Chapter 4

Or

Natural Order

Elena collapsed on her bed in a heap of frustration. She hadn't even taken her shoes off when she laid on top of the flower printed gold sheets. "Caroline, I can't believe you did this. I don't need you to protect me! Pappa got me the job so you could keep your innocent one, so I could help provide for our family!"

"You shouldn't have to provide for us. He is!" I referred to our father. I hope no one could hear our argument from the hallway. "But he keeps gambling our savings away. Besides, the thought of leaving you here alone is revolting. You know what the town says about this place. I couldn't let you walk in shame alone!"

She threw her arm over her eyes. "If Bonnie can do it, so can I. Caroline," she said sitting up automatically and turning to me. Small strands of hair had popped out of her bun from the long days work. "You need to get out of here while you still can."

"Elena!" I yelled at her. "I'm staying whether you like it or not. So find a way to deal with it." She finally stopped to listen, her brown eyes gazing up at me with remorse.

I threw my shoes off and put them beside my wardrobe and opened it up to change into my pajama's. I placed my ribbon in our drawer with the other ones we'd collected throughout the years and raised the covers to slip inside them.

They were warm and fluffy unlike the scratchy bed sheets I was used to from back home. Elena got up to change out of her maid's outfit and I blew out my candle. Even the Salvatore's refused to use electricity in their home.

"Caroline," she said quietly and turned off her own burning lamp. I grunted in response as I heard her slip into her own bedsheets. "Thank you," she said before falling to sleep.

"Mr. Lockwood needs a change of clothes," Miss. Greene's astute voice said waking me up even more than before. I was five minutes early and was in a near panic as I forgot how to get to her office. I hope I learned my way around here soon enough. "You will retrieve them from the laundry area of the manor." I still couldn't believe this place wasn't a castle. "It's in the old part of the home, where it was built with wood instead of stone. You will give him his clean clothes before his breakfast which will be arriving at nine, sharp. He will join Lord Stefan in the dining hall so they may eat their meal together."

I nodded my head and regretted not bringing something to take notes on.

"Then, at eleven, Lord Stefan will have another guest arriving. Here is her name and the guest room she will be staying in," she handed me a slip of paper with the information on it. "When she arrives, you will take her to the dining hall." I gulped thinking about the blood taker's meal. Surely Miss. Greene didn't expect her to feed from me. "You will let her know that Lord Stefan is on his way and walk out of the room."

"Any questions, Miss. Gilbert," Miss. Greene said glaring at me from the other side of the desk. Her wall lanterns flickered against the gold and green tapestries. The walls were made of fabric in her room instead of painted cement like most. I shook my head to answer her question. "Wonderful, then you will leave now and do as I say. Let Miss. Bennet know when Lady Branson has arrived and she will pass the word to Lord Stefan."

Taking her silence as dismissal, I got up and walked around to the door. I was to take Lady Branson, the name written down on the paper Miss. Greene gave me, to the dining room. Was she going to eat? The thought of a human being selling their body in a way was a revolting thought enough, let alone if they didn't want to do it.

I wouldn't worry about that at the moment though; I had a job to do.

This home got bigger and bigger every day, and I was supposed to find the old part of it? And there was still no one around to ask for directions! Bonnie was wrong, this place was empty.

"Lost?" a deep voice said behind me. I accidentally screamed from being so easily frightened.

I clutched my chest from the loud startlement until I saw who it was. "Matt!" I said slapping him hard on the arm. He flinched back, smiling down at me in amusement. "Don't creep up on me like that!"

"Sorry, thought I could help. You looked lost." His smug grin was too confident in the way he looked down at me.

"I need to find the old part of the home, where the laundry room is," I said sighing and rolling my eyes. They needed a map for this place, really. "I need to get clothes for one of the guests staying here." Was Tyler considered a guest?

"Follow me," Matt said leading me somewhere. We walked past open windows overlooking the backyard with an unnecessarily large bushed maze. I would hate to get stuck in there. The height of it was two bodies standing on top of one another. A few yards away was a tree line introducing the woods that merged into someone else's territory.

"How do you know where you're going?" I asked him.

