Esmeralda's POV.
"You will be fine; I will be waiting outside anyway should any trouble happen. I will feel it if you become distressed my sweet. You can do this" Stanley reassures me as we sit in his car parked up a few streets away from the mansion, ten minutes before I have to be in work. My heart is hammering so fast within my chest with nerves that I feel sick. I'm so scared to do this, so very frightened I will be caught. It's what I have to do though, to bring Russell down and free Tyra from his evil clutches. She cannot languish there forever because I am scared. I have to pull my head out of my ass and be brave. What she's going through has to end.
"Okay, I'm ready. I just need a kiss from my vampire for good luck" I tell him before receiving the usual breathtaking kiss from him.
"Make me prouder than I already am" he whispers, gripping my hand tightly before he lets me go to leave the car. I take deep calming breaths as I walk through the streets to the mansion, passing the guards on my way in and saying good evening as usual before hurrying down the long drive as fast as my feet can carry me. Stanley did say that I must try and conceal my nerves any way I can, and so to try and confuse any vampire who might pick up on my jitters I go in there clutching a recent letter I received from my gynaecologist this morning. That should put them off without any question. I walk through the mansion pretending to read it should anyone see me and as it turns out someone does.
"Is that something for me? I do not enjoy having my mail intercepted in such a way if it is Esmeralda" Russell tells me as he appears by the hallway door that leads to the servants quarters, holding his hand out for the letter that I pass him.
"No Mr. Edgington sir, just my usual check up letter that I do not relish receiving" I tell him, watching him look uncomfortable instantly.
"Quite" he replies, handing the letter back to me and looking very put off. It worked like a charm. I head down to the small room we keep our possessions in while we work and remove the telephone bugs (which are so small I did fear I might lose them) in the little plastic zip lock bag I was given them in and put them into my apron, and also the tiny USB drive that I attach to the rest of my keys that I wear tucked away under my uniform. With that, I am ready. I do my usual routine first of vacuuming the rugs and removing them ready for Frank (one of the other servants) to come along in a little while with the floor buffer, stacking them all up in the hallway so they are out of the way. Then I move on to polishing and dusting the dining room and main lounge (and plant one bug under the couch on the frame, which is within four metres from the telephone), and then get moving onto the staircase, which takes an hour to completely scrub, buff and dry again (I officially hate marble) before I can move onto the first floor, where the office is located.
I have an hour maximum now to do the most important job of copying the files from the computer. I make sure no one is lurking before heading in and going straight to the computer to switch it on, dusting the desk and tidying my boss's mess of quills and parchment paper (he's still quite old fashioned in that respect), putting them all back in the holder and the lid on the inkwell again. I then turn back to the computer as I hear the Windows Vista programme load up, and with horror that I see the computer is password protected. Oh heavens, we just didn't think of this! How could we not either? Of course he's going to keep a close guard of all his personal files! Shit!
Okay Esmeralda, keep calm. Just keep calm and think about this for a few moments. That's what I tell myself in my head as I bend over the desk with my fingers hovering over the keyboard, remembering back to my computer classes at school when we were learning about how to protect passwords.
"The four most common passwords used today are love, secret, sex and god" I remember my information technology teacher Mrs. Williams stating to us all, and with that memory try them all with no luck. Again I begin to wrack my drains and try the following list of words.
"KING" gets nothing.
"VAMPIRE" also draws a blank.
"KING OF MISSISSIPPI"
"CELTIC KING"
"CELTIC WARROR"
"VAMPIRE KING"
I try all the overblown names I can think of that he might use to reference himself in his password, but nothing works. I think harder, realizing that time is ticking away before an idea strikes me.
"TALBOT" I type in, hitting the enter key as I hope with everything I have that it works. Bingo, I'm in. Who knew it could be that easy? Sometimes, it's the most obvious answer. Taking the USB off my keys I slot it into the available drive, wait for the computer to load the drivers and locate all of his files while I wait for that to happen. I find all of his files are situated entirely within the 'My Documents' folder, and find no hidden sub files or folders at all, or anything else on the C drive at all. Everything is here, and so I select all and proceed to start copying them, glad he is efficient enough to keep all of his precious files stored on one place. It certainly makes copying them a lot easier. I then turn off the computer screen to make it look less obvious if someone does enter the office, and then go about my work of cleaning it from top to bottom and also planting a bug deep into the soil of a potted plant I will remember not to water until we have our information, save it being ruined.
