The Corpse And The Crazy

Caesura

A server and the gardener sit on crates in the wine cellar of the House. The server leans over to light her cigarette with the gardener's lighter. Out of the three lights in the cellar, only one is fully functional and constantly flickers on and off. 

The gardener puts her jacket tighter around her as there's no heating in the storage parts of the House, so it's freezing temperatures for a human. But despite this, most humans still go here to gossip. 

'Have you heard of the thing with Brian?' the server said, after blowing out smoke.

'Brian? Is that the big truck driver that does the deliveries?' the gardener asks. 

'No, you're thinking of Steve.'

'Oh, you mean the new line cook?'

'Nope, that's Jack. Brian is the guy that used to live in some town, I forget its name, just off the main highway west.' 

'Oh, now I know who you're talking about. Didn't he work in a prison or something?'

'Yeah, something among those lines. Well, anyways, it turns out, he's gay!'

The gardener raises her eyebrows, 'really? I always thought I had a good gaydar but I guess I don't.'

'Yeah, I kind of suspected it, but that's not the best part of the story. It turns out he has a relationship with some married guy at the place he works at.'

'Huh, never suspected a thing,' the gardener mumbles, still thinking of how Brian wasn't straight. 

The server picks a hair off of her clothes. 'Yeah, I heard it from Jasmine.'

The conversation dies out and they smoke on in silence. Just when they were about to go back to their work, they hear a loud, blaring noise coming from upstairs. The stone walls of the cellar do a pretty good job at muffling the sound, but due to the complete silence, they still noticed it. 

'Did you hear that?' the server asks. 

Instead of answering, the gardener gestures that she should be silent. The gardener listens intently, and a look of worry flashes over her face. 

'What is that?' the server whispers, unknowingly. She hadn't worked here for that long, so she wasn't familiar with what was going to happen next. She didn't know the procedures the humans had to go through, the measures that were taken to make sure they didn't find themselves in the crossfire. 

The gardener quickly gets up and puts out the cigarette. She starts grabbing her things and the server copies her, although she doesn't know what to do. 'You know how there was a high-security prisoner coming in this morning?'

The server nods, 'what about it? 'The gardener starts walking away and the server follows her.

'Well, that sound means that the security wasn't high enough.' They walk through the kitchen, towards the main hall, through a side door. They join the other servants that are hurrying towards the living quarters outside of the mansion. 

The server takes a moment to process what she just heard before she says, 'you mean, she escaped?'

'Not just escaped, because that would not concern us. This alarm means that all servants have to go to their quarters immediately. In other words, we are in life-threatening danger. So, she hasn't just escaped, but she'll return. Soon.' 

She pales and looks over her shoulder in a panicking fashion. 'Will she come after us?'

'I doubt it, but better safe than sorry.'

When approaching the living quarters, a security guard recognizes them and lets them in. 

'Look out for yourselves,' he says to them. 

'Likewise,' the gardener replies before making her way to her room. Before she goes in and locks the door behind her, she turns to the server. 'We'll be fine. Just go to your room, lock the door and check the group chat. There'll be more information there.'

The server nods hesitantly and then leaves. 

The gardener was right, they'll be fine. After all, vampire business doesn't concern them. The humans will be safe and sound in their little bungalows on the outside of the estate.

I can't say the same about the others, though.