The Vampire's Maid

Part 23. The Vampire's Maid

"I think there's something going on with Dane, Ashley."

"What do you mean?"

I explained about Dane moving the car around the side of the building every few nights, triggering my curiosity but never my suspicion.

"Just talking about escaping and Dane brought it to my mind. What if he's taking the car around the side of the house to leave during the night?" 

It was a wild accusation but what Ashley was proposing I do was equally as crazy. I'd wanted to escape a month previously with all of my being but it had never been a realistic thing. Now that Ashley was on my side, it occurred to me that it could happen. If only we could find a way to make it appear as though Ashley had had nothing to do with it.

"Why would Dane want to leave the house other than to hunt?" Ashley asked. "And why would moving it around the side of the house help him? It doesn't make sense.

I withdrew my hand from his and narrowed my eyes at him, not liking how he was dismissing my idea.

"But it's worth checking out. Definitely." He amended quickly, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

When night had long since fell upon the house, I sneaked past the sleeping forms of my roommates and through the creaky trap door. My heart pounded in a paranoid rhythm as I made my way to Ashley's room. Thoughts of Isaac, lurking in shadowed corners, haunted my mind and I jumped at the slightest interruption of a candle's light. Finally though, I arrived uneventfully at Ashley's room and pushed open his door, feeling very aware that I was in his room in the dead of night. Why was my mind jumping to romance? Why could I not focus properly when Ashley was around.

"Nice clothes," He greeted me with a half smile.

I pulled at the corners of my petticoat and nightdress along with other random pieces of clothing I'd managed to find in the dark.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked, ignoring his comment.

He turned serious then and snatched up a flashlight. I liked it when he was serious; his whole face transformed and became, if possible, even more handsome. But when he smiled, really smiled, Ashley became dazzling.

We left the room and walking down the corridor with Ashley by my side, I felt safe. There was no other way to describe the feeling. Even when we left the relatively safe confines of the house and into the chilled driveway I felt protected. The gravel crunched startlingly loudly under my feet.

"Which way?" Ashley whispered, his breath making clouds in the air in front of him.

I spun the flashlight to my right and shivered. His arm wrapped around my waist and although it did little to stop the cold, I felt instantly warmer.  The ground sloped downwards as we turned the corner and the gravel changed to dusty soil before a seemingly solid wall of trees blocked our path. Dane had overlooked one thing, though. On this terrain the tyre tracks were visible.

Without talking, we both set our feet in the direction of these tracks, etched into the dirt like arrows. The trees where they led to were thin with spiky, sweet smelling needles that I was surprised didn't scratch the car's paintwork when Dane drove in between them. 

"Those needles look like they could hurt," Ashley said, coming to the same conclusion as I had. "Wait here and I'll go first."

"You don't have to do that," I huffed, crossing my arms. "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't handle a few scratches."

"You can go first then if you wish." Ashley smiled, gesturing to the tree.

Truthfully I hadn't expected this reaction; it wasn't at all like Ashley's usual, protective demeanour. I pushed the prickly leaves aside, nonetheless, and barged clumsily through the foliage. The needles prickled my face and tore at my nightdress and I could see why Dane preferred to take this journey by car. Eventually though, with my flesh bearing scratches, I emerged at the other side of the tree barrier.

It was dark but with the aid of the flashlight, I could see that it wasn't some magical world. It was no Narnia. The only thing visible was the dark shape of the house, jutting out into the woodland.

"Where do the tyre tracks lead?" Ashley asked, his sudden voice causing me to start.

I waved the flashlight across the ground and only then did I realise that I was shivering violently from the cold. Ashley's hand grabbed my wrist and steadied the light, casting it upon the tyre tracks that continued this side of the trees. His physical touch gave me more warmth than a jacket could possibly have done. His touch distracted me from what I should have been looking at which was why I didn't immediately realise that Ashley was directing the light at a small shed, attached to the house.  When I did, he was already pulling me gently towards it.  

A square concrete room stood peculiarly by the side of the house with no obvious purpose. It was just large enough to house a car from the weather. The wind, however, still blew around the small space.

"Do you think this is where he's bringing the car?" I asked, looking around the dull alcove.

"This is where the tracks lead. But why would he bring it here?"

I shrugged, peering around me into the darkness. The flashlight followed my gaze but the room was a perfect cube. The floor and walls were all identical. But what about the ceiling?

It wasn't obvious. The only reason it was visible was because it was a more saturated black than the room around it. But a square hole was cut into the roof, similar to a trap door. I pointed upwards and with Ashley training the flashlight on it, the trap door became more pronounced.

" It's a tunnel." Ashley said.

"But where does it lead?" I shivered.

He cast me a look that showed clearly what his intention was.

"We're climbing up there aren't we?" I asked too cold to protest.

Before he replied verbally, I felt Ashley's hands on my waist lifting me with ease up into the air. I gasped but he couldn't hear my breath for it was snatched away by the wind. Propelled into the tunnel, I stretched my hands out, hitting cold mud inside the hole. I shoved myself into the hole and landed ungracefully on dusty rock that made up the floor of the tunnel. A minute later Ashley was beside me, somehow having managed to pull himself up.

The illuminated tunnel was short, stretching a few metres ahead. It obviously hadn't been part of the house's original design because the floors and ceiling were unskilfully dug and threatened to collapse at any time.

Ashley helped me up from the floor and I attempted to dust off the dirt and needles to little avail. His amused eyes gave away the smile that he was trying to hide at the sight of me. I marched away from him to hide my blush and arrived at the end of the tunnel before him. A wooden board was blocking my way. I struck out at it and yelped out in pain at its hard surface.

"We're probably a couple of floors below my bedroom." Ashley predicted.

"That's great. But there's no way we're going to get into the house with this thing blocking our way." I gestured at the board that created a dead end.

Together we hammered at the board but from this side of the tunnel there was no way to break it.

"Which means Dane must be using this tunnel to leave the house, not enter it." I thought aloud.

"But even if he does leave the house and gets into that room, he still can't get into the car. It's a-."

"Fingerprint initiated lock, I know." I finished, surprising him with my knowledge.

We stood there clueless for a few seconds, neither of us having any suggestions. Suddenly though, something jumped into my mind. 

"Vampire's don't like the sunlight, do they?" I asked.

"No," Ashley replied, a puzzled look on his face.

"Then why, Ashley, do your cars have retractable roofs?"

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Sorry about the late update :( My exam went fine though (I think) so the revising instead of writing was kind of worth it. In a couple of chapters it starts to get interesting (Well, I think it does- you might not! :P) so stay tuned! Comment, Fan, Vote.... You know the drill by now! Thanks! x