It takes twenty minutes to copy it in total, and I have just enough time to remove the tiny memory stick and then remove all traces of the newly installed drivers for it from the machine so no trace of the file theft can be traced, before shutting the computer down and leaving the office with my cleaning products and moving on to the drawing room. I place the bug in there on top of the huge crystal glasses display case in the far corner after dusting its top and then move back downstairs to assist with relaying the rugs in the main foyer and hallway. Even though I'm relieved to have done my planting the bugs and collecting the information from the computer I will not be able to relax until my night here is over. Relax until Russell calls me to his office at a little past 3am.
"Yes Mr. Edgington?" I say politely as I enter, trying to calm my heartbeat. He will of course pick up on it.
"Why do you look so scared dear?" he asks me with a slight chuckle in his voice, the kind he uses to lull you into the false sense of security that he's a nice vampire.
"My doctors letter, I just have it on my mind is all. You see in my family there is history of...women's problems shall we say. I get nervous before each check up just in case something appears" I say, stumbling over my words which only adds to the effect. I'm playing a part in the charade too, the part of the nervous employee who trusts her kind boss enough to tell him personal things.
"If you would like the evening before your appointment off work I shall allow it" he tells me graciously.
"Thank you, sir" I reply with a humble nod.
"You are welcome. Now, could you bring up my briefcase from the lounge and organise a pot of warm blood too, please" he then tells me before going back to looking at his computer screen and typing away. So far so good, I wasn't drained on sight and he was working away happily at his computer. He seems to not suspect a thing, but that does not stop my hands from making the tea service rattle on the tray I carry it upon as they shake with nerves. I am able to pass this off as strain though, carrying a laden tray and a briefcase is not easy work. Especially when you take into account there's a hell of a lot of stairs that lead up here to the first floor.
"Thank you Esmeralda that will be all" he tells me with a curt nod. Two hours after this and I am out of here, scurrying to the taxi I ordered as fast as I can, insisting to Stanley I leave things as normal and take my usual method of transportation home rather than he pick me up, just in case. I breathe a sigh of relief as the cab pulls away from the gates, texting Stanley to tell him I'm on my way. The only other sneaky thing I have to do now is pass on a talisman to Tyra, which is apparently going to arrive as soon as Beth has found an efficient enough spell to use. It's been two days already since the meeting at Eric's apartment, so I hope she can find something suitable soon. Tyra can't take much more of what's happening to her without her cracking. I had to practically carry her to the bathroom about a half hour before I left, and held her as tightly as I dared in a hug of reassurance once she was finished.
Even though our meetings have only been short I feel the urgency of the situation has made us grow close. The trust she has in me and me in her too. We're secret allies on seemingly opposite sides. I hope the war between those sides will end soon, for her sake more than anyone else's.
"Hey you" I shout out as soon as I arrive home. Stanley is in front of me in a split second.
"Did you manage it?" he asks me, eyeing me carefully to make sure I am one hundred percent okay.
"All the files from his computer are here, and all bugs are planted in the last places he'd ever look for them. You get yourself to your casket and I'll begin searching this on our PC for anything incriminating" I tell him, watching him look pleased with me but shake his head and make a doubtful face suddenly.
"No sweetheart, I shall travel back to Louisiana tomorrow at first dark and deliver it to Eric. It was a commendable thought though, to volunteer yourself further like that" he tells me, putting an arm around me and guiding me further into the apartment and then treating me to an hour of sexual exertion that makes me almost forget why I was so nervous before leaving for work last night.
Eric's POV.
"Anything?" Pam asks me as soon as I enter the bar on the thirteenth night since Tyra vanished.
