SNAP: The World Unfolds

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I opened my eyes. The room was still dark but I hadn’t dreamt the horrible noises and numbing fear again. I groped around for the light switch and checked my watch.  The vampires may not need to know the time, but I was too ingrained in the present.  It was just after 2 in the afternoon.

Not sure about the protocol for asking for coffee, I opened the door.  The demon from last night was still on guard.  He nodded at me, took out a communicator and said something in what I was beginning to recognize as Hungarian.  He turned to me.  “Lisbet will bring coffee and rolls.  I am off duty now,” and left.

The Wonderland Express!  I was getting used to some of the oddness, but the startling speed of the demons was disconcerting.  I closed the door and went to the window, covered with blackout drapes.  I pulled up an edge and bright sun flooded into the room, so I tugged them back to look at the view.  It was the edge of the back gardens and a slice of the forest, not nearly as threatening as the night of the attack.

Lisbet knocked softly and came in with a tray of strong-smelling coffee and a couple of warm rolls with butter and jam.  “Just to get you awake,” she smiled.  “We can fix you whatever you want when you come down.”

“Thank you.  It looks like a nice day,” I gestured to the window.  She had a strange cast to her eyes.  “Did I upset something?  I just pulled the drapes back a little.”

“No, no,” she shook her head.  “It’s just that most of our guests are...” she caught herself and changed it to “don’t want to see the sun.  Do you need any help with bathing or dressing?”

“No.  I’m going to take a quick shower and maybe put on some casual clothes.  I thought I might go down to see where the fishing spots are along the river.”

She smiled and her face lost its wary look.  “It’s a very pretty river.  Cold.  That’s what makes the fishes so strong.”  Her slight accent and use of an odd plural delighted me. 

It took less than fifteen minutes to shower, throw on a pair of jean and a sweater—packed because I’m just too much of a Left Coast girl at heart—and head downstairs.  One of the maids was in the hall, asked if I wanted any food and left to tell the cook about my request for scrambled eggs and bacon.  I stuck my head out the French doors in the dining room while waiting for breakfast—at 3 in the afternoon—to check the temperature and spotted the demon from last night who waved.  Did they ever sleep?  Or eat?  I’d never seen one who wasn’t tidy and groomed in his black suit.   I finished eating and went to look for Sandor. 

He was in a small room off the foyer.   It was filled with gun racks and cabinets that held, what? ammunition? knives? rocket launchers, for all I knew.  The demon was cleaning a gun and had a magazine of very shiny bullets on the table, ready to load.  He looked up as I came in and his relaxed expression hardened.  Did he not like me?  I wasn’t sure that demons had any emotions.

“Am I interrupting anything?”

“Not at all,” he said, but his forced smile didn’t reach his eyes.  “Did you need something?”

“I thought I might go down to the river.  You said yesterday that some of the regulars go fishing during their visits here.  Am I allowed to do that?”

Sandor choked back a grunt.  Was he angry?  Did he find me funny?  “You don’t have to ask me for permission for anything,” and I realized that strange sound was the edge of a chuckle.  Maybe demons did have a sense of humor.  “We’re here to do whatever we’re asked or told to do.”

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