We can leave together. She didn't mean they would stay together. Maggie meant she could go back to her fiancé, and Willie would go to prison for the rest of his life. Of course, for a vampire slave, that would still be a step up.
He sat on the floor in the hallway, closed his eyes and, with all his strength, pushed the door closed in his mind. Barnabas could never know how he felt; Willie would not give him yet another excuse to mock him and append the list of his inadequacies. On the other hand, the vampire hadn't communicated with his humble handyman in a long time, so he probably didn't care what Willie thought or felt. When the boy looked up again, shadows of nightfall were crawling across his face. He would have chores to do soon, candles to light, another vampire to feed.
A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the house and broke Willie's reverie. He jumped to his feet and dashed down the basement staircase as Maggie shrieked again. Barnabas had overtaken her at the bottom of the staircase as she attempted to flee. He clutched her throat while wrenching a pointed tool from her outstretched hand.
Without thinking, Willie leaped the last four steps and landed on the vampire's back. His arm around Barnabas' neck, Willie jerked back and Maggie was released. She hastened across the room, out of reach, as Barnabas shook off his assailant who landed against the wall with a thud.
"She tried to destroy me!" the vampire bellowed, shocked and outraged, as he flung the sharpened object at his servant. "Using one of those tools from your box." He advanced upon the girl as Willie grappled for his arm. Barnabas knocked him away and continued toward his female assailant. "Now you must die."
Willie scrambled to his feet and planted himself between Maggie and his master. "No—sir—ya don't wanna do that. She didn't mean it; she's just scared a' you. You're a scary guy."
"I must kill her, and you may watch because I know how fond you are of Miss Evans."
"Huh? What?"
"You have done everything but take out an advertisement in the Collinsport Star to proclaim your feelings. You have betrayed me in the past for her sake, but you will not have that opportunity again." He took his servant by the shoulders and moved him aside. "Because then I'm going to kill you; I have had enough of your interference."
Willie swallowed. Pleading with the vampire never worked, nor did excuses or pity plays or lying.
"That's gonna make a big mess, and there'll be nobody to clean it up," he remarked casually. "You're never gonna find somebody else to take care a' ya like I do."
"I daresay," Barnabas scoffed. "There could only be improvement."
"But for now, I'm all ya got—and so is she." The servant motioned him aside with a nod of the head and spoke confidentially. "Pretty girl. Really beautiful; looks just like Josette. Face it, you're not gonna find another one to even come close. And she was doin' better, ya know, gettin' used to it. You know how women are; she just needs a little more time."
Barnabas took this under advisement. "You mean, time to reflect, and possibly reconsider?"
"Yeah. What you said. You could give her just one more chance. I mean, what could it hurt?" he shrugged. "You got all the time in the world."
"Very well, then; she will need an atmosphere of solitude in which to meditate. Wait here." The vampire grasped his reluctant bride by the wrist and dragged her from the room. Willie waited alone by the coffins, listening to the couple's echoing footsteps accentuated by Maggie's pleading sobs as they disappeared into the maze of subterranean chambers. A metal door swung open and slammed shut.
"Don't leave me alone in the dark!" she screamed. "Where am I? Help! Please!"
Willie shook his head. Don't beg him. It won't do any good. Barnabas returned to the central room, brushing a stray cobweb from his suit jacket.
"Miss Evans will be staying in the wine cellar until further notice. The key is on the hook by the door when you deliver her meals. Simple fare, I think, nothing too distracting."
"Okay. I mean yessir."
"Now, as for you…" Barnabas went to the coffin and retrieved his walking stick and Willie went on the alert. Flattened against the wall, he inched toward the archway.
"Me? What'd I do?"
"Surely, you're not serious. A moment ago you attacked me in defense of that common girl."
"N-no, I-I was just tryin' to get your attention—"
"And now you have it."
