally there are those who want to become like us. Harding, like many other vampires, offer the chance for these individuals to prove themselves loyal before he agrees to the transition.

“Ugh,” I moaned, “Don’t make me think better of Harding.”

“I know you didn’t meet under the best circumstances, but Harding’s not a bad guy. He can be an arrogant, mean son of a bitch that’s probably too obsessed with treasure for his own good, but at the end of the day, he’s honorable and you won’t find a man much better than him. Human or otherwise.”

The minion led us to a gorgeous room that probably cost more money to decorate than I’d ever seen in my life. “This one doesn’t come with bolting doors?” I asked remembering my last stay in one of Harding’s homes.

Norman chuckled, “No, he doesn’t plan to lock us in. Those rooms are only for unexpected guests.” He sat my bag on the dresser. “I’ll leave your effects. You can wash up right through here.” He pressed part of the panelled wall and it slid back to reveal a full bath. “There’s also a fully stocked closet on the other side of the room. I’m sure Harding’s had it fitted with plenty items in your size.”

It dawned on me what was happening. “Where are you staying?” I thought he hadn’t packed anything because he always followed Harding around and must have his things scattered all over.

“I’m not staying here, Trembley.”

“Oh,” I don’t know why I couldn’t think of more to say, but I must have looked hurt because he came towards me and pulled me into his arms. “Sarah’s informant is here,” he said like it explained everything. I don’t think it was even my right to demand an explanation. I still wasn’t sure what he was to me. What was I to him? “If this is a trap of some sort, everyone will be safer if I’m not here. I will be better off following up on the information she’s already given us.”

“That makes sense,” was all I could think to follow up this revelation, “but why do I have to be here? I could help you.”

“Harding wants you to meet with her.” At this I moved out of his embrace to better see his face.

“Why? I don’t know anything about Sarah.”

“She seems to think otherwise, and part of her bargain for being cooperative was a meeting with you.” That actually hurt.

“So, we didn’t leave to get a change of scenery?” I actually laughed for being so stupid. I actually thought something real was happening for a minute. “Harding needed me here, so you brought me here. You’re just following orders. Like leaving is following orders. Do you do anything, Norman, that’s not at Harding’s behest?”

“It’s complicated.”

I sat on the end of bed. “Then explain it to me, please.” I wouldn’t beg him, but I needed something. This was too fragile. He had to know that. Our trust currently consisted of single threads barely starting to form a strand. One wrong move and everything would unravel.
He stared at me clearly contemplating whether he would share. Then he took a deep breath and sat down beside me.

“Harding is my maker, so I do owe him fealty. But it’s more than that. Harding saved me and cursed me all in one act. I didn’t choose to be a vampire, but it was what I deserved. Now that I’ve lived for several centuries, I’m not sure I could say I would take being human over being a vampire, especially because I was a horrible human.”

“Like you just didn’t accomplish anything?” I asked tentatively.

“If only it was that,” he said in all seriousness. “I’m responsible for Sarah. She is who she is because of what I did as a human. I could have helped her and countless other women who were deemed witches, some who actually were and others who were dragged into an evil mess that had nothing to do with them.”

“What do you mean you could have helped?”

“When I was a human, I was what was called a Witchfinder. I was born into a family of Witchfinders. We hunted down women accused of being witches and put them under the trials to prove their innocence. The problem was that there was no actual way for any of them to come out of the tests alive — innocent or no.”

“But Sarah… lived, and she’s still alive.”

~

When Norman left, I can’t say I was upset to see him go. I didn’t expect a vampire to have a pleasant backstory, but his human life story was a lot to absorb.

I spent the next few hours alone in the guestroom Harding had bestowed on me. I wanted to hate the guy, but he knew how to spoil his guests. This was a superior upgrade to my last stay in one of his homes. The room was just as lavish, but instead of being decked out with kitchy breakables, there was a state of the art entertainment system complete with a flat screen that had access to practically every movie and TV show imaginable.

There was also a computer with internet access, so I spent the first couple of hours attempting to find any trace of Aaron. I reached out to all his messaging services I could remember off the top of my head. My phone had long been missing since the abduction. I assume it was left in the car, wherever that ended up. God the car… Eden was never going to do me another favor.

Every hour one of the house attendants, which is what they preferred to be called instead of tasty treats, came by to see if I needed anything. Finally, one came with a message that he would escort me to Harding’s office at midnight, vampires are so dramatic, to meet with Sarah’s mysterious person. I spent the evening snacking and doing whatever I could to reach anyone that could help this situation. By the time the lackey—who said his name was Ryan—returned, I was feeling pretty hopeless.

“Miss Cassaway, The King is ready for you,” he said holding the door open for me.

“He really goes by that, huh? Well, could you let your master know that if wants me to address him by that title, he could at least get my name correct.”

“I’m sorry,” Ryan the Renfield stuttered out, “I was told that was your name.”

“Well… lead the way,” I gestured ready to get this over with. He nervously led me from the guest room to the third floor. On the way, we passed other Renfields hanging out in rooms that are typical of a house of this size like a library and solarium, but I didn’t expect to see an entire room filled with aquarium tanks.

“Is Harding trying to move the entire ocean in with him?” I asked completely baffled and the ridiculousness of rich people. It’s not just vampires. I once had to remove a horde of pixies from this eccentric millionaires home. The man literally had an inside swimming pool filled with jello.

“Our master’s true love is the open water. He collects rare species and funds research to help repopulate those going extinct.” He was filled with awe while telling me this. So, it’s not just Norman who’s Harding-whipped.

“If Harding is so fond of the ocean, why does he continue to burden us landdwellers.”

“Just cleaning up some old business,” said a familiar voice from the room just in front of us. Ugh, of course his nosey vampire ears were listening. There is no such thing as privacy in a home with bloodsuckers. “Would you be so kind as to join us, Trembley.”

Harding’s office, if you could call it that, was just as pompous as him. The walls were covered in a mahogany wood. The tall space took up at least two floors, and the top portion was adorned with book shelves that could be accessed by a curving staircase that led to a balcony-type overhang. The back wall was mostly windows, and Harding sat in front of them behind an ornately carved wood desk.

“Please, have a seat,” he said gesturing to the oversized sofas filling out the rest of the room. That’s when I noticed her for the first time. She had shoulder-length strawberry-blonde hair, which complemented the spattering of ginger freckles across her face, neck, and arms. Unsure what to expect, I took the sofa across from her. I could feel Harding’s eyes watching me, waiting to see what I’d do. He didn’t even look away when dismissing Ryan, who seemed eager to be away from here, or when he walked around the desk to perch on its edge.

“Trembley, I’d like you to meet Rebecca. She has some news that might be important for all of us, but she was not interested in sharing until you arrived.” For the first time, his gaze moved to her instead of me, but Rebecca didn’t care. She was also heavily focused me. Gee, wasn’t I popular this evening. However, unlike Harding, her piercing eyes were filled with malice instead of intrigue.

“So, this is the famous halfling everyone’s obsessed with all of a sudden. I have to say… I don’t get the appeal.” She literally sneered when she said this. Who does that? And I was definitely not in the mood to be insulted by someone who'd dragged me here under the guise of helping me find my dad.

“Listen, gingersnaps, you called me here. I don’t know you, and after being in the room with you for five seconds, I can promise there’s no mutual affection on this side of the aisle either. So, do us a favor, either tell us what you know or go back to your mothership.”

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