"No" I reply somewhat dejectedly. The 'anything' she's referring to is news from Beth about whatever hex or spell she has found. The fact that it's been almost four days since we met and discussed all this clearly states she hasn't found one sufficient enough yet. I've been extremely patient in my wait, but it is wearing undoubtedly thin. The old bag needs to get a fucking move on with it, before Tyra suffers any more than she currently is. I've felt her optimism sliding, I've felt her feeling depressed more than I have confident or strong in the last two days. She's starting to crumble. So are the people who care for her too.
Her father is understandably out of his mind, especially since he's keeping the whole thing a secret from his wife, for fear of her reaction and her blaming me for it. The night after I was released from jail I visited him at his factory in Baton Rouge (I hated having to go up there again, but because of Tyra's mother's loathing of me I couldn't go to the house) and was able to catch him just before he left. The poor human thought I was there socially, and was actually thrilled to see me, thrilled I'd come up completely on my own invite to introduce myself. I was surprised at how bad I felt for him when I watched his face changing at the news I had to give him. I told him the full story, trusting him not to say a word to anyone and I he assured me he wouldn't, but to be safe (and probably much to Tyra's anger if she ever finds out) I glamoured him, imprinting it in his brain that he must not breathe a word to anyone, especially the police. I cannot risk this going completely awry with a SWAT team turning up at the mansion, with no clue how to handle the situation properly more than likely. After I had explained it all to him and also brought him back to his normal self he told me he trusted me, said he could see how deeply I cared for his daughter and said whatever plan I had he'd stand behind.
"Just bring my baby back safe Eric" was the last thing he told me before he climbed into his car and drove away. Next on my list was Anna and Dmitri, the former bursting into tears as soon as I told them both, and the latter sat mumbling very dark words of vengeance against her captors in Russian (his mother tongue). I left quickly, after letting them know as much as they needed. Before we open up I call Deborah over and bite into her wrist to feed from her (even having anyone else's blood than Tyra's feels alien to me, let alone biting someone else neck to get it) and then head back downstairs with Poon when the doors open. I am not in a social mood at all, and do not even want to entertain the idea of sitting up on the stage being eye fodder for tourists and fang bangers, lest actually participate in it.
"Cat, come here" I call after scooping her bowl into her bag of dried food and placing it down next to her water dish in my otherwise empty kitchen. Empty apart from the few things Tyra has left here. It's the presence of the cat quietly eating her food that makes it look way more domesticated than I ever intended it to though. I leave her to it and go to lie flat out on the couch, having no energy it seems to do much else. Or any inclining to either, because I'm becoming further consumed in the distraction and depression in being parted from my woman. That's something else I never bargained on, feeling actual depression again. I was a very happy man as a human so I didn't feel it much then, not until my family died, and then the family I made for myself died too. This pain is exactly the same, but so is the undying thirst for vengeance. It is the ringing of my cell that stops me from contemplating that vengeance any further.
"Beth, what do you have?" I answer after seeing her name appear on the screen.
"I don't have a spell as such, but I do have something that'll trap every vampire and human I want trapped in there. Eric, I'm going to raise the dead" she says in a tone so matter of fact and normal I almost laugh.
"I think you need to get your old woman ass over here at once and explain to me exactly how you're going to go about that" I reply coolly, not one hundred percent convinced at her idea. Very, very few witches can raise and command the spirits of the dead.
"Shut up Eric, your ass is exactly one thousand years older than mine, old man!" she fumes before slamming her phone down. She walks through my apartment door as a speedy shuffle in her slippers still and a bright green dress that hurts my eyes (she's like the old lady version of eccentrically dressed actress Helena Bonham Carter, what she wears just does not match) just over forty minutes later. Cassius, Pam, Fabien and the Were's are all present here once again, Stanley is on speakerphone, and Poontang is hiding at my side once more, growling with displeasure.
'Beth, elaborate on your remark about raising the dead if you please" I tell her as soon as she has taken a seat next to me. She reaches across my lap and gives the cat a good scratch on the head, making a kissing sound at her with her lips before she begins to talk. It's all in her own time with this woman.
"It was no mere remark Eric, it was my plan! It is what I will do!" she exclaims in her loud boom.
"Okay, your 'plan'. Tell us more" I reply.
