Luc's angry footsteps drifted away, and Henrietta and I were left to continue our exploration of the apartment. There were only two more rooms to view and they were the bedroom and the bathroom. Henrietta was over excited to show me, and grabbed my arm, practically dragging me to a corner of the reception room, where a small door concealed a tiny staircase. I followed her up the stairs, feeling less than enthusiastic about what had just passed between Luc and I. In hindsight I wish I'd made him wait outside for me while I took a bath. I desperately wanted to see him so I could put things right between us, and I was so pissed off that I had to turn down the opportunity.
"Are you still thinking about Luc," Henrietta asked as we climbed the stairs.
"Yeah, I can't get him out of my head and it's driving me insane," I replied.
"Well, I'll send for him the moment we've cleaned you up," she said cheerfully, "I promise you'll get to see him by the end of the night - in fact I will personally go and fetch him."
I smiled gratefully at her, feeling so incredibly blessed to be given such a friend.
We continued up the stairs and came to a small room with a good sized double bed in it, and a small fireplace that was lit and gently warming the room up. The room itself was a pale lavender shade, and the bed, much like sofa downstairs, was covered in large purple pillows and cushions and beautiful throws. I groaned at the beautiful sight and ran over to the bed. Then with the grace of a clumsy elephant, I ungraciously flopped down into onto the inviting cushions and pillows.
"That's probably not a good idea," Henrietta chided, "you should wash up first, before jumping all over the bed covers."
"But it's so warm and fluffy," I whined.
"Come on, have a shower and I'll fetch you some nice clothes to wear," she said, "the bathroom is through that door on the left."
Grumbling, I got to my feet and walked across the room into the bathroom. Closing the door I heard Henrietta whizzing around the room, opening and closing drawers as she choose for me what I was going to wear. I stepped into the shower and began vigorously scrubbing myself, to rid my skin of the blood and matter that coated my skin. I also washed my hair, taking care to shampoo it twice, just make sure that every last drop of blood was completely cleansed from my body.
After I'd finished I exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my body. Henrietta was waiting with an arm full of clothes which she proceeded to carefully lay out on the bed for me to look at.
"I hope these will do," she said, "I wish I'd been able to take you shopping so you could choose for yourself. I've tried to go for very neutral pieces, I didn't really know what you liked so I thought it was best to stick to plain and simple."
She'd chosen a neatly tailored dark blue dress with a plain grey cardigan for me. The look was clean and upmarket, with both garments displaying labels from two very well known and very expensive fashion houses. Nervously I touched the material and said, "Do you have anything a little cheaper? I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing something that probably cost more than my college fees."
She shook her head and replied, "Your entire wardrobe only consists of the best designers. You'll find no sweat pants or cheap denim jeans in your closet. You must remember, that you're a princess, and princesses do not dress like paupers."
"But I'm not a show pony," I retorted.
"Mia, I've told you a million times. What we want, doesn't matter. The sooner you come terms with that simple truth of life, the easier your life will be. Now stop giving me the evil eye and put on your clothes while I go and find Luc," she said impatiently.
Her words grated against me, but I didn't see the point in arguing. I couldn't afford to lose a friend like Henrietta, especially now that she was helping me dispose of a body. I watched her walk out the room and leave me to put my clothes on. Reluctantly, I slipped into the dress and cardigan, feeling odd as I did so. There was something about wearing expensive clothes that made me feel uneasy. I knew I'd never be able to relax in this dress, because I'd be constantly paranoid that I'd accidentally damage the garment in some stupid way. I'd probably fall over, or spill drink down myself, or lean against wet paint. My mind swirled with all kinds of absurd possibilities and I began to feel sick with worry.
"I need to stop thinking about this," I told myself firmly.
I needed to distract myself...
I left my bedroom and headed back down the stairs into the reception room. Walking across the room, I entered the small chilly reading room with the intention of finding a good book to read to help pass the time until Henrietta returned with Luc. Tiptoeing barefoot across the cold parquet floor to the bookcase, I began browsing the ancient and worn spines of the books that were stacked neatly along the shelves. I ran my finger along each title until I found something that caught my eye, then picking it out, I began reading the first page.
All was going well up to the fourth paragraph, when I felt something tickle the inside of my arm. I paused mid-sentence and turned my head to look down at my arm. The tickling continued and I was horrified to see a large brown spider crawling down my arm. I dropped my book and froze. The spider stopped too and for a moment just sat on my arm staring up at me with its ugly soulless bug eyes.
It was probably laughing at me and how pathetic I was. Vampires were supposed to be bad ass, and here I was standing stock still in the middle of the room, pissing myself, thanks to some tiny arachnid. "I fucking hate spiders," I grumbled under my breath.
The spider wriggled in response and I died again. With a high pitch squeal, I gave my arm a violent shake and watched the spider drop from my arm onto the floor. The spider bounced a few times and panicked, then began scuttling towards the bookcase, searching for a place to hide. I grabbed a book off the shelf and muttered loudly, "Oh no you don't." And lunged after it.
I miscalculated my footwork, and ended up skidding across the cold floor and landing next to the bookcase on my hands and knees. I began swearing at the little spider as it merrily continued its escape, but then I soon stopped when I noticed something strange. Holding still, I look dead ahead of me, at the wall.
Cold air rushed around me, coming from a tiny, almost indistinguishable crack that ran upwards between the wall and bookcase.
Shit, I could feel cold air gently blowing against my face. My eyes drifted back to the spider, and to my surprise the spider didn't bother to scuttle behind the bookcase, but instead squeezed through the gap between the bookcase and the wall. I got up from the floor and rushed over to the bookcase. Studying it, I pushed firmly against its side and felt a wave of excitement overcame me as the bookcase finally buckle and with a creak slid forward, revealing a hidden room.