The Blood Heiress

Nocturnal Visitor

Adella

I woke up with a start to a moonlit room, something wasn't right. Still dark, quick is this a dream? I touched my arm and then pinched to be certain. Nope, not a dream. What is going on? I stilled in my breathing and listened, it sounded like a commotion down the hall. Pounding feet coming closer. Fire, is there a fire?

The realization hit me that I hadn't noticed any smoke detectors anywhere in the house since arrival. No blinky red lights were hidden away in the ceiling. I dropped out of my bed onto the floor and debated the merits of crawling to the door to check the knob, as the footsteps pounded closer. The air doesn't smell like smoke…no one is yelling fire… I popped up to look over my bed just in time to see my door slam open, not an easy feat. There in the moonlight stood not Ben or Maria ready to rescue me from a fire but a cloaked man in all black. Only his lower face was visible, and a cruel smile twisted his lips. He began to walk purposefully towards me and raised a silver chain that caught the moonlight, above his head. I was frozen to the spot. This sudden intrusion was far beyond my wildest nightmares. I could do nothing but watch as he came closer and closer, malicious intent exuding from him.

Goodness, get yourself together! Scream!! Somehow, I got a command through to my petrified brain and opened my mouth. A piercing scream erupted, and the man paused for a moment. His smile disappeared before he did in a cloud of dust, Ben behind him holding some object in place of where the man used to be. My scream reached a new octave with this development and Ben began to wince. Maria stuck her head in the room at that moment and made her way over to me.

"Addie, dear. It is all right. Shhhh, look at me. Come on you are fine, it's alright." I stopped screaming when she got to me. She held my face, so it was facing her, but I kept moving my eyes back to where that cloaked man was. "Over here Addie, good focus on me."

I still caught Ben picking up some items and walking out of the room from the floor in my peripheral. I shook out of Maria's light grip.

"I am good now Maria," I stood up, wrapping my arms around me, and walked over to where Ben had been, my curiosity piqued. Maria nervously hovered on my side. "Do you know who that was?'

I squatted down and gathered some of the dust between my fingers. I brought them to my face as I teased it. It behaved a lot like soot, smudging the surfaces of my fingertips. "What is this stuff?" Didn't magicians disappear into smoke? Could this be that smoke? Some menacing, darkling magician just poof away in my room for real?

The light turned on, temporarily blinding me. Ben stood in front of me by the time I could focus.

"Your fingers are dirty dear." He offered me a napkin. "I will have to get someone in to clean this room. Please gather up what you need for the night and follow me down to the guest quarters."

I took the napkin and sized him up. "Ben, who was that person? Where did he go? What is all this dust? What did you do to him?"

His face instantly tensed at my torrent of questions and then with an exhale answered, "All in due time Addie. But for the time being, I would very much like you to safely move into the guest quarters tonight to finish your rest." He moved without warning into the hall.

"How can I sleep after something like that? Shouldn't we call the police?" I followed him like a well-trained puppy. "How are we going to explain him poofing into dust…y…ashes? Aren't the police going to be a little suspicious? And you…. you had something in your hand. Was it a weapon? Ben, what did you do?" Fear that Ben was going to get into trouble for protecting me made its way to my heart.

"My dear, I need you to get some rest. I will explain this all, I promise you. However, the authorities have been alerted and are on their way I need to see to the cleaning of your room in the meantime." Ben let out a small sigh.

"Shouldn't I be around to give a statement?" If I gave a statement surely, he wouldn't get into that much trouble.

"If the authorities need you, you will be notified." He gestured at the door to the guest quarters. "If you please." He opened the door and revealed a suite of decent size. I reluctantly walked inside. Ben filled the doorway behind me. "Please dear, get some rest."

"I will try, but Ben…" I turned to face him, to hear the reassurance again. I would get some answers that would make logical sense out of this. His absence greeted me, however. In an instant, he had gone. I peered out the door for his retreating back but saw nothing of the sort. So, I shut the door, turned off the light, crawled into bed, and stared at the ceiling. I was not getting any more sleep tonight. It was laughable to think it could be possible.

