I examined his grey face. I suspected that his ongoing defence of Lord Chester Longchamps was mostly bluster because I certainly wasn’t convinced that Chester had been a good bloke. ‘I’m keeping your keys, Eric,’ I told him. ‘You can’t keep on coming here.’
‘What? You can’t do that!’
I hardened my voice to make it clear that it wasn’t a request. ‘I am keeping the keys to this house. You need to stop what you’re doing and move on with your life.’
‘I’ve dedicated my life to the vampires! I’m not giving up. I don’t care who you are or what you say, I want to be a thrall. If Lord Chester hadn’t died like that, he’d have made me into a vampire. I know he would!’
‘But he sacked you,’ Thane reminded him.
‘I gave him twelve years!’ Eric shouted. ‘This is all I’ve ever wanted!’
I sighed. ‘Do you have family in Coldstream?’
He stared at me. ‘What does that matter?’ I waited. He rolled his eyes. ‘My mum and dad. Two brothers.’
‘If you became a vampire, you’d have to watch them die.’
‘Asyoualready said, everyone dies.’
‘Don’t you want children some day?’
‘No.’
‘Don’t you like daylight and sunshine?’
‘I’m prepared to give the day up in favour of the glory of the night.’
‘Do you want to have to drink blood to survive?’
‘I already like the taste.’
He was a stubborn bastard, that was for sure. ‘You could spend your whole life in pursuit of vampiric immortality, Eric, and forget to actually live instead,’ I pointed out. His onlyanswer was to fold his arms. ‘Move on. I know it’s hard after twelve years but…’
‘You don’t know anything!’
That was mostly true. I stood up. ‘Thank you for your help. Now you have to go.’ I fixed him with a steely glare. ‘And don’t go into the Understream again. It won’t go well for you if the vamps catch you.’
When he glared back at me, I knew that nothing I said would make a difference. ‘Thane, can you show Eric to the door? In fact, could you help him get home?’
Thane nodded. ‘Of course.’
Eric had risen to his feet. ‘You can’t force me out!’
‘I beg to differ,’ Thane said.
Eric glared at me. ‘What are you going to do? Why are you staying here?’
I was going to find Chester Longchamps’ door to the Understream and go back into the depths. It was time to get to the bottom of this and find out what was really going on.
Chapter
Eighteen
It didn’t take long to locate the trapdoor. I descended three flights of stairs as I travelled into the depths of Chester Longchamps’ deserted house. The further down I went, the spookier it became. I was used to dark shadows and gloomy corners but something about this house gave me the heebie-jeebies.
I was relieved when I spotted the unobtrusive trapdoor. Wandering around the maze of Understream tunnels was a more appealing prospect than snooping around the dead vampire’s abandoned home.
The trapdoor opened easily; its hinges were well oiled, indicating that Longchamps – and likely also Eric – often used it. I swung around to clamber down the ladder, made short work of the rungs and then, when my feet were planted on solid ground, hunkered down and opened my bag. I wanted to make sure I was prepared for all eventualities.
