The Caretaker of Showman's Hill (Vampire Romance) (4 page)

"Get away from me," he whispered. "Far away, or you're going to find out exactly how nice I am, or am not."

In several long strides he made it to the back door and flung it open to the dark night. Without turning around, he spoke. "Stick by La Roux and you'll be safe. The sheriff will fix your tire when he gets back. Spend the night in one of the upstairs rooms and make certain to lock the door. And whatever you do, don't go out in the dark by yourself."

"What?” she asked, as if unable to believe the order he’d just given her. “I'm not afraid of the dark, nor you for that matter.”

He turned around slowly and raked his eyes down every inch of her body. "Well, honey, you should be." With that, he stepped out into the night, slamming the door behind him.

Chapter 4

Cassie couldn't believe the man just left a dying woman on the floor of the bar. He had to be heartless, cruel, not to mention egotistical and lazy. She looked down to the red splotch staining the white floor where he'd left the spilled soup. Whoever this Basil was, he had a lot to learn in the way of manners and she intended on telling him that if she'd ever see him again.

She walked to the swinging door and into the bar just as La Roux was re-entering the building. Helga had already been removed and the sheriff's car was speeding away outside with the lights flashing.

"I'm Cassie Briggs." She held out her hand to La Roux but the girl ignored her and walked over to the bar.

Cassie followed her. "Helga was going to introduce me to you before . . ."

"What is it you want?" La Roux motioned to the old bartender to ring a bell. He did so and three women dressed like harlots came walking down the stairs. Cassie stood there with her mouth wide opened as she surveyed the girls. She felt as it she had just went back in time to the days of the old bordellos.

The girls all looked to be about her own age of twenty-five, or maybe even younger. The first to walk down the stairs was short and stout. Her tight sequined bra barely held her large breasts inside. Her skirt was a wrap around and down to the floor. She wouldn’t have seemed so odd, she supposed, except for the large snake wrapped around her shoulders. Cassie squirmed at the site.

The second woman followed quickly behind her. She was a tall, thin brunette, and she, too, wore not much at all. This one hurried over to a bar stool, and when she sat down between two men, she seemed so small and contorted that Cassie could barely believe it was the same woman.

The last woman was a blond with big eyes and a big nose. She seemed to be dressed more colorful than the rest and wore a strange hat upon her head. She carried with her several bags, bulging with the items inside. A rubber ball, a dinner plate and a knife stuck out from the top of a bag. Cassie could only wonder what she was doing with these items.

The men at the bar rushed over to the girls immediately, obviously wanting whatever it was they had to offer.

Cassie was taken aback. What had she stumbled into? "I only came here to find someone to help me change my flat," she explained. She kept her eyes on the girls as they each selected a man and disappeared upstairs. She just couldn’t believe it.

"Well, like Basil told you - the sheriff will fix it when he gets back." La Roux popped open the cash register and dug something out from under the drawer.

"How did you know he told me that? You were outside at the time."

"I have ears."

Cassie didn’t know how to answer.

"Here's the key to my room." La Roux tossed it to Cassie and closed the register. "You'll be safe as long as you stay there and don't wander around in the middle of the night."

"Safe from what? What is going on here anyway?” Her eyes followed the path the girls had taken upstairs. “What kind of a place is this?"

"This is the Bat House,” answered the young girl, as if Cassie should understand what that meant. “Now go upstairs and don't ask any more questions."

Cassie headed toward the kitchen to pick up her camera and tape recorder before retiring to La Roux's room. “The Bat House,” she repeated to herself, shaking her head. The way this night was going, she wouldn’t be surprised if Batman jumped out next. She had half a mind to walk back to her hotel in the dark and escape all this insanity, but something inside warned her not to, and that she should stay the night. "Cat House is more like it," she mumbled as she pushed open the door.

"Well, if it isn't the girl with the pretty neck."

Cassie looked up to see a familiar looking man dressed in black, playing with her camera. Another two men dressed in jeans and T-shirts inspected her tape recorder.

"Hey! Don't touch that." She ran up to him and pulled the camera from his hands. He let out a hissing sound as she did so. She stepped back and took another look at the man.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"Is this the girl you told us about, Antonio?" asked one of the men holding her tape recorder.

"This is her, Louie."

"Give me that." Cassie tried to get her recorder but the other man who remained silent grabbed it and held it away from her.

"Give her the damn thing, Sefu. It's no good to us anyway," retorted the man named Louie.

Sefu handed it to her, purposely dropping it before she could take it. She reached for it to stop it from falling, but Antonio got there before her even though he was half way across the room, catching it in one hand. His movement was so fast she swore he looked blurred.

"Allow me." He handed it to her, but wouldn't let go when she grabbed it.

"You'll have to excuse Sefu for not saying he's sorry,” interrupted Louie. “He doesn't say much. Actually, he can't talk at all."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Cassie looked back toward Sefu who was smiling ear from ear. "Was it from birth or an accident?"

"Swallowed one too many swords," piped in Louie, hitting Sefu in the ribs with his elbow.

"Thank you." Cassie tried to pull the recorder from Antonio's hand, thinking these men were very odd. When he didn't let go, she looked him in the eye. It was then she remembered him. He was the one dressed like a vampire in the cemetery last night. She was sure of it. His eyes were starting to take on a reddish glow and Cassie tried to look away but couldn't.

"Now, let's see that neck of yours again, little girl," purred Antonio in a low voice.

She found herself obeying, yet didn't know why. She was shocked by her own actions. She held her head to the side and just waited.

"I thought I told you to go upstairs!" La Roux burst into the kitchen and the three guys scattered like kids caught with their fingers in the cookie jar.

