CHAPTER TEN
Amelia Fairchild, known as Mia to those closest to her, looked with curiosity at the house with the overgrown chestnut tree in front of it. Number nine, Filbert Street, the home of Paton Yewbeam and Charlie Bone. Mia smiled as she thought of Charlie, a rather clumsy boy; she had dealt with him several times, and was always left smiling. Walking up the steps, Mia knocked on the door, which was soon opened by Charlie's grandmother Maisie, a plump and kindly woman.
"Hello, I've come to see Mr. Yewbeam," Mia explained to a startled looking Maisie, who blinked, startled at the appearance of this beautiful, bubbly young woman.
"Paton's in his room, could I ask your name?" Maisie inquired, thinking the girl probably wasn't threatening but you could never tell, and it was better to be safe than sorry.
"I'm Amelia Fairchild. I'm the nurse at Bloor's", she explained.
Mia watched Maisie disappear into the hall and heard her call up the stairs,
"Paton, there's a lovely young woman here to see you called Amelia Fairchild."
"Oh?" was the only reply, but Mia heard a door open inside the house, before Maisie appeared at the door again, smiling kindly.
"Please, come in dear," said Maisie. With a word of thanks Mia followed Maisie into the kitchen, where she took a seat at the table and waited patiently for Mr Yewbeam. She didn't have to wait long; Mr. Yewbeam entered the kitchen a minute after Mia.
Paton Yewbeam was a tall, thin man with black hair. He was quite an intimidating figure but his kind smile instantly put Mia at ease.
"I could do with a cup of tea, if you wouldn't mind, Maisie?" Paton said, sitting opposite Mia.
"Of course, Paton. Would you like a cup of tea, dear?"
"Oh, yes please", said Mia, before returning her attention to Paton.
"Well, Miss Fairchild, what can I do for you?" asked Paton kindly.
"I was wondering if you knew anything about an endowed man called Count Valentine" Mia asked, looking hopefully at Paton. This Valentine scared her and she hadn't even met him but Manfred had and Valentine clearly bothered him.
Paton thought carefully for several minutes before saying,
"The name does sound familiar. I know I've seen that name somewhere." Mia sat silently while Paton sat lost in thought. Whilst Paton tried to remember where he had heard Valentine's name before, Mia took the opportunity to look, curiously, around the house. It was a warm, cosy little house, perfect for a small family; it made Mia think of her grandmother's house, where she had grown up after her parents had died in a car accident, when she was four. Her grandmother had taught her to be kind and forgiving; she had taught her to always try and see both sides of the story. Which was why she had been so willingly to give Manfred a second chance; yes he had done terrible things, but that didn't mean that he wasn't capable of good.
"I know where I've seen that name before!" exclaimed Paton, jolting Mia out of her thoughts. Smiling Paton continued,
"I came across the name in a book I read at dear Julia's shop."
"Do you still have it Mr. Yewbeam?" asked Mia excitedly, thinking she could take the book back to Bloor's and look through it with Manfred.
"No, but I'm sure Julia will still have it. Give me a moment and I'll take you to her bookshop," said Paton. Mia smiled and accepted his kind offer.
Five minutes later, Paton and Mia were heading towards Ingledew's Bookshop, on the cool spring day. For several minutes they walked in silence, until, Paton looking curiously down at the young nurse asked,
"Amelia, I hope you don't mind me asking but how did you learn of Count Valentine and why are you so interested in him?"
Mia was silent, whilst she tried to decide how much to tell Paton. He was a nice man and Mia felt certain he could keep a secret if it was asked of him; but he wasn't likely to trust Manfred after everything Manfred had done. She would have to be careful with what she said about Manfred.
"A friend of mine overheard the Bloor's talking about him; I think they're going to ask for his help to do something horrible, and we wanted to know about him and what he might be capable of", Mia explained. She didn't like lying but, she reasoned, it wasn't really lying, she simply left certain facts out, that's all. Paton didn't say anything, he just continued to look at Mia, who got the strong suspicion that he knew she hadn't said everything, but he nodded and left it at that, at least for now.
It took about ten minutes for them to walk to the bookshop, probably due to Paton Yewbeam's long and fast strides; thankfully Mia didn't find it too difficult to keep up. The shop was close to the Cathedral and was an old- timbered house. Stopping in front of the store, Mia felt herself fall in love with the bookshop immediately. The sign over the door was written in old world script, and its windows were filled with the most beautiful books, even if they were old and dusty.
Paton stopped at the door when he realised that Mia had stopped and he couldn't help but smile at the open-mouthed expression on her face.
"It's even better inside", he said, smiling. Mia blushed and followed Paton into the shop.
They were met by a beautiful woman, with chestnut hair piled on top of her head in an elegant bun and warm brown eyes, who answered the sound of the bell over door.
