They paused at the arched doorway of the ballroom, which was an extension off the main floor. Forgetting the last of her discomfort, she gave up trying not to gawk, for it was simply exquisite, with a vaulted ceiling and three walls comprised of floor-to-ceiling Palladian-style windows that were framed with the same elegant black iron as the rest of the house.
Immaculate parquet floors glowed a warm golden brown in the dying light, and the ballroom offered an unobstructed view of the lawn that fell away to a rocky beach and the ocean. Aside from a black baby grand piano strategically positioned in one corner, the gleaming room was empty.
Raoul waited while she took in the scene. When she turned to look at him with wide eyes, he gave her a small smile. “Others might say differently, but I think this is the jewel of the place.”
“It’s breathtaking.”
“Yes.” He turned and led the way back to her car. “The house has metal shutters with an automatic electronic sensor system. As soon as the sensors detect direct sunlight, the shutters close. The system is very well built and almost soundless, but I did want to let you know in case you’re around when it happens.”
“It doesn’t close up the entire house when the sun rises?”
“No, some Vampyres prefer complete enclosure and have systems that instigate a total house shutdown, but Xavier likes the views and the fresh air, and it’s safe enough as long as the direct sunlight is blocked. As the sun moves from east to west, the appropriate shutters close while others open. It’s quite efficient, and as elegant as the rest of the house.”
And as elegant as its master.
Whatever else might be said about del Torro, she thought reluctantly, he had superb taste and a certain self-assurance.
As they stepped outside again, the last of the daylight was fading from the sky and well-positioned lights had turned on, dotting the outside grounds with bright illumination.
When they reached her car again, her keys lay on the roof. She gave Raoul a quick look. At his nod, she scooped them up and tucked them into her pocket. The doors were unlocked, which was the only sign that her car had been searched. Everything else looked the way she had left it.
She had two suitcases in the trunk and pulled out one, while he took the second. They walked together along the path to the attendants’ house, which was an attractive building in the same style of architecture as the main house and lay tucked into one corner near the protective wall that surrounded most of the property.
“You’ll have your own room for privacy, but everything else—kitchen, living room, dining room, TV room, etc.—is communal,” Raoul told her. “You’ll share a bathroom with a few others. I’ll show you the gym tomorrow, and you’ll get the chance to meet everyone.”
“Having my own room is great,” she said faintly.
Over the last several minutes, a sense of unreality had begun to coat everything in a thick, cloudy film, distancing her even further from her surroundings. On the one hand, she couldn’t believe her luck, but on the other, sometime soon Xavier was going to want to take blood from her for the first time.
He might even want to drink from her that evening. The thought of forcing herself to let him sink his fangs into her made her stomach clench all over again.
Stepping inside, Raoul led her through the attendants’ house, up to the second floor and down one hall. They didn’t meet anyone else along the way, although she heard a TV going in another room downstairs, and voices sounded from the direction of the kitchen.
Opening the last door down the hall, Raoul stood back to let her enter. As the room was located at the corner of the house, the windows at two walls gave it an airy feeling, and during the day it would be flooded with natural light. The dimensions were on the smaller side, but still, with a hardwood floor, a double bed covered with a bright, thick duvet and an armchair positioned close to one window, the room looked attractive and quite comfortable.
She glanced into the empty closet as she set her suitcase on the bed, and Raoul put the other one at the foot of the bed. While not spacious, the closet space was entirely adequate. There was even a small sink in one corner, so she could do simple things like wash her face and brush her teeth without ever leaving the room.
The walls were bare of any decoration, and they appeared to be freshly painted. “You can decorate it however you like,” Raoul said. “The nearest bathroom is across the hall and two doors back toward the stairs.”
One window faced the main house. She looked out the other window at a cluster of sheltering pines. To the right, she could just see the edge of the property wall as it ended at the top of the bluff, and beyond the pines, she caught a silvery glimmer of water.
She had been living with such a sense of desperation for the last week, but here, she caught a glimpse of the possibility of another life, one where she might be able to find a sense of peace in this quiet place.
That had to be as much of an illusion as the impression of safety in the false daylight created by the lights in the city.
But if it was an illusion, she was too tired to resist it. For a moment, simple wonder overcame all other concerns. The setup was so idyllic she almost expected fat, happy bunnies to hop across the rich, thick carpet of lawn.
Touching the corner of the bright, soft duvet, she muttered, “This is amazing.”
Raoul regarded her for a moment, his expression inscrutable. “I’m glad you approve,” he said. “Now it’s time for your meeting with Xavier. Do you need a moment before we head back to the main house?”
It took her a few heartbeats to realize he was asking, in the politest way possible, if she needed to use the bathroom. She shook her head. “No, thanks.”
“Very well, come with me.”
They fell silent as they walked back to the main house. Full night had fallen, soft as a black feather, and the temperature had plummeted again. A breeze blew steadily off the ocean, feeling wet and icy. Raoul didn’t appear to be uncomfortable in his shirtsleeves, but she shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle, and tried not to think about what might happen in the next fifteen minutes.
A muscle in her jaw was tired from being clenched so much over the last couple of days.
This is my choice, she thought. Nobody is going to be taking anything away from me that I haven’t willingly bargained for, and it’s even an excellent bargain. After all, what’s a little bloodletting between friends?
As Raoul opened the back door, she asked, “How long have you been with Xavier?”
“Forty-eight years.”
Her head snapped up, and she stared at him. He looked like he was approaching fifty, but that couldn’t be accurate.
He gave her a faint smile. “In case you were wondering, I’m seventy-five.”
“So, you must like it. Working for him, I mean.” Arms clamped tighter around her middle, she stepped inside, and he followed.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else. Xavier is not just my patron, he’s my friend.”
She took a moment to mull that over. “But you’re still human.”
“Yes. He’s offered to turn me several times, but I like being human. I enjoy food, and the warmth of the sun, and I’m not afraid of dying. That’s going to be hard on him.”
Raoul said the words so simply, even with compassion, and the picture they painted threw Xavier into an entirely new light. He might be one of the deadliest monsters she had ever met, but the property and his house showed that he had exquisite taste, and apparently he also had feelings.