Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Seven

 

A sharp knock at the door woke me up. For a moment, I blinked into the darkness and wondered if I had imagined the knock. But after another sharp three raps tapped against the door, I sat up in the bed. I hesitated, wondering if I should pretend nobody was here. After all, everyone in this building no doubt probably hated me for my family name.

“Who is it?” I finally braved a call.

“Kitchen,” A female voice bellowed with great irritation.

“Oh,” I said and turned on the lamp. It was only when I opened the door that I remembered I was still dressed extremely inappropriately. I blushed, trying to pretend I was fully clothed, and moved to the side to allow the woman in. She was a plump woman wearing an old fashioned apron and uniform that I hadn’t seen on a person in a long time. Her hair was brown with grey strands making their way into the mix. And she appeared very flustered and very… human.

The woman wheeled in a trolley that had dishes covered with silver lids. When she entered, she eyeballed me with immense disapproval before lifting the lids of the dishes morosely. “By request of Mr. and Mrs. Eastmund, I have here scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, strawberry shortcake French toast, oven home fries with peppers and onions, and – she says – all Americans love bacon. For refreshments, I have orange juice, milk, coffee, and water. Anything else I can fetch for the likes of you?”

I blushed even deeper by the obvious scorn the woman had for me and for having to serve me. It did intrigue me that she referenced what I assumed was Xander and Aveline’s last name. I noted that it was a shared name, so perhaps being mates was actually being married. Who knows? I quickly shook my head to indicate that I was more than fine being left alone to starve if it meant this woman would go away.

The woman instead reached for a stack of books I hadn’t notice on the bottom of the trolley. She moved towards me and dropped the stack into my arms which I had barely put out in time. I considered the fact that she probably had hoped they’d fall on my toes.

“As also requested, I have fetched you literature that you don’t deserve to read. Please ring me whenever you are finished with them, so that I may place them back to where they belong,” She promptly turned and began to leave without further explanation.

“Wait!” I called, “What’s your name so I can send these back to you?” The woman only huffed with distaste and continued to disappear out the door. I blinked, unnerved by the woman, but then looked down at the stack of books in my arms.

When I sprawled them onto the bed, I started picking through the titles which began to bring me great fascination. Social Science of Vampirism- A Look at the Spiritual Bond, A History of Immortals, The Biology of Vampyre, Civil Rights and Laws as Passed by Royals, The Tyranny of Vampire Hunters, and then I spotted a title that I believed the woman meant as a stab towards me: Human Slavery; Unethical or Simply Natural? Still, I couldn’t believe books like these existed and not one human being had actually gotten their hands on one. It made me wonder if I was technically even allowed to be reading these.

I shrugged, quickly scrambling to the walk in closet in order to properly dress myself in a pair of jeans and a loose white lace off-shoulder top. Then I started digging into the still steaming and absolutely delicious breakfast I had been given, avoiding the strawberries and coffee which were two things in life I found I would probably never like. I spent my time eating while trying to decide which book to begin reading first. I decided the most logical route would to start with A History of Immortals, so that I could at least know the past before I began trying to understand the present society, coteries, and bonds.