Vampire Bride

Chapter Thirteen

Charlie

Morgan acts strangely at work the next day. She constantly smiles in my direction as if she knows something I don’t. Every time I try to talk to her she scampers off claiming to be busy or pretends to be on the phone. She still doesn’t admit to hiding anything even after the phone rings loudly in her ear, catching her in her lies.

In order to ignore her peculiar behavior, I stay in my office. I was planning on staying late to get as much work done as possible to make up for my departure, but at six o’clock Morgan leaps through my doorway. Her booming voice that fills the room causes me to fumble my pen as my body convulses in a tremor from fear. She runs over to my desk, piling up all my papers, insisting that I head home. My brain barely has time to register what’s going on before she starts pushing me out of my own chair.

“What’s going on with you? You’ve been acting weird all day. You’re not having your boyfriend over here again, are you?” Keeping some authority in my tone, I intend on scaring her into telling me her secrets.

She shrugs her shoulders. “No. I would never have him here again after you specifically  stated not to. Just go home, get some rest, and I’ll see you later.” She winks at me as she holds the messy pile of papers in her arms.

I guess authority isn’t going to work with this situation. Not wanting to be smothered with her eagerness, I heed her words and home.

What’s that girl hiding, I ask myself on the drive. The sun starts to set by the time I walk through the front door. Even though Morgan forced me to leave the office, I have to admit that I’m quite tired and relieved to be home. First thing first, pajamas followed by food, followed by mind-numbing TV. Midway through my evening plans, things take a turn for the worse with the sound of a familiar voice.

“Do you seriously find this show funny?”

Leaping up from the couch, my empty bowl falls to the floor. A shameless yelp escapes my gaping mouth. I turn around to face Maxwell with my eyes closed and slowly huff in response. His bland words imply he’s unimpressed by my lifestyle or mere interests in human things for that matter. Somehow, almost accidentally my brain connects the dots from Morgan’s odd behavior at work earlier today to this unexpected arrival of Maxwell.

“I’m going to ignore that and ask two questions of my own. First, why are you here exactly? Second, why do you think you can come into my home whenever you please? My house is absolutely not your house.” Irritation distorts my words.

“I’m here to pick you up; we have a plane to catch within the hour.” There’s a twitch of his upper lip as if he wanted to smile, but thought better of it.

My eyes get bigger as I take in what he’s saying, completely dumbfounded at his words. “Plane?” I know I must sound like an i***t with my one word response and my bulging eyeballs.

“Yes, plane, Charlie. We’re leaving for the presentation; remember I told you about this days ago.”

“What? You told me that it wasn’t until six days. That’s Friday, Maxwell. Not today.” My arms sail through the air in disbelief. Even though I’m flabbergasted by his behavior once again, my mouth continues to ramble on. “There you go with your lies again. Would it kill you to be honest?” I’m furious…no, I’m more than furious. The need to punch him in the face washes over me.

“You can express your anger and I’ll plead for forgiveness when we’re in the air.” He sounds bored as he blandly pleads with me. “Now, please get ready, we have to go.”

“I have to pack.”

“No need. Grace stopped by while you were out and packed for you. It’s already at the hotel waiting for us.”

The slow grind of my teeth blocks out the buzz of anger that lingers in my eardrums. I’m sure he can hear it, but to make sure he knows how I feel exactly, I show him my lovely middle finger before entering the bedroom. Grumbling silently to myself, I pull on a pair of jeans and a top.

Just as I slam my closet doors shut, Maxwell graces me once again with his unamused voice. “Dress warm.”

I reopen the doors and grab a cardigan as well as a jacket, mumbling his words, mocking him and his so called sincerity.

“May I ask where it is that we are going or is that a secret too?” My attitude turns sour and I’m not sure that it’ll get any better.

“Rattenberg.” He takes in my confused stare. “Rattenberg, Austria. We have a nine hour plus flight ahead of us.”

