The Vampire And The Orphan
Chapter Four

“You ready yet?” Nathanial asked.

His eyes shifted to the sky. Whatever that thing was, it did seem like light kept it away.

Good instincts on Lettie’s part.

“Yes, I think this is plenty.” She said as she stood with her rhubarb in hand.

He blinked, caught in something of a moment.

She was a vision, this girl in the white nightgown. Her long hair blew in the wind. Her cheeks were rosy pink from the bite in the air. Her lips curled into a soft smile—a real one. Not the usual flirty, cunning, or manipulative smile he was used to from women at bars.

Quickly he gathered himself and looked away.

“Let’s get inside then.” He said, motioning for her to follow him back in.

She found a clear spot on the counter and set her fruit down. She then started to rummage for a plate.

“You don’t eat food then?” She asked curiously. She set her plants down on the plate and walked over to the couch with them. He had a table at one point but didn’t get one this time.

“Not needed. However, I can if I choose.” He filled his glass with bourbon. “It’s tasteless, and digestion isn’t pleasant, so I don’t.”

“Oh.” She nods slowly. “Why do you have dishes?”

“Greta.” He explained. “She lived here for her last five years.”

“You kept them all this time?”

“I haven’t been here since she passed on.” He revealed. “Fifty years ago.”

“You had a house for that long and didn’t live in it?” She asked incredulously.

He chucked. “Buying and selling houses is how I make money. Some I keep. This was one.”

“I’ll go switch those clothes to the dryer.” He rose to do so as he’d heard the washer stop.

“That’s sweet of you, thank you.” She offered a soft smile.

“Don’t mention it.” He shrugged it off.

“Why not? You rescued me and offered to guard me. You’ve also opened your home to me. I’d say I owe you a thank you.”

“It’s not necessary.” He rose and was swiftly making his way toward the cellar.

“It is to me. So thank you, Nathanial.”

“Sure.” He muttered.

She sure was headstrong this one. He did appreciate she’d chosen his given name, though.

She adapted very quickly to everything. Too fast, a normal teenage girl would be traumatized after the events tonight. He considered this as he descended to the cellar.

She was a peculiar girl, but that could be explained by how she grew up.

Greta was the last Odin witch, and she never had a baby. Of that, Nathanial was sure. It would be impossible that Lettie was related to her.

He switched the clothes over to the dryer and headed back up.

She was munching loudly on the rhubarb and looked happy.

“I can tell these roots are old! The older they are, the better the fruit.” She chirped.

“Well, it’s been fifty-five years since she planted it.” He sat down in the chair with his drink.

“You drink but don’t eat?” She asked.

“It’s not as unpleasant as digesting food.” He explained. “I get something of a buzz. Nothing like humans. But it relaxes me.”

She was watching him closely as he sipped.

“Ella always said that’s the devil’s drink.” She said.

“Ella was not wrong.” He agreed with an amused grin.

“We used to have an old groundskeeper, Henry. He drank himself to death when I was just a kid.” Lettie told him. “The garden was so sad. We were afraid it would all wilt away. That’s when we discovered my talent.”

“Your talent?” He asked with a curious tone.

“With plants.” She said in that chipper voice. “It’s like I can sense them. I can’t explain it. It’s how I knew those wildflowers were hurting.”

She knew they were hurting. Strange way to word that, he thought to himself.

“You feel them?” He asked for clarification.

“Kind of.” She shrugged. “I have a way with them. I can mend them too.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. I just put my love into them as I care for them.” She bounced up to look at her flowers. “That and letting nature work its magic. Come see.”

He rose to join her and was stunned at what he saw.

The wildflowers had all begun to grow new roots—every single one of them.

“Not possible.” He muttered.

They needed soil, nutrients, sun, and time for that—none of which they had.

“They still need to get in the dirt to recover fully.” She said as she looked them over proudly. “They feel much better, though.”

“I don’t know what to make of this.” He was stumped.

This wasn’t a witchy thing. They used nature for spells and potions. They didn’t connect to it that closely, though.

“What are you thinking?” She asked.

“You’re not a witch. At least, I don’t think so.” He said slowly. “However you were very important to two different covens. That has to mean something. This connection to nature doesn’t seem entirely human.”

She looked stunned at that.

“Are there other beings besides witches and vampires?” She asked with widened eyes. The glow of the fire made them look all the more violet.

“Yes.” He explained. “Warlocks, and werewolves, mostly. At one point, though, the world was full of various beings.”

“It was?” She asked. “Like mermaids even?”

“Everything that’s in those human fairy tales existed at some point. Most are long gone now.” He said.

“Where did they all go?”

“There was a war. A huge war of the species.” He explained. “It went on for over a thousand years. Vampires, werewolves, and humans outnumbered everything else. What didn’t get driven into extinction went deeply into hiding.”

“That’s horrible.” She frowned.

“Wars usually are.”

“You said something to that other vampire about the order?”

“It’s a group that established an order to things when the war finally ended.” He explained. “Punishments for disobeying, The Order are severe, to put it mildly.”

“And that vampire broke the rules?”

“Whoever turned him did.” He said. “We haven’t been allowed to turn humans for over four hundred years.”

“Why not?”

“Long story.” He tried

She folded her arms. “We don’t have anywhere to be.” The headstrong girl insisted.