"Basically and to put it very concisely I have found a very old, very effective incantation that will raise the dead. Well, raise the spirits of the dead. Demons Eric, I'm going to summon demons and send them after everything in that house bar Tyra and Esmeralda. This is the talisman that will keep her safe from them. As long as it is on her person, touching her skin somewhere she will be safe. As for the scumbag who is down there with her, doing all he's doing to her, I will release him before you grab him and take him too" she tells me efficiently, holding out a small velvet pouch. "Don't get it out, it's partially made of silver. There is one in there for Esmeralda to wear too" she quickly adds when I take it and begin to open it up. I look inside to see both talismans are made of a thin silver chain with a few small charms and a flower of some kind wound around them.
"You can do this incantation at any time, and any place too while being quiet and discreet?" I ask her.
"I have to chant the verses out loud, but it doesn't matter about decibels just as long as I get the words right. Which I will" she says with every confidence. I nod in appreciation of her efforts.
"Eric, Esmeralda of course knows the mansion like the back of her hand, so she can draw out a plan of the basement, where the outside entrance hatch is and the like so the physical rescue of Tyra can go without a hitch. I propose Esmeralda be there with her too, so I can take her away at the same time. I want her out of there at the same time" Stanley says, his voice a little crackly across the line.
"Have her do that and bring it with you, Fabien, take these talismans to Jackson, tonight. Our plan of attack will be as thus. There is a back road that leads to the mansion across the grounds that we can access, but leave the vehicles we will travel in back on the roads though and go in on foot. Any Were on guard that gets in the way is slain, end of story. Then we go in and Beth does what she has to do at 5.30pm exactly. Stanley that is when you should tell Esmeralda we will be there for her and Tyra, 5.30pm tomorrow. We do this as soon as possible" I tell him and everyone else in the room. They all instantly nod before I tell them to go. This time tomorrow Tyra will be safely back in my arms, and those who hurt her will be severely tormented one way or another. Brendan will be coming with us for sure, to be held prisoner at my pleasure for what he did to Tyra. Russell on the other hand, he can wait until I have my lady safely out of there before I bring both him and the AVL down.
Speaking of which, Stanley sent a vampire here earlier with the USB containing the contents of Russell's computer, so I must now take up the arduous task of searching through all the files to find the evidence. Beth did state that it would be wise to gather the incriminating evidence in full before rescuing Tyra, but I'm confident in getting her out of there and leaving the bugs in place to pick up something if the scanning of his files proves to be a fruitless exercise. No doubt in the aftermath of her being taken back by us he will make a frantic telephone call the AVL that will be picked up by us. Peter has the rest of the bugging equipment set up in his house, recording every call from and to the mansion. We have our bases covered. So with all of this in mind I head up to the office, turn on the computer and plug in the USB and then get searching. I open and close around two hundred word files and find nothing, so then move onto the spreadsheets. At about 4am, when I have a sleeping cat snoring contently on the desk in front of me, I find what I've been looking for.
Russell,
Please keep all inventory of the blood being taken, amount and sale price so we can keep a current record of sales of the Wolverina blood. Also please find attached in this file our bank account numbers and sort codes for the monthly standing payments to our accounts to cover the company wages as agreed in full by you. There is a document also enclosed for you to sign and re attach so we have our agreement in writing.
Yours,
Catherine Nelson
AVL accounts.
I then click through the workbooks and find just about everything incriminating right there. A standing order for $100,000 to be paid monthly to the AVL (covering their company wages in full), and also the prices charged for Tyra's blood. Five grand buys you five fluid ounces of Wolverina blood. So this is how he wheedled his way out of his incarceration then. He's bargained with the AVL to pay their company wages in full, using the sale of Tyra's blood to fund his semi freedom.
"Not for very much fucking longer you won't be" I say into the darkness of the office as I go about saving copies of the files onto another memory stick I pull from the desk draw, one I plan on hiding. I then email the copies of the files to Fabien and explain he is to remove them from his machine and hide them securely. With that all done, the cat and I head to bed and I am able for the first time in almost two weeks to rest less fitfully, for I know this time tomorrow I will have Tyra here next to me again. Back where she belongs.
Authors note - A huge, HUGE thank you to all for reading, and to those kind enough to leave a regular review. I appreciate your kindness so much :) xx
