“Another lock,” I commented.
“Yes, the door and frame are enchanted—another layer of protection, but hopefully not necessary,” she explained.
The door opened to reveal a rather large dressing room. Built-in clothes and shoe racks lined either side of the rectangular room. No windows were visible. Two vanities sat in the centre of the room, back to back to each other, and another door was on the opposite wall facing us.
“This is the dressing room. Come,” she said, walking past the marble vanities with intricate gold-framed mirrors and towards the door on the opposite side of the room. “Through here is the bathroom.”
She opened the door, another turn of a key, and I assumed another enchanted door, to reveal the bathroom. The floor, walls, and even the ceiling were tiled in shades of blue and turquoise green; it reminded me of the sea. Slim windows, like the bedroom, graced half the circular room's walls. A large grey metal tub sat proudly in the centre of the room, raised like on a stage with a step up to it. A sink stood in the corner, and opposite it, the toilet.
There was yet another door near the windows that looked like the door leading to the tower rooms on the floor below, but here I could see the weighted pulley system that Selene had referred to.
Large bronze-coloured cylindrical weights on chains hung on either side of the door.
“Through that door is the only other entrance to the tower rooms. It leads to hallway, which leads to another staircase and to one of the servant kitchens. In the old days, before the plumbing was updated, the servants would use this entrance to bring hot water to fill the bath,” Selene explained, following my gaze.
“The bathtub is older than indoor plumbing?” I asked.
I stepped forward and saw that it was tarnished in some places, evidence of time having left a mark. Selene hummed in the affirmative.
Selene stepped forward and retook my hand. “I want to show you something else, something I believe perhaps only I and myaunt are now aware of,” she said, leading us back to the dressing room.
“A secret?” I asked.
“A secret room.” She smiled conspiratorially and removed the chair from the vanity that faced the bedroom door.
“Under here,” she said, releasing my hand and dropping to her knees, crawling under the vanity and into the small space.
“It is sealed with a blood lock. Only those directly descended from my great-great-great-great-grandfather may open it,” she told me.
“A blood seal?” I asked. “Blood magic?”
“An old type of blood magic. It’s not very popular anymore. Most blood magic has fallen out of popular use. People fear what they do not understand. Come down here, pet, and watch,” she instructed.
I got on my hands and knees and watched as she carefully lifted a very small section of carpet.
“It should take just one drop,” she said, before lifting her hand to her mouth and pricking the tip of her finger with a fang.
I was curious for a moment, entranced by the way her lip lifted and her fangs descended at will. I had covered the basics of vampire anatomy in my classes, but I had simply assumed that the appearance of the fangs was driven by emotion or mechanically induced by pressing above the fang cavity. Now, I learned that it was an action done at will.
“You’re staring,” she commented, without lifting her gaze to me.
“Your fangs,” I said, a little embarrassed, “are interesting.”
“Pondering over my anatomy? I could give you a lesson,” she teased with a smirk as she moved her finger, red with a large drop of her blood, towards the old wooden floorboard revealed by the lifting of the carpet.
It didn’t look special. Nothing about the dark, almost blackened wood suggested it was a blood seal. But when she pressed her finger to the wood, the magic was brought to life.
The single drop of blood lit up in a magical glow and spread supernaturally through grooves in the wood that were not perceptible before. A circular crest appeared and glowed briefly. “That should be it,” Selene said, turning and smiling to me.
She gestured for me to back up and I crawled out from under the vanity. I expected Selene to pull the rest of the carpet up, but instead, she replaced it carefully, concealing the magical seal.
“This way,” she instructed, a smile tugging at her lips. I could almost feel her excitement—something similar to childlike joy. It was contagious; or maybe the bond was leaking past her enchantments again and I was feeling Selene’s emotions.
She grabbed my hand and dragged me—just slightly too fast—towards a wardrobe on the left side of the room, framing the clothing and shoe racks at either side. If she had not had a hold of my hand, I would have fallen at the speed she used. Instead, I stumbled into her.
“Selene,” I said, laughing but in slight warning, “I’m not a vampire, I can’t move like you.”
She turned to me and smiled apologetically. “Forgive me, pet. I’m rather excited,” she told me. Her demeanour since we arrived at the Ardens Estate had been different. It wasn’t a bad different. It was less reserved, more playful.