He turned around and continued his strides backwards as if this were some sort of game. "That area is near the stables. It's where most of the other servants are located. Cooks, laundry maids, those of us who are equestrians." He placed a hand on his heart when he said the last thing. "And everyone else. This is our area." We turned down another corner where more portraits hung on either side of the tall walls.

I nearly bumped into him when we stopped in front of two wide wooden doors. There was a large window on each door with vines of metal crossing over the glass in designed intricacies.

"Welcome," he said. "To the old house."

The difference between this area and the part that I lived in were strikingly different in many ways. It was so much warmer once we walked through the doors and even the environment seemed calmer compared to the dominant feeling each room held in the renovated areas. This area looked more like a home with the wooden walls and polished floors. White frames held masterpieces next to the wall candles.

Matt had to pull me out of my trance to direct me to the laundry room.

"I have to head back to the horses. Stella still needs grooming after her workout today, and a doctor is coming in to check on one of the pregnant horses. Do you think you can manage yourself around here? You just go down that hallway and to the far left room. All of the things you need will be in there. Ask for Mandy. She knows everything in there better than Clarke or Synthia."

"Yeah, ok," I said trying to keep my voice from shaking. I barely knew anyone here and Matt's been here just as long as I have, and he seemed to have made more acquaintances than I thought possible. "Thanks." I watched him jog down the hall the opposite way than he directed. His heavy boots continued to make thudding noises as he turned a corner out of sight.

I blew out a sigh and went in the direction he told me.

Sweet perfume bellowed behind the far door on the left and I couldn't help but wish that if I were to stop being a maid, I would be one of the Lord Salvatore's laundry women. "Excuse me," I said opening the door. The handle was warm to the touch.

Rose lavender scent hit my face as I walked into the biggest room imaginable that was used for a working space. Three large tubs were being stirred to clean the clothes underneath steaming water.

"New girl," someone called out as some clothes were plucked out to be squeezed then hung to dry. "Mandy, we've got a new girl."

A back door I hadn't seen before opened to a petite red head. She came up to me and looked me over with a kind gaze I wasn't used to from a stranger. "Hi, what can I help you with, dear?" Her voice was warm and calm like the sound of chimes.

"I'm here to pick up clothes for Lord Stephan's guest on the second floor."

Some of the women chuckled from what I said. "Don't mind them," Mandy told me.

"Lord Stephan. She really is new blood, isn't she?"

"Hush Synthia," another woman said as she grabbed some more clothes to wring out. "She works under the Greene Witch, of course she calls them that. Do you want her to be punished for being smart and keeping her manners?" She walked over to open the windows even wider to let some of the steam out from the stuffy room. "Synthia and some of the other's don't call the Lords, as you say, by their rightful names is all."

"Be careful what you say with those windows open," Mandy said sternly. She lowered her voice to a whisper for Synthia and the other women in there to hear only."You know about a vampire's hearing." She turned back to me. "Follow me, dear."

She led me out of the room and into another across the hall. The smell of fresh laundry hung in the air as she shut the door behind us. The walls were filled with drawers from floor to ceiling with numbers underneath each handle. By the wall-length window was an opened door that lead to clothes on hooks or hangers in a large closet.

"What floor did you say he was on, beautiful?" she asked taking a plop on the table in the middle of the room.

She looked to be in her early twenty's but spoke much older than that. "My name is Caroline," I told her going over to the window and peering outside. The glass seemed to have a matte finish on it so everything on the other side looked more blurry than it did clear. I squinted in thought, trying to remember his room number. "I don't know what number he's in actually, just the floor."

"Luckily for us, there's only one 'guest' on that floor. Room number thirty-eight." I dropped my mouth. This place wasn't a manor or a castle, it was more like a high status hotel,."Is he tall with broad shoulders?" she asked.

I tried to remember what Tyler looked like when he got down from the carriage. My nose had reached the middle of his neck which was connected to amazing shoulders. The perfect kind to rest my head on during a waltze. I shook my head at the thought. He was rude and he was in chains. I couldn't think things like that.

