A Taste Of A Vampire

Chapter 5

Nicholas lived in a home that was three times the size of Grayson Manor, and the grounds were far more extensive as well. The structure was made of old stone and rose from the land like a massive monolith, with a solid wall of ivy blanketed around the first floor and fingering its way up to the second and third floors. The windows were slightly darkened, and she guessed that it must have been done for privacy. It was grand and almost imposing, standing before her like the lone and mighty king of the wild, with nothing but its echoing kingdom around it.

She furrowed her brow. “Do you live here alone?” she asked as they walked toward the front door.

She hadn’t meant to be too personal, but it was something she had wondered, and in seeing the enormous home, it made her even more curious about him and his life. A home the size of the one before her should have had dozens of people living in it, and if it was just him, it would almost be too much for too little.

Nicholas walked with her to the grandly carved wooden doors that were set into a stone archway. It looked almost as if they were entering into a huge cathedral, but there was an air about the entire place that seemed far removed from the reaches of any church.

The interior was wide open and expansive, with space stretching upward through two floors in some areas, and lofty ceilings in other areas. The halls were wide and so, too, were the windows in many places. Dark wood framed the doorways, floors, and ceilings. Thick ornately designed carpets lay on most of the floors, halls, and stairways.

The home was elegantly appointed with some modern pieces, but most of the furniture and décor that graced the home was all from what seemed like a wide span of time reaching back centuries. She stared all around herself at all of it. Every piece she looked at, including all the crystal lighting of the chandeliers and lamps, was all immaculately cared for. She knew that she was looking at ancient pieces, but they could have been new for the state that they were in.

She smiled with a wondrous sigh. “Where on earth did you curate all of this? It’s incredible! I thought most of these kinds of things didn’t even exist any longer! Though, to be fair, I’ve never been in a place like this before. Maybe all the castles and estates in England have this kind of furniture and décor in them.” She shook her head slowly as she looked around her, feeling as though she were in a wonderful dream.

He watched her and smiled lightly. “It’s all been acquired by my family and handed down throughout the generations. Those who came before me have had a taste for fine things that last a long time, and so the collection has grown, and it has filled the house.”

Nicholas took her through several rooms similar to those she had in her own manor, though his were more richly appointed, and much more fascinating to her to see. He enjoyed showing her around through all of them, and he answered all her questions with no hesitation, until they came to a great hall not far from the foyer.

She paused partway down the hall, looking up at the wall beside them. With a frown, she examined the paintings that were hanging on the wall. There were three of them. Each one contained the image of a man, and each man was dressed and styled in different periods of history. All three of them looked uncannily alike in their features and manner.

“Who are these men?” she asked, staring at them. “They look exactly like you, only with different hair and clothes.”

He gave a nonchalant wave. “They are grandfathers and uncles of old. Many of the men in our family look alike,” he answered airily, and began to walk to the end of the hall, expecting her to follow him.

She didn’t move. She continued to gaze at the portraits before her. “Why are there only three?” she asked, looking back and forth between them over and over again. “I mean, where are the rest of your forefathers? The halls in Grayson Manor are lined with men and women who came before and parented the family that came along in generations after them.”

Nicholas cleared his throat and looked away from her. “There were other portraits of course, but they were lost in a fire. These three remain, and so they hang here. Shall we? We ought to be getting up to the second floor.”

She saw the muscles in his squared jaw tense and shift beneath his pale skin and his eyes flashed. She nodded and cleared her throat. “Of course. I’m looking forward to seeing more of this home. It’s truly remarkable.”

Something about the way that he responded to her made her even more curious about him and his lifestyle. It wasn’t as if he was overly secretive, but his answers were simple or vague and only left her with more questions.

Claire followed him up a grand staircase to the second floor, where they visited several other rooms, most of which were guest bedrooms, reading rooms, lavish bathrooms, and two small libraries. He told her some of the history of the house, explaining how much of it had come together.

“Do you have many staff members here who care for this home?” she had tried to figure out how many would be needed for each floor, and even that was more than she could determine confidently.

Nicholas glanced over at her as they walked. “I have one butler by the name of Hawkins who lives here and handles the household for me, and the rest of the staff comes in to work during the day a few days a week, but none of them live here.”

She tried not to react with too much surprise. “I guess that makes sense if there aren’t many people living here.”

“It’s just me.” He gave her a half smile.

Claire was glad to hear it in one way, and that was that there was no other woman as his wife or partner at the home, but in several other ways, she was disappointed for him. She knew that it was difficult to live alone for some people, and living alone in such a massive estate must be even lonelier, she thought to herself.

They saw most of the second floor and he walked back to the landing with her and was just about to go downstairs when she stopped him. Indicating a hallway that led off from one side of the landing where they had not explored, she smiled a bit.

“What’s down that hall?” she asked curiously.