Elizabeth and the Vampire's Cabin(17)

"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.