Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“There are witches and wizards, too? Are you being serious?”
He laughed a rich laugh, and his green eyes were so full of affection.
Love.
“Oh, little one. You truly have no idea, do you? Your mother and grandmother have crippled you even more than I gave them credit for.”
He gestured to one of the sofas, in deep blush burgundy brocade. I took a seat awkwardly as he paced back and forth in front of the fire. I felt so out of my depth in this space.
“Have you ever heard the tale of the nine witches between Garway and Orcop?” Hans asked me.
I remembered something vaguely from my memory.
“Kind of.”
“Kind of?”
“Yes. I heard there are a group of them or something. It’s a myth, right?”
“It’s more than a myth. Your family line is inherent in it. Unfortunately, your mother and grandmother turned their back on their own heritage, and took yours from you, too.”
“Stop,” I said, trying to catch up with him. “I just… I can’t.”
My thoughts felt uneasy, like something was buried deep. Something I didn’t want to surface yet, like a dark trapdoor deep down below.
He read me. Of course he did.
“We’ll save this for another day,” he told me, and I didn’t argue.
I had other questions to ask him. Ones that didn’t give me so many instant triggers.
“So, what about George? What’s going to happen to him tonight?”
Hans took a seat beside me. His skin looked so stunning in the glow of the fire.
“Would you like the full truth?”
“Yes, please. Why wouldn’t I?”
“A lot of people shy away from the truth on all levels. That’s what culture has become now, a facade over the deeper meaning. Myths and legends have become little more than dusty fairytales. Everyone is now focused on the surface, racing around, looking for meaning where none can be found.”
I looked over at the fire, taking in the height of the flames. Reaching, consuming. Part of my soul felt like that. Reaching, searching, wanting to consume and – to be consumed.
Just so long as that searching didn’t include the trapdoor in my own subconscious.
“Shall I tell you what you want to know?” Hans asked me. “Call it another invitation on your part. You tell me you’d like answers, and I’ll answer your questions. But once you start knowing those answers, you’ll never be able return to ignorance again.”
I weighed it up. It felt like I was on the edge of some kind of abyss, ready to jump and fall, or stay, forever wavering on the edge, wondering.
Considering I’d had a vampire suck my blood and was already an addict for more, it felt quite a strange thing to be wary of. I was already in way too deep to back out.
“Yes, I’d like answers,” I told Hans, the creature who now owned my soul. “So, how about we start with George?”
Chapter Eight
I tried to get my thoughts in some kind of rational order.
“You said George is going to die tonight, didn’t you?”
Hans’ expression was so calm. Not a hint of trepidation in sight.
“Yes. I did.”
“You said he was being spared pain. What did you mean?”
The vampire sitting beside me answered without a hint of concern.
“George is on the edge of death regardless. He’s eighty-six and his health has been declining for years, but he doesn’t want to get treatment for it. He wants to live an independent life, right up until the very end. Understandable.”
“And the very end will be tonight?”
“Indeed, and it will save him suffering. George only has a few weeks until his heart gives up, but his heart will fight, because he’s a fighter. That fight will put him in hospital, plugged into machines while doctors attempt to give him just a few more days of a miserable existence. He stopped enjoying his life a long time ago.”
“How do you know that? About what lies ahead for him?”
“We have heightened senses. We read a lot of things about people, but we particularly read a lot about the flesh. It’s our food source, after all.”
“By we, you mean vampires? I guess there are a lot of you?”
He smiled. “That depends what you mean by a lot.”
“Ok.” I framed my question differently. “How many vampires are there in the world? Roughly?”
“There doesn’t need to be a roughly about it. There are four hundred and ninety seven vampires in the world at present. We’re quite a close knit community, spanning over thousands of years.”
I tried to imagine four hundred and ninety seven vampires. It wasn’t all that many. The population of Orcop was just over four hundred – a very small village.
My next question sprang up naturally.
“Is your friend Frederick a vampire?”
“No. He isn’t. He’s a mortal man associated with vampires.”
“Associated how?”
“He’s a financial asset manager. He ensures our estates pass down through generations when it comes to official paperwork. His family have been in the trade for a long, long time. His father was an excellent accountant before him.”