Lover Mine

THIRTY

I n the staff room of Sampsone’s mansion, Darius concluded his meeting with the daughter’s maid.

“Thank you,” he said as he rose to his feet and nodded at the female. “I appreciate your candor.”

The doggen bowed low. “Please find her. And bring her home, sire.”

“We shall endeavor to do just that.” He glanced at Tohrment. “Would you be so kind as to show in the steward?”

Tohrment opened the door for the tiny female and the pair left together.

In their absence, Darius stalked around the bare floor, his leather boots making a circle about the ledger desk in the center of the room. The maid knew naught of relevance. She had been utterly open and unassuming—and added absolutely nothing to the puzzle.

Tohrment came back with the steward, and resumed his stance right beside the door, staying quiet. Which was good. Generally speaking during interrogation of the civil variety, you didn’t need more than one inquisitor. The boy had another utility, however. His shrewd eyes missed nothing, so perhaps there was something he would pick up on that Darius missed during the discourses.

“Thank you for speaking with us,” Darius said to the steward.

The doggen bowed low. “It shall be my pleasure to be of service to you, sire.”

“Indeed,” Darius murmured as he sat down on the hard stool he had used when speaking with the maid. Doggen by nature tended to value protocol and therefore they would prefer those of higher station to be seated in this situation while they stood. “Whatever are you called, steward.”

Another low bow. “I am Fritzgelder Perlmutter.”

“And how long have you been with the family.”

“I was born unto them seventy- seven years ago.” The steward linked his hands behind his back and straightened his shoulders. “I have serviced the family with pride since my fifth anniversary of birth.”

“Long history. So you know the daughter well.”

“Yes. She is a female of worth. A joy to her birthed parents and her bloodline.”

Darius watched the steward’s face carefully. “And you were not aware of anything... that would lead one to expect such a disappearance.”

The servant’s left eyebrow twitched once.

And there was a long silence.

Darius lowered his voice to a whisper. “If it eases your conscience, you have my word as a Brother that neither myself nor my colleague shall reveal what you say to anyone. Even the king himself.”

Fritzgelder opened his mouth and breathed through it.

Darius remained in silence: Pushing the poor male would only slow the process of revelation down. Indeed, he was either going to talk or not, and encouraging him would but delay his decision.

The steward reached into the interior pocket of his uniform and withdrew a bright white handkerchief that was pressed into a precise square. Blotting at his upper lip, he fumbled to put the thing away.

“Nothing shall breach these walls,” Darius whispered. “Not a thing.”

The steward had to clear his throat twice before his thready voice materialized. “Verily... she was above reproach. That I am certain of. There was no... consort with a male about which her parents were unaware.”

“But...” Darius murmured.

At that moment the door swung wide and the butler who had let them into the mansion appeared. He seemed totally unsurprised by the meeting and utterly disapproving of it. No doubt one of his underlings had tipped him off.

“You run such a fine lot of staff,” Darius said to the male. “My colleague and I are very impressed.”

The low bow did nothing to ease the male’s expression of distrust. “I am complimented, sire.”

“We were just leaving. Is your master about?”

The butler straightened and his relief was obvious. “He has retired and that is why I came to see you. He has bidden you well adieu, but must needs look after his beloved shellan.”

Darius got to his feet. “Your steward here was about to show us the grounds on our way out. As it is raining, I am certain you should prefer one of your staff to guide us o’er the wet grass. We shall return here after the sunset. Thank you for your accommodation of our requests.”

There was no other response save for the one the male gave: “But of course.”

Fritzgelder bowed to his superior and then extended his arm toward a door in the far corner. “This way.”

Outside, the air carried little of spring’s promise of warmth. Indeed, it was winter-cold as they trudged through the mist.

Fritzgelder knew exactly where to take them, the steward walking with purpose around the back of the mansion to the part of the gardens that were overlooked by the female’s bedroom.

Did not this work out well, Darius thought.

The steward stopped right under Sampsone’s daughter’s window, but he didn’t face the stout stone walls of the house. He looked outward... across the flower beds and the hedge maze... to the estate next door. And then he deliberately turned to face Darius and Tohrment.

“Lift thine eyes unto the trees,” he said while pointing at the house as if describing something pertinent—because undoubtedly they were being watched from the leaded windows of the manse. “Regard well the clearing.”

Indeed, there was a break in the crowd of barren tree limbs—which was how they’d seen the far-off mansion from the second floor.

“That vista was not created by our household, sire,” the doggen said softly. “And I noticed it about a week before... she was found gone. I was upstairs cleaning the rooms. The family of the household had retired underground as it was lighted day. I heard the sounds of cracking wood and rendered my eyes unto the windows, whereupon I saw the branches being taken down.”

Darius narrowed his stare. “Very deliberate, the cutting, isn’t it.”

“Very deliberate. And I thought nothing as it is naught but humans who reside therein. But now...”

“Now you wonder if there was a pur pose other than landscaping. Tell me, to whom did you mention this.”

“The butler. But he beseeched me to remain mum. He is a fine male, of good service to the family. He wants nothing more than to have her found...”

“But he wishes to avoid any conception that she might have fallen into human hands.”

After all, they were just a tail away from being considered upright rats by the glymera.

“Thank you for this,” Darius said. “You have done well your duty.”

“Just find her. Please. I care not the source of the abduction—just bring her home.”

Darius focused on what he could see of the manse next door. “We shall do that. In one manner... or another.”

For their sakes, he prayed that the humans in that estate had not dared to take one of theirs. The other race was to be avoided, by the king’s orders, but if they had the temerity to aggress upon a vampire? And a noble female at that?

Darius would slaughter each one of them in their beds and leave the bodies to rot into a stench.