CH13
Rick sat there, watched her leave, and heard the door being locked. She had really locked him in, though if she was right that might not be such a bad idea. Locked in a house with 23 vampires of which 21 of them might kill him - he shuddered in fear.
"So besides Mistress, who is the other one?" That was a really big question. Then Rick turned to the curtains. "Don't open the windows." Just how dangerous could opening a window in daylight be? Unless you were a vampire and couldn't survive sunlight, of course.
Good thing he wasn't a vampire then. Rick got out of bed and opened the blackout drapes. "Shutters." He deflated and tried to open them. "And locked. …Why is everything in this house locked?" He drew the drapes closed again.
Rick picked up a suitcase since it looked like his and opened it. "Shoes, pants, button down shirts, t-shirts, boxers, socks, …condoms?" He picked up 1 of what looked to be 6 of them. "Two ties, one belt, one baseball hat, one…hockey shirt?" He didn't even remember having one. "New York Islanders." He shook his head and placed it on the bed along with everything else. "Could have at least packed my book," he moaned.
He put everything in the closet or the dresser and walked over to the food they had left him. "Fried rice, beef and broccoli, sweet and sour chicken, 6 pot stickers and 2 chicken egg rolls. Just how much do they think I eat? …Or is it an indication of how long am I going to be in here?"
Still he was hungry, so he sat on his bed and started eating a little of everything. Finally full, he found a glass in the bathroom so he could get a glass of water to help wash it all down.
Not having anything else to do, he pulled out his laptop and found that he was connected to the Internet though a router called… "Peanut!?"
"At least vampires have a sense of humor." Rick talked to himself and viewed the video yet again. "What am I not seeing?"
Rick had watched what he had recorded so many times over the next 4 hours he could barely keep his eyes open. "Is there smoke that I missed the first time? A dust cloud maybe?" He leaned back against the bed's headboard and sighed.
"A reflection in a window or maybe a mirror?" Rick went back to watching his video. "Footprints maybe? After all they had to land somewhere after jumping over the cars."
Rick got up to get another glass of water. "What am I missing? They robbed a bank using automatic weapons. Stole only the drawer money. In and out in a minute. All that for what? A few thousand dollars? It wasn't worth it." He drank down his glass, re-filled it and went back to his laptop.
"What if money wasn't what they were after? Just what else is there in a bank?" It still didn't answer his question of where they went.
"What if what they were after wasn't the money? The money is just a red herring. They were after someone that was in the bank? Just who was in that bank? With all of that weapons' fire, they are likely dead." Rick thought he was on to something.
"OBITUARIES!" Now that was something that he could look up on-line. It likely wasn't going to tell him where they died though.
Rick opened another note pad window and started typing out names, not sure if there was anyone he could leave out. Child to old man or woman. By the time he finished, he had a lot of names. "I just had to live in a big city." He sighed and let his head fall to his chest.
He decided on taking a break from his video and went back to his writing. He had been itching to check something first. So he got up and tried to open the door that would free him to go out into the rest of the house.
"Locked." Rick kept trying. Then he started examining the door and the door frame. "I could swear that the door was lined on the edge with metal as was the door frame. He started knocking on the door and then on the wall.
"This is one solid door and it sounds like there is something solid in the wall." Rick placed his ear up against the door and the wall. "Insulated maybe?" He didn't hear a thing.
Trapped in a tiny room with no one to talk to, no phone. "Who am I going to call anyway?"
Rick wondered if the pain of losing his daughter and mother at the same time would ever go away. He still didn't understand who or what had done that to them.
Then he went back to the window and pulled the drapes apart again. The shutters looked a lot like the door. They were solid as was the wall they were attached to. He just wanted a quick peek to see if he could recognize where in the city he was.
"Mistress jumped us here, I just know it. If she told me the truth, we could be anywhere. Maybe not even in the city anymore." Rick had no idea where he actually was.
"Mistress is a vampire and she loves me. How cool is that!" Rick started smiling. He had so many questions and not a care in the world that Kate was a vampire. In some ways that even intrigued him more about her. But he did have a big question. "Why did she pick me?"
The more he thought about it, the more conflicted he became. She brought him to her house because she cared, but she brought him to a house filled with blood sucking vampires! She locked him in his own room!
Was it to keep the vampires out or to prevent him from walking the house? "And what the hell did Gina and Paula think they were doing? Mistress Kate owned him and she told him not to get involved with other women." Rick talked to himself and touched his chastity device through his pants. It really wasn't that uncomfortable to wear, though he was getting more and more horny around his Mistress. What he wanted to do was make love to her and be inside her.
