Chapter 17 #2
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘So Chester…’ Eric scowled. ‘Lord Chester,’ I amended hastily, ‘wanted to solve a problem in the Understream and…’
‘Wait.’ Eric had frozen in alarm. ‘I’m not supposed to tell you about that.’ He clamped a hand over his mouth. ‘I’m not allowed to tell anyone about the Understream. They’ll come after me if I do and I’ll be in trouble. This is bad,’ he moaned. ‘This is really, really bad.’
I pulled up my sleeve to reveal the red semicircle on my arm. ‘I’ve been marked, Eric. It’s alright.’
‘Yeah,’ Thane said nodding unconvincingly. ‘I’ve been marked too.’
Eric was too relieved at the sight of my mark to notice Thane’s lie. ‘Oh,’ he breathed. ‘Thank goodness.’
I started over yet again. ‘Lord Chester wanted to solve a problem in the Understream. He got hold of a magical map that he thought would help and he found a special jug to carry it in. Did you see the map?’
‘No. He couldn’t get the map until he had the jug, and he sacked me before that happened.’
Hmm. I had no idea what the map could be but I reckoned Eric was talking about a bellarmine jug.
They were typically used to store precious items and documents that were too ancient and fragile to be left lying around, and they were rare.
My thoughts drifted to the preservation spell Trilby had gifted me and I frowned.
Eric mistook my frown for incredulity. ‘One of the others told me everything that happened after I left,’ he explained.
‘Others?’ I asked. ‘Other thralls?’
‘Yeah. They’ve gone now, left Coldstream. I’m the only one who’s stayed, the loyal one. He never should have sacked me. I’m the one he could trust! And he only died after he kicked me out! He was fine when I was here to help him!’
Eric would clearly benefit from a good therapist. I mustered as much warmth as I could. ‘He was clearly lucky to have you. So Lord Chester went to the Understream to solve this mysterious problem and somehow he died in the process. Is that correct?’
‘That’s what they said.’
‘And you’ve been sneaking into the Understream to find out what happened?’
‘Yes.’ His head dropped. ‘I shouldn’t do it but I loved him. He was family to me. I thought that maybe he wasn’t really dead.’ His voice took on a faint whine. ‘He’s a vampire. They’re supposed to be immortal.’
‘Nobody is truly immortal, Eric,’ Thane murmured. ‘Not vampires. Not Fae. Not anyone.’
Eric looked sullen: he didn’t want to believe that. It appeared that his life goal was to live forever, and he’d probably die in pursuit of it. I sighed. Poor man.
Then he surprised me. ‘I know nobody is truly immortal,’ he said. ‘Lots of vampires have died in the last year or two. I just didn’t think Lord Chester would be one of them.’
I stilled. ‘Lots of vampires have died?’ I’d been responsible for one of those deaths but I’d not heard of any others. ‘Who?’ I asked. ‘Why?’
‘Because of the problem in the Understream!’ he cried, as if that was painfully obvious. ‘That’s why Lord Chester was going to fix it. That’s why he was a hero!’
I scratched my head. Forget the missing worms: I obviously had to find out what this ‘problem’ was. It could be at the heart of everything.
‘Do you believe Lord Chester is dead now?’ Thane asked carefully.
Eric took a long time before answering. ‘Yes,’ he said eventually. ‘I do.’ A tear rolled down his grey cheek. ‘There’s no sign of him. He’s not been here and he’s not in the Understream. He’s gone.’ Another tear joined the first one.
I handed him a tissue. ‘Do you know when he died?’
‘July 18th.’ He wiped his nose. ‘The worst day ever. And nobody cares. Only me.’
Penelope and Thomas certainly hadn’t seemed to care: quite the opposite, in fact.
I drummed my fingers against the arm of the chair.
Longchamps had died six weeks ago, so he wasn’t the one who’d called up that monster conjuration.
I wondered how many other vampires had really died.
Maybe this rabbit warren of murder was unrelated to my worm investigation but I couldn’t shake the sensation that they were tied together and there was something bigger going on that I was unaware of.
Every time I thought I was getting somewhere I ended up with more questions than answers – and Eric’s babbling wasn’t helping. I needed something concrete. ‘Eric, why aren’t thralls allowed in the Understream any more?’
‘Because it’s not safe. I’ve been telling you that!’
My frustration was starting to mirror his. ‘You said there’d been several vampire deaths. You didn’t mention anything about the thralls’ safety.’
Obviously irritated by my lack of understanding, he exclaimed, ‘Vampires have died! And thralls, too! When the thralls started vanishing, lots of the pathetic idiots decided to abandon their positions. Some of the vampires were concerned because they value their thralls so they banded together and decided the only way to keep us safe was to stop us all from going into the Understream. Lord Chester wasn’t happy about that,’ he added darkly.
‘Why not?’ Thane enquired.
‘Because he was strong enough to keep us all safe!’
I examined his grey face. I suspected that his ongoing defence of Lord Chester Longchamps was mostly bluster because I certainly wasn’t convinced that Chester had been a good bloke. ‘I’m keeping your keys, Eric,’ I told him. ‘You can’t keep on coming here.’
‘What? You can’t do that!’
I hardened my voice to make it clear that it wasn’t a request. ‘I am keeping the keys to this house. You need to stop what you’re doing and move on with your life.’
‘I’ve dedicated my life to the vampires! I’m not giving up. I don’t care who you are or what you say, I want to be a thrall. If Lord Chester hadn’t died like that, he’d have made me into a vampire. I know he would!’
‘But he sacked you,’ Thane reminded him.
‘I gave him twelve years!’ Eric shouted. ‘This is all I’ve ever wanted!’
I sighed. ‘Do you have family in Coldstream?’
He stared at me. ‘What does that matter?’ I waited. He rolled his eyes. ‘My mum and dad. Two brothers.’
‘If you became a vampire, you’d have to watch them die.’
‘As you already said, everyone dies.’
‘Don’t you want children some day?’
‘No.’
‘Don’t you like daylight and sunshine?’
‘I’m prepared to give the day up in favour of the glory of the night.’
‘Do you want to have to drink blood to survive?’
‘I already like the taste.’
He was a stubborn bastard, that was for sure. ‘You could spend your whole life in pursuit of vampiric immortality, Eric, and forget to actually live instead,’ I pointed out. His only answer was to fold his arms. ‘Move on. I know it’s hard after twelve years but…’
‘You don’t know anything!’
That was mostly true. I stood up. ‘Thank you for your help. Now you have to go.’ I fixed him with a steely glare. ‘And don’t go into the Understream again. It won’t go well for you if the vamps catch you.’
When he glared back at me, I knew that nothing I said would make a difference. ‘Thane, can you show Eric to the door? In fact, could you help him get home?’
Thane nodded. ‘Of course.’
Eric had risen to his feet. ‘You can’t force me out!’
‘I beg to differ,’ Thane said.
Eric glared at me. ‘What are you going to do? Why are you staying here?’
I was going to find Chester Longchamps’ door to the Understream and go back into the depths. It was time to get to the bottom of this and find out what was really going on.