Chapter 9

Lorelei sighed with annoyance as she lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. She was bored, and lonely, and even worse, the only thing she had for company was a vampire who didn't seem to want anything to do with her. Wonderful.

The first night at Reiko's house had been uneventful. She had been surprised to see how well furnished the hallway was, and how spacious it was. It was almost like the lobby of some kind of palace, complete with a huge chandelier in the middle. She had peered out of a window and had seen that there were no buildings to be seen for miles.

'Where are we?'

'Does it matter?' came the soft reply. Lorelei had blinked, taken aback.

'Well actually, it does.' She had glared at him, but the vampire had said nothing and only watched her steadily. Lorelei remembered staring into those eyes and felt no pull. Odd, isn't that what vampires were known to do? Lure you in with their eyes? However, it appeared as though Reiko couldn't, or didn't want to.

Lorelei's mind flitted to their conversation, their first and only.

'You are in my house.'

'House? More like a mansion.'

'Very well. You are in my mansion.' Reiko had kept watching her and Lorelei remembered that she had stared back, but not without hate, more with curiosity.

'Why haven't you made a move to kill me?' The vampires eyes had clouded over with sadness and he had said nothing, but simply turned around and walked upstairs. Lorelei had followed him without thinking.

Reiko had stopped at the landing upstairs but had not turned around, almost as though he had eyes in the back of his head that he was watching her through. She had paused and then pulled the worst face she could think of behind his back. Reiko had suddenly turned around and blinked looking somewhat shocked.

'Lore, are you all right?' She had blinked, her face frozen with her tongue poking out at him.

'Uh…' Sheepishly, her features had slowly rearranged themselves so then she looked somewhat normal. Reiko had watched her intensely, one eyebrow raised in puzzlement.

'I could…get you a drink of water if your throat is feeling parched.'

'No no…I'm fine.' Reiko had blinked again and then slowly began to look almost hurt, wounded.

'Please refrain from pulling less than savoury faces at me behind my back. If you are unhappy with your present situation, then you should take it up with Dante, not me. I am sorry. However, I am not to blame for your predicament. Here is your bedroom. The bathroom is directly next to it.' He had looked at her again before he had padded off silently like some kind of kicked cat. All at once, she had felt a sudden pang of guilt. Irritated with herself, she had flung herself into the bedroom and threw herself onto the bed, determined to close her eyes and go back to her sleep, which had been so unexpectedly interrupted.

And it was there she had stayed for the past three days, unable to sleep with in an environment that was hugely unfamiliar.

She had thought that after her shoddy treatment, he would retaliate by cutting off all meals or welding the door shut or something equally as horrible. However, contrary to this belief, it was almost as though he was determined to win her over somehow. Three times a day, a carefully laid out tray full of food was to be found in front of the bedroom door, often noticed when Lorelei was going to the bathroom next door.

The food wasn't crap either. In fact, it was more like a gourmet meal.

It looked like this vampire was just full of surprises. Why on earth would a vampire keep food in his house if he was incapable of eating? Well, that was his business, it wasn't for her to wonder about.

Yet despite all the meals and the questions she wanted to ask, the vampire hadn't said a word to her, and she hadn't said anything to him since that first night. What was even worst was the fact that she was beginning to think she'd welcome any company, and that if the vampire hadn't killed her yet, then he wasn't likely to ever. Maybe she should start giving him a chance.

But would he take the chance? Would he even try talking back to her. Well, there seemed to be only one way to find out. She cautiously padded over to her bedroom door and looked out. The hallway was lined with a rich red carpeting, well vacuumed, not a speck of dirty on it. It felt soft and warm under her feet, like she would sink into it if she didn't keep on the move.

She walked down the hall way but suddenly paused seeing the stairs. She would be here for a long time, or so it seemed. What should stop her from doing a little exploring? Try a vampire who still could not be trusted just yet. Should she really risk exploring? The vampire would surely know his own mansion better than her.

The mansion seemed ancient – or maybe that was just the various expensive antiques she could see around the place – yet it had no musty smell to it, and no scent of mildew. It was quite simply, a well kept house. Mansion. House. An extremely well kept house. Her eyes danced with excitement and she turned away from the stairs, checking the time on her silver watch. It was only one o' clock at night. The vampire was sure to be out somewhere, doing something, and he'd probably be out for ages.

She suddenly felt a sudden burst of sympathy. She stopped in her tracks as she pondered on the vampire's lifestyle. It must be so dull, having to stay indoors all day, unable to see the world outside in all it's colourful splendor, unable t go to the shops and buy the supplies he needed. After all, England wasn't like her birthplace, America. The stores only opened until 5 o' clock in the evening, and usually, the sun hadn't gone down by then.

She walked into the first room past the bathroom she frequented and saw that it was a windowless office. There was a varnished old oak table, on which lay computer accessories and various stacks of paper. The In-tray only had a single piece of paper in it. The Out-tray was stacked up high, suggesting that Reiko was more than able to keep on top of his workload.

Lorelei glided over, still in her bare feet and in her nightdress, curious as to what this vampire could be doing in order to gain money. She read the first few sentences and was able to gather that Reiko ran some sort of computer business. A prestigious one by the looks of it. She noted suddenly, the dozens of computers in the office, some equipped with gadgets she had never seen before.

Internet! Of course! Supermarkets now had an online system with which you could order food and supplies and have it delivered to your doorstep. The vampire must be worshipping the Internet. She walked back out of the room and came across a few more spare bedrooms, a storage room, another larger bathroom and a games room.

The room had all kinds of games consoles and nearly every video game for each console. There was a pool table to one side of the room, and right at the back of the room, there was a bar filled with drinks. This room was obviously used for entertaining either himself or guests. There was also a football table on the other side of the room. Directly in front of her, she could see some old toys the vampire hadn't yet parted with. She frowned minutely and went over to examine them.

They were very few toys and all of them seemed quite old but it was obvious that each toy carried a lot of sentiment and that the vampire had treasured them to this very day. Each toy had it's own separate little glass case, where they stood raised on a podium. She paused seeing a metal car with a small engraving on it, the writing swirling and looping intricately.

"To our Darling son, Reiko. Happy Birthday. With lots of love, Mommy and Daddy."

She smiled, reading the inscription but then blinked, wondering. Where were his parents? Did they keep in touch? But the more and more toys she looked at, the more and more uneasy she became, the more and more she felt that something was missing from the vampire's life. She couldn't bring herself to draw up a conclusion. She stopped and smiled seeing a stuffed toy in the shape of some kind of wild cat before she turned away to look at a new room.

However when she got out to the corridor, she found out that there was only one room more left to explore. She cautiously nudged it open and blinked seeing it was the vampires bedroom. She stood on the thresh-hold of the bedroom, staring in curiously before thinking that she was being perhaps a bit too nosy. She decided to swallow this feeling and walk in anyway.

She stood in the center of his room and looked around interestedly, only to be disappointed. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was neat and orderly and remarkably human. Her eyes flitted to the bedside table, on which there was a lamp, a glasses case – she laughed a little at that, a vampire who needed reading glasses? – and a photo frame. She walked over towards it and looked but did not touch.

The photo depicted a young boy being held and picked up by a strong looking man, with the same amazing jet-black hair. One of his arms was draped around the shoulders of a delicate looking woman, with the startling deep hazel eyes. The boy also had inherited them. The family were all smiling, their eyes alive with happiness.

It was a perfect picture of a perfect family. Again she was stabbed by a feeling of unease.

What had happened?

What had happened to this perfect happy little family?

She didn't want to know. Yet, she had a feeling she already did.