History of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Castle Series Book 4) (27 page)

Chapter 36

Jessie

I felt like a foolish Romeo, standing underneath Colette’s window, but there was no place else in the world I wanted to be. I’d always had my suspicions about Romeo. He was, after all, already infatuated with a girl named Rosaline before sneaking into the ball and first seeing Juliet. Who was to say that, if their families hadn’t been sworn enemies and he’d actually been allowed to woo Juliet, that he wouldn’t have grown bored of her in a couple of months and fallen in love with yet another girl?

But I didn’t feel that way about Miss Gibson. I knew I was about the same age as Romeo was in the play, but my love for Colette felt timeless. I knew I could never tire of her, not even in a hundred years.

I sighed, feeling the irony of it. I would live to see a hundred years. And probably a hundred more after that, if I didn’t grow despondent under the weight of my own immortality and find some way to end it. Death by an angry mob was a popular way for the undead to give up on living. Of course I would probably have to travel to Romania to accomplish such a grisly task with any ease. The Romanians were always ready to put some world weary vampire to the stake.

But then I caught a glimpse of Colette in the window of her house and it felt like my dead heart was beating in my chest. Just the sight of her filled me with life. I had to fight the urge to fly up the side of the house and speak to her through the glass.

A few moments later and she was there by my side, her volumes of hair cascading around her shoulders. I had been yearning for her so much that my feelings were almost tangible. And there she was, right in front of me. It was exquisite torture not to sweep her up in my arms.

I had meant to apologize for my behavior in the library. It had been ungentlemanly and I very much wanted Colette Gibson to think well of me. I meant to simply apologize, but somehow we ended up kissing again. It was our first kiss, our first real kiss, and there was a dream-like quality to it. The apple tree shading us from the light of the moon was in full leaf and the small animals and insects that came out in warm weather started to sing.

It was then that I knew I couldn’t give Colette up. Not ever. Her soul fit with mine like two locking puzzle pieces that, once united, could never be pulled apart. But I also wanted to protect her from the curse that was my family. I needed to tell her exactly who I was, and what I was, so that she would understand the gravity of her decision to be with me.

But when I tried to confess to the abomination that was my family, Colette silenced me. She didn’t want to cloud the skies of our new love with talk of anyone or anything but us. And I was too in love to insist. I should have stood strong and explained the evil that Grandfather had inflicted upon us, but instead we kissed again and everything in the world felt perfect.

As we pulled apart in order for her to breathe, we both caught a glimpse of a shooting star streaking across the sky. “Do people wish on shooting stars here in America?” I asked, unwilling to turn my head to take in the full astronomical display. I preferred gazing into her green eyes.

“Yes,” she said with a small nod, not looking away either. “But I feel like all of my wishes have already come true.”

Chapter 37

Colette

“I have a bit of good news to share,” Papa said, beaming at all of us as we sat around the dinner table the following evening.

“What is it?” Mama asked, taking off her oven mitts after setting down the pot roast.

“Well, the W.P.A. has decided that Tiburon needs a proper town hall. And guess who they’ve hired to run the construction?”

“Oh!” Mama exclaimed, gasping. “That’s wonderful.” She hurried around the table to wrap her arms around Papa.

I was thrilled. All of us were. But it was also a little confusing. “Shouldn’t they focus on rebuilding the school first?” I asked.

Papa shook his head, even though he was still smiling. “I know. It doesn’t make much sense. Does it? But I guess the government already had the plans in place for the town hall before the school burnt down.”

“But when are they rebuilding the school?” Lilly wanted to know.

“It’s in the process of getting funded,” Papa told her. “And hopefully I get that project, too. But for now we should just be grateful that I’m steadily employed again.” He looked at Lilly and me. “There should be enough money for awhile,” he said. “If you girls want to leave your positions at the castle; it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“No,” I exclaimed, the word bursting out of my mouth. I didn’t care if we had all the money in the world; I couldn’t stop working at the castle. I couldn’t forgo the chance of seeing Jessie every day, even if the chance was always slim. Surprised by my exuberance, everyone turned to look at me. “I mean, it would be silly to give up such good paying jobs,” I explained. “We should save the money in case things get lean again.”

Papa reached over and petted my head. “That’s my bright girl.”

The next several weeks drifted past in a pink haze of happiness. In the mornings I would ride out to an obliging field and gather an armload of wildflowers for Arthur. Then Lilly would catch up to me and we would head to the castle together to start our day of dusting and polishing.

If it was a lucky day, then Jessie would find some way to see me. Lilly would be called away to help Millie and I’d be left on my own. Or Emily would come to ask for my help with some small task. Once the girl had led me to some secluded room, she would disappear, leaving her brother in her place. Our meetings in the castle were brief. There was only time for a few stolen kisses. But I knew that Jessie would come to see me at night, after my family had fallen asleep. That was when we had our real time together.

Each night when we met, Jessie would try to tell me of the horrible curse that plagued his family. And each night I would stop him with a kiss. I didn’t want to tarnish the love I felt for him. His family could have been a pack of snarling wolves and I wouldn’t have cared. Jessie was beautiful and wonderful and kind. I didn’t believe in guilt by association and I knew I would love Jessie Vanderlind, no matter the dark secret his family was hiding.

“Why don’t you speak with an accent?” I asked him one evening as we took a turn around the yard.