The hypnotic hold on Cassie was broken, and she shook her head to clear her clouded mind. "What just happened?” she said more to herself than the others. Her stomach felt all topsy-turvy, and all of a sudden she was very sleepy.

"What do you three want?" La Roux snapped at the men. "Shouldn't you be out terrorizing the town or something?"

"We're hungry." Louie hoisted himself up onto the counter. Sefu leaned on the counter next to him and nodded in agreement.

"Where's the old bag anyway?" Antonio walked around the back of Cassie and after surveying her, headed toward the fridge.

"Helga . . . is out," said La Roux.

Cassie looked up quickly, intending on telling them what happened to Helga, but the warning look from La Roux stopped her.

"Well, when's she coming back?" asked Antonio sticking his head in the fridge.

"Don't worry about it. I've got the girl's working again. You'll have your dinner soon."

Cassie felt very confused by the entire conversation. Why didn’t La Roux want the guys to know about Helga’s heart attack? And what did the girls working upstairs have to do with the guys having a meal? Her questions weighed heavy on her mind, but the sleep threatening to overtake her was even heavier. All she wanted to do was go to bed. The more she thought about this whole night, the more exhausted she became. If she didn’t lie down soon, she might just fall over.

"Excuse me," said Cassie to La Roux. "I think I'm going to take you up on your offer and turn in for the night."

"Turn into what?" asked Louie.

Cassie thought it was an odd question, but kept on going. Halfway out the door she noticed La Roux hitting Louie on the arm.

The night was very odd, and getting even stranger. She'd get herself a good night's rest and think about the whole thing in the morning.

* * *

Basil paced the small quarters of his mausoleum, or as he called it - home. He'd almost lost control of himself when Cassie showed up. It was close. Too close. If she had seen his fangs, she'd know the truth and he'd have to kill her. Either kill her, or just shut her up like he did the rest of the town.

There was no way he could let her print her story about vampires in the magazine. After all, that's what she was here for. She didn't have to tell him, he could read her mind. It was just another of his adept abilities he'd managed to polish over the years.

He poured himself another glass of whiskey and eyed the lone red bottle with the blue cork in the corner. He never should have taken a swig of it last night. He should have just let it sit there, and guarded it the way he'd done throughout the years. He should have learned his lesson last time he cheated. Now there was no telling what price he'd pay for his little mistake.

He'd done his best keeping it away from Antonio and the boys, but someone should have guarded the liquid from himself.

There was a knock at his door, and for a moment he envisioned Cassie standing outside. With a quick glance, his super vision looked through the thick wood and he realized it wasn’t Cassie, but La Roux with a jar in her hand.

"Come in, La Roux. The door's open."

She came in and leaned against the wall, a jar of blood in her hand.

"I thought you'd be starving by now, so I brought you some dinner."

"You're a sweet thing, but I'm not hungry."

His stomach rumbled as if on cue, catching him in his lie.

"Have some, Basil. You can't go on living on the small amount of blood you call your feedings." She held out the jar and Basil noticed her hand shaking.

He grabbed the jar from her, pulled out his vaulted bed and made her sit down.

"You look pale, La Roux. I told you I didn't want you draining yourself for me."

"I'm not drained. I only took out a little."

"This is all yours?"

"Of course." She seemed shocked that he had to ask.

"Then it's too much. This'll last me at least a week. I don't want you giving me any more unless I ask you for it."

"I understand."

"You're sad about Helga." He picked her mind which wasn't hard to do. La Roux was always like an open book to him. "I'm feeling the same."

"You don't show it."

"You know vampires never show emotions, La Roux. Why do you seem surprised?"

"Because I saw the way you looked at Cassie tonight."

He took the jar over to the liquor table and slowly poured himself a small glass. "You're reading something into this that isn't there."

"You can't deny it, Basil. You're attracted to her for some reason."

La Roux was getting sharper with age and Basil wondered what else she was capable of doing.

"Did everything go alright tonight?" He raised the glass to his lips, his back still toward her.

"Just fine."

He almost choked when he saw what flashed through her mind. "Why didn't you tell me Antonio and the boys cornered Cassie in the kitchen?"

"Why bother? You invade my mind all the time and I knew you'd see it. I was saving my breath."

It wasn’t like La Roux to keep things from him. She’d been acting different lately and this bothered him.

"Did she find out anything?"

La Roux shook her head. "I don’t think so."

"You've got to get her out of here in the morning."

"And how do I do that?" Frustration painted her pale face.

"You'll think of something."

"What if she refuses to go? She is a headstrong woman, as if you didn't notice."

"She's got to leave before –”

"Before what?" she interrupted.

He swirled the last drops around the bottom of the goblet and downed them. The thought of Cassie staying in his house both excited him and frightened him at the same time. "She's just got to leave, that's all."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Go get some sleep, La Roux. You don't look well."

"I will. You do the same. It's almost morning. Want me to close you in before I leave?"

"It's not necessary. I've fixed the mechanism on the bed so it'll close me into the wall without anyone's help. The latch on the inside is working fine now too."

"Sweet dreams, Basil." She gave him a peck on the cheek and left.

Basil closed up his liquor cabinet and collapsed into bed. He closed his eyes but couldn't get Cassie out of his thoughts. Things had changed since the night she stepped foot into his cemetery. And now that she was bunking in his house he felt a restlessness inside that called to him. Be it man or vampire, he wasn’t sure, but didn’t want to give this any more time for him to find out. He’d sipped from the bottle, making him vulnerable again. One sip and one snoopy, sexy blond were only going to add up to trouble.

He snuggled down into the sheets trying to forget what he was feeling. He had to forget all about Cassie Briggs. If only he could.

He was sure his dreams that day were going to be just a bit too sweet for his liking.