“Fine, whatever.” He refilled his drink first, returned to the living area, and she followed. They sat again. He was in his chair and her on the couch.

“The vampires were winning the war of the species.” He said quietly as he relieved those old days. “Unfortunately, egos started to collide, and infighting incurred with my kind. Wars within a war. Turning humans and forcing the new vampires to be soldiers was common.”

“What happened?” She asked.

“A powerful witch had a prophecy.” He said slowly. “She saw us killing everything we could feed from, then dying horrible deaths as the world ended in flames. It led to The Order. That rule was to prevent wars like that from happening again.”

“When were you turned?”

“During the infighting. I was one of those soldiers.” His mood dropped; he didn’t like reliving those days.

“None of this matters right now, Lettie.” He redirected before she asked him questions all night. “It’s you we need to figure out.”

He couldn’t protect her blindly.

“How?”

“I know someone who may be able to help.” He mused.

“You do? Who?” She asked.

“A few hundred years ago, before Greta. I was guarding three sisters. They started something with a warlock coven. It was too much for me, and we had to call in reinforcements.” He explained as she listened intently.

“One of the vampires that arrived to help was named Benjamin.” He continued. “He was two thousand years old and a scholar. He had more knowledge than anyone I’d ever known.”

“So he might know about me?”

“He’s our best chance.”

“Where is he?”

“We’ll have to search for him. It won’t be easy. My kind likes to keep hidden, and someone like Benjamin is likely very good at it.”

“What do we do then?” She asked.

“He told me about his birth town; it’s in Utah, which isn’t that far. We’ll start there.”

“Why there?” She asked.

“Most of us return to our birth town from time to time.”

“Why?”

“I think that’s enough questions for one night.” He pleaded.

She laughed. “I’m a lot for you; you look tired.”

“I’ve been alone for fifty years. It’s going to be an adjustment.” He admitted.

“Well, I’m beat anyway.” She said as she stood. “I’m going to grab those clothes and go to bed. We probably are leaving early?”

“We can’t travel during the day.” He warned her. “Which means we’ll have to be careful.”

The black cloud didn’t seem to follow his car. Hopefully, the car lights would keep it at bay. However, stops were going to pose a problem if a vampire resided nearby.

“Why can’t we?” She asked.

“I burn in the sunlight.” He explained, and she gasped.

“The downside of all the perks.” He said casually. “I’m fine as long as I block the windows with blackout curtains. A car simply isn’t possible to do that with. We’ll leave tomorrow at sunset.”

“Like burn to a crisp?”

“After several minutes, yes.” He said. “With perks come cons.”

She mumbled something about dreaming as she headed down.

Once she was settled into the loft upstairs, he poured himself another drink. Other than her heartbeat, the house was silent.

He could finally relax. He hadn’t had that much conversation in years.

Eighteen, he was potentially looking at another sixty to eighty years of duty.

Why did he promise her like that anyway? He didn’t know what had come over him at that moment.

It was late the sun would be up in an hour or so. He headed outside. This was his favorite time to go out, just before the world woke up. He would lurk; it felt right.

He sat down on the old wooden porch swing he’d built all those years ago.

“Are you going to give me any clue here, Greta?” He asked the air.

The chilly air didn’t respond. His eyes drifted over to the rhubarb Lettie harvested earlier.

“You’re full of dirt!” Nathanial laughed out loud. The last thing he’d expected to see when he rose that evening was Greta like that. Her white dress was dirt, as was the rest of her. Even her cheeks were smudged.

“I. I had a strong urge to plant a bunch of fruits. I just went with it.” She lit up a smoke and took a long drag.

“I asked you to do that outside,” Nathanial complained.

“I do it out there too.” She smirked at him cheekily.

“You were planting fruit?” Nathanial asked. “Be careful; your body could go into a shock from something other than junk food.”

“I lived a long life. I’ll eat what I damn well please.”

“I’m not one to judge eating habits.” He chuckled, and so did she.

“Why the sudden urge, though?” He prodded.

“Woke up from a nap and had to plant.” She rolled her eyes.

“A witchy thing?” He asked.

“It never ends the calling. The duty.” Her eyes drifted off. “It never leaves you alone.”

She was right. Even after death, it followed them. She was with him earlier tonight, guiding him just like she said she would.

If only she could give them the answers, they needed so badly.

Lettie’s sudden scream has his immediate attention. He blurred up to the loft in seconds. She was tossing and turning in the bed. Her face was sweaty and distressed.

“I don’t like it here!” Let me out!”

“I don’t want to try!”

“Lettie?” He spoke softly, but she didn’t respond. He sat on the edge of the bed and gently rested a hand on her arm. She woke up with a gasp. He took it back.

“It’s okay... it wasn’t you, the dream - ” she stammered.

“It’s understandable you’d have a nightmare after tonight.”

“I have this one sometimes.” She whispered, her face still pale.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I can’t.” She said in a breathy voice. “I can never remember the dream. Only how uneasy it leaves me.”

Maybe he could tap into her mind and see... no, not tonight. She looked too frightened by the dream as it was.

“Can you stay here? Just till I fall asleep?” She pleaded with those violet eyes. “Ella always would, and it helped.”

“Please?” She added when he hesitated.

“Just till you fall asleep.” He said briskly.

“Goodnight, Nathanial.” She whispered as her eyes fluttered closed.

He watched her as she drifted off, wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

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