Elizabeth and the Vampire's Cabin (7 page)

"Are
you like Aaron? Do you turn into a bat?"

"No,
I turn into a chimp."

"What
was that like!?"

"Uncomfortable."

"How
did it happen?"

"He
took me to your house in the middle of the night. Then he told me to go up to
your window. I looked up and said, '"No way."' I had no clue how I
was going to get up there. You have trees in your backyard, but I’m not a
climber and I didn't want to break my neck. I think he read my mind, because he
told me he would break my neck if I refused to go up there. So I grabbed hold
of the tree, and I turned into a chimp. I panicked and let go. He then
explained that this was normal. Every vampire and half vampire has an animal
side. We turn into that animal when we need or want to. Apparently, my animal
is a chimp, and seeing as I needed to scale a tree that is what I became. He
neglected to mention this part when he was force feeding me blood. Of course,
he also neglected to mention that I would be turned into a half
vampire..."

"So
it was you at my bedroom the night before I left!"

"Not
just me. He turned into a bat and flew up a moment after. You made it easy for
us. You have those giant bow windows protruding from your room and a sizable
ledge just underneath them. And you didn't close them. It was like the fates
were with us."

"Yeah,"
Elizabeth sighed. "I almost never close the windows during the summer. My
room collects a lot of heat during the day. I like to let the cold air in at
night. I don't shut the curtains either, because I like to wake up with the sun
shining in on me. It must have been quite a leap from the tree and through the
window. It’s not that close."

"It
was easy in chimp form. Even in half vampire form, climbing the tree and
breaking in should have been easy, because my body is like a super hero's now.
Aaron tells me it's psychological (me being afraid of falling from the tree)
and I’ll get a lot more powerful once I adapt to the way my body works
now."

"So
what was the point of invading my room?"

"When
Aaron flew in, he turned back into a person and whispered, '"I want her
knives. Go in there and get them for me. Otherwise, you're dead."' I
remembered you saying your throwing knives would be left on the nightstand, so
I scurried in there, still in chimp form, and went to the nightstand. I went
back to the balcony and handed him the knives. He filed down the blades with
his fangs. It didn't take much more than a minute of vigorous rubbing on each
blade to dull them. Then he put them back on the nightstand and knelt by your
bed. Whatever he did, he woke you up. Then he went running so fast that no
human eye could see him. I could see him with half vampire eyes but just
barely. He grabbed me and threw me into the tree. Then he turned into a bat and
flew in there with me. We watched you go to the window and then leave. He then
turned into a human and told me to climb down. I climbed back down and
spontaneously turned back into a human. He flew down as a bat, became human
once he hit the ground, and then we took off back to his place."

"My
God Arthur. He bit me. I still have the bite marks!"

She
showed him the two large bite marks on her right wrist. He looked sorrowful.

"Will
I become a vampire?"

"No,"
he said firmly. "You would have to ingest his blood, a lot of it, in order
for that to happen."

"Is
that why you gave me that beautiful cross? You hoped it would protect me from
him?" she asked.

"Yes.
I tried to use it when he first attacked me, but he said it only works if you
believe in it.
 
I have no idea if that's
true, but I've never been superstitious."

Elizabeth
sighed and replied, "Me neither." After a long pause, she asked,
"What happens next?"

"Lunch,"
Arthur replied. "Aaron has made it very clear that I have a job here. That
job is taking care of you and waiting on you hand and foot. I already made
something for you.'

Arthur
asked Elizabeth to take a seat. Elizabeth did as he asked, and Arthur departed for
the kitchen. In about ten minutes, he came back with food. Arthur had worked at
this. He had prepared a quiche, made a side salad, and had rice pilaf fresh off
the stove. She was not expecting the way he served her. He set the table
himself. He even folded a cloth napkin into a stylish design. And then he
served the food that he had prepared. He gave her a generous slice of quiche,
scooped some rice, and gave her a small bowl of the salad. Ranch dressing was
already added to the salad.
 
She wondered
how he could even know she liked Ranch dressing. But then she remembered the
food she had packed for the movers to haul to the island for her. She had
several packets of rice pilaf, packages of salad mix, and ranch dressing. When
she thought of the quiche, she remembered packing the carton of eggs, cheese,
spinach, and probably all of the other ingredients that would be necessary to
make a quiche. She had a creepy feeling suddenly activating the nerve endings
in her body and she could feel a tingling run through her. She had a horrible
feeling that she was being served all of the food that Mark Taylor had promised
would be stored at her cabin prior to her arrival. She ate her lunch, but it
had very little taste. She knew that this had nothing to do with Arthur's
cooking.

"He's
been eyeing you for a while. He knew all about your planned trip. Somehow, he
convinced your wilderness guide and your captain to let him kidnap you. I'm
sure there was a hefty sum involved," Arthur said.

Everyone
was in on it. That was the only way to pull this off. Elizabeth didn't know all
the details, but this vampire had obviously covered all his bases. No one would
even think to come looking for her for another three months. She shuddered to
think what would become of her in three more months...or if she would even be
alive at the end of this day. But if the vampire had spent this much time and
effort on bringing her to the island, then he wasn't likely to kill her so
quickly. The thought did not bring her as much comfort as she hoped, and she
began to feel ill. She felt like there was a wolf at her table with her,
watching her eat, his hunger building, about to pounce and devour her. That
wolf was Aaron. Though he was not in the room with her, his presence still
lingered in the cabin from the night before. He might as well have been dining
right beside her.

When
she finished her meal, she left the table and went to the front door. She
opened it and saw the motorboat leaned up on the front porch...much to her
surprise. She almost broke into a run. She wanted on that boat, so she and
Arthur could sail off this hellhole. She couldn't understand why they weren't
halfway home by now if there was a motorboat not far off.
 