I cleared my throat. "Yes, that sounds like him." She walked over to one of the smaller drawers that was a foot above her head and pulled a nearby stool over. She grabbed part of her skirt to stand on it and pulled the handle before grabbing something from it and hopping down.

"Here you go," she said handing me some dark clothes. Next time just come in here, find the room number and pull the clothes away. Big things like dress coats and gowns will be in there," she said pointing to the opened door in the corner.

"Thank you."

"No problem. So nice to see you in our neck of the woods. Come by to visit during your free time."

We both said goodbye and I headed off to room thirty-eight.

By the time I got to Mr. Lockwood's room, I could feel my heartbeat pumping in my ears. I part of me feared that I could hear it so loudly. If there were an undead nearby, I could be a morning snack for them. Luckily I never heard the Lords of this land to take advantage of his workers so roughly, but then again no one really spoke to the keep of the manor to hear their stories in the first place.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lockwood, I'm here for your change of clothes," I said knocking loudly from the other side of his door.

Before I heard any shuffling of the knob, the door opened and a dark figure stood in the doorway.

He was an inch or so taller than Tyler and his eyes seemed to gleam nothing but disgust from his deep blue irises. "Rumor says that when you stare at a vampire, they can take your soul," he said with a devilish smirk. "You'd better not stare too long or I may just eat yours."

I could hear my heart beat pump faster as I recognized Lord Damon. He raised a twisted eyebrow as he buttoned up his dark gray vest. "Damon," a voice I was too glad to distinguish said almost threateningly from the room behind him.

"Tyler Lockwood," Lord Damon said as he continued to stare at me. I felt disgustingly naked as his eyes raked over me in a tight locked grin. "Do remember in whose house you're in and not use such a malevolent tone with me."

"Don't forget who I am so soon," Tyler called back as the Lord Salvatore brushed past me and began on his way.

My breath shook as Lord Damon walked down the steps out of eyeshot. I was definitely not my father's daughter. Bill Forbes was the bravest man I'd ever heard of and I could barely keep from passing out with a single encounter with a Vampire Lord. My father murdered his kind and I could hardly keep my heart from screaming out of my body.

"I don't like waiting," Mr. Lockwood said from his room.

My head struck back to him where he sat on the edge of his bed. "Shut the door behind you," he told me as I entered. I went and set his clothes down on his paperless desk where the mahogany wood glistened from the morning's rays.

"You smell so much better than that blood sucker," he told me rubbing his free wrists. They were still red from the chains he came in. I told him not to struggle in them so they wouldn't bleed.

"You shouldn't speak like that in this home." If we were back in town, that would be ok. Everyone talked trash about the Lords and Ladies everywhere.

"I'm not afraid of them like the rest of you humans around here." The word sounded bitter to him. Humans. His head hung as he rolled his shoulders as if coming from a long run.

"Maybe you should be. There's a reason why the vampires have the status they do. If we don't respect it, we die."

His head snapped up and if I read right, annoyance crossed his features.

"Respect isn't the same thing as fear Caroline." I was impressed he remembered my name. "Everyone of you walk on your tiptoes for those things." Each word was cut off sharply. He got louder than before and his tone was rough.

Why was he raising his voice towards me? What did I do, or say, that upset him so much?

He saw me shrink back and walked over to the window to take some deep breaths. "Things weren't meant to be this way," he muttered.

I thought of my father, William Forbes, who died for a revolution who did nothing for the human race except kill a couple vampire families. I thought of my mother, a newlywed who probably only wanted a family and freedom. I don't even know if they have parents, if I have grandparents somewhere out there. Both Elena and I didn't have any cousins yet. Our aunt moved to another town when we were young. Elena remembered her better than I did. Our grandparents died before we were born by their Vampire Lord.

Mr. Lockwood was right, we didn't respect the vampires. We feared them. Maybe if the witches hadn't died off and the werewolves were still around then the natural order would be more balanced.

"No," I told him. He looked over at me as the sunlight played with his face. "They weren't."

I meant to post this up earlier but haven't been home since nine this morning. Let me know what you think about this story so far. Next chapter will be posted(if not by this Friday) then next Friday. Happy Weekend!