HUNTERS OF THE NIGHT
Chapter 5 – Revealing Identities
Gabrielle woke with a start and looked around. She wasn’t in a familiar place. The king-sized bed she was laying in was covered in satin sheets. The room had a fire place but no windows. The walls were stone and nothing hung on them; not even so much as a mirror. Although it seemed like a dark place she somehow felt at home. Then she recalled the events of last night and gave a start. Her wound in her arm! The monster! Her fingers ran up her right to her shoulder were the wound was. It was finely dressed as if a professional had done it. Where the monster was, she had no clue.
Looking around the room again she suddenly felt the urge to explore. When she went to climb out of the bed she gasped. She was totally naked, except for her cross of course. Gazing around the room for her clothes she spotted a wardrobe. After wrapping a sheet around her body walked to the wardrobe and looked inside. She caught her breath. Inside were beautiful gowns of all sorts. They had matching slippers underneath them, but she didn’t want to wear these. They were too nice for her. Whoever owns these has really good taste. In the drawers on the bottom of the wardrobe were simple, everyday dresses. She struggled to get the clothes on because of her wound. Although she tried several times, she always was defeated.
“Would you like some help?”
Gabrielle turned around swiftly, trying to cover herself the best she could with the newly found clothes. A short woman-like figure stood in her doorway. Gentle gray eyes were set under thin curved eyebrows. Thin lips were set in a humorous smile. Though the woman seemed old, the working dress that she wore revealed strong arms.
“Would you like some help?” she asked him again.
“Yes please.”
The small woman came toward her and reached for the dress. Gabrielle kneeled so the woman could put the shift over her head. The arms were not as easy but they managed.
“Now we just need to do your hair.” said the woman.
“Um, thanks, I guess. Who are you?”
“I’m Rosalyn Rockford; wife to Herpen Rockford and a servant here.”
“Pleasure to meet you Rosalyn. May I call you Rosalyn?”
“Of course. Everyone around here does. May I ask your name?”
“Gabrielle. Who’s everyone and where am I?”
“The master, the cooks, other servents, and guests. As for where you are, I’ll leave that for the master to tell you.”
“And, um, who is the master?”
“Ah, so many questions. You’ll find out soon enough. He wants to talk with you after we get you presentable.”
“O.K.” Gabrielle said hesitantly.
Rosalyn gestured for Gabrielle to sit in a chair. Then she to the wardrobe and looked in another drawer. She pulled out a hairbrush and pins.
“That was a nasty bullet wound you have.” she said, “If my husband hadn’t dressed it immediately then you’d be dead by now.”
“I was wondering who did that. Could you please tell him for me that he did a very good job?”
“Yes,” said Rosalyn, beaming with pride.
“But who undressed me?” Gabrielle asked in a weary voice.
The old woman chuckled. “I did.” Gabrielle sighed with relief. “Now, no more questions until you meet the master.”
“I can’t even know his name?”
“Nope.”
For the next thirty minutes Rosalyn did up Gabrielle’s hair into a fancy pontail. Then she escorted her down a few halls. Gabrielle couldn’t keep up with all the turns that they had walked past. All the walls looked the same to her. Even her uncle’s mansion wasn’t this confusing. They finally came to an end of a hall that had finely carved double doors. Rosalyn knocked on one of them.
“Come in,” came a male voice.
“This is wear I leave you,” said the woman, “The master is in his study. Don’t be afraid; he’s a very hind gentleman.” Then she left, leaving Gabrielle to herself. Facing the door, she took a deep breath. She put her hands on it, preparing to open it. The door felt oddly cold. A nervous feeling came over her. With another breath she opened the door.
He was sitting on the windowsill looking out into the night when he heard the door open. He looked around to see who it was, although he really didn’t need to since he heard a heartbeat. Breath escaped his lips as the sight he saw. Gabrielle stood in his study doorway. She was beautiful. The clothes she wore, even though they were simple, revealed a stunning figure and her hair was most magnificent. Rosalyn really outdid herself this time. Shock came over her when she saw him and she tried to back up, only to find the door at her back. He chuckled; he was in his bat form. He gracefully jumped down from the sill and turned into his human shape. More shock came over her as she witnessed his transformation.
