Heart of the Vampire (Vanderlind Castle) by Gayla Twist

Author:Gayla Twist
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2013-07-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

“It will be a few hours until the family is up,” Gloria told me as she led me through the villa. It was like something out of an Italian renaissance dream with colorful drapes made of richly embroidered fabrics and parquet floors done in intricate patterns of pale wood that practically glowed they were so well polished. There were lots of pink creamy marble pillars and open-air spaces. The weather was chilly, but the sunlight was streaming in, filling the rooms with life. It made me wonder why Madame Csorbo had a house designed that her family could never fully enjoy.

“Could you check if Jessie’s arrived yet?” I asked. I hated to keep pestering her but wouldn’t be able to relax without knowing if he was safely inside the villa.

“He is resting and will rise with the family,” was the reply, although I didn’t know where she’d received her information. Gloria had led me up a flight of stairs and down a wide hallway that had high, stuccoed ceilings. “This will be your room while you are a guest here,” she said, twisting an ornate golden doorknob and thrusting open a door.

The afternoon sun was streaming into a large room with pale, seashell-pink walls. There was a four-poster bed piled high with pillows in various shades of green. The floor was red tile, and there were four steps that led up to a small elevated area in front of the windows, which had been supplied with a plush, green loveseat, a small table, and plenty of books. It was the perfect place to while away the hours, enjoying the afternoon sun and looking out across the city.

“Does the Csorbo family frequently have human guests?” I asked.

“Not in the fourteen years that I have been in their service,” Gloria told me.

“But why all these windows and patios and access to sunshine?” I waved a hand at the expansive window stretching across one wall of the room.

Gloria pursed her lips for a moment before saying, “The things you can’t have are frequently the things you crave the most.”

She looked a little sad when saying it, and it made me remember how eager she was to read the letter from Viggo. “Gloria, I know this is none of my business, but why are you here?”

Her eyes showed a flash of anger, but that quickly softened. “My father owed a great deal of money to another family. He had no way to pay them. They were going to take his life. I went to the Csorbos and offered my services if they would pay my father’s debt. We signed a contract, and now I am here.”

“And your father just let you? Did he know who the Csorbos are?” I was stunned.

“I loved my father. I was happy to do it.”

I wondered about her use of the past tense when describing her dad. “And how is your father now? Is he...” I couldn’t think of what to ask. “Is he still happy with your decision?”

“He died two years after I cleared his debt,” Gloria told me.

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