Instead of the rest I was told to find, I decided to lie in wait for the commotion that was sure to follow the events that had just transpired. But no matter how much I strained to listen; I couldn't hear anyone going through the mansion. Though I waited I certainly wasn't notified. My impatience grew but it was met with only silence and darkness. Nothing more. I eventually gave up and spent the rest of my time planning my morning while staring at the ceiling until the sun started making itself known on the horizon.

Since my appearance was of so much importance yesterday, I got out of bed and resolved to rectify that as soon as possible. With some trouble, I eventually made my way to my room. It had been cleaned. No obvious signs of any cloaked mad magician remained. I chose to forgo further inspection in favor of keeping my mind busy elsewhere. I perused my clothing choices and settled for an outfit that consisted of a blouse and slacks for a day around the estate.

I moved then, to the bathroom and tried to coax some sort of graceful 'do out of my dark wavy locks. Proud at having accomplished my task before eight o'clock I admired my handiwork and was rewarded with a grumbling stomach. My next task became finding the kitchen. From my room, I decided the easiest route to tackle would be back to the entry and staircase. I had done that enough times and it was a straight shot. My socked feet made very few sounds as I made my languid way down the stairs and allowed myself to drink in the entry hall for all it was worth in the morning sun. Fresh flowers adorned the tables and lightly fragranced the air. The crystal and gold chandelier caught the sunshine let in by the well-placed large windows and reflected it along the marble floor and ornate walls. The whole sight put me in a better headspace than I had been since before I knew I was coming here. At the bottom of the stairs, I was loathe to leave the peaceful space quite and instead sat on the bottom step. I leaned my every heavy head softly against the end post. There were a few rainbow light fragments lazily moving around near my feet. My original goal was long forgotten by this point. Watching them make their way back and forth became my focus and a smile graced my lips.

***

"Adella, Miss Adella," hands were on me gently shaking me. "Addie dear wake up."

My eyes snapped open to see the concerned but kind face of Maria not far from my own. She released my shoulders and stood up. I felt the sudden need to stretch and was surprised to see that I was still on the stairs. I suppose this was what having half a night's sleep robbed from you, will do to a person. One minute you were searching for food, the next gleefully watching tiny rainbows dance and then falling asleep on the stairs. Not quite the impression I wanted to make on my first official day as lady of the estate.

"Are you feeling alright? Any lightheadedness, fever?" She placed her hand on my forehead and took it away satisfied with my cool skin.

"Maria, what time is it?" I tried to smooth my carefully selected clothes as I stood and tried to shake off the stiffness in my rear.

"A little past 10 in the morning. Oh, Addie why were you sleeping out here? I went up to get you for breakfast and instead found you here."

"I couldn't go back to sleep last night so I thought after getting up early I could get ready and find my way down to the kitchen. But, when I came to the entry hall it was so pretty in the morning light that I stopped to enjoy it." I watched as Maria looked around the space pausing here and there. She then came back to me and raised an eyebrow.

"No matter, then. Glad you are alright and a bit more rested. Properly presentable too." I took some small pride in her pleased assessment of my efforts. "Mr. Costas is waiting for you in the dining hall."

My body responded to those words without any permission from me. Before I went too far I realized, yet again, that I had no idea where the dining hall was. "Which way Maria?"

"I suppose it is time for you to start leading the way now. Give it a go, then. Go through the parlor here and then through the art room. The dining hall is on the other side." She smiled reassuringly and I eagerly followed her directions.

Breakfast was a light but filling affair. Ben had been in the dining room when I had arrived, but after insisting on me taking 'my rightful' place at the head of the table, he was satisfied and left. Then the food came out and I forgot for a moment about last night, the strange handling of it, and lack of forthcoming information.

Ben reappeared about the time I finished, which made me wonder if I was on camera in the room. He took a seat on my right and set down some things in front of him. Some staff came in with him and set to work cleaning off the dishes. My glances at the corners of the room probably did not go unnoticed by Ben, but I didn't bother to care. How do they know so precisely when to come in? Is there a camera?

"I hope that you got some rest last night. I heard that Maria found you napping on the stairs."

"Hard to sleep after all that last night." I glanced directly at him. He looked as he always did: kind, patient, steady.

"I apologize for that, we should have been prepared," His face darkened considerably. I pulled away from him a little. I hadn't seen that side of him before.

"Prepared for what? You knew that an…evil magician in black was going to come menace me in the middle of the night?" Anger seeped into my words, changing the way they sounded to my ears. "You knew this was going to happen Ben?"

