Chapter 33

Saturday morning, 7 a.m. Roger, Freya and Anna were finishing up breakfast.

Roger made up a plate for Josephine and slipped it into the microwave for her to eat when she woke up later that morning.

Anna smiled and said, "Shall we head out then?"

Freya nodded and hefted her back pack and canteen.

Anna picked up her own day pack and Roger slipped his on.

Leaving the house, they soon made their way back to the heavy gate from the day before.

Roger liberally dosed the lock and the hinges with the penetrating oil he'd brought and after a few minutes, the lock opened almost silently.

Stepping through the gate, they locked it behind them and strolled along the pathway leading to the old house.

As he walked, Roger was making mental notes on how much brush and small trees had to be cleared to gain better access to the property.

When he stopped short and realized that they were now standing outside the crumbling manse.

Roger looked over at Freya, she wasn't experiencing any sense of unease either.

He looked at Anna and asked her, "What happened? Yesterday we were almost begging to get away from here, today we feel just fine."

She smiled at him and replied merrily, "That's because you two, are now welcome here!"

Anna smiled and said a bit sheepishly, "I haven't had to use my repulsion charm in a long time and I kind of forgot to declare you two as being welcome here."

As he raised one eyebrow, Anna said with a slight grin, "Oh don't worry, it's still working. Nobody's going to be sneaking around here after us."

Approaching the front doors once more, Roger again liberally dosed the lock and hinges with the oil he'd brought.

Putting away the oil he commented, "We'll give it a few minutes to soak in, then we'll play with the lock. It should open without too much drama."

They spent those few minutes looking around the old house and the out buildings.

Except for everything being so overgrown, the place was in surprisingly good shape.

Roger remarked, "We can get a crew in here and have them clear out much of this, starting with the driveway of course. Then we can decide how much more we want to remove as we go."

Returning to the front doors, Anna produced the key and looked at Roger expectantly, he nodded and she carefully inserted the old key in the ancient lock.

Wrapping her hand around the key, she was about to give it a big twist when Roger said quietly, "A little finesse goes a long ways!"

She looked at him curiously and he said matter-of -factly, "You're stronger than I am, you might break off the key. I can always add more oil to the lock if you'd like."

Anna nodded and she withdrew the key so he could spray more penetrating into the old lock and hinges.

A few minutes later and the satisfying 'snick' of a lock opening rewarded their efforts, they were in!

The hinges merely grumbled at being used after so long being idle.

The opened doors beckoned to their long absent owner and Anna stepped inside for the first time in over a century.

The stone flooring showed the marks where her booted feet had disturbed the dust of a hundred years.

Anna did a slow pirouette and smiled at her companions, "Come on in, the dust is fine!" she said cheerfully.

Freya stepped inside next and looked up with a smile on her pretty face.

The ceiling was well above her head and she hadn't had to duck as she crossed the threshold. Roger was the last to enter and he pulled out a flashlight and turned it on with the comment, "Never go into an old building without one of these!"

He played the powerful beam over the faded wall paper and stamped tin ceilings of the house, its piercing ray illuminating the dark corners.

He joked, "As haunted houses go, this one is a disappointment!"

Anna laughed and retorted gleefully, "I can always withdraw my welcome if you want to feel scared!"

Freya hastily spoke up, "Dinnae listen tae heem! Ah loch th' present arrangement jist fine thenk ye!"

She glared briefly at Roger and muttered, "Ye joke tae much sometimes."

They spent about an hour looking around inside the dimly lit house and at times, Roger's flashlight was the only source of light available.

Surprisingly, other than a heavy coating of dust, the house was in pretty fair condition and showed little evidence of animal incursions both two and four legged.

Spider webs did abound and disturbing one would lead to the air being filled with a choking cloud of dust kicked up when the web was disturbed.

They avoided any webs after encountering a couple of them leading Roger to mutter, "I thought you bats could walk through webs without disturbing them?"

Anna quickly retorted, "That trick only works in the movies! I can't walk through any thing other than an open door. Oh, and I can't turn into a bat either."

Roger grinned and commented, "There goes a whole lot of childhood mythology. I suppose garlic and holy water has no effect on you, what about wooden stakes and mirrors?"