“Don’t I speak with an American accent?” he said with some surprise.

“You know what I mean,” I said, nudging his arm. “You’re from Hungary. Aren’t you? But you sound like you were born right here, in Tiburon.”

“My grandfather didn’t believe in accents,” he said.

I couldn’t let him get away with telling me so little. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that my grandfather was very strict. He felt that if you were going to learn a language, then you should be able to speak it flawlessly.”

“How many languages do you speak?” I wanted to know.

He gave a shrug of modesty. “Only three or four.”

“Three or four?” I couldn’t help but exclaim. “You speak English and Hungarian. What other languages do you speak?”

“French,” he told me. “And some German, but I could hardly pass for a native.”

“Say something in Hungarian,” I requested.

He gave me a puzzled look. “Why?”

“Because this all sounds too preposterous and I’m not half sure that I should believe you.”

He turned to look deeply into my eyes. “Szeretlek,” he said in a whisper.

I didn’t understand him, but I had my suspicions because of the way he looked at me. “Okay, now say the same thing in French,” I told him.

“Je t’aime,” was his reply, a small smile flitting across his lips.

I kept going. “And German?”

“Ich liebe dich,” he said, gazing steadily into my eyes.

“And what does it mean in English?” I had to ask.

Jessie pulled me into his arms. “I think you already know,” he said in a husky voice. And then he kissed me, his lips telling me how he felt without any words.

My sister hadn’t spoken of Jessie since she stumbled upon our kiss, and I kept all thoughts of him to myself. Normally we shared all our foolish secrets, like sisters who are close tend to do. But when it came to Jessie, things felt different. First of all, I knew Lilly didn’t approve. After all, the maid falling in love with the tortured heir to the castle falling did sound like something out of a gothic novel. Even I had to admit that. But I didn’t care. I knew what I felt for Jessie was real. And I knew deep in my heart that he felt the same way about me.

One morning I woke up and I was seventeen. I found it singular that I didn’t look any different when I washed my face in the morning and peered into the bathroom mirror. But things were different. They were very different. Because I knew that just down the Tiburon River, a few miles away, was a Justice of the Peace who would perform wedding ceremonies without parental consent, as long as both parties were older than seventeen. I had reached an age where I could say, “I do,” to Jessie, if he ever proposed.

My whole family greeted me when I came down the stairs. “Happy Birthday,” Mama said, squeezing me tightly. Then she pulled Lilly into the hug. “My two, seventeen-year-old girls.”

“Not for long,” Lilly joked. For almost two months out of the year, my sister and I were the same age. My family referred to it as our twin months and we’d always loved this special time when we little girls.

“Well, then I’ll have to enjoy it while I can,” our mother said, hugging us both again.

“I’m tired of your silly nonsense with these flowers,” Mrs. Denkler snapped at me as I filled a vase with the wildflower bouquet I’d gathered on the way to work.

“Oh,” I said, not quite sure why she was annoyed. “You mean you don’t think they cheer Arthur up? I’m sure he must get depressed, never being able to leave his room.”

Mrs. Denkler was about to say something, but then stopped herself. She left out the sharp sigh of someone who feels they have extended a great deal of patience and their efforts have gone unappreciated. “Just take the flowers up yourself today and set them outside Arthur’s door,” she instructed me. “It’s the one with the bird carving over it. The nurse will take them in. Just make sure you mind your own business and leave that poor boy alone. If I find out that you’ve so much as stuck your nose in the door, you will be dismissed on the spot.”

I did as I was told, trotting up the grand staircase that led to the second floor. I hadn’t been allowed up the stairs and only knew that part of the castle from what could be gleaned from down below. The hallways were massive. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it were possible to drive a car down some of them. There was an ornately carved piece of wood over each door. I took several moments to stare at the carving of a wolf’s head suspended above a door. Its eyes seemed to follow me.

I found the door for Arthur’s room easily enough. There was a carving of a peacock with its tail feathers spread into a fan. The bird was beautiful, but also somehow menacing. That paired up well with my memory of how a peacock looked from our family trip to the Cleveland Zoo.

I stood outside the closed door for a moment, the vase of flowers still clutched in my hands, cocking my head to one side to listen. I felt so very bad for Arthur. None of the family got out much, as far as I could tell. Emily seemed perfectly healthy. And Jessie left the castle more than the others, but that seemed to be only after the sun went down. What was the illness that kept them all so isolated and cooped up in their home? I’d tried to do researched at the library, but came up with next to nothing. The only thing I could discover was that albinos had some sensitivity to light. Most of the Vanderlinds had very pale skin, but their hair wasn’t the white of an albino and they all had very gray eyes.

As I set the vase down outside the closed door, I had to wonder about Arthur’s malady. If Jessie and I had a child, would he or she suffer the same fate? That wouldn’t prevent me from accepting a proposal from Jessie, but it would make me consider adoption instead of bearing my own children. I did rather desperately want to have Jessie’s child, but I also knew that there were many parentless children out in the world who deserved a loving home.

I had an anxious day. I kept expecting to see Jessie at every turn, but he never appeared. I didn’t even see Emily, which came as a surprise. She was a lonely little girl and frequently sought Lilly and my company. She was so lucky to have escaped her family’s curse, whatever it was, but it seemed to have isolated her in an unexpected way.