“Darien?” she whispered.
“Aye lass.”
“You’re…you’re a vampire?”
“Aye.”
“You saved me?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What’s not to understand? You were in danger; I rescued you and now you are here.”
“What about the man and where am I?”
“The man, I’m afraid, died out of shock and you are in my castle.”
Gabrielle raised her eyebrow at him. Did the man die out of shock? Or was she being lied to by a vampire?
“I swear that was what happened.” said Darien, seeing the disbelief in her face.
“Where is he now?”
Darien sighed. “When someone is dead, there is no way to bring them back. There is nothing you can do about it.” he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “So I let my instincts take over.” Gabrielle’s eyes went wide at hearing this. “I am sorry about what happened to him, but I also am a vampire and I can’t change that. I can promise you that I have never harmed an innocent.”
“What’s an innocent?”
“Someone who is not engulfed in evil.”
“How can you tell if they are or aren’t evil?” Gabrielle asked as she put her hand to her throat.
Darien chuckled. “You haven’t been bitten because one, you are an innocent, and two, you are different.” He motioned for her to sit in a chair by his desk. She stayed where she was.
“You didn’t answer my question, and how am I different?”
“We will get to that if you will sit down. How is your wound by the way?”
She hesitantly came to the chair, watching him all the while. “The only time I notice it is when I’m getting dressed.”
“Good.”
She looked at him. His looks distracted her. He was dressed for comfort. His shirt had a V-opening at the neck, revealing bare chest and muscle. His lips and eyes captivated her. Suddenly she imagined those beautiful lips on hers, whispering gentle love words. She blinked to clear the images. He’s a vampire for heaven’s sake!
Darien walked over to his chair behind the desk. When he sat he looked at her with intent eyes. “Gabrielle, do you know who your parents are?”
“No. They died when I was a baby.”
He shook his head. “Do you know what your cross means?”
Gabrielle reached for her cross and pulled it out of hiding. She absent-mindedly ran her fingers over it. “How do you know about it?”
“When I was bringing you here, flying, it happened to be out. Naturally I looked at it.”
“Oh,” she said in a small voice. She wished she’d been awake when he was flying, even if he was a vampire.
“Do you know what it means?”
“No.”
He settled back in his chair with a sigh and closed his eyes. “It means you are a Hunter.”
“A Hunter?”
“Someone who hunt’s down bad people and things and puts a stop to the stuff they do.”
“That seems fun,” she said sarcastically, thinking about her uncle.
“The only thing is,” he paused, “is that it is a society of vampires.”
“Hold on a sec. I thought vampires were evil. You know, the children of the devil.”
He pulled something out of his shirt. It was a cross that looked exactly like hers. “If I was the son of the devil I wouldn’t be able to wear this.”
“So you are a Hunter too.”
“Yes.”
“I take it that Kathleen is not so friendly.” said Gabrielle.
“Correct. She is a daughter of the devil, so to speak. He master is one of the evilest vampires alive, or should I say dead.” Gabrielle cocked an eyebrow. “But we will get to him some other time. We Hunters made an agreement with God that we would never bite or abuse an innocent, someone who is good.”
“If I’m not a vampire, then why do I have a cross?”
“That’s what I want to know. There has only been one human to have been a Hunter.”
“I see. What makes me so different?”
“Because the only way he knew about the society was that one of the female vampires kidnapped him.”
Curiosity and confusion were written all over Gabrielle’s face. “What happened?”
“They got married.”
“What?!” She sprang from her chair. “Is that even possible? Did she force him or something?”
Astonishment came into his eyes. “Agatha forcing John to wed her? No way. They loved each other very much. She kidnapped him because he was badly hurt and brought him here to nurse him back to health.”
“And how do I know this is not a lie?”
Darien went over to a shelf and pulled out a heavy looking book. Once he found the page he was looking for, he laid the book down in front of her.
