The Vampire of Tinkerfall (Elysium #3)

Chapter Fifteen

 After finishing with the rugs, Trinket and Daphne dined on bread and cheese and baked potatoes in the dining room. It was strange not having Booker there with them. He rarely left the house for any extended period of time. Trinket was so used to dragging him up from the laboratory or down from the library and reminding him that he was human and needed to eat. Hopefully he wouldn't forget to stop and take a meal at some point during his journey. He couldn't very well subsist on tea alone, no matter what he claimed.

They played cards in the parlour until nearly midnight before Daphne finally yawned and nodded towards the stairs.

"You can go. I think I'll stay up a little longer," Trinket said.

Daphne furrowed her brow and laid the back of her hand against Trinket's forehead.

Laughing softly, Trinket shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine, really. I'm just not that tired. But you should rest. Don't let me keep you up."

Though she still seemed concerned, Daphne left her alone and retired to her room.

Staring off at the fireplace, Trinket drew her feet up onto the settee and tucked them beneath her skirts. A thousand thoughts were racing through her head, and she couldn't decide which one to concentrate on.

People bleeding to death on the streets.

Human body parts showing up in the butcher shop.

Threats from vicious thugs.

Deadly, venomous snakes.

A young blonde woman with wild eyes.

She hadn't told Booker about the familiar girl yet. She really should have, considering the mystery girl seemed to be the vampire who was attacking folks. But she didn't want to say anything until she was absolutely certain this was the same person she believed she was. It'd been some months since Trinket had last seen her, so perhaps she wasn't remembering her correctly. This could be a complete stranger, someone who had no connection to Trinket's past or Elysium.

Elyyyysium. Elyyyysium.

Trinket closed her eyes and swallowed. Or the girl could be exactly who she thought she was.

Pulling her knees up closer, she watched as worms wriggled across the freshly beaten carpet, leaving behind brown streaks from their dirt-covered bodies. Their movements were rather mesmerizing and served as a good distraction from her tumultuous thoughts. She wondered whether or not she would feel their slimy bodies if she were to touch them. Recalling the warm, gooey blood between her fingers from when the walls were bleeding, she assumed touching the worms would be much the same.

When had tactile sensation been added to her hallucinations? She couldn't recall. The voices had come first, when she was only a small child. The visions, as far as she knew, began when she was well into her adolescence. They could have started earlier, but it was hard to know for sure when so many of her hallucinations were normal everyday things. The monstrous visions, however, were easy to pinpoint. She could remember exactly when they started.

Never forget.

You'll never forget.

Nobody will.

Shaking her head, she forced those memories away and returned her thoughts to the blonde girl. If this was the person she thought she was, and she was indeed the vampire running rampant, Trinket feared the city was in more danger than it knew. But how could she be certain? Every time Trinket saw the girl, something inevitably pulled her away or sent the girl running. She needed to approach her on her own, without anyone else around.