Chapter 4
A/N: The idea about Godric's abilities in this chapter originates from Royal Ember's fantastic story In The Shadow Of The Oak. She kindly has given me permission to use it for my own story. Thanks again!
And thanks to those too, who left reviews and/or put my story to their favorites and/or alerts. Please enjoy this next chapter. :)
Knock, knock, day-sleeper. :D When old as dust, you have a desire to teach? History students would be happy...
Enid sent her message with a smile. Since Isabel had asked for her help a week and a half ago, her thoughts had turned more and more to this project, and since then, she had been bombarding Isabel with messages whenever she could think of anything. Her children were taking a nap right now, and she had come up with the idea that vampires would make great history teachers when Samantha quietly told about her cousin who had decided to study history.
Of course she didn't expect any feedback from Isabel at this time of the day, but later she would write back; she always did. They hadn't seen each other since their girls' night – Isabel had been too busy – but what else were modern communication devices for if not texting? And so the last few days flew by. After her last kid, Jacob, had been picked up by his mother on this Thursday afternoon, she cleaned up with her friends and then went home. It had been an exhausting day and she was looking forward to just putting her feet up for an hour. She didn't have more time to relax because there was still a parent-teacher talk this evening to which she had to go since the parents of her new kid always had to work until late in the evening. Samantha had also invited the parents of one of her kids. After the meeting, they both wanted to try out the new sushi bar which had opened just two blocks away.
After the three had said their goodbyes for now and Enid had gotten into her car, she turned on her radio loudly. The station was playing a country song. Normally she didn't like country music but this one had a catchy melody to which she soon hummed along. She particularly liked songs that were played with banjos and mandolins and other traditional instruments. Thanks to the good music, she arrived at home in a good mood and her tired feet were almost forgotten.
-x-
Enid was just getting ready for the talk with the parents when the doorbell rang. She quickly opened the door and groaned inwardly when she recognized the caller.
"Hello, Ms. Griffith. I'm looking for Mr. Ayers. Is he here?" It was Frank Myles, the intern of her uncle.
"Do you ever finish work, Mr. Myles?"
He was a slender, tall young man who did his work with great enthusiasm and was praised by her uncle. He looked at her with a slightly crooked grin. "Not yet... we've got another case that Mr. Ayers will have to look through until tomorrow. Is he here?" he asked again, waving a file. His head bowing slightly, as if trying to look past Enid into the house.
"I'm afraid he's not," she replied, taking the file from him, "but I can give it to my uncle. I know where he is."
"That's really nice of you, Ms. Griffith. Thank you and have a nice evening." With a slight nod, he went to his car which he had parked not far away.
"Well, I guess I have to take a detour," she mumbled to herself, then sighed.
Fortunately, she always allowed for a time buffer in her schedules. She would therefore be able to make it to her meeting in time, despite the detour. She looked at herself in the mirror again, adjusted her burgundy blouse, and then tucked her notes and the file into her handbag.
A quarter of an hour later she was already at her destination. She parked at the side of the road, and after removing the ignition key, she was about to get out, but then let herself sink back into the seat. Nervously, she unconsciously played with the key in her hand. It was the first time she would enter the nest of vampires where Isabel worked. She really liked Isabel, but Enid had no illusions. Not all vampires were like Isabel. Both her uncle and Isabel had made that clear to her emphatically.
"Okay, Enid…" she murmured to herself, "just be your usual self. It's just going in and then out again – it cannot be that hard..." No sooner said than done.
She got out and walked steadily towards the front door of the mansion. However, she startled when she suddenly went through an invisible wall that blew a warm tingling sensation over her skin.
"What the..." Astonished, she stopped and looked around. The tingling sensation didn't stop and she looked at her arms to see what it was. But there was nothing to be seen; it was just a feeling. And it was a familiar one, Enid suddenly realized. She had felt it before, in a somewhat weakened form, but no doubt it had been the same. When she came to Dallas about a year ago, she had once had that wonderfully warm sensation. She had been jet-lagging at the time and didn't think about it anymore, but now she was beginning to realize that it must have had something to do with the vampires here. 'How strange,' she thought and with her eyes closed, she enjoyed the tingling heat on her skin a moment longer before quickly going to the door to ring the bell. Not even two seconds had passed when the door was opened.