She laughed and retorted, "Garlic I can live without, I don't like the smell. Holy water only gets me wet and pissed off. A stake through my heart? Well duh! Of course it will kill me, it'll kill you too! Mirrors? How do think I can see to brush my hair or get dressed and put on makeup?"

"So, who made all that stuff up?" asked Roger.

"Us, most likely. It made it easier to hide in plain sight if people thought we had all those powers."

"And the sunlight thing?"

"Oh yes, it definitely affects me, but a brief exposure is not fatal. It just leads to a very bad sunburn, second and third degree burns if I'm out too long. A day spent in deep sleep will cure most any injury short of a fatal one. I am immortal and I do drink blood on occasion and yes, I have retractable fangs."

"So why the association with bats?"

"Hah! That again. I use bats as an early warning system, I can read their memories and see through their eyes and hear through their ears. No one ever sneaks up on me!"

Roger smiled at her and said amiably, "I have to admit, I've never actually met or talked to an actual vampire before and I have enjoyed our conversation immensely. I have met a claymore warrior and she was an experience! Very nice actually, but letting her get behind the wheel of an automobile? One very scary ride."

Anna chuckled and remarked, "I've become friends with one, she's one of the youngest and certainly the tallest. Like most of the so called 'supernaturals' they live quietly and avoid the spotlight for survival."

"What is her name? Helen mentioned a few of them by name, but I never met any of the others."

"Sheila, Sheila Ericcson."

Freya, who had been listening quietly suddenly spoke up, "Did ye say 'Sheila'? Ah've heard 'at nam'. Thaur is a story abit a Sheila who cam frae th' sooth an' lived amang ur fowk afore th' camin' of th' Scandis."

Anna looked up at her in surprise and exclaimed suddenly, "Do you know where I could see that story? I think that would be a wonderful thing to see!"

Freya paused a few moments and replied thoughtfully, "It was in one ay me granny's books. Ah ken Ah saw it because Ah asked me granny tae tell me more abit th' story ay a tall, white haired woman warrior frae the soothern lains."

Anna clapped her hands in delight and declared, "Well, that settles it!"

She looked around the gloomy interior of the huge, old house and said cheerfully, "When can we start cleaning this old place up?"

Roger laughed and exclaimed, "Just like that?"

"Yep! Just like that!"

Anna smiled and said, "I'm doing it purely for very selfish reasons."

"And those would be?"

"I want to see all those books where I can lay hands on them. I want my queen to have access to them, for human and vampire scholars to be able to study them and translate them, to add to our body of knowledge about ancient peoples."

Gushed Anna Karlsen, author of Gothic romance novels and actual vampire.

Closing the heavy doors behind them, Anna reinserted the large key and locked them securely.

She paused a moment to put her big hat back on and pull on her thin gloves to keep the sun's rays from burning her pale skin.

She got between Roger and Freya, took each of them by the hand and they set off, back to their house.

Anna was humming a little snippet of an old show tune as they walked back down the weed and brush choked driveway causing Roger to comment, "You certainly are in fine spirits!"

Anna smiled at him from under the wide brim of her booney hat and said merrily, "Wouldn't you be? I've made two new friends and my old house will live on as a research library filled with very rare books, written in an unknown language!"

Freya smirked and casually remarked, "Nae an unknoon language, me fowk speak it an' we learn it while growin' up."

Anna laughed and said gaily, "Hey now! Let's not be spoiling the mood here, I'm enjoying this immensely!"

Returning to their house, they or rather Anna, was greeted by a nearly frantic Josephine. "Where have you been all morning? We have to start getting ready for tonight at Carlson and Turner's! Honestly, I swear you're going to give me a heart attack!"

Anna smiled at her distraught publicist and allowed herself to be led away to start getting ready.

Roger grinned at Freya and he impulsively hugged her closely, feeling her head briefly resting atop his.

She hugged him back and they held each other for a few moments while he said softly, "We did it, we found a home for her library!"

Freya merely squeezed him gently in reply and they reluctantly parted.

Roger felt a warmth in his chest for a few moments after their lingering hug and noticed that Freya also seemed to have a far away look in her bright blue eyes.

He retreated to his study and resumed working on his report to keep from pondering his feelings.

Freya meanwhile, had gone out to play basketball with Lorna Yamada, one of her friends from school, she suddenly wanted to be with people her own age and to distance herself from her own mixed feelings.