The Lie (The Skyy Huntington Series) (11 page)

I sat on the lid of the toilet and watched as Aiden dug into the gaping bullet wound in his arm and pulled out a bullet. He dropped it into the sink and more blood pumped out. But, almost within thirty seconds of getting the bullet out I watched as his skin started to heal, rapidly, right before my eyes.

“Holy sh…I mean holy cow!” I said in amazement.

He laughed. “I don’t need the first aid supplies but I didn’t have the heart to tell you, plus it gave you something to do to keep your mind occupied.” I sat there and watched, and within a few minutes the bleeding had totally stopped, and the wound was almost fully closed and healed.

“Now, what I do need is some cleaning supplies. Some bleach and some scrubbing brushes and a mop to start,” he said.

I shook my head no, “Oh no, no, no, you have done enough for me tonight, I don’t expect you to clean my house up.” He held his hand up. He was clearly not taking no for an answer.

“You get some clean pajamas on and go sit over on the bed, I won’t argue with you over this. I’m cleaning and that is that,” he said. I sighed, defeated and went downstairs to get him the cleaning supplies he had asked for, then grabbed a new set of PJ’s and changed in the bathroom downstairs where there wasn’t any blood.

I hiked back up the stairs and as I walked into my bedroom I saw him emerge from my bathroom and smile at me and point to the bed. I obeyed and climbed up onto my bed wrapping myself with the blanket again.

He was on his hands and knees scrubbing every inch of my bathroom floor. The smell of bleach was strong and was stinging my nostrils. I went over to the balcony to open the door for some air. It was very cold but better than suffocating via bleach.

I sat back on the bed and he looked over at me. “Are you doing ok?” he inquired. I nodded,

“As best as can be expected. I have never had someone break into my house before. What happened to that guy? I mean…what did you…do to him?” I was almost afraid to ask.

“Well, I took him far away from your house, and dumped him off in a random location. I wiped his memory of tonight, and his entire mind for that matter. I reckon you wouldn’t be shocked to see him wandering downtown Salem homeless a few weeks from now, a rambling mad man,” he said, plainly as though things like this happened every day. In his world, I guess they could happen every day.

“I wonder what book this guy was sent to find. Surely he had the wrong address. My grandfather was an old man, quiet, kept to himself for the most part. I don’t ever recall seeing any kind of books like that man described to me before. But I still have a lot of his belongings to go through too,” I sighed.

Aiden looked up at me again with a strange look on his face. I didn’t like the look. “Well as soon as you have gotten some rest, we should get to the bottom of this. I can help you if you’d like, to go through what you need to, and make sure this book isn’t here. If it is what I think it is, you do not want this in your possession.”

I began to ask what he meant by that, but he shook his head. “Not tonight, Skyy. You have been through enough, I don’t want you to worry anymore tonight. Tomorrow we will discuss it at length,” he said it in a very kind and caring voice, but boy when he spoke he demanded attention and he meant business. I didn’t want to piss this guy off.

I sighed and flopped onto the bed on my back. I didn’t feel safe staying in my house after this ordeal that was certain. I was debating on calling Christian to see if he would mind if I came by his place tonight. But I saw that it was close to 1 a.m. I wasn’t sure he would be awake, and I wasn’t sure I felt like explaining the whole ordeal to him tonight either. I needed to get my mind off this stress, I was still shaking a little.

“So tell me something exciting Aiden. I need to get my mind on something else. Tell me something exciting you have done, or seen, or someone exciting that you have met in your long life,” I said. I hoped that wasn’t pushing my boundaries with him.

While he was scrubbing on his hands and knees he smiled up at me. “Well, I have met many famous people throughout time. Not as many modern people though, since the invention of cameras and computers, vampires try to stay out of the limelight as much as possible.”

I nodded, “I guess I didn’t think about all that, but you’re right. I would imagine pictures would make it hard to keep your identity safe when you need to move around.”

Aiden shook his head in agreement. “Let’s see, I guess one of the first encounters with famous people would have been King Henry VIII, and his wife Anne Boleyn. This was after his first wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon had passed away,” he said it in such a nonchalant way. I realized my mouth was hanging open as he laughed at me.

