For a woman who insists she is not mine you certainly have some strange affections for my touch," he teased.
I glared at him and pressed my palms against his chest to push myself away. His stronger grasp kept me where I was. "Maybe if you weren't a vampire-"
"Like you," he reminded me.
My heart sank. I turned my face away from him and stared at the empty seat beside us. "Lucky me. . ."
He grasped my chin between his fingers and returned my eyes to his. A small, kind smile graced his lips, and his voice was soft. "I consider myself very fortunate to have found you."
Certus's voice over the intercom interrupted our tender moment. "Sir, we're only five minutes away from the house."
Simon sighed and dropped his hand to press the button. "Very well." He returned his eyes to me and nodded at our clothes on the floor. "That was Certus's kind way of informing us to dress."
I cringed and a faint blush warmed my cheeks. "He didn't hear anything, did he?"
Simon chuckled. "No doubt everything, but let's dress before we arrive to greet our followers."
CHAPTER 8
Fortunately, there were cleaning supplies in the limo and we cleaned ourselves before we dressed. I caught myself staring at Simon as he slipped into his pants and shirt. His eyes flickered to me, and I hurriedly looked away.
I felt a tingle in my mind and a sly grin spread across his lips. "I'm glad you like what you see."
I whipped my head in his direction and glared at him. "Don't do that!"
He set his hat on his head and tipped it towards me. "Ever your faithful servant, mademoiselle."
The car slowed to a stop and I hurriedly slipped into my last articles of clothing. Certus opened the door and stepped aside. Simon exited first and I followed for my first view of the area.
The neighborhood was much changed. Gone were the many suburban houses and in their places was a wide expanse of lawn covered in thick groves of ancient trees. Their thick limbs blocked out the sunlight and cast long shadows across the green grass.
The car was parked atop a gravel driveway, and behind us down a steep-sloped hill lay the gated entrance to the property. Rows of hedges obscured much of the view on either side of where we stood, but I could see a stone wall ten feet tall surrounded the area. Beyond the wall lay other walled properties with towering homes of recent construction.
The car and we stood before a large mansion of considerable age. The high-peaked roofs hinted at a Victorian origin, but the stone walls of the lower floor of the house told an older story. The tall, narrow windows with heavy curtains glared down at us, and a half dozen chimneys cut into the bright sky. An elevated and covered porch wrapped completely around the square-shaped home. They were reached by a half dozen steps that led up from the walk and to the front door.
A cool wind blew past us and I recognized the scent of open water. I turned to Simon. "Where are we?"
"The eastern shores of the bay," he told me. He half-turned to look out over the sloped hill. "I recall a time when this house stood alone on the hill and you could see the distant town as it grew into a great city."
I followed his gaze, but my eyes fell on the front of a black car that peeked around one side of the black gates.
Simon also noticed the car and he pursed his lips. "But it seems reminisces must wait." He turned to Certus. "Park the car in the garage and scout the grounds for their point of intrusion."
Certus bowed his head and slipped into the driver's seat. He drove the car down the sloped driveway to a separate garage that lay in the opposite direction of the gates. Simon turned to me and offered me his arm.
"May I show you my home?" he requested.
I jerked my head towards the gate. "What about those guys?"
He grinned. "They will be dealt with in their own time, but there's something I wish to show you. Will you come?"
I shrugged and took his arm. "Why not?"
Simon led me down the stone path and onto the porch. He opened the door and guided me inside. A large entrance hall greeted us, and on either side lay the main rooms. A wide hall ran the depth of the house. Its walls were lined with portraits of men in period costumes. Our footsteps tapped along the wood floor as Simon steered us down the hall.
I glanced at the portraits and furrowed my brow. "Are these your ancestors?"
He chuckled. "In a way. They are me as I was in those eras."
"Seriously?" I stopped and studied a portrait of a man in a white papered collar and puffy vest with gold buttons. Thin brown leggings covered his legs and he wore billowing shorts. The man sported a short beard with a thin, waxed mustache. I turned to Simon and jerked my head towards the portrait. "That's you?"