“This lists everyone who is in the Hunter society and their children. I came from a lone line of VonDrakes,” he said as he pointed to his family tree, “We go back to the very beginning of the society.” Before Gabrielle could finish reading his family tree, he flipped the page. “Your family is new,” he said, pointing to a very short tree. “It started with your grandparents,” he pointed to two circles with names under them, “then to your mother,” he pointed to a circle beneath the first two,” who married your father.” His circle was connected to the side of Agitha’s. “Finally, there is you.” he said pointing to the last circle. Beneath Agitha and John Stanley’s circles was the last circle with her name.
Gabrielle looked at him with pleading eyes. “I’m their child?” she said in an odd voice.
“I thought it was just a coincidence that you name matched the lost child’s when we met on the road, but when I saw your cross…You look just like your mother.”
“You knew her?”
“Yep. I’ve lived awhile.” He looked sad.
“You don’t look very old.”
Darien chuckled. “That’s because vampire age slowly.”
“Did you love her?”
“No. We were acquaintances.” He sighed.
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Tell me.”
He sighed again. “I would guess you know the feeling of loneliness.”
“Aye.” Her feeling went out to him, but she kept them in check and nodded. She didn’t know if she should trust him yet.
“When you live for three hundred years it gets lonely.”
Gabrielle’s eyes raised high at this. He definitely did not look that old! Maybe twenty-five at the max. “Aren’t there other females in the society?”
“Yes.”
“What’s wrong with them?”
“Just not my type.”
Gabrielle was surprised how the conversation jumped from her to his love life. What on earth was she doing talking about his love life?
“Anyway,” he said, “the point is that your parents wanted you to become a Hunter for some reason. If you let me, I will teach you the tings you need to know.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, maneuvering in the dark, keeping your heart rate down, defense, weaponry, and such.”
Hmmmm. She would love to learn all that stuff, but her mother being a vampire was shocking. Gabrielle sat there starring at her family tree.
“Are you O.K.?” Darien asked, concern in his voice.
Gabrielle straightened in her chair. “I’m fine.” She needed proof of what he was saying. If it was true then she would gladly be apart of the society and give her uncle a lesson or two, but if it wasn’t, she was in a bad position. “Can you prove this all to me?”
Darien sighed. “I guess it’s only natural that you don’t trust me.” He leaned forward onto his desk, his elbows on the desk and fingers interlacing so he could prop his head up. “Midwinter Fest is coming in a couple of months and I am host this year. You can meet all the society members then if you stay here.”
Spend a night in a room full of vampires? This just gets better and better. What if they bite me?
They won’t bite you, unless you are very corrupt in you ways.” Darien said.
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
“Good guess. Your face went dead white when I said that.”
“Can you give me time to think about this, please?”
“Yes but don’t take forever.” With that he stood from his chair and walked toward her. He extended his hand to her. She laid her hand in his and he helped her to her feet. Then he opened the study door. “If you want to explore the castle, I advise you to do it with Rosalyn or Herpen. It can be…confusing. Food will be served to you if you go to the dinning hall. It’s down this hall, down the stairs and to the left.”
“Thank you,” she replied, not realizing how hungry she was until he mentioned food. She started to walk out but turned to him with a question. “When you say food, do you mean yours or mine?”
He laughed. “Both.”
“Oh.” Gabrielle turned and walked in the direction he told her.
When Gabrielle reached her destination, she saw a long table in the middle of a large room. There were several plates of food on one end.”
“Good day miss. Help yourself to food and drink.”
Gabrielle looked to her right to see a short man cleaning silver from a large glass case. “Are you Herpen?”
He bowed to her. “At your service miss.”
“It’s nice to meet you, and please, call me Gabrielle.”
“Yes ma’am, same to you.” He bowed again before going back to cleaning.
“Thank you for dressing my shoulder.”
The servant nodded his head without taking his eyes off of his work.
Gabrielle walked to a chair and sat down. The plates in front of her looked so delicious. This is very nice.
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