Rick stripped off his pants and his boxers and went into the bathroom which didn't work out too well. It only had a small mirror over the sink. What he needed was a full length mirror. Rick went back into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed so he could study his steel cage again.
He could ask her. Satisfied that if he brought up removing it so he could make love to her, she might consider it. Rick put his clothes back on and went back to his video.
He re-read his notes and started looking at his list of dead people. "I need something to make this list smaller. I can't leave out babies or even the guy that died at the age of 91." Rick's head dropped. What he needed was a police report. "Bob might help me, except I don't have a phone. But I do have email!" he perked up and started working on his email and re-read it twice before sending it.
Rick went back to watching his video until he closed his laptop and moaned, "I have to quit for now or I'm going to lose my mind." He didn't feel like writing either so he stripped and went to bed after turning off the light, plunging the room into complete blackness.
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"Morning mom." Alexis stretched when she woke, found her mother already awake, and still holding her tight. "What's first?" Alexis was curious.
"God, I wish I knew. I had hoped that when or if this ever happened I would be ready for it." Kate stared up at the ceiling.
"Mom?" Alexis had a question and it was a big one. "Yes, I plan of telling him about you. It might actually be best if you were there with me." Kate knew he deserved to know.
"That's not it, mom. I mean, that's not only it. I do want to see him and talk to him. Even if I don't remember him. The only memories of when I was little are yours," Alexis mentioned.
Kate wasn't sure she wanted to hear it. Alexis was stalling so it must be big. Then it hit her, she thought. "It's about Paige, isn't it? I know you love her, sweetie and I'm happy for you, but if you're about to ask me to turn her you can forget it. You know the odds of it working as well as I do, and there is no way in hell I'm taking her from you." Kate turned her head to look at Alexis.
"That's not it mom. I want…I want to tell her about me. We're in love and she deserves to know," Alexis explained.
"Is that all!? Alexis, sweetie, when you tell her is up to you. It always was I have no intention of preventing you from telling her. You just need to be sure in case she can't handle it. Loving another human is one thing, loving a vampire who could just as easily drink her dry is another," Kate warned her.
"REALLY! Thanks mom, I love you." Alexis kissed her cheek. "I need to get dressed and go see Paige." She flew out of the bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower.
Kate stayed in bed till Alexis was done and dressed. "I promise to be home in time this time mom." Alexis didn't want to have to rely on her mother to jump and get her. She needed to handle her own problems.
"Keep your phone on Alexis, I may need you to help me with Castle," Kate warned her.
"I will mom. Good luck with him!" Alexis called over her shoulder as she dashed outside and into a taxi to get to Paige's home.
Kate moaned before rolling out of bed and into the shower. Today was probably going to be all Castle so she dressed casually. Once done she jumped to the door leading to Castle. Testing the door she found it was still locked.
"Mistress." One of the vampires passed by likely on the way to the living room or kitchen for a morning snack, something Kate needed to do also. She needed to call Alexis and remind her to drink. "Might as well get this over with." Kate pulled out her key, unlocked the door, and went inside to find it completely dark.
Kate turned on the light and closed the door behind her carefully since she saw that Castle was sleeping in the bed.
She looked down on him and ran a finger down his cheek which got him to smile for a moment. "He really is handsome. I like his facial hair short like this and his training is going well." Kate wondered if today was going to be the day when he pulled away from his training.
Kate leaned down and traced her lips across his. "Castle?" She decided to tease him and stroked his ear that she had abused early in their relationship before taking a hold of it.
He didn't wake up, but he did moan a little, getting Kate to smile. "Castle." Kate sang his name and decided to really kiss him this time.
She was still kissing him when Castle started kissing her back and lifted his arm to hold her head in place. Kate finally broke from the kiss. "Hi Castle." Kate smiled at him, getting him to smile back.
"Who am I, Castle?" Kate decided to start with checking his training.
"Mistress Kate who owns my heart, mind, body and soul and can fuck my ass anytime she pleases." Rick recited it back to her like he had several times already.
"And you are?" Kate wanted to see if he could finish.
"I am yours and you own me," Rick responded.
"Very good Castle." Kate was pleased with him. "You should get up, take a shower, and get dressed. We need to introduce you to the rest of the house so they know not to drain you dry. Plus I need to go get more of your clothes and start moving your boxes and furniture out of that apartment," Kate explained and pushed to get him up and into the shower.