Enid stood in awe; in front of her was a tall man who filled all the clichés of a Texan.
"Howdy, Cowboy... That's a fine piece of a hat..." Enid giggled and tried desperately not to laugh aloud. Luckily, the man (her inner voice screamed vampire!) didn't seem to be offended. On the contrary, he looked at her with a big grin and openly sized her up from top to bottom.
"Well, who have we here? The red suits you very nicely. Why don't you come in and we have a good time together, sweetie?" he purred, leaning closer.
Enid frowned, all laughter forgotten. "How rude! Don't you know that you first introduce yourself before inviting someone to dinner? And besides, I'm not on the menu. So… I'm Enid Griffith, looking for Isabel Beaumont. I suppose she's here?"
She put on her best smile and tried not to show how nervous she was. She knew that predators can smell fear, and this vampire was looking at her with an expression that reminded her awfully of hunger. This was probably one of the vampires who didn't like to drink TruBlood...
"Well, I'm afraid Isabel isn't available right now. But you would only be disappointed by her. She already has a human... But I assure you, you're all to my taste," the vampire replied, actually licking his lips. At the same time that Enid thought 'Ewww,' she heard someone from within the house call, "Stan, let her in."
It was a gentle voice, clear as a bell, but also with a slight accent that Enid couldn't really classify. Those few words seemed to make her vibrate inwardly, and without a doubt she knew right away that this voice must have belonged to a being older than Stan.
Stan muttered something under his breath that she didn't catch and then stepped aside to let her in. Enid gave him a "thank you" and stole past him, finding herself in a spacious open room which looked surprisingly modern. She would have thought vampires preferred the more cluttered style. Looking around curiously she unconsciously played with her bag when she noticed a young man who studied her with intense eyes. He stood in a doorway with his head tilted slightly to the side. His brown hair was short and neatly cut, but although she had always preferred longer hair on men for as long as she could remember, she thought he looked gorgeous. His most striking feature was a distinctive yet gentle face. He didn't appear to be as showy as Stan but wore a comfy-looking gray sweater and plain loose-fitting pants. She knew he was sizing her up as well, but unlike Stan's look, she didn't feel like this vampire considered her his next meal. This put a real smile on her lips, and with a light step, she approached him. Just outside his comfort zone – did vampires have one too? She made a mental note to ask Isabel later – she stopped and gave him a friendly look.
"Good evening, I'm Enid Griffith. Please excuse the disturbance, but I urgently need to talk to Isabel or-"
"You are Hugo Ayers' niece," he interrupted her suddenly.
So close to him she could now see his eyes better, and when she looked at him in astonishment, she couldn't do anything but admire those deep blue-gray ones that reminded her of something. A thunderstorm? Yes! She had always loved these storms for their cleansing power, and now she stood there, tilting her head to admire the quiet force in his eyes. It was hard to break with them, but with a soft sigh she closed her eyes for a moment to compose herself again.
"Of course you know me," she laughed softly and scratched herself at the back of her head. "I assume Isabel can sometimes be very talkative." Enid saw a light smile on the young-looking vampire's face.
"Yes, little one. Isabel can be very talkative if she has someone interesting to talk about... But I suspect that you really wanted to talk to your uncle? Stan is unfortunately right, both are currently very busy and you cannot speak to them right now. But you are welcome to wait if you wish."
Enid looked over to the cozy couch, but Stan had already sprawled there and invitingly looked at her with a broad grin. He even had the nerve to pat the seat next to him with his right hand and to whistle, calling her over. With a scowl, she turned back to the other vampire and refused as politely as possible.
"Yeah... not really a good idea, you know, but thanks for the invitation. Um..." She rummaged in her bag and pulled out the file. "My uncle's co-worker brought this file for him; he has to read it through until tomorrow. Would you be so kind as to give it to him when he's… free again?"
