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Charlie walked quickly in search of a way to reach the world outside this castle. The rooms she had looked into so far looked more like museum exhibits than a place where someone lived. Then she walked into a room where the furniture was more modern and she felt her heart skipping a beat. She tried to sneak in without a sound and closed the door behind her. There was no way for her to know how long it would take for Loyd to notice she was gone. Maybe she could hide for a while after, but with the supernatural sense of smell and hearing vampires had, she doubted it would be long before Millard had her captured again. She looked around the room, but couldn’t see anything that would help her. There was another door on the opposite wall from where she entered. Charlie hesitated a moment. It was a risk going further in to the labyrinth of rooms. What if her escape path got blocked? But then, what if the living quarters were further in? She needed to decide and she decided to take a chance and opened the second door. Charlie entered what looked like a somewhat modern livingroom and she felt excited. She looked around and still didn’t find a phone or computer.
But there were several new doors to look into. Charlie hesitated, but she had decided to be
brave, so brave is what she would continue to be. She grabbed a small statue as a weapon. She
didn’t think it would cause any major injury to Millard or Loyd, but the weight of it made her
feel better. Charlie carefully opened a door and saw an office. She could have cried out in relief. Silently she crept inside and closed the door behind her, focused on the desk where she saw a laptop and an old time phone. she had almost reached the desk when someone cleared. their throat. Charlie spun around, her heart pounding so hard she thought she would have a heart attack. The man standing next to the door, by some bookshelves, looked at her with an
amused look. At first, she thought it was Millard. He looked like Millard. But then their eyes. met and Charlie realised this wasn’t Millard. The eyes held the same expression that Vidar had. They told of someone who had seen more than they let on. There was wisdom and not
even a small hint of madness. This was not Millard, but it looked to be his twin. Charlie’s
brain worked at full speed to try to figure out how to get out of the situation.
“I’m the first one to confess I rarely wonder out amongst humans now days, but even I doubt that is the latest fashion,” the man said. Unlike Millard he had a calm, deep voice. Charlie felt
herself blush as she remembered the shower curtain covered in colourful fish that was
wrapped around her.
“It’s more of a necessity than a fashion statement,” she told him. He nodded, the corners of
his mouth twitched as if he was holding back a smile.
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“And why do you feel it is necessary to sneak around my castle in a shower curtain?” he
asked.
“Your castle?” she asked.
“Indeed. I am Mauritius DeVoen, and this,” he gestured around them. “Is my castle.”
“Any relations with Millard?” Charlie asked. There was a fleeting look of surprise on his face.
“You are a friend of my son?” he asked. Charlie took several steps back and held the statue between them. If this was Millard’s father, she couldn’t trust him. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. The gesture reminded her so much of Vidar she wanted to cry.
“I’m not a friend of him. Stay where you are and let me make a call. I just want to make one call, that is all,” she told him. He slowly raised his hands in the international sign of surrender.
“You are clearly in some trouble, and I’m assuming my son is part of it. I understand if you don’t trust me as his father. It’s wise of you not to. But I promise I won’t harm you or stop you from leaving,” he said. Charlie looked at him. He looked like he was telling the truth, but she wasn’t in a trusting mood. She just nodded and walked backwards until she reached the desk. Charlie followed the edge of it until she saw the phone. She took her eyes off Mauritius for the first time since he had made his presence known. She looked at the old phone. It had a dial disc. She knew how to work one of those. She reached for it but hesitated. Charlie didn’t know where she was. What would she tell Vidar? She glanced up at the vampire on the other side of the room. He remained in the same spot.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“In my castle, Brineborg,” he told her.
“In what country?” she asked. This time there was no hiding his surprise.
“You don’t know whish country you are in?” he asked. Charlie shook her head. She thought about it for a moment. She had to take a chance and at least trust this vampire a little.
“Millard kidnaped and drugged me, I woke up in your dungeon and I think i have been here
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for a week. All I want to do is call Vidar and go home. I will make sure Vidar dosn’t cause any issues. I just want to go home,” she told him and tried to hold back the sniffle that escaped at the end.
“Vidar? Vidar Grim? How do you know him?” Mauritius asked, taking half a step forward. Charlie jumped back, waving the statue in front of her.
“He’s my imprinted mate. He is coming for me,” she told him. The vampire froze and scented the air. His eyes grew bigger and then he bowed to her.
“Maiden, it’s an honour,” he told her. “I swear to you, on my own and my son’s life, that
you are safe. Vidar called me a while back to let me know Millard had acted less than honourable. I chose to discipline him in my own way. I see now it was my mistake. If I had known what he had planned, I would have handed him over to his clan. Please, let me help you to call Vidar.” Charli looked at him. She took a couple of steps away from the phone and watched as he walked up to it, dialled a number, and handed her the receiver. Charlie heard it ring and she held her breath.
“Mauritius, I was meaning to call you.” She could hear Vidar’s answer. Charlie was so relieved to hear his voice she had a hard time speaking.
“Vidar?” she whispered. The silence was complete for a moment.
“Charlie?” Vidar’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“It’s me,” she confirmed.
“Why are you calling from Millard’s father’s phone?” he asked.
“I was held at his castle by Millard. But I escaped and I think his father is helping me. I think I can trust him,” she answered.
“You can, listen to me, Charmeze. You can trust Millard’s father. You stay close to him. Dear gods in heaven, it’s nice to hear your voice. I’m coming for you. It will be a couple of hours, but I’ll be there as soon as I can. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
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“Good girl. I don’t want to ask you this, lilla lo. But I need you to hand the phone over to Mauricius. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Charlie told him in a shaky voice and handed the phone back to Milland’s
father. He took it.
“Yes” was all he said. “I give you my word, there won’t be a hair out of place som har harad She is quite a fierce little thing the walked into my office in the most interesting oftion, threatening me with my Rodin statur,” he contine after Sisteming to Vile Chur ked down at the statue she was holding by the n*ck the gold on the desk the she pushed it a little further away from the edge. When dhe buked at Vartan again, ber held the receiver out to her she took a
“Vidar
“It’s okay, batry. Yona are vale seul I’m on my was hat mat ko ne auf die at Mimartine vale you,” he said. The could hear the
bigosmi
of the
“I think I’m up, Villa will along to go on, die alle huy
chuckled.
“Yes you are, Charlie that am I. 1 weer) The Tong.”
“Vidar
“Yes?”
“What happened to Caine the asked. Charlie
edge of den
“Min shot him with a silver bullet loaded with image but he is up and almost back to his unual vurubiese self. He will in me The wallet wasted
over her.
“Okay. Thank you for telling me I’ll wait for you.” They hung up and as Charlie placed the receiver back on the phone, the watched Millard’s father testing something on a meshule phone
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“How about you take a shower while we wait? I’m usually a gentleman and would never point it out, but you do have an odour to you,” he told her with a smile. Charlie couldn’t help but to laugh.
“I would like that, but I have no clothes and I’m a little wary of being alone,” she confessed.
“You can use the shower in my bedroom. No one would think of entering it without my permission. I will even watch the door for you. As for clothes, I have sent my men to
o get some. They should be back before you are done.” Charlie sighed. It would be nice to be clean when Vidar arrived. She nodded and Mauritius showed her into a luxurious bedroom and pointed out where the bathroom was before closing the door. Charlie had a hard time believing it all was over. She hdn’t heard anything from Millard or Loyd. She had a hard time believing Millard would give up this easily. But Vidar had told her to trust her host, so she would.
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