Blakewood Read online

  What had I become? In just a week, I’d landed the employment of my dreams, and then had all but thrown myself at the two men who could control the security of my future. In doing so, I had pushed them away from me so that I was completely alone. I threw myself across the bed and allowed the tears I’d tried to hold back flow and cried myself to sleep.

  Chapter Seven

  I sat in Mrs. Loman’s small office on the first floor across from the desk. Behind it, Mrs. Loman studied me in silence. At long last, she released a slow breath and then threw up her hands.

  “I really don’t know what to say to you, Elizabeth Mason. You seemed a competent woman, one who was set upon keeping employment here.” She shook her head, and the disappointment in her expression deflated me. “Why were you there last night in no more than a sleeping garment?”

  I clasped my hands in my lap and looked down at them as I took a deep breath. “Mister Highcrest suggested that Leander Overton was fond of me. I was foolish to listen to him. I don’t know why I did. I have my own mind and have never behaved so senselessly. He told me if I went to him, wearing the gown, that he would…” I closed my eyes, unable to actually say the words. “I wasn’t aware he had a condition. Mister Highcrest said it was one that ran in the family. Does Ritchie have it as well?” When I opened my eyes, I found her still staring at me.

  “And did Mister Highcrest tell you of this condition?”

  “No. He gave no details.”

  “I was prepared to dismiss you from employment. It seems that Mister Highcrest spoke on your behalf and Master Overton convinced me to keep you on for Ritchie’s sake.”

  I stared at her. “He did what? But that makes no sense. We fought last night after you took Master Overton upstairs.” I didn’t know what to think.

  “Perhaps he has a conscience after all. It’s the least he could do for what he orchestrated last night. I’ll deal with him myself, and you can be certain you will have no more trouble from him.” She pointed a finger at me. “But you must adhere to the rules of this household. No one else knows of what happened but the four of us, and I want to keep it that way. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I couldn’t believe I was being given a second chance.

  “You will not accept or give attention to either Master Overton or Mister Highcrest.” She met my gaze directly. “Lonely or not, there has to be some order here.”

  My face heated with embarrassment. “I seek no intimacy and am accustomed to being alone.”

  “Good. Ritchie is waiting for you in the classroom.” She didn’t stand, but kept her gaze on me as I did. I hastily left here, thankful that I’d not been sent away.

  Over the next two weeks, I did as I was told and remained inside after dark. I steered clear of the library or any room in which I knew Leander Overton might be found. I focused my attention on Ritchie Overton alone, and life went on smoothly until the third week.

  “You aren’t concentrating, Ritchie,” I said, watching as the boy’s attention drifted away from the window to me. “I know you can do this work.”

  “I’m hungry.”

  I frowned. He’d been behaving peculiarly for the past two days. Today he looked pale, and his focus had to be brought to the work on more than one occasion. It wasn’t like him.

  “I’ll have Cook bring us some soup,” I offered, but he shook his head and returned his attention to the window. He didn’t eat at mid-day and, by the afternoon, he’d still not progressed in his studies. When I touched his forehead, I found him fevered.

  “The nurses, Miss. I think we should hurry.” His voice was a raspy whisper. My heart pounded. Oh, God. Mister Highcrest had said it was a condition that affected the whole family. Ritchie swayed when he stood, and I scooped him up. Damn them for not telling me the details. He’d been ill for days, and I’d not known!

  By the time I reached the staircase, he was shaking in my arms. “Almost there,” I whispered and took the steps two at a time into the west wing to the very door where I’d seen Highcrest coming out of that first night. I knocked soundly.

  The door opened, revealing a silk-wrapped blonde. She stared at me blankly until her gaze dropped to Ritchie.

  “He’s ill. I don’t know how to help him. He said to bring him to the nurses.” I stepped past her without being invited. “You must hurry.”

  “Normally, it is Francine who tends to him. I’m too weak.”

  I set Ritchie on the bed, and he slumped over onto the brightly colored silk pillows. “Then go and get her!” I touched his forehead again and found he was burning hot despite how his limbs shook. “Call for Mrs. Loman!”

  “So hungry,” Ritchie murmured.

  “I know. We’ll get you better very soon,” I whispered. I looked back just as a younger woman with long dark hair rushed into the room. “Francine?” She nodded and reached for Ritchie, pulling him into her lap as she sat. I stood and stepped back to give her room to tend to him. What happened next rooted me to the spot so I that couldn’t move, only gape in disbelief.

  Francine pushed up her sleeve to reveal the ivory skin of her wrist. “Feed, young master,” she crooned softly. Ritchie opened his mouth, and I stared as his canine’s extended long and smooth. Those sweet eyes blacked out completely and began to glow. In the next moment, his teeth sank into the woman’s wrist.

  Francine winced, but didn’t cry out against the pain I knew she must have felt. Instead, she whispered encouragement, and Ritchie’s lips closed over her skin when blood began to bubble up from the wound. I stared in horror at his suckling lips. His arms wrapped around hers, as if attempting to hold her arm to him while he drank of her very life. She lifted her free hand and stroked his hair.