"Can't you tell?" he teased.
I studied the man again, and this time paid special attention to the face. I started back when a familiar pair of eyes stared back at me. "This-" I pointed at the man and glanced at my companion, "-when was this taken?"
"It was painted three hundred years ago," he told me.
I looked over the hall and the other paintings. Each one represented an era of fashion, the highs and the lows. There was a simple suit from the early nineteen hundreds, a more complicated pair of tails from the early eighteen hundreds, and everything in-between.
"You-" I glanced back at Simon who likewise studied his many faces, "-you really are that old, aren't you?"
He didn't look at me, but he bowed his head. "I am."
I furrowed my brow and leaned towards him. "How did you do it?"
He turned to me and raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"
I jerked my head towards the paintings. "How'd you want to live that long?"
His smile turned somber as he looked ahead of us down the hall. "Patience."
I tilted my head to one side and blinked. "Patience? What were you waiting for?"
He chuckled and led me forward. "To show you this."
We walked down the hallway of his remembrances and to a rear door. The exit led onto the back side of the porch and house. The lawn stretched out in front of us with trees on either side of the house, though none stood in front of us. We had an unobstructed view of a white-sand beach and the vast waters of the calm bay. The tide flowed in and out and lapped gently at the pebbles of sand.
I swept my wide eyes over the view. "Wow."
Simon stepped down the stairs and looked up at me. "Then you approve?"
I snorted. "I'd be crazy not to."
He guided me down the steps and onto the green grass. "Then you don't mind waiting here for a few minutes while I take care of our guests."
I turned to him and frowned. "What do you mean 'take care' of them?"
His hand slipped from mine, and he stepped around me and onto the porch. "I'm sure I don't have to tell an intelligent woman such as yourself what must be done to the men who followed us."
I spun around and crossed my arms. "More killing? Is that all you know how to do?"
Simon opened the back door, but paused in the doorway. "I pride myself on also being a very good thief, but this is a discussion for another time. If you'll excuse me." He stepped inside and shut the door behind him.
I threw up my arms and turned towards the bay. "What the hell is with that guy? All he thinks of is-" Something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I slowly turned my head and felt the color drain from my face. "-death?"
In the depths of the trees lay a narrow dirt path. The path created a tunnel that led to the top of a low hill, and atop the gentle slope, barely visible to my eyes, were a dozen tall stone slabs. Among them were statues that stood on square granite bases. I walked across the lawn and into the wilderness of trees and low shrubs. The little-used path led through the low-lying tree branches to the first of the many tall, thin stones. I reached the first one and jerked to a stop.
It was a tombstone. A name and dates were engraved in the hard gray stone. The markings were too worn by time for me to decipher all but the final date. 1816. I walked up to the grave marker and set my hand on the top. My eyes swept over the area and they widened.
Before me stretched an ancient graveyard. The grave stones were haphazardly lined up in crooked rows. Here and there were tall granite statues that marked a person of wealth and importance. Simpler plaques lay hidden beneath centuries of dirt and grass. Here and there arose an ancient oak tree that covered the graves beneath its massive canopy. The resting place was surrounded on two sides by a gate of iron bars that leaned at odd angles and was partially swallowed by un-mowed grass. In front of me and to my right were the sides without a fence. The beach lay fifty yards off, but the graveyard was hidden from the open water by the wild trees and a line of shrubs that took the place of the missing fence line.
On the opposite side of the wilderness some hundred yards from where I stood rose a ten-foot tall stone wall. The graveyard lay within the boundaries of Simon's property.
"That's not the right way to cast a spell."
I started and whipped my head to the left. In the depths among the tombstones sat a woman on her knees. She was seated in front of a large marble statue of a weeping angel. Above the angel rose one of the ancient oaks.
I ducked down and crept closer until I was within twenty feet of where she sat. A half-toppled headstone shielded me from her view as I studied her.