She whirled to Arthur, still sitting at the
table and reading a magazine, and asked why they weren't sailing to safety.

"That
motorboat is broken," Arthur said. "And I have no clue where we are
or how to get us home just by drifting on the sea."

"I
don't understand," Elizabeth exclaimed. "We aren't that far from
neighboring islands. I chose an island not far off from civilization. And
that's the fastest motorboat I've ever seen in my life! It's the same one I was
kidnapped in right?"

"Elizabeth,
think! That boat looks like it's from the early 1900s. It's archaic. Did you
hear a motor when we pulled up alongside the catamaran? That's because there is
no working motor on that motorboat. It might as well be a kayak without the
oars."

"But
then...how was it moving so fast yesterday?"

"I
was told you met the reason last night. Joe Newman was pushing it," Arthur
took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Joe's animal form, believe it
or not, is a sea dragon."

"What?"

'That's
what Aaron calls him. He's some kind of prehistoric sea creature. Kind of like
the Loch Ness monster. Anyhow, he was pushing the boat for us."

"But
if we could just find a way to paddle, we aren't that far from neighboring
islands..."

"Elizabeth,
I'm not convinced this is the island you selected for your camping trip. This
is somewhere else entirely. Does this cabin look like the one you were supposed
to stay in? Aaron claims we're on his island: Vampire Island. I don't know that
this is the actual name or just what he calls it. It is far away from anyone
who can help us and no one would even to think to look for us here. I honestly
have no idea how true that is. He drugged me before we kidnapped you on the
motorboat. He shot me with that dart gun, and I have no memory of your
kidnapping or how we got to this island. I'm sorry but I think we really are
trapped here.

Elizabeth
looked around and realized Arthur was right about the cabin. She had seen
pictures of the interior. The layout of this cabin was different. It was much
smaller than what she had selected. This place was a one bedroom home with a
small kitchen and living room. It was the size of an average sized apartment.
Her head started reeling. She wanted to start screaming at Arthur for helping
this lunatic abduct her, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't
be rude to someone who graciously served her lunch and treated her with a kind
disposition. She felt like that would be abusing a servant. But she knew that
was silly. He was not her servant. He was Aaron's servant. And she was Aaron's
captive. Arthur was just another one of her jailers, no matter how coerced he
had been.

"Aaron
gets back late for dinner. He told me he turns into a bat during the day and
sleeps in a cave. No clue where that cave is. His orders are for me to have
dinner ready by 8:00pm. You can entertain yourself however you want with the
books and magazines he has. Or, if you want to take a walk, I can go with you.
We have to keep to certain boundaries. You see, there are other vampires on
this island."

"Other
vampires?" Elizabeth gasped. "Besides Aaron and Joe Newman?"

"That's
what he tells me. Aaron has a good chunk of the island. He showed me the
boundaries for where we can go. He has markers set up. The other vampires can't
go near us if we don't cross those markers. Still, he says he wants me to
travel with you if you choose to go on a walk. Like I said, I have super hero
strength now, so I can keep you safe."

"I
wonder if he's lying about that," Elizabeth said. "I wonder if
there's some other way off the island that he isn't telling us about."

"No,
I think he's being serious. I saw one of the others from a distance, moving
like a blur, and grabbing hold of a rabbit. I assume the rabbit was a meal. It
looked like a female vampire. And she was as a wild as a cave woman. She wore
furs, leather, and moccasins. I don't know if any of them would actually try to
hurt us, but Aaron claims vampires sometimes kill each other just for
sport."

"I
think I'll just stay in." Elizabeth replied dismally.

Elizabeth
stepped back inside the doorway and perused the bookcase. There were shelves of
books. Most of the books were on outdoor subjects: camping, fishing, horseback
riding, guns, first aid, etc. There were several books in some other language,
it looked Middle Eastern, but she couldn't read those or gauge what they were
about. But as she browsed some more, she came to a disturbing realization. She
noticed that she already owned some of the books on the shelf. In fact, she
recognized almost all of the books as ones that she had packed for the trip.
She looked around the room. Her divan, her chaise lounge (even the pillows on
it were hers), the table she had eaten on....also hers. Everything in this
cabin was hers. She felt suddenly weak. She went to the chaise lounge, laid
down, and took a nap.

She
woke to the smell of cookies. She sat up on the lounge and saw Arthur in the
kitchen. He saw her rise and smiled.

"Good
evening, Elizabeth. Aaron will be back in a few hours. Until then, I thought
you might like a snack before dinner. The cookies are almost done."

Soon,
Arthur made her a plate of cookies and a cup of tea. Elizabeth ate them slowly
and sipped on her tea as she browsed a news magazine. As the clock on the wall
got closer to 8:00pm, she became more and more antsy. She paced as she munched
on cookies, the magazine forgotten. By 7:30, she was nearly frozen with fear.
She sat on the chaise lounge with her best war face. Though she felt like a
coward on the inside, she wanted her outward appearance to be that of an ice
queen. Her desire was to intimidate him in retaliation for his intimidation of
her from the other night.

The
clock struck 8:00 and a moment later Aaron entered the room. Elizabeth was
perturbed by his punctuality. No one is that punctual, she thought to herself.
Before she could get even a word out, he turned to her and said, “Honey, I’m
home." There was something deeply disturbing about Aaron addressing her
like she was a housewife from a 1950s sitcom.
 
She had an image of them in a black and white TV show.
 
He comes home with, "Honey, I'm
home!" and she rushes to greet him with, "Dinner will be ready in a
moment!" A kiss and hug would ensue. Then he would rip his fangs into her,
she would fight him, lose the battle, and he would have his way with her. Can I
throw up now, she thought.