"I'm going to lock you back inside while you shower. I'm going to start moving your boxes to one of our satellite locations," Kate told him, locked the door behind her, and jumped to his apartment.
She had half the boxes moved by the time she thought Castle might be done, so she jumped for the hallway. "Mistress." Another of the house vampires walked past her.
Kate unlocked the door and found Castle sitting on his bed with his laptop in his lap. "Ready for that tour Castle?" It was time she got it over with.
"Yes, Mistress." Rick closed his laptop, climbed out of bed, and let his Mistress take his hand as they went out into the hallway.
"This is the 5th floor. There are 3 of the 12 bedrooms on this floor along with 2 bathrooms. The main bedroom, which has a fireplace, is down there through that door." Kate turned right. "In here is one of two kitchens; this one is the smallest. We removed all of the appliances save for the dishwasher and refrigerators," Kate explained. Rick also saw three microwaves sitting on the counter.
Kate went back out into the hallway. "Through this door are the stairs for the sixth and top floor. Up there are 6 more bedrooms plus 2 bathrooms. Some are a little smaller than yours," she explained.
"This is the elevator for all of the floors except the basement." Kate tapped the next door down on the right.
They came out into a room with a grand staircase on one side that spiraled down. "What are these doors, Mistress?" Ricki tapped the doors on the opposite side. "Those lead out to a small terrace. The doors have been sealed. You would need explosives to get through them," Kate told him and started walking down the staircase.
Rick saw a lot of wood on the walls along with a number of paintings on the walls.
"This is the 4th floor that has three more bedrooms along with 2 more bathrooms. My room that I share is through this door." Kate tapped it and continued down the staircase.
They stepped out onto the floor and Rick saw a massive wood and golden staircase that swept downstairs. "To the left through the door is a large library, filled with books that are mostly first editions. Some are hundreds of years old. It has a fireplace, 1 of 7 in the house, all are wood burning. Through that door is the living room where the only TV is located." Kate started down the main staircase taking Castle with her.
"This is the second floor. Through that door used to be the dining room; now it's an exercise room that we use to train hand to hand fighting with each other. Michael Palmer is the best of us at it, including me. The other door leads to the only bedroom on this level; there is also a bathroom on this level. Down these stairs are the pair of double doors that lead outside onto the street," Kate explained and opened a door on the left just short of the exercise room revealing the first staircase they had entered.
"This is the first floor. There are two bedrooms on this level along with one bathroom. Through this door is the main kitchen." Kate opened it and stepped inside. "Sara, Vicky and Amanda, can you three find everyone after you are finished drinking and gather them in the living room for me? I'll be there in a few minutes," Kate asked them.
"Of course, Mistress," One of them watched as their Mistress pointed things out to a human male.
"These are the main refrigerators for the house. We removed all of the appliances and some of the cabinets to make room for them. When full, like they are now, they will last us for months." Kate took Castle back out into the hallway and down to the other end.
"Through this door is our laundry room." In there Rick saw 2 washers and 2 dryers and one man and one woman loading them.
"We do laundry everyday since there are 24, no, 22 of us," Kate corrected herself. "David, Meg,report to the living room with the others, I'll be right there," she told them.
"Yes, Mistress," they answered as they both left.
Kate took Castle back to the staircase and went downstairs. "This is the basement where we do a lot of things and use it as storage for a number of things. Those doors lead to the weapons range and along with our main weapons storage."
"They also lead to the remaining bedrooms and one bathroom that is actually under the basement of the building next door. It also serves as our emergency escape route, provided that you know where to go," she explained.
Kate opened one of the doors and Castle could hear automatic weapons fire. When it stopped, she yelled, "Solomon, take everyone down here up to the living room. I'll be there in a minute." And Kate took Castle upstairs to the first floor.
"Through this door is a small outdoor patio that we had enclosed and use as storage space," Kate explained. "You ok Castle?" She knew she had shown and told him a lot in a short period of time.
Rick really was a little overwhelmed by it all. Everywhere he had gone the house, except for the basement, it was all old school classic. Early American classic. He had expected the place to be dark and dreary. However, even though all the windows were closed, all of the lights were on everywhere and the place was bright and brilliant. All of the wood and gold accents everywhere only made it brighter.
"I'm, um… It's amazing Mistress, simply amazing." Rick looked around right where he was and started smiling.
