A Taste Of A Vampire

She reached her hand out to shake his hand and he blinked in surprise at her and then glanced at Colin for a second. Colin shrugged, and Granger hesitantly lifted his hand to Claire’s, grasping it lightly for a quick shake, before letting it go and looking at the floor in veiled consternation.

On the other side of Granger was a shorter man, though he had a sturdy build. He was dressed in overalls with a long-sleeved shirt on beneath them. He had been wearing a hat, and he’d pulled it off and held it in both hands behind his back, leaving his tousled hair looking a little wild. His nose and cheeks were slightly scuffed with smudges of dirt. He smiled up at Claire and his bright blue eyes shone. “Good day, your ladyship. I’m Roger. I’m the gardener,” he announced, and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he spoke. He seemed to Claire to be a good man, maybe only a few years younger than her, and by the look of him, he was a hard worker.

“The grounds look beautiful from what I saw on the drive in,” Claire praised him briefly. He smiled wide and looked down as his whole face reddened slightly.

“Hastings, your ladyship. I’m the stablehand,” said the man next to Roger. Hastings was dressed in pants and a thick button up shirt. He had sable brown hair that was combed carefully into place, and lay thickly about his head.

Claire gave him a smile and a nod. “It’s nice to meet you, Hastings. I’ll try to come see the stables and horses tomorrow if that’s all right with you.”

“That would be fine, milady,” he answered and looked down at the floor.

She wondered in amazement at the way that they all deferred to her. She had wanted to tell Sally right away, and the rest of them, that they should just call her Claire, but she knew already after trying to get Colin to call her by her first name, and by the way that they all treated her, that there was no way they would do it, and she suspected that if she asked them to do it, they might very well be offended by her request, and still wouldn’t comply with it.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you all. I look forward to getting to know you for the week that I’m here,” she said with a smile for them all, and then she had to stifle a yawn and they all looked at her with wide, worried eyes.

Roger and Hastings both gave her one more nod and then turned and hurried from the room, as Granger picked up her suitcase and bag.

“I’ll take these to your room, milady,” he said, and turned to head down the hall behind him.

Fran spoke a moment later. “I’ll go with him and turn down your bed.” She left then, following Granger down the hallway.

Sally bustled off in another direction. “If your ladyship and Mr. Dent would care to follow me, I’ve got lunch ready for you in the dining room.”

Colin held out his hand in a gesture to allow her to go before him, and she walked with him behind Sally to the dining room.

When they were seated, Sally brought in the meal for them and Colin looked at Claire with a furrowed brow. “You’re only staying a week? Why is that?”

Claire sighed and eyed Sally, who was working in silence, while she answered. “Well, I’m not sure if I’m going to keep the house and… all of it. I came out to look at it as I promised I would, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. I was also wondering about selling it.”

Colin gasped in horror and then recovered himself quickly and closed his mouth as he looked up at Sally who had also drawn her breath in sharply and nearly dropped the dish she was carrying. She rushed out of the room, and Colin looked back at Claire.

“I’ll be honest, I had hoped that seeing it might change your mind about keeping it. If you still don’t want to keep it, I will begin to search for another heir, although I don’t believe that there is one. I’m fairly certain that you are the only one left.” He sighed sadly. “I’ll be in London for the week, and I’ll come back up at the end of the week to meet with you and talk about what the next step is. I’m not more than a phone call away if you need anything.”

She thanked him and they finished their lunch quickly. When it was done, she said goodbye to him and Granger showed her to her room. They walked down a long and wide hallway that was richly decorated, though not overly ornate. There were framed paintings hanging along the wall every few feet. They were mostly portraits of people over a period of time, though there were some small works of children and dogs.

“Who are these people?” Claire asked as they walked along quietly, and she looked up at each one for a passing moment.

Granger turned his head and looked over his shoulder at her. “They are your family, milady,” he answered in a reverent tone.

She paused in her steps then, and stood back to look at them all. “Of course they are…” she trailed off as she gazed at them a little closer. “Why else would they all be here?” She bit at her lower lip a little. “Which one is Elizabeth Grayson?” she asked curiously.

Granger walked nearly to the end of the hall and indicated a portrait above them. “That’s Lady Elizabeth Grayson,” he answered, but as he said it, he drew in a breath and then turned where he stood to look at Claire. “My word,” he said softly. “You are nearly a replica of her! The resemblance is uncanny!”

Claire was thinking exactly the same thing as she looked up at her great-great-great-grandmother. Aside from the obvious differences in clothing style, makeup, and hair styles, their faces, their bone structure, and even the form of their bodies were nearly a match. Even down to the expression on Elizabeth’s face. Claire felt as if she knew just what Elizabeth was thinking. As if she was there, definitely present in the moment when her portrait was painted, but also as if she wasn’t fully there, as though some part of her was gone or missing, leaving her hollow to a point. Claire was certain that no one else would probably have picked that up from just seeing the painting, but Claire could see it, and it was blatantly obvious to her, because she had felt that way herself. In looking at the image of the woman before her, she knew that she and Elizabeth were much more alike than she had ever imagined.