Lost in the Castle

~6~

There was still one of the maids in my chamber when we entered. She looked at me curiously, her bright blue, icy cold eyes piercing through me. I didn't remember her at all, and hoped that she didn't have any reason to dislike me. Katerina might know something, I thought, making a mental note to ask her later.

"I said you were dismissed," Katerina told her haughtily, but the maid only shrugged, staring back at her, unfazed.

It seemed that I feared my old nurse much more than this young girl did.

"I'm going, Katerina, I just wanted to know if I could bring our lady some lunch." The short girl curtseyed in front of me.

"No, thank you," I responded, trying to shield her from Katerina's angry reply. "I'm not hungry."

The girl smiled at me, the coldness momentarily gone from her plump face. She looked quite pretty, with her rosy cheeks and brown, shiny hair, when she smiled.

"You heard. Now leave us," Katerina ordered.

The maid repeated her curtsy, then walked out of the room.

"Oh, Katerina, why are you so hard?" I asked her when the door had closed behind the girl, and we were alone.

"I don't like that maid, my lady. Alina likes men too much," she said, indignation seeping through her voice. "And I've heard that she laid her eyes on your husband's brother, Lord Radu."

Radu... hearing that name brought a new string of memories for my mind to examine. Unpleasant memories, this time. Radu... Vlad's younger brother... a cruel and spoilt man who had become a vampire for fun, causing a family scandal. I had always tried to respect and accept him as a member of Vlad's family, but I never liked him. Apparently, I had never told Katerina about my feelings towards Radu because she didn't seem to notice my reaction. Better this way; I wouldn't want her to worry.

"If you are not hungry, then you should rest at least. You look tired," she announced.

She was right. The dizziness and nausea I felt last night had passed, but I was still feeling unusually tired. As there was nothing else I could do right now but wait for Vlad's return, I climbed the few steps leading to my bed.

"Are they vampires too, Katerina? The maids, I mean," I explained, as she observed me speechless.

"Do you remember about... them?" Katerina asked, her eyes wide with surprise while I laid down, and she covered me with the soft, fur-lined blanket that had served me as a dress in the morning.

"The vampires? Yes, I do. Some things, at least," I said simply, waiting for her to start talking and fill some gaps in my memory.

She sat in the chair next to my bed and passed me my book that had been lying there. I put it carefully under my pillow, realising how strangely my mind worked. A while ago, I thought I was only dreaming about being here, but now it was the life I had lived up till now that started to resemble a dream. The memories of it were already beginning to fade, being pushed away by the events of the last hours. Not even one full day had passed since I came back here, but I was starting to feel as if I had never left. It was bewildering.

"The maids, Katerina," I reminded her, and myself, what we had been talking about, "are they vampires, like the knights?"

"No, Lady Samara, they are not. But they would like to be." I looked at her incredulously, and she went on. "See, the vampires are strong, attractive, rich, and they can live for a very long time, maybe forever. These girls come here, hoping to attract one of them, make them fall in love and change them, and thus live happily ever after, loved and rich. They don't know that most of these... men... have been through too much in their long lives, and only became vampires against their own will or out of despair. They are not capable of loving anymore. None of them is like your poor husband, who has been punishing himself for centuries for having lost you, my lady... I've never seen as much love in a man as he holds for you."