  I instantly recalled a book I’d read about a tribe of cannibals that ate of human flesh. I took a step backwards. Then another. Before my eyes, the color began to return to Ritchie’s cheeks.

  “You didn’t know?” It was the blonde who spoke from beside me. I didn’t even look at her as I shook my head numbly.

  “You are his governess. They should have told you.” She put a hand on my shoulder, but I felt none of the comfort she obviously meant to give. “It’s how they must live.”

  I swallowed. “What are they?”

  “Vampires.”

  *****

  When I opened my eyes, I found myself in my own room. The blonde was sitting beside me on my bed. I sat up, and she reached for my hand in comforting response to the confusion and terror that must have shown on my face.

  “Don’t worry. It was me and another of the nurses who brought you here. I’ve locked the door. You are safe.” She squeezed my fingers. “You fainted.”

  “How can I be safe?” I hadn’t meant to shout.

  “They aren’t monsters,” she said softly.

  “Does Mrs. Loman know of this?” I demanded. She nodded. It felt as if the entire world had been turned upside down. Mister Simper’s rule came rushing back to me. Stay in my room at night. Don’t wander around outside. God in Heaven, it was for my own safety that the rules were there.

  “It makes no sense.” I brushed my hand over my eyes. “I don’t understand.” The movement brought a sharp stab of pain through my forehead. “My head hurts.”

  “Ritchie will stay with Francine this week. He will feed as he needs, and it will last him for another month. He’ll have to return when the symptoms return,” she explained.

  “And who are you?” I finally looked at her.

  “My name is Claudia. I’m for Leander. Ritchie is young and doesn’t require a nurse as often as an adult. Leander, well, if he would come to me every night, he wouldn’t become so ill.” She slid from the bed as she continued. “I know it is much to take in at once. I was equally as shocked when I found out myself. But you will come to understand. You did the right thing bringing Ritchie to us.”

  “And Mister Highcrest? He comes to you too?”

  She suddenly laughed. “Marcus comes to us all. He’s a greedy sor
t and has no reservations about filling himself. He’s not as bad as everyone makes him out to be. He just accepts who and what he is.”

  Marcus, I repeated in my head. It had never occurred to me to ask his first name. I’d not seen him in weeks, not since the night we’d argued. I felt ashamed now for what I’d said to him. He’d been the most honest of all of them about what was going on.

  A sharp rap sounded on the door causing me to start. Fear coursed through my veins. What if it was one of them come to drink from me?

  After a moment, Claudia walked to the door and opened it.

  “Is she here?” It was Leander’s voice and when Claudia opened the door wider, his gaze met mine. “Good. I was worried.” He didn’t enter, and I was thankful. If he had, I might have screeched in terror and leapt to my death out the window.

  “She’s shaken, but strong despite what she’s learned.” Claudia looked back and smiled at me. “I can see why you like her.”

  “Ritchie is still with Francine?”

  Claudia nodded as she faced him. “He was very ill when she brought him to us.”

  Again he looked at me. “Thank you, Miss Mason, for acting as quickly as you did. If you hadn’t, he might have…” his voice cracked. I finally stood on trembling legs and took a few steps forward.

  “I remembered Mrs. Loman spoke to you of the nurses here. It was the only thing I could think to do.” I wished my own voice didn’t sound so weak.

  “If you would permit me to come in, I would hug you and thank you for being so clever.” His eyes reflected real sincerity.

  Claudia looked back at me. “He can’t enter unless you invite him in.”

  I stared at her and laughter bubbled up inside me unexpectedly. It wasn’t hysterical, though it certainly felt like it could become so easily.

  “That can’t be true. Mister Highcrest carried me back to my room my first night here.” I insisted.

  “He did, but it was I he summoned to bring you into your room,” Claudia corrected then smiled. “We aren’t the only ones who have to follow absurd rules.”

  I laughed again hard enough that tears formed in my eyes. “It’s just all so ridiculous.”

  “Ridiculous or not, I am indebted to you for saving him.” Leander turned stiffly and headed down the corridor.

  Chapter Eight

  They were vampires. I kept to my room over the next few days, too afraid to venture out. Claudia told me that many of the household didn’t know the secret. I came up with an excuse of being ill when Mildred tried to coax me from my room. Consequently, I was certain that evening when another knock sounded it was she. To my surprise, it was Mrs. Loman instead.

  “Master Overton is requesting you in the library.” She crossed her arms, and her gaze narrowed as she looked me over. “Have you slept?”

  I shook my head. Not much. She tapped her toe when I didn’t move. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go downstairs. I was safe in my room. But how long could I remain there? Smoothing down my dress, I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. Then I followed Mrs. Loman downstairs to the library.