“You’re not kidding, are you?” I said with wonder.

“No milady, I am not kidding. Do you recall me telling you that my mother and I had moved to London shortly after we were turned vampire?” he asked. I nodded yes, I think my mouth was still hanging open. “Well my maker had left us a great deal of money, land, and estates in various parts of the world. My mother and father had never been rich people by any stretch of imagination, but they were not poor either. We would be what modern people call ‘middle class’ I guess,” he stopped to empty the bucket into the bathtub and fill it with fresh hot water and bleach. As he came back into the bedroom and started scrubbing again, he continued his story.

“My mother was beyond thrilled to have money and status. We went to London and lived in a small estate right in the city. For many decades we kept a low profile. We did not mingle in society and our neighbors thought we were away on business most of the time. When we did leave the house we would only go out at night to feed. So nobody around us really got a good look at our age or faces, it was easy to keep up the façade of being a family who was rarely home and always traveling. My mother was in love with the art and music of the time, and she wanted nothing more than to go to the royal court and see it with her own eyes.

So we left the small estate in London for a few years, long enough for the neighbors to forget about us. During this time my mother had honed her language skills. French and Italian mostly. When we came back to London we announced ourselves under a different name, with some papers and deeds that our maker had left for us. We were nobility, or so everyone thought. Back then it was easy to get into court, nobody really asked any questions, and if you looked rich they just let you in.” I wondered if his arms were getting tired of the scrubbing yet, he had been at it relentlessly.

At that time, there was the huge controversy about King Henry's marriage to the newly coroneted Queen, Miss Anne Boleyn. My mother actually got to meet many famous people in court, including Thomas Tallis the famous composer, and the wonderful Hans Holbein the younger. She couldn’t be happier, surrounded by all these people who were history in the making.” he smiled, remembering back to that time I assume.

“My Mother actually had a closer relationship with Queen Anne than I. I had only met her a few times, and met King Henry VIII twice. On Christmas it was tradition for all the nobility to offer their gifts to the King and Queen, and those were the only two times I ever spoke to the King. He was a smart man, and very demanding. He would have made a very scary vampire indeed, he wanted too much and didn’t have the patience to wait for things. Queen Anne on the other hand was a very lovely lady, well-educated and very proper. My mother would love to tell you stories of her I bet.”

“So is it true, about her cheating on the King?” I asked. This was the coolest thing ever, to have someone in my presence who
met
Anne Boleyn in the flesh and lived to tell about it.

“No, she was never unfaithful to the King as far as we knew. He was a greedy man, as I said before. He grew bored of Queen Anne, and it was almost certain that his affections were focused on someone else, the Lady Jane Seymour. My mother was there the day they executed her friend Anne, she braved the sunlight to watch her friend die for something she was not guilty of.”

I cringed. I had read many stories about Anne Boleyn’s beheading. None of them were pretty.

“And yes, before you ask,” he said and grinned at me, “her ghost really
does
haunt the Tower of London. I have seen it many times.” Shivers went up and down my spine. Vampires existed, so why not ghosts?

“Disgusted with how the King had treated her friend, she decided that we had lingered long enough in London and in the court of the Tudors. So we packed up our belongings and headed over to Vienna.”

I bet that Aiden could keep me occupied for decades with stories like this. It was just so surreal.

He stood up and went into the hallway to begin scrubbing there. Laying back onto my bed again I tried picturing this handsome man back in that era. I couldn't help but wonder what he looked like. Trying to picture him in pantaloons and puffy sleeves made me giggle.

“What is so funny?” he inquired from the hallway.

“Oh, I was just trying to picture you in clothing from that time. I can’t imagine it,” I replied still giggling.

He laughed as well, “To be honest, I really didn’t care for it. Way too hot, and way too constricting for me. I worked on a farm with my shirt off through all of my human life, I liked to move and I liked to be able to feel my skin. There have been some styles through the ages that were just awful. I actually have paintings if you ever care to see me all dressed up,” he offered. "My mother paid Hans Holbein a great deal of money to paint a portrait of us together when we were at the Tudor Court actually. I am sure that painting is worth quite a bit today.”