Barnabas swung at his insubordinate servant, who ducked at the last second. The cane struck the entryway with a resounding smack and took a chunk of wood out of the moulding. Willie turned to run, but the vampire grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back on his knees. He hunkered down, prepared this time to protect his hands and face. A single blow fell across his back, and then, without warning, it stopped. After a moment, the young man looked up with trepidation. Barnabas was twisting the silver wolf's head on his stick where it had come loose.
"Damn you! Look what you've done to my cane. It's broken!" The vampire stomped up the stairs in a huff.
"Maggie?" Willie whispered. "Maggie? I brought you somethin'; take it." He pushed a flashlight through the tiny barred window on the iron door.
"Willie, I'm so scared." She flipped on the portable light and let it bounce around the room. The distorted shadows of rows and rows of bottles climbed the walls. There was a small writing table and chair, and a filthy old mattress flung in the corner.
"Don't sit on that, it's fulla bugs. I'm gonna get some stuff and be right back."
Willie reappeared sometime later and unlocked the door. First he pulled out the stinky mattress and brought in his new one, with the box spring and complimentary adjustable metal frame. When that was set up, he added the flannel sheets, pillow, a cotton blanket and a woolen one. Next he unloaded a full water pitcher and basin, chamber pot, and an oil lamp. Last, he handed over the warmest, if not most attractive, dresses he could find, advising her to wear them all in layers.
"Sorry they're not so nice, but those flimsy gowns won't be no good, it's too cold in here. I used to have a parka, but I don't have it anymore. You took it home, remember?" Maggie sat on the bed and did not respond.
He sighed and took off his rust colored windbreaker. "I'm gonna be sorry. Here." He put it around her shoulders. "But I'm sleepin' by a fire tonight and you're not. It's kinda dirty 'cause I wear it all the time, even inside the house, and there's a rip." Maggie started to cry. "C'mon, it don't smell that bad, does it?" He maneuvered her arms into the sleeves.
"Hey, it's better than bein' dead, right? You're really lucky, 'cause Barnabas don't usually change his mind like that." The young woman continued to weep. "Bet you're hungry. Do you wanna eat? We got SpaghettiOs and peanut butter and bean soup."
No answer. He placed a box of matches on the table. "I b-better go. If you want anythin', give a holler. I'll sleep in the kitchen so's I can hear ya." He almost said goodnight, but that sounded stupid. How could she possibly have a good night?
Willie woke the next day to the sound of breaking glass. He raced to the wine cellar, threw open the door, and ducked just as a bottle flew past his head and crashed behind him. The room was littered with shattered shards and broken bottles. Maggie didn't look particularly angry or distraught, she just picked bottles off the shelves one by one and flung them to the wall or floor.
"Stop it, you're gonna cut yourself." He ran back to the kitchen and returned with a broom, dustpan and bucket. Maggie paid him no mind and continued her task. He watched for a minute. "Ya know, each one a' those costs, like, hundreds of dollars."
She paused and looked at her custodian, a bottle of champagne poised in her hand. With a sigh, the girl handed it to him. Willie almost replaced it on the shelf, but reconsidered and smashed it against the wall.
Barnabas told Willie it was improprietous for a servant to speak unnecessarily to his mistress, but they both knew he just didn't want the guard to get too friendly with his attractive prisoner. That deceitful woman would undoubtedly appeal to Willie's gullible nature and again try to enlist his assistance to deceive his master.
"I wouldn't do that," the young man replied distractedly. He wanted to see how many candles he could light with one match without burning himself.
Barnabas commanded his attention by extinguishing the flame with his fingertips. "Because you know where your loyalties lie and what the consequences would be should you forget."
"Yessir."
"You will want to be her champion, but she will make you her fool." He put his hand on Willie's shoulder. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" The servant flinched involuntarily, then pulled away.
"'Course I do. I'm not stupid."
Willie returned to his chore. Naturally Barnabas would be suspicious. He knew nothing of what it was like to be lonely or desperate, but he was right. The opportunity was ripe to get into a shithole of trouble.