Enid had a precise idea of what her uncle and Isabel were doing. Sometimes they just couldn't keep their hands off themselves, to put it simply. Love and physical attraction must be wonderful... Easily embarrassed, she grinned at the other vampire and realized that she didn't even know his name. As she was about to ask, her bag suddenly came to life. I kissed a girl and I liked it. The taste of her cherry chap stick. I kissed a girl just to try it. I hope my boyfriend don't mind it.
This time it was up to her opponent to raise his eyebrows and look at her with a wicked glint in his eyes. At the same time, she heard Stan laughing loudly, and before she could blush, she accepted the phone call and turned halfway away.
"What is it, Sam?"
Both vampires could hear that Sam was a woman with a vivid voice when she said that Marcus's parents were there and asked why the hell Enid hadn't shown up yet. The young woman inhaled sharply, looked at her watch and then cursed to herself.
"You know, Marcus is still new to my group, please show them our rooms, I'm on my way!" She threw her cell phone back into her pocket and simply handed the file to the surprised young-looking man. "Sorry, I really must go..." She walked quickly to the door and threw a "thank you" back at him before she closed the door and hurried to her car.
A short time after Godric instructed Stan to send Isabel and Hugo to him when they were approachable he was in his office, sitting over some documents he had received. He was respected for his work and he consciously took responsibility for his underlings, knowing what a weak leadership in the vampire community could do. The great revelation had not been a mistake, but his work has required even greater skill and tact since then. It was a time-consuming affair, even with vampire speed, and that did not please him very much lately. In addition, he caught himself more and more often that his focus slipped away and his mind started to wander. Tonight was no difference. The visit of the niece of Isabel's human had been a welcome distraction from routine monotony, even if she could not stay long. At the thought of the young woman a light smile stole into his face. She had not looked at him with fear but with curious openness, treating him like one of her kind. He wished that all vampire-human relationships would be as wonderful as those between Isabel and Enid.
It had not escaped him that his third in command had looked at him expectantly when she gave him the file and had disapproved that the woman had treated his sheriff with disrespect for his job. But how could she have known he was the sheriff of this area? Isabel was not allowed to talk about their work outside the nest without his explicit permission. She was furthermore just a human and therefore had nothing to do with the politics and customs of his kind. And she had been polite, even with Stan's rude attempts at flirting... Godric's thoughts moved on to her handsome body and soft features. She looked really uncommon with her long white-blond hair and bright green eyes. With her elegant and supple movements she almost reminded him of a cat. He also could not help but inhale her scent and soon realized that although she was no virgin – which was to be assumed after her calm reaction to Stan – she had not been intimate with a man for a long time. It had not been a problem for him to determine that since she had applied a perfume, but it was not too exaggerated. He had really liked that fact. Most women today use either too much perfume or one that smelled too strong and covered the natural scent. Sometimes it even burned partially in his nose.
A knock on his door made him come back from his thoughts to the present. He knew who it was, and with his "Enter," his second in command and her human came into his office.
"Godric, you called us?" Isabel nodded to her superior and motioned Hugo to stand next to her. He greeted the vampire with a polite nod.
Godric looked at the other man and handed him the file. "Mr. Ayers, your niece was here a short while ago and asked me to give you this file. A colleague of yours who had brought it by said that you must look it through until tomorrow."
At the same time that Hugo paled Isabel spoke, "Enid was here? I apologize sincerely, Sheriff, if her behavior was in any way unacceptable."
"That is not necessary, Isabel." Godric gave her a mild smile. "Although Stan will say otherwise, her behavior was nothing but polite and courteous. But I would like Ms. Griffith to come to the nest again. As she had to leave quickly, we unfortunately had no opportunity to introduce ourselves accordingly."
"Of course, Sheriff."
"You may leave then. I am sure Mr. Ayers still has a lot of work to do this night." With another nod from Isabel and a "Thank you for the file, Sheriff" from Hugo, both left the office and Godric picked up his documents again. He feared they would keep him busy for the rest of the night.
