Part 3
‘You’re telling me we have lodgers?’ Spike raised an eyebrow at Anton, not letting his incredulity pierce his cynical calm, but nonetheless clearly conveying his opinion of the matter.‘Ve-ell, errrr...’ Anton paused to stutter for a moment or two, uncertain how to handle the situation. ‘Eet ees a leetle, much more, complicaited than how you say, sirr.’
‘No, you see, it really isn’t. They’re either not lodgers here or they are and soon won’t be. Which is it?’ He kept his eyes fixed on these ‘things, his gaze never leaving the aggravating entities, who stared right back.
‘Zey... Zey are not lodgers.’ Anton came to the point, and wished he hadn’t as he anticipated the remainder of the conversation.
‘Then what, in the name of the Queen Mother’s laddered stockings, are they doing here?’
The other vamps cowered in the darkness, absorbing the ridicule of the scene, unwilling to leave the ranks of anonymity. Dru sprited herself around, examining her new surroundings with childlike fascination and delight, smiling always to herself.
‘But they’re so pretty...’ She chimed in.
‘I’m sure, luv,’ he turned to her, then looked back at Anton, ‘but what are they doing here?’
‘Ve-ll, vell... you see.... Eet ees.... mmmmm, how to say.... Errrr...’
‘Anton.’ He repeated himself louder. ‘Anton, you oversized cardigan sniffer, stop mispronouncing every vowel sound in the bloody language and answer the goddamn question.’ He slowed his voice, talking quietly yet clearly, his every word caught by the ears of his fearful audience, slicing through the tension.
‘Ve-ll, zey, zey do live in ze Castle.’
‘They do, do they?’
‘I zink eet ees one of zeese old, very old, arrangements, so to say.’
Spike turned to Dru, ‘Pet? I thought you said that loser you dusted built and owned this crib?’
Dru smiled intently back at him, but did not comment.
‘It ees, how you say, ok, we keep the owter sections of ze dungeon area, and zey use ze deeper tunnels and caves. And ze hoomans, zey use the main building above ze ground. Errrr...’
‘So we’re all one big happy family then?’ Spike shook his head. ‘Living together in peace and harmony? Dru? What do you say? I don’t like this much meself.’
‘I like the stone. It’s strong, and dark, and just seeps all that fear and pain... I like this castle.’ She pouted at him.
‘Could head on to Romania, luv, they’ve castles there for sure.’
She considered the option for a moment, tilted her head to one side, examining a spot of space roughly a meter beneath the rough ceiling. ‘I say we stay,’ she looked back at him, took up his hand, ‘there’s fights to be had, and screams to be sung, I promise.’
He sighed. ‘So we stay then.’ He looked at the new housemates, 8 angular faces staring straight at him.
They stood tall, the males easily 6ft, slender and toned, with clear grey eyes. They seemed poised and taut, yet their was a pervasive calm about them disarmingly strong. Its effect often unsettled people instead of calming them, yet it was undoubtedly calm that they effused. They wore current day clothing, or as current as was possible in this half of Europe. They seemed old, though, uncomfortable in the apparel, as though it were strange and did not fit, no matter how many measurements they took. A grudging concession to a changing world, but evidently a work in progress. They could have passed as human with the minimum of effort, except for the almost translucent paleness of their skin and hair, and the strange ridges on their pointed ears. As it was, a hat was generally advisable if a venture to outside world was required, but these forays were rare and avoided if at all possible.
So far not one had said anything, yet they were poetic in their stillness. Their gaze cut just a little too deep, and their razor perceptions pincered the younger vamps into uneasy cowardice. Without a word they turned and left, returning to the darkness of the caves, and who know what else lay within. Their sedate gliding motion disguised their speed, and their long pale hair lay undisturbed down to their buttocks. They were gone with little flourish, taking much of the tension with them, but leaving much anxiety.
Spike turned to face Dru, his cheeks drawn even further into his hollow skull in one last display of discontent. ‘I could swear that one on the end primped his hair on his way out.’
Dru rolled her eyes at him. Then stopped to roll them in the other direction. Then round again. Round and round and round, and she started to giggle at herself. Spike grasped her arms, pinning them to her sides.
‘I’m being serious here, Dru, I don’t like it.’
She frowned at his melodrama, tried to shake of his clutch, but only partially succeeded. ‘Ma qui son piu miti cori, a noi basta follegiar. We stay. They’re only elves.’
‘I give it a month. The place doesn’t hot up by then, we leave. Ok?’
‘Si, allegri, or pria tentiamo dela...’
