For Love of a Vampire

Chapter11

I found it humorous and fitting that I spent my evening in my room dining on oxtail soup; although it was far tastier and more robust than anything the cook at the inn provided. We always got the broth that was left over after she'd ladled the thick chunks of meat and vegetables to the paying guest. The occasional chunk of meat and vegetable were far and few between. The bread the estate's bakery produced was light and crusty and the sweet butter couldn't be compared with. It struck me for the first time that I'd been eating organic the entire time I was there. Even my watered down oxtail soup and crusty stale bread at the inn had been free of preservatives. Between the clean food, fresh air, and enforced exercise, I had to admit I felt better. I wondered if the benefits of this lifestyle on my body would teleport with me into the future or if I'd return to the Jane I was prior to my little adventure.

I'd decided to look at the experience as an adventure and not the catastrophe it felt like. Perhaps my change in viewpoint would help smooth over what time I had left until I returned to my own era through the portal. I finished my dinner and walked over to the opened window. The night air felt cool and refreshing. It helped to sooth my overheated nerves. The sun set about an hour earlier and the estate was settling down for the night. I saw no harm in taking a short stroll through the gardens. I hadn't been out of my room since Elizabeth and Garth's heroic rescue of me from my near hanging.

I had my cloak in hand when I noticed the tapestry on the wall sway ever so slightly. That tapestry was so heavy, only one of two things would disturb it; a huge gust of wind or human hands. Since the night air was amazingly still, it had to be the other.

I stopped in my tracks and waited. The room was so quiet that my breathing rang out in my ears. I hoped I wasn't really breathing that heavy or whoever was on the other side of the tapestry would know I was terrified. It wasn't good to give your attacker clues of that nature.

I inched my way toward the edge of the heavy fabric. My heart pounded to the point I was sure it would lodge in my throat and suffocate me. My legs felt weak and unable to support my fabric laden body. Sweat covered my brow and saturated my armpits; which activated the cloves in the musky underarm powder Elizabeth encouraged me to wear. If I hadn't been so worked up about who was stalking in the secret passageway, I might have actually enjoyed the exotic scent.

I had my hand on the edge of the tapestry and was just about to peek behind it when Elizabeth entered the room. I dropped my hand quickly and moved away from the wall. I held my finger to my lips and nodded my head toward the tapestry that just happened to move noticeably at the same time.

Elizabeth scowled and stormed to the fabric covered hole in the wall. She yanked the material aside to display a very chagrinned Garth standing on the other side.

I gasped in horror, "What are you doing? How long have you been there?"

"M' lady, I..." he stammered.

"'Tis my fault, m' lady," Elizabeth interrupted him. "I asked him to guard the opening of the passageway against intruders who might be coming to fetch you back to the gallows."

I gasped at the thought.

"He was expected to remain at the opening," she explained while she shot him daggerous looks.

"They might come after me?" I asked timidly.

"'Vivian has ill humor for losing and you have given her losses right along," she said.

"I have only just met her. How could I be giving her losses, other than my escape from the gallows that is?" I asked.

As the words came out of my mouth, I realized that they still believed me to be Lady Margaret and apparently Lady Vivian and Lady Margaret were involved in an ongoing war.