The Vampire's Maid

Part 29, The Vampire's Maid

I sprang away from Ashley, causing my dress to twist around my body and my hair to fling around my face. Even through the tendrils that obscured my vision, I could see the identity of the figure at the doorway. Terror shot through my body like fire, seeping through my veins like ice.

“Goliath,” I mouthed in horror, far too low for anyone to hear me.

There was a second of disbelieving silence in which Ashley took the opportunity to grab hold of my wrist, pulling me towards him protectively. I followed the tug of his arms without question, knowing that only he could protect me from the tall, sinister vampire in the doorway.

“You...you,” Goliath pointed an accusing finger at me, prowling into the room. “It is true!”

Such fury was in his gaze. His eyes were wide, his head swivelling between the two of us. And then he lunged forward, stretching his skeletal hands out in my direction. I flinched away from him, my eyes and mouth wide open but without sound coming out.

“No,” Ashley yelled, furiously, the only syllable he seemed able to force out.

He was throwing himself between us, shielding me from his homicidal father. I cowered, ashamed that I was being so weak but also unable to do anything else.

There was a crash, the rough sliding of feet along the thick carpet. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the collision between Ashley and his father. I shrunk blindly into the black bedclothes and brought the warm folds of material over my face, shockingly reminding me of my Grandmother’s clothes and how I had hid behind her the last time Goliath had posed a serious threat. But now I was hiding behind Ashley.

“Don’t touch her.”

I opened my eyes to the coldness in Ashley’s voice. The collision had left no mark on either of them; Goliath was standing confused, majestic and threatening whilst Ashley looked far the most human of the pair with his ruffled hair and naked chest. But I could see the vampire in Ashley as well. I could see the anger in his usually generous eyes. I could see the muscle throbbing in his jaw. I could hear his heavy, livid breathing

“Did I not give you a better upbringing than this?” Goliath rounded on Ashley, fury replacing the misty confusion. “Were you not taught to behave better than this, to risk our reputation for some ignorant, human whore?"

“Don’t call her that.” Ashley shook his head, shifting his weight in front of me.

“Why not?” Goliath spat, seeming to grow in height. “She doesn’t mean anything!”

I watched the muscles contract in Ashley’s back, saw his fists tighten into balls. It didn’t seem like they were talking about me. I felt strangely intrusive on their conversation although I was the one it was centred around.            

“Not to you!” Ashley breathed. “But nobody means much to you. I certainly don’t."

“How dare you....How dare you say that! I have provided you with more than you could wish for. When have you ever wished for anything, Ashley?”

“There are plenty of things I wish.” Ashley said in a low voice, completely devoid of emotion.

I clenched the bed sheet tightly in my hand, holding my breath and hoping that Ashley didn’t say anything stupid. 

“I wish that you’d stop trying to make me into you. I wish that you didn’t enjoy murdering humans. I wish that I didn’t have to murder humans. ” Ashley’s voice was gradually gaining anger and hatred.

I exhaled, realising that holding my breath wasn’t going to make Ashley keep calm.

“I wish that you hadn’t murdered my mother.”

There was a silence as this last sentence hung in the air. The curtain flapped a little in the wintry breeze, Ashley’s furious breathing steadied. And Goliath just stood there, stunned.

“You know?” Goliath asked.

“Yes, of course I know that you made Dane kill my mother, your wife. Of course I know the reason.”

“It was her fault.” Goliath shook his head. “All her fault. She was too weak to commit herself to me. To our life.”

Now I definitely felt that I was intruding on a private conversation. I could tell by the way Ashley was holding himself that he was intensely, painfully eager to hear what Goliath was saying.

“I had no choice, she was only a human. She wasn’t an outcast in society, she could have told people about us. Think of the shame it would have brought upon our family.”

“So you were willing to put aside love for your reputation?” Ashley asked, the disgust in his voice mirroring my own.

“Love? How can you love someone when you’re not equals?”

Equals; she was a human, he was a vampire. But it was possible to love someone not your equal. I knew that. But the way Goliath was speaking made it sound like it was wrong for me to love Ashley. I shouldn’t have let myself fall for him because when could we ever be together freely? 

“That’s true. You weren’t equals. She was far, far better than you.” Ashley whispered.   

Goliath swelled with fury, looking torn between attacking Ashley and lunging for me, the girl who sheltered behind his son. His pale eyes narrowed. There was absolute stillness in Ashley’s room, the sun still flickered on the floor.

“I’m removing your car benefits, Ashley. Dane will sort out this mess tomorrow.”

With those anticlimactic words he left, slamming the door with an echo behind him, leaving me to wonder whether the threat of Dane was greater than the threat of losing Ashley.

As he left, the warmth seemed to re-enter the room allowing everything to seem friendlier. I relaxed my grip on the black sheet and, shaking, stood up to smooth the covers of the bed. But Ashley was oddly silent, still facing away from me. I watched the curve of his shoulder blade rising and falling and his bicep contracting then relaxing. Was he too thinking about Goliath’s comment about not being able to love someone if you weren’t equals? Because we were unarguably not equal. You only had to look at the uniform I was wearing to determine that fact.

I opened my mouth to speak but before I could even think out my sentence, let alone speak it, I spotted a familiar figure outside the window, leaning over both of the black cars. Joe ran his oily hand through his hair before setting to work once again, fiddling with complicated pieces of equipment and the car door.

“What’s he doing?” I wondered aloud.

“Changing the fingerprint lock I expect, so that I can’t drive the car.”

Ashley was so close to me that I started, shock shooting through my body.  I turned to face him, marvelling at the green of his eyes.

“Oh God,” Ashley sighed, his fist pressed against his mouth. “You’re in more danger than before. And my father’s stopped me from driving. How are we ever going to get away from here?”

I shook my head, as clueless as he was as he enveloped me in his embrace.

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Not my best, sorry guys :( There was just no natural end to this chapter!! I'm rounding up part 1 because Elizabeth's POV is getting 'so so'. Keep tuned :D Votes appreciated :L x