Yup, not getting any better. “Austria…the vampire council lives in Austria.” I stop in front of the door, trying to wrap my mind around what’s so wonderful about Austria.

Maxwell strides alongside me. “Rattenberg is very unique. The Rattenberg mountain blocks the small town from the sun’s rays in the Winter season and even in the other seasons sunlight is very limited. It’s the perfect place for vampires to live a semi-normal life. Now let’s go, we can’t be late.” His strong fingers encompass my upper arm and lead me toward the door.

Great, three things I just love will be waiting to greet me: the cold, no sunlight, and tons of bloodsuckers. The slam of the front door ruins my train of thought, but as we stand outside on my front porch, I struggle slightly against his grip. We remain standing facing each other and I begin to think that he’s about to lecture me on something, but it turns out to be much worse. He pulls a key out from his pocket with his free hand and locks the deadbolt on the front door. I give him a questioning look, but before I have a chance to say anything, he places his index finger up to my lips to hush me. “We don’t have time right now.”

I slap his hand away and scold him anyways. “You stole my key. Who the hell do you think you are? We don’t have time my ass, we have all the time in world,” I yell as he drags me down my driveway. I almost don’t realize that we’re completely past my car.

We reach the end of the driveway and a black vehicle comes into view. “I arranged for a driver.” He opens the door for me and I enter, as if I have a choice.

The fear from flying and The High Council make the car ride seem like forever. The churn of my stomach along with the nervousness of meeting all these new ‘different’ people keep me silent on the drive to wherever it is that we’re going. Not to mention being in such close proximity to Maxwell puts my nerves on edge. Admitting that I’m attracted to him makes the sickness that burrows in my gut even worse.

I have no idea if I was holding my breath, but when the car finally comes to a stop, I inhale deeply. Jumping out immediately, I gulp the fresh night air as if I would never breathe it again. The scenery before me is anything but what I expected. We’re not in an airport parking lot.

I must have a shocked expression on my face, because Maxwell feels the need to explain. “Did you think we would be taking a regular plane? I can’t take the chance that we would come across daylight on the way there.”

The anxiety that I had before is now tripled in size. “Umm, yeah. You mean to tell me that this is a vampire owned airplane.”

“Council owned airplane.” Is all he says before he walks away, entering the plane without me.

My heart skips a beat and my breath hitches as I try to catch up to him. My chest begins to constrict, thinking about being left alone with so many vampire employees. I enter inside the dimly lit interior, instantly becoming off guard as I see a few of the seats occupied. They barely lift their heads to acknowledge me and that’s fine by me.

The slap of my hand from covering my mouth is louder than I intended it to be, but as I pass a young girl whose forearm is sliced open, I become repulsed. She bends it so the trail of blood drips into a large container. I must have come to a stop in front of them, because the man that’s dressed in a business suit looks up to meet my eyes with a smile on his face. A smile that doesn’t sit well with me as his fangs push against his lower lip.

Almost in a trance from such horrific behavior, I don’t notice Maxwell striding up to me before it’s too late. Yet again his fingers harshly grip my upper arm and yank me away from the scene. My head bobs from the force. “Staring, Charlie,” he whispers to me as he waves his hand to the row we’re to sit in. I’m surprised he didn’t throw me into my seat.

“I didn’t mean to, it was just so awful I became horror-struck. Maxwell.” I hate how many times he says my name. Goosebumps break out across my skin from the sound of his voice saying those few letters. In efforts of disturbing him as much as he disturbs me, I say his name in return, hoping that one day he’ll understand how annoying it truly is.

I sit down in the window seat, although there’s no difference in my seat compared to the aisle seat since there’s no window to make it an actual window seat. A quick cross of my arms, I refuse to talk the whole way to Rattenberg.

Plane rides are almost like car rides. If they’re long enough drowsiness takes over. Although there’s no way in hell I’m falling asleep on this plane. I wish I would’ve grabbed some earbuds, so at least listen to some music. Music numbs the soul and right now everything needs numbing.