Ben snapped his face directly at mine and locked my gaze. The darkness passed and he shrugged off my questions with a chuckle. "It will not be happening again, I promise you Miss Russo." He began to sort through the things he had brought in earlier. A phone was placed in front of me. It was the latest model by the looks of it. I delicately picked it up with casual interest.

"This is for you. Please keep it with you. I have preprogramed my number and any other pertinent contacts. Other than that, feel free to make it your own." My anger hung back for a bit as I let myself feel a little excited at the fact that, for the first time, I had my own phone. Ben kept the conversation moving forward in the direction he had chosen.

He put some packets of information in front of me next. I moved them apart more so that I could see each a little better. Based on the details I could glean from a quick perusal, they looked like job openings. "What are these for Ben?" I looked at him for answers, anger retreating further.

"These, my dear, are for you. These are companies that your parents owned and were kept in trust until yesterday. Now they have been transferred to the new trust and, as part of the stipulations, you must choose one of these to begin working. It is part of the 'learning the business' phase of the new trust."

"Oh" was all I could manage as I turned my attention back to the information in front of me.

"Take your time with these, but not too long. The sooner you pick, the sooner you can begin to work towards the next step in learning how to manage what is now yours." I didn't bother to look up as he finished. I get to have a job! A real job, at a business that I own... Anger was long gone now, forgotten the questions and concerns I had had earlier that demanded answers and instead, excitement flooded me. I hadn't let myself get too hopeful about my prospects after my orphanage years. Entry level jobs were doable with my skills. Maybe, if I was fortunate, some community college classes or degree. Never allowed myself to dream of the possibility of owning businesses and getting to pick a job from a list made for me.

"If I may Addie, pick one that interests you. The point of this is to start getting you integrated into the business side of things here. Are there any here that grab your attention right now?"

"Maybe this one." I brought forward the information on the one out of the three I found most interesting.

"The art gallery, an excellent choice. If you end up choosing that one, you will see that there is far more to it than just a gallery. But take your time, my dear. You have time. For now, I need to see to the staff and some other matters. I await your answer tonight."

"Thank you," I picked up the papers and moved to my room. I was certain I wanted to work at the art gallery, but sitting on the choice for half a day couldn't hurt. Impressed that I found my way back to my door without much effort, I paused as the memories from last night came back to me. I slowly opened the door and peeked in to have a precursory look. True, I had been in earlier, but I had had an objective. Now, I just had the events playing again in my mind. I found everything to still be in order. I entered the room and closed the door, noticing a new lock on the door. A serious piece of evidence that though I had little information about what exactly had occurred, it hadn't been a figment of my imagination.

Placing the info packets on the table between the chairs, I took out the phone and plugged it in. While it charged up, I decided to finally put my old things away in their new home. My personally chosen clothes look dingy and unsightly next to the preselected outfits hanging up, so I placed them in a drawer. My other items took up another drawer and that was all there was to put away. I looked around the ideal closet full of ideal things. Pieces in just my size, hand-picked for me, color coordinated. But all without my approval, without any say in my end. I needed to find a way to bring myself into my new life.

In a sudden fit of defiance, I undressed and threw open the drawer with my old things and put on my leggings and t-shirt. I rushed to the bathroom and removed my careful make-up and threw my tamed hair up into a messy bun. The helplessness from last night and the frustration that accompanied it was back now. Had I really let myself be bought with a phone and a promise of a job? Why didn't Ben just told me what was going on? Why weren't both he and Maria more forthcoming about the whole ordeal? Why does it feel like I am the only one that doesn't know what is going on?

I grabbed my purple journal from under the chair. It was still there after the cleaning, and I was half surprised. I stalled after opening it up, pen in hand poised to transcribe my experiences, my anger. Then, last night, it poured out onto the page. After I had written down all that I could remember and the questions I had about what had happened, I couldn't stop. Larger questions flowed onto the page; ones based on the past few days. Questions that were beginning to form around my new life, old life and the point at which they had separated. The inspiration leaked out of me then and the list ended abruptly with the most enigmatic question of all. It settled into the page and stared me in the face. As I fixated on it, I felt the loss of what my life had been, what it could have been and what I thought it was going to be.

Who am I?