  Leander Overton looked as weary as I felt. He sat at his desk, hair barely combed back, with dark circles under his eyes. He glanced up when we entered and flicked his wrist to dismiss Mrs. Loman without saying a word. She left me there in the library with him—alone.

  “Working for a large household entails many things doesn’t it?” He spoke without looking up. “Aside from raising someone else’s child, even temporarily, I imagine there is so much more to deal with.”

  “Never so much as in this household,” I said.

  He finally looked up, his gaze meeting mine. “No, I suppose not.”

  “You are a vampire. Claudia told me you must drink of human blood to survive.” I shivered. “That if you don’t feed, you will become ill and could die. Those women upstairs…they are employed for just that reason.”

  He ran a hand over his face. “Yes.”

  “She said that you must do this daily to remain healthy.” I watched him look away from me. “But that you don’t, and you become weak because of it.”

  His gaze flicked back to me. “If I were weak, I would have fed off of you already.”

  I swallowed. That’s why he looked so tired. He’d not fed. Slowly, he stood, and I took a step backward, ready to bolt for the door if I must. The only place I was truly safe was in my own room upstairs.

  “We’ve acute senses, see as well in the dark as we do the day, and our reflexes are quicker than most men.” He spoke as he walked around the desk and with every step, I took one of retreat. “I can smell your fear on you. I don’t like it.”

  “Then stop scaring me.”

  “I wouldn’t hurt you. You must know that.” Something in his eyes, a sadness, stopped my retreat. “I’ve written you a recommendation. I will send out a few inquiries for positions with other households.”

  I stared at him. “You are dismissing me?”

  “Isn’t that what you want?” His laugh sounded strained. “I may be a monster, but I don’t expect you to accept all of this.”

  I frowned. I‘d though it myself, but to hear him call himself such in that defeated voice pulled at my heartstrings. I recalled him sitting at the piano reciting Shakespeare’s sonnet. He was no monster.

  “What about Ritchie?”

  He sighed heavily. “I suppose I must take charge of his education myself.”

  “I was told that the children must only feed once a month. It isn’t until they become older that their hunger grows into a daily need.” I thought of poor Ritchie’s pale little face.

  “And sexual in nature,” he added.

  I stared at him. “Sexual?” I repeated.

  “Claudia did not tell you that part of it?” He leaned against the edge of his desk when I shook my head. “After we come of age, the intensity of the feeding affects us physically, perhaps chemically as well. At first, it is just urgings. But eventually, sex becomes part of the hunger.”

  I licked my dry lips as I stared at him. “You mean to say that you could not become intimate with someone without needing to feed?”

  He chuckled. “No, no. I can manage that quite easily. I cannot feed, however, without the yearning for sex.” His gaze met mine directly. “Of course, if I’m suffering from hunger and a young woman comes to my library barely covered, lust and hunger might become one.” Heat rushed into my cheeks, and I looked away.

  “I’m ashamed of my behavior. It isn’t like me to accept kisses from one man and then within hours throw myself at another. I don’t normally entertain any intimacy from anyone.” Shame filled me. I’d behaved like a harlot.

  “Highcrest brings out the darker side of all of us it seems,” he murmured.

  I took a step forward causing him to look up at me, surprise on his face. “I don’t want to be sent away. I like Blakewood. I just need time to digest all of this and to understand it.” I moved closer still despite my nervousness of doing so.

  “I can smell your innocence. I imagine that’s why Highcrest likes you so much.” He breathed in deeply, and I froze. He could smell me? It was ridiculous that it should do so, but that thought filled me with heat.

  When he breathed out, it was in a rush and his gaze burned into mine. My entire body tingled, and the sensible part of me screamed in my head for me to run. He’d not fed. Feeding and sex were linked. I was innocent, but I wasn’t stupid. I could see that dark desire in his eyes. He wanted to kiss me again.

  “Perhaps you shouldn’t neglect yourself, sir. You might be able to sustain a relationship with someone if you fed as you needed.” I don’t know why my voice shook as it did.

  “And what woman will accept sharing me with a wing of women?” He smiled softly.

  “You think it more difficult to accept philandering than being a vampire?” I laughed suddenly, but grew quiet when he pushed off from the desk and took the step that closed the distance between us.

  “You are as poisonous
as Highcrest,” he accused softly. Again, that voice in my head warned me to run, but I couldn’t. I stood there, rooted, gazing up at him, my heart pounding. He leaned forward and, when his lips feathered across mine, my breath caught. But then he started to step away once more. I don’t know how my hand ended up on his arm and when he looked back at me, he appeared as surprised as I was.

  In the next moment, his lips found mine again, this time passionately. Heat swirled through me as his strong arms went around me, crushing me to him. His tongue plunged between my lips and mine met his with equal fever. I clutched his shoulders, holding on to him, only half aware when he spun me around until his desk bumped the back of my legs. A second later, I was sitting on that surface, his hands on my waist. His fingers splayed and pressed into me as if he were trying to touch as much of me as possible.