Aiden finished up the hallway and my grandfather’s room fairly quickly. After he had put the bucket and mop away, he came back into the room.

“I think I got most of it. I can smell blood, so I am pretty sure it’s all cleaned up. If I missed anything we will be able to see tomorrow in the sunlight,” he stood there, shirtless in his PJ bottoms scanning my bedroom floor. It was after 2 a.m. at this point. I didn’t want him to leave, to be alone in the house again especially since I knew someone was after something that may or may not be in my house.

His eyes were no longer glowing and had returned back to their normal light green color. He stood there kind of sheepishly now, almost embarrassed with nothing to say. Mr. Take Charge was back to his shy self I guess.

I was running my fingers along the top of my phone again wondering if I should call Christian or not. I guess Aiden noticed. “Did you need to call someone?” he asked.

I sighed. “I am debating on calling Christian and asking if it is ok to stay at his place. I don’t want to stay here alone, but I don’t want to wake him up at this hour and have to explain everything. He’ll end up missing work over it and I don’t want that.”

Aiden stood still and quiet for about a minute or so. He really didn’t know what to say or how to act now that the tragedy was over. He had protected me and done his job. Now he stood here like a lost child. Finally he spoke, “I have a guest room at my house, you are more than welcome to stay there. I know we only just met, but I promise you nobody will harm you in my house.”

I mulled it over in my head. It would be better than staying here alone, and better than calling Christian. Plus, he did just pretty much save my life, so I knew he wouldn’t try anything funny.

“Are you sure it’s ok Aiden? I don’t want to intrude on your…lifestyle I guess is the word I am looking for,” I replied.

He shook his head and moved closer to me. “My life isn’t any different from yours really, on a day to day basis. I just have a different diet than you do, and don’t need to sleep as much.”

“Ok then, as long as you’re sure you don’t mind I will throw some clothes together and we can head to your house. Is it ok if my dog comes too?” I asked, hoping that wasn’t too much.

“She is a welcome guest in my house just as you are.” Good answer, I thought to myself.

Chapter 6

I threw some toiletries and a change of clothes into a backpack. I grabbed my pillow, my dog’s water dish, and put some food into a plastic baggie for her then tossed it all into an empty grocery bag.

Aiden, still shirtless and shoeless took the items out of my hands. “As I am sure you noticed, I didn’t drive over here, so we’ll have to take your car,” he said. I grabbed my coat and shrugged it on, picked up my purse and keys and then hooked the leash up to Cupcake.

We piled all the stuff into my trunk and I went back up to double check I had locked the door. I still was not sure if I had forgotten to lock it or if the fat slob had actually broken in. There was absolutely no sign of a forced entry if he did. Scary.

Aiden offered to drive, I guess he saw I was still shaken up. He really
did
live close to me, I mean within a mile close to me. I had driven by the entrance to his house many times and wondered who the lucky duck was to live back behind those gates. Now I knew, and I never in a million years would have guessed it was a vampire. His yard itself was amazing, the long driveway leading up to what could only be described as a mansion had huge trees lining it, even though it was still winter I could tell they would be beautiful come spring, and a colorful treat come autumn. The house was amazing, mostly all brick on the outside with a colonial feel that was very common in the New England area. He had lights in his shrubbery and landscaping that was so perfect it looked like a movie set. From the outside the house looked as if it was at least three stories high, maybe even more. When he said “I have a guest bedroom you can use” I never thought it would be in a freakin' mansion.

I got the feeling my mouth was hanging open again when I saw Aiden glance over at me and smile. “Wow, this is beautiful. I have driven by here a hundred times probably and wondered what was on the other side of those gates. This house is amazing Aiden.”

He pulled the car right up to the front door, yes he even had a circular driveway that came up to the door, on top of another driveway and three car garage that was off to the side of the house. He put my car in neutral and turned the ignition off. Cupcake was all excited to get out of the car and explore the new yard.