Nonetheless, Willie spent as much time as he could spare in Maggie's prison cell, pulling blankets around her, watching her eat. As per the boss's instructions, they rarely exchanged more than a few words; their eyes spoke conversations not worth verbalizing.
What are you doing?
Nothin'.
I'm still here.
I'm still here too.
What's for dinner?
Same old shit.
"Willie, I want to give you something—for being so good to me." Maggie broke the silence and looked up from her soup as if taken with a sudden thought.
"I didn't do anythin'." A smack of his broom against the wall sent a tiny mouse scurrying into a chink.
"See how shiny it is." She removed a ring from her finger and held it out to him. The young man looked up from across the room.
"B-but that's your engagement ring."
"It's a real diamond—almost half a carat. You could sell it and get a lot of money." She held it up to the light as Willie put his broom aside and approached her.
"It's pretty…but I can't take your ring."
"Please, you'd be helping me. It makes me so sad to look at it. And what'll happen when I die?" She stifled a sob. "He will kill me, you know, because I'm never going to do what he wants. Will you just bury me somewhere wearing a beautiful diamond ring?"
"I-I dunno." He didn't want to think about digging a hole for Maggie, but he always thought that was a stupid thing, burying people with their jewelry.
"Then take it—as a favor to me. Please." She pressed the ring into his hand and closed his fingers over it.
Willie was lugging trash upstairs from the kitchen when young David strolled unannounced in the front door. The handyman ran to meet him.
"Kid, what're ya doin' here? Ya can't just walk in here like ya used to."
"Yes, I can. This is my Aunt Elizabeth's house."
"No, it belongs to your cousin Barnabas now, and he don't like people bargin' in."
"Well, I came to see Josette and Sarah."
"They ain't here; go get your own spooks."
The intruder tried to run past him and up the steps but Willie intercepted, picked the boy up and hauled him out the front door. "Willie, put me down! I thought you were my friend!"
He dumped the lad unceremoniously on the porch. "I'm nobody's friend."
David scrambled to his feet and spat viciously at the servant. "I hate you!"
"Yeah, I hate you too," he replied quietly. "Now g'on home before ya get in trouble." He closed the door and listened as David, audibly crying, pounded on the entrance and then stomped across the porch, his steps slowly fading away.
Willie hurried upstairs to his room and, afraid something might happen to it, secured the ring in his desk drawer, along with his other treasures: Maggie's newspaper picture and the stack of vintage love letters. He had a real diamond. It was a present from Maggie, and he would keep it forever.
Willie retained possession of the jewel for another four hours, until Barnabas showed up at his bedroom door that evening, his hand outstretched. The servant didn't have to ask why. He had no rights and could own nothing. He dropped the ring into the vampire's palm.
"You have no common sense whatsoever." The master chided him. "You would have tried to sell that and had the authorities here within the hour. Did you not realize that was her plan?"
"Yeah, I guess so." He shied away, not sure if he was going to get hit, but the vampire gave an exaggerated sigh of exasperation and stalked off.
Barnabas visited his involuntary houseguest that evening and every evening. He brought her the creepy music box to play with and regaled her with endless narratives of his beloved Josette. How she had loved this, hated that, and had been perfect in every way—with one small exception. His bride was so repulsed by the monster that Barnabas had become, she leapt to her death from Widow's Hill rather than be with him.
Maggie sat in silence during these sessions, ingesting the information. Willie also listened from the corridor, hoping that she wouldn't say anything to make Barnabas lose his temper. The vampire felt he was slowly breaking her willful streak, but Willie knew better. She was just playing along, or at least that's what he hoped. Like being in the hole at prison; if you're there too long, you'll go nuts.
Willie often found her rocking back and forth, singing to herself and talking to invisible friends. He made sure she ate enough and drank enough and stayed warm, but, as the days passed, he knew the young woman was going to lose her mind. If that happened, the vampire would have no further use for her. After all, he wanted her to be Barnabas crazy, not bat-shit crazy.