"Paton, this is a surprise, I didn't think you were coming," she said, looking with pleasure at Paton. Mia could tell that Paton and Miss Ingledew were close just by the way they looked at each other; she and Manfred looked at each other that way.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, my dear but I was wondering if I could see that book that I was reading last week. There's information that my young friend, here needs", said Paton, indicating Mia with his hand. Julia looked over at the beautiful young woman standing next to Paton. From her niece, Emma's, description this girl must be the new nurse at Bloor's.
"Hello, dear; I'm Julia Ingledew. I'm Emma Tolly's Aunt; it's a pleasure to meet you. Why don't you both come in the back, so we can have a bit of privacy", she said kindly, ushering Paton and Mia behind a beaded curtain.
Mia smiled at the cosy looking living room; that was also full of books; in fact the majority of the free space in the room was covered with piles of books.
"Sit down, dear", Julia said pointing to the settee. Mia sat down whilst Paton took the chair facing her and Julia perched on the arm of his chair. They sat in silence for a few minutes, so Paton could search through the book.
"Here it is, Count Valentine." And he began to read aloud from the book.
"At a time when magic was rife within the city and many dabbled in darkness, there was one man who ignited fear in all; Count Valentine was merciless, ruthless and brutal. His endowment was the ability to read other people's memories by tasting their blood. He and his younger brother Draco, who shared his endowment, terrorized the city at Count Harkens behest. They torched homes, tortured innocents and never did they show remorse. Draco, especially, was often mad with blood-lust and did not cease taking the blood of his victims once he had their memories. It was he that inspired the tale of Dracula. Though Valentine was worse as he often attacked without cause.
When the Red Knight drove the evil from the city, the Count and his brother were amongst the few who fought back. They fought well, until Draco was felled by three remarkable leopards; one the colour of the sun, the second the colour of a star and the third the colour of fire. In anguish Valentine fled taking his dying brother with him. He tried to save his brother but the wounds inflicted by the leopards were too great.
What happened after his brother died no one is certain; many believe he died not long after his brother. But others say his endowment gifted him immortality and driven mad by the death of his beloved brother, he has preserved the body in ice and searches for a way to give him life once more."
Silence followed Paton's reading as each of them tried to swallow the horror of what they had just read. Mia felt sick; this was a man the Bloor's had agreed to help. Much of what Manfred had heard in his father's study now made more sense. It was his brother that the Count wanted to resurrect, but he didn't know how so he had sought the help of one who had resurrected a horse, all be it with the wrong heart.
"Amelia?" The voice drew Mia out of her thoughts and she became aware of Paton and Julia watching her with concern.
"Are you alright, Amelia?" asked Paton, eyes and voice full of kindness and concern.
"Mr. Yewbeam, Count Valentine is alive and trying to resurrect his brother and the Bloor's have agreed to help, in exchange for his help in finding the will," said Mia quickly, looking imploringly at Paton for him to believe her.
"How do you know all this?" Paton asked, taken aback.
Mia looked at Paton Yewbeam's kind eyes and wondered if he would believe her if she told him the truth. Would he listen and help if he knew the information had come from Manfred Bloor. She could only hope.
So, as calmly as she could, Mia began to tell them everything that had happened since she arrived at Bloor's. She left out only a few personal details. As she spoke she couldn't help but notice the way they both frowned every time Manfred was mentioned. Once she had finished, she was a little concerned by the sceptical look on Paton's face and the horrified look on Julia's. She needed them to understand.
"Please Mr. Yewbeam, I know you don't trust or like Manfred and you have every reason to hate him, I get that. But I do trust him, and I do care for him and even though you can't trust him, can you not trust me?" said Mia desperately.
Paton looked torn for several minutes as he considered what she had just said. Mia was beginning to wonder if he would answer her, when he eventually spoke,
"I do not trust Manfred Bloor. I can't because he has caused much harm to me and people I care for. However, I have no reason to distrust you. You have been good to Charlie and his friends and they all had nothing but good words for you. Also I do not wish to see Valentine return to full strength and he is a danger to Lyell and Charlie as well, I suppose. Therefore I will do what I can to stop him."
Unable to stop herself, Mia flung her arms around Paton's neck and hugged him for listening to her and agreeing to help.
"Thank you," said Mia letting go of a red faced Paton. Julia looked amused.
"You're welcome. Now I think it would be wise to send a message to Lyell as a warning. And I think I'll contact Bart as well, see if he will help," said Paton, more to himself than anyone else. Julia gave him a fond look then turned her attention to Mia.
"Would you like to spend the night here, dear? It's much safer than Bloor's."
"Oh, no thank you. I need to get back to Bloor's. I don't want to arouse suspicion." And I want to see that Manfred is alright, she thought, as she bid Paton and Julia farewell, with a promise to come back soon. But as Mia made her way back to Bloor's she suddenly had a tight knot in her stomach, and instinct told her something was wrong; very, very wrong.
Author's note: I sincerely apologise for the long wait and thank you for sticking with it, I am incredibly grateful :)