Monster

23. An Unexpected Guest

1832 March 2nd

Midnight

An Unexpected Guest

A tap on the door caused the man in the leather armchair to turn, his profile silhouetted by the flickering fire of the grate, shadows prancing across the walls like drunken demons.

"Nicholas," the man said in a sing-song voice, "would you mind answering that? I am in a bit of a daydream at the moment."

The dark-headed man stood from his perch on the love seat behind him and sauntered toward the door with the air of someone who had been pulled from their own daydream. He found Elsa on the threshold, a cloak around her shoulders, billowing and snapping in the winter breeze. She looked up, meeting his gaze, and offered a little sly smile. "Miss me, Nicholas?"

"Ah," came the voice of the man in the armchair, and at last he stood up and walked over. His bronze-colored hair was sticking up from where he had evidently ran his fingers through it countless times. "Nice to see you're back, Elsa." He slurred her name in nearly a playful purr.

Instantly the girl wished she had not decided to come, but she needed to retrieve her pocket watch and the only way to do that was to pretend she came for amends and friendship.

"Evening, Sven," Elsa said with a half smile. "I had gone back to my house but the SKS lurk there like owls in trees."

"We were keeping a watch for you," Nicholas cut in before Sven could retort. "I was worried."

"I thank you," Elsa answered, and then slid her way over the threshold. "For allowing my to dwell here, Nicholas. As for you..." She raised a brow at Sven, surreptitiously using the opportunity to see if he wore the watch, but he grinned in return, eyes daunting.

"Come, now, darling Elsa," he said demurely, curling his fingers under her chin, "play nice. I, too, share hospitality with my fellow vampyre."

So many remarks flitted to her mind at that last bit, but she forced it all back down and rolled her eyes. "I suppose."

When Sven smiled a genuine smile and Elsa, with a burst of inspiration, swung her hips dreamily on her way to the fireplace, taking off her hat and gloves, and sat down by the hearth to warm her hands. She looked over her shoulder at the two men and smiled. "I was a bit lonely."

Nicholas raised a questioning eyebrow and joined her a moment later. "Where were you?" he asked.

"Oh, just out," Elsa said quickly, and covered her secrets with a pat to his hands. "And also, to mourn over the person I loved." She shot the last part at Sven.

But the elder vampyre merely shrugged and said, "He was an SKS member. I eat them for breakfast, you know."

Elsa started to shoot to her feet but Nicholas, with his eyes on the fire, shot his hand out on her lap and stopped her. Thankful, because she needed to keep her cool in order to gain Sven's trust, she turned back to the fire, digging crescents in her palms.

"That reminds me, actually," came Sven's sly voice. "I am a bit starved. Nicholas, would you accompany me? It is, if I am not mistaken, the prime hour for the SKS."

Elsa shot Nicholas a sideways look but he did not meet her eyes. Instead he stood and turned to Sven. "Yes. I am prepared. Let us go."

Elsa rounded on them and asked, "And you won't invite me?"

Sven chuckled. "You cannot keep up with us."

Elsa glowered. "I work better on my own, anyway."

The two of them departed from the mansion and a few minutes stretched out before Elsa shot to her feet and began to search for the pocket watch. It could be anywhere, she reasoned. He could have stuffed it in the most simple place, such as under a pillow cushion or behind a book in the case. But he also possessed such power, it could have been, for all she knew, invisible. She tore down the hall to the first room she found and dug through an old bureau, bookcase, and in another room under the dust-covered bed, in the spider-infested wardrobe. When she found nothing, she ran up the first set of stairs and repeated the same search.