“As I turned to run, the factory owner reached out and curled his hand around my ankle. I was startled when I peered down at his face and saw the spitting image of my father, though I later realized that he looked nothing like him.”
“Your guilty conscience was playing a trick on you.”
“Yes,” Robert agreed. “The owner moaned for me to help him, but his situation was hopeless. He was beyond saving. The only thing I could do was tell him that the pain would soon be over and promise to stay with him until the end.”
“Didyou stay with him until the end?” I asked the vampire, who had a faraway look in his eyes.
“I’d planned to, but then a peculiar thing happened. He gestured towards the thief I’d hit with the pipe, indicating that he wanted me to bring him closer.”
“Didn’t you wonder why he wanted you to do that?”
“I assumed he wanted to look into the eyes of his killer as he passed on. Many odd rituals surrounded death in the Victorian Era.” Robert shrugged. “Who was I to deny a dying man his final wish? I dragged the thief over, and the aristocrat bit into his neck and began drinking his blood. I was stunned.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
Robert chuckled. “Once he drained the thief dry, he leapt to his feet and thanked me. He was totally healed, as if he had never been hurt at all.”
“And?” I asked impatiently. “What did you do?”
“I would like to say that I handled myself with the upmost decorum, but that would be downplaying my reaction immensely. I sprinted from the building and screamed bloody murder the entire way home.” Robert paused, laughing at the memory. “I went to bed that night with a scarf knotted around my neck, fearful the man would come and drink from me as I slept.”
I rubbed my own neck. “Did he?”
He shook his head “So, I went into work the next day—”
“Whoa! Wait a minute. You went back to the factory? Did you have a death wish?”
“A man did not have many employment options at that time, Olivia. It was either go back to work or starve.”
“Of course,” I said, apologizing for the interruption.
“I like that you ask me questions. Not many women do. I appreciate that you have an in interest in my modest beginnings and are not only curious about the wealthy vampire I am today.”
Oh, I have an interest all right.
Robert took my hand into his, lacing his fingers through mine. “When I returned to the factory the next morning, I was told by the foreman that my services were no longer required. Needless to state, I was furious. I’d saved the owner’s life and he’d repaid me by terminating my employment.”
“Unbelievable.”
“I was met outside by a frail old man in a horse-drawn carriage. He informed me that I was to be his replacement as steward on the aristocrat’s country estate. When I protested, he assured me that it was a requirement and not a request, and that he had taken the liberty of packing my belongings at home.”
“What did you do?”
“I got in. I figured if the factory owner had wanted to murder me, he would have done it the night before. Also, to go from being a lowly factory worker to a steward was the modern-day equivalent of a mailroom worker being promoted to the vice president of a corporation,” he said. “It would be my job to manage several domains within the estate: employees, horse care, ground maintenance. It was miraculous advancement.
“Once we’d arrived at the estate, I was given private quarters at the rear of the mansion. It was the first time in nineteen years—since I’d been a farm boy—that I had my own room and had truly been without company. In London, you’re never alone in silence. I enjoyed this new peacefulness, but the quietness put me on edge.
“Later that evening, the aristocrat finally paid me a visit, introducing himself as Leopold Sorin. He looked much younger without all the blood smeared on his face, about the same age as me. He was as pale as before, with jet-black hair and light-yellow eyes. He frightened me in a way I cannot describe.”
“I can identify with you completely on that one,” I said, recalling the moment I saw Stephano sprawled on the ceiling. I’d passed out when hewavedat me. I couldn’t imagine what I would have done if I’d seen him drain another human dry—probably wet my pants.
“I was thankful for the opportunity Leopold had provided me, yet I was not accustomed to kindness from strangers. I was also shaken by the factory incident. While it was improper to do so in that age, I questioned my new boss about why he’d brought me to his estate. Leopold’s explanation was simple. His previous steward was getting too old to properly fulfill his duties and he needed a new man he could trust.”
“Did you ask him what he was? Why he drank the robber’s blood?”
Robert shook his head brusquely. “I didn’t dare. Leopold posed no immediate threat, so I let things be. In the years that followed, I found his behavior increasingly eccentric. I never saw him eat. He never went out in daylight, and when he did appear in the evening, he was always accompanied by a new companion.
“Despite his oddities, plus my social class being several levels below his, Leopold and I formed a friendship, albeit a peculiar one. Some evenings we would ride in silence on horseback through the fields. Leopold was very fond of horses, and he’d gifted me one named Cobalt. Other nights he would call me into his den and ask me to tell him about my parents and my childhood on the farm. He’d once had a wife and child that had passed away from a cause he never divulged.”