His Mistress had shown him everything except for the 6th floor and he felt like she trusted him. "Everyone calls you Mistress," he pointed out, questioning why.
"I'm a vampire elder, Castle, and I'm in charge of this house. Everyone does what I tell them to do. If I was male they would call me Master or Lord. So in my case I'm Mistress to everyone except for one person." She wasn't ready to talk about Alexis just yet.
"Ready to meet the house residents?" Kate took him up to the 3rd floor and stopped at the door. "Don't worry Castle, I'll protect you." She grinned at him and opened the door.
Inside there were 20 vampires and as Rick looked around, he saw that the majority of them were women. The sound of them talking suddenly stopped and even the sound of the TV went away when someone pressed the off button.
"As I'm sure you have been talking about, there is someone new in the house. Friends, this is Richard Castle, and yes, he is a human. Due to events beyond my control he actually spent the day here in the house." Kate saw a lot of concerned looks and just a few murmurs of people talking.
"Relax, he was locked up in the empty bedroom on the 5th floor and he was still locked in from the outside when the sun set this evening. However, he will be staying with us for the foreseeable future. Castle is with me and while I haven't worked out just where he will be staying, it is something we'll talk about later."
"I need for you to think about it and voice your opinions. In your case Lisa, try and keep it, decent," Kate teased her. "The ultimate goal is to let him wander the house during the day with your rooms still locked as usual. As to if he is armed during this time, we'll talk about that later after we find out if Castle is any good."
"Castle this is the house; house this is Richard Castle. I'll leave it to you to introduce each other and talk. … Michael we have work to do that was interrupted the other night."
"Castle I'm going to leave you here with the house. You've been given the tour, and don't worry they're not going to hurt you. And that includes you, Lisa! No taste testing," Kate teased.
"Damn." Rick could hear her response and the chuckle of his Mistress. "Be nice Lisa," Kate answered.
"Castle, stay here and watch TV with them if you like, or go back up to your room to use your laptops. …Which reminds me. Vicki, make sure Castle's laptops have the latest security software that we have. We can't have someone hacking into his computers to track where he is located," Kate called out.
"Yes, Mistress," a female voice answered.
"After I'm done with Michael I'll come back and go out and get you something to eat, since our kitchens are no longer set up to do any cooking." Kate could see his face. "Relax Castle, they're not going to bite you. We have more than enough blood already in the refrigerators." Kate took his arm.
"Fresh tastes better," a female voice called out. "LISA!" Kate scolded, knowing that Lisa was teasing, however Castle didn't.
Kate moved in and wrapped her arms around him. "Do you remember how to kiss me Castle?" She wanted to make a display showing them what Castle meant to her.
Rick was slow to respond and his kiss at first wasn't worth much, but he finally relaxed and kissed her back. When Kate broke from the kiss, she said, "That was terrible Castle, you'll pay the penalty later." She said it just loud enough for several of the house to hear her.
"So Mistress, I'm... " Rick didn't finish. "Don't be afraid Castle, you'll be fine." She tapped his nose with her finger and leaned in to whisper, "I'll fuck your ass when I get back." Kate nibbled on his ear not drawing blood.
"Let's go Michael," Kate called and left with one of the few men in the room. Castle was frozen in place.
"I get dibs," Lisa yelled and started to move towards Castle. She suddenly turned and picked up the remote for the TV, causing Castle to squeeze his eyes shut, convinced he was about to be drained dry.
Chuckling erupted in the room as most everyone went back to what they were doing, some of which was drinking blood out of wine glasses.
Two of the women walked up to him. "So you and the Mistress, huh? You must be something special. What do you do Castle?" one of them questioned him.
"I…" Rick cleared his throat. "I'm a writer, though I haven't had anything published in 3 years," he answered.
"A writer?" She didn't sound impressed. That didn't seem very special, not to be involved with their Mistress. "Anything we might have heard of?" she asked.
"Um, 'Flowers for your Grave?'" Rick saw a blank look. "Derek Storm series of books?" Rick tried again and watched her eyes open wide.
"Lisa! This Richard Castle. The Derek Storm Richard Castle," she clarified. This got Lisa who had teased about biting him, to turn her head and vault over the sectional that she was sitting on.
"The writer Richard Castle?" Lisa was just inches away staring at him.
"Um, …yeah." Rick was scared of what this meant. After all she was a vampire that wanted to bite him!
"I LOVE DEREK STORM! Why the hell did you stop writing him?" Lisa was all over him, just for a different reason.
"That's a long story," Rick replied.