The Vampire's Maid

Part 9. The Vampire's Maid

Olive nodded, Joe stifled a laugh and Callum rolled his eyes. All responses however, soon turned to one; everyone stood up a little straighter and stopped smiling when the door opened.

"Welcome, friends!" Goliath's voice was somehow magnified as he entered the room and spread his arms wide in a gesture of greeting.

Behind his pale figure, fitted in a navy suit, a procession of vampires glided into the room. Their pale faces were either deadly serious or contorted into smiles as they conversed with their peers. A chill seemed to enter the room with them, the aura Goliath had multiplied by the sheer amount of vampires. The chairs scraped against the thick carpet as they were all seated.

Following a pointed look from Dane, Callum's presence moved from my side in synch with Joe's and the other males. Joe stiffened as he poured the blood red wine into glasses, obviously uncomfortable with being so close to vampires. He usually worked on the cars, I remembered, which meant he was lucky enough not to come into contact with Goliath much. I fiddled with my dress as they poured the drinks; since the vampires had entered the room it had become unnaturally cold and the fineness clothing had become more noticeable.

Callum returned to my side, any trace of a smile removed from his face.

"I hate how they look at us." He shivered. "Oh, I think you should go fetch the food."

Sure enough, Dane was glaring at me and June was standing in the doorway which led to the entrance hall beckoning me with an anxious look on her face. I hurried over to her and out into the somewhat warmer entrance hall. The portraits of Goliath and Ashley's relatives lined the walls here and I remembered with a jolt the thoughts that had so recently grasped my mind.

"I don't want to go back in there," shuddered June. "They're plain creepy!"

"It could be worse- we could be serving them blood rather than chickens." I half joked.

"Or they could be drinking OUR blood." June grimaced.

The delicious smell of roast chicken hit us as we entered the kitchen. Abriella and Olive had already pulled the roasting trays, filled with golden chickens and roast vegetables, from the oven and were in the process of placing them on large, black plates.

"Why," I wondered aloud. "Do we have to stand in there? It would make more sense if we were in the kitchen rather than standing around."

"The vampires are sick. I think they actually enjoy having us standing around so they can look at us and know that they're 'superior'." June said with a wince.

Laden with dishes of food on metal trays we shuffled up the narrow staircase, through the entrance hall and through the grand door which led to the dining room. Joe grinned at us, despite the look of disdain Dane was shooting him. Callum made a brief shake of his head in my direction but other than that, every human in the room was stiff with nervousness. I had a feeling that we would fully exhale when this evening was over.

I approached the table of talking vampires, choosing to place the food I was carrying as far away as possible from Goliath whom was sitting at the head of the table in obvious enjoyment of the atmosphere. As I leaned over a vampire to place the food in the centre of the table I felt a nose on my bare arm. I froze in repulsion as the vampire inhaled with his eyes closed. Then his eyes flickered open revealing nearly white eyes and they flitted to my horrified face.

"Now, now Isaac. It would be rather inconvenient if you attacked my son's maid." Goliath chortled from the head of the table as if it was merely amusing.

I withdrew my arm quickly when the vampires turned their gaunt faces towards me and scurried over to Callum's side.

"You look petrified!" Callum whispered.

I nodded in revulsion at the vampire who had smelt my arm, probably mere seconds away from attacking me at the table.

For the rest of the evening I focused on avoiding eye contact with all of the vampires which seemed to be the tactic of every other human in the room. When, eventually, the vampires left the room in a drunken chatter I breathed a sigh of relief that it was over. The wave of exhaustion that hit me seemed to be reciprocated around the room.

The others trailed into the entrance hall and up the staircase to bed but I stayed, absorbed in the portraits on the walls. I was examining 'Simeon Sancruor 1670-1763' when a noise from the shadows made me gasp. I stood in absolute silence for a few seconds but then, deciding it was my imagination, walked briskly up the stairs.

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comment/fan/vote please :) yes, Ashley will return in the next chapter :-)