Lightly, Maxwell’s cold elbow nudges me. I wither into my own seat, trying to get farther away from him. My eyes catch a glimpse of his extended hand. Don’t smile, Charlie, do not smile. I don’t want to, because giving him the satisfaction will somehow give him the upper hand, but my God he is a savior. With what I hope to be lightning fast reflexes, my hand jolts out to grab my earbuds from his clutch, instantly placing them in my ears.

He leans in close. “You’re welcome,” he says before I get the songs to start playing. I put a phony smile on my face, “I’ll look past the fact of how you got them.” Stealing and creeping is how. I crank the volume up.

The bumpy landing indicates that my hours of being trapped on a plane with a whole bunch of vampires and their drones has ended. I’m expecting to look at something similar to a cabin in the middle of nowhere surrounded by hills of white or rundown centuries old buildings, but when I depart the plane there’s no buildings in sight. At all.

“We’re a few minutes away from the hotel. Just a short car ride and we’ll be there,” Maxwell reassures me.

I shiver from the cold as we make our way to a waiting car. I’m not all too familiar with the weather in Austria, but the air is crisp and the ground has a light coat of snow covering it. Maxwell wraps his arm around my shoulder to shield some of the cold air that eats at my warmth. “As if your ice-cold body could warm me up. I mean really, it’s like hugging a snowman,” I say as I shrug my shoulders in efforts of knocking his arm off.

I see the disappointment in his eyes as he occasionally glances at me and just like that I start to regret my words. What am I thinking, screams in my head. Clearing my mind takes priority over everything else. I try to think about something other than hurting Maxwell’s ego and feeling bad about it, but the nagging feeling doesn’t go away. Almost in a daze, I enter the car.

The sky is dark and the shadow of a large mountain that lurks just beyond the many rows of houses and buildings makes the sky look even darker. The few houses or businesses we pass shine brightly. Each one is in weathered condition, three stories tall, and narrow. Within seconds you feel like you’re in the old world. The buildings start to get fewer and dense forest makes everything else disappear, which only makes the hotel look more glamorous once it comes into view.

Spotlights shine onto the building as well as illuminating from inside out. It’s massive in size as several wings go off in different directions. Garden like sitting areas have snow covered benches, cute trees, and statues that line the building. Such a place doesn’t look like it would belong somewhere with no sunlight, or in a place that looks to be centuries old.

My eyes slightly bulge as I look at the woman behind the counter. She’s dressed in very German looking attire with a billowed sleeved white shirt under a tight lace-up black corset vest. She greets us with a wide smile on her face. “Willkommen in Rattenberg Posthotel. Was führt Sie zwei Liebe Vögel hier?”

A hum of confusion slips through my lips. I didn’t realize that no one would be speaking English here.

“Sie spricht nur Englisch,” Maxwell says back to the woman. The foreign language flows effortlessly off his tongue.

“Englisch. Ja,” the clerk replies directly to me.

“Yes. English.”

In a heavy accent she could possibly repeat what she already asked. “What brings you two love birds here to the Rattenberg Hotel? Anniversary? Honeymoon?”

It’s extremely hard to understand her, but as she talks to me as if I were a child, I understand fully what she’s getting at. An abrupt unexpected cough bursts from between my lips at her words. Spit lodges itself in the wrong pipe, causing me to have a coughing fit. Gasping for breath, my hands grope my throat as if it would help the oxygen in.

“Are you okay, love?” Maxwell asks with sheer compassion.

I give him the most evil stare I can muster at the moment since I can’t find my voice.

He turns back to the woman behind the counter. “She’ll be fine. We’re here on business. Aber es gibt immer Zeit für ein wenig Romantik.” Maxwell tries to hide a wink, but I catch it. And when they burst out laughing it just makes it worse.

Deciding not to be the butt of the joke anymore, I walk away. How could I not realize that people would be speaking a different language? I feel like a fool and just a few seconds ago I looked like a fool too.

The laughing stops with my retreating body. “The reservation is under Barnett.”

“Elevator is around the corner and the two of you have a pleasant stay here.” I keep my back to the lady. I bite my tongue to keep my hateful words to myself about her ridiculous outfit. As many more staff passes me, I understand that each employee has to wear it against their will, but I was angry that they were laughing at my incompetence of only being able to speak English.

Maxwell’s arm goes around my waist. “This way, love.”

“You know I’m only letting you touch me because people are staring.” A phony smile plays across my lips as other guests pass us by.

“That’s why I’m doing it.”

Standing outside the elevator doors waiting for them to open seems as if time becomes still. A mixture of words rattle off in my head as the elevator travels up to the appropriate floor. Trapped. Liar. Bloodsucker. Run. Relax and breathe never once popped up. Before the metal doors open Maxwell looks at me with pleading eyes. “In your dreams,” I say in a rough raspy voice. No mile high club and absolutely not whatever making out in an elevator is called either.

“Is something bothering you, Charlie?”

“Just a little taken back by the fact that no one’s native language is English.”

“We’re in Austria. Their native language is German. Most people know English, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“And you just so happen to be fluent in German.”

“I’m fluent in many languages, Charlie. Maybe if you sat down and had an honest, civil conversation with me, you would know that.”

Burn. And it stings, but the sting doesn’t last long.

“An honest, civil conversation? Well, let me see.” I rub my chin and stare him down. “Firstly, none of our conversations are honest, because you are the one who’s not honest. You either flat out lie or keep crucial details secret.”

“Secrecy is not lying,” Maxwell interrupts.

A haughty laugh bursts from my lips. “Close enough. And that last time we had a civil encounter, which should have been at that party I was hired to do, ended up with you taking a bite out of my neck. So I’m sorry if I can’t be civil with you. You fiend.”

“I suppose you have a point.” He admits.

“Damn right I have a point.” Just then the elevator dings, signaling that we reached our floor.

Silently, we walk down the deserted hall to our room. Maxwell must be scorned by my honesty and I’m too furious at his stupidity to talk to him. He opens the door to a room halfway down the hall and bows his head, urging me to enter. Suck up.

Nervousness, anxiousness, not to mention the jitters wash over me unwillingly. The minute I stepped foot on Austria ground I’ve been a total wreck. I don’t know if it’s the impending meeting with The High Council, the close confines with Maxwell, or being in a country that one way or another can’t help me if they tried.

Entering the large kitchen like space, I begin to wonder if we have separate rooms…we better.

“You should go change and rest. We’re going to have some busy days ahead of us,” Maxwell says, catching me off guard. He struts past me to the living room. I watch him casually drop himself onto the couch.

“Days? How many days exactly?” I screech.

“We’ll arrive back home Sunday evening.” His calm voice sends chills yet again down my spine. He’s so laid back about being here for three days, not to mention that we’re here a day early. I want more than anything to shake some sense into him as he lies there with his arms crossed behind his head.

I mock his carefree tone and walk through the closest door. Thank goodness it’s the bedroom. Unfortunately, since I found the bedroom right away I have no idea if there’s another one. The large spacious room is just as gorgeous as the rest of the hotel. I see my luggage off to the side, but when I see it beside a bag I don’t recognize my chest tightens. Spinning around ready to stalk into the living room to see if there’s another bedroom, I slam into Maxwell.

I rub at my nose. “There’s another room, isn’t there?”

He shakes his head.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I stomp away toward my luggage; I pick it up aggressively and throw it on the bed, snickering to myself as I unzip it.

A small chuckle sounds from the doorway and in the corner of my eye, I see him leaning up against the doorframe. Like a mad woman my hands dig and dig into the suitcase. “You said Grace packed this bag?”

“Yes. Why?”

Article after article of perfectly folded clothing becomes a mess as I continue to search for some clothes that could pass for pajamas. “Grrraaacccee!” I hiss.