Free The Caretaker of Showman's Hill (Vampire Romance) by Elizabeth Rose

He put down the glass and came and sat on the foot of his bed.
    He watched the thoughts flash through her mind as she recalled the incident in the attic. She feared him now. Her body stiffened, and he felt the racing of her heart as the quickening pace drummed in his ears. He knew he'd have to explain things before she screamed or fainted again.
    "You followed me up to the attic to watch me feed my vampire bats."
    "Vampire bats?"
    "They're my pets." He hoped she'd buy the explanation. After all, it wasn't really an all out lie. He felt her heart slow, but just a little.
    "Strange choice for a pet."
    "I'm a strange kind of . . . person." He had wanted to say man but he knew it would be far from the truth. Someone like Cassie didn't deserve lies.
    "What kind of a place is this and how did I get here?"
    "It's my home. I brought you here when you fainted."
    "Oh."
    He read the thought in her head that they were alone. She was confused and scared, but at the same time she liked it. Even after the attic incident, she still felt trust toward him for saving her in the cemetery from Antonio.
    "Can't you turn on a light or something?" she asked. "I can't see a thing."
    "I don't have any lights. And there's nothing to see. You're in my bed and the house is really tiny."
    Being in his bed had her mind racing to ideas that only made matters worse for Basil. He stood up and blocked her thoughts from his mind. "Get some sleep, Cassie. You've had a long day."
    "I need to talk to you about some things first," she said.
    "I'm sure it's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow."
    "I'm trying to track down . . ."
    "Shhhh." He held his finger against her lips and used his mind powers to make her sleepy. "We'll have plenty of time to talk later."
    "First thing in the morning?" she asked with a yawn.
    "Later," was all he said.
    She smiled tenderly before falling off to sleep.
    Basil sprang from the bed and paced the floor of his small quarters. He had to get out of there before he did something else he'd regret. This woman was trouble. And that kind of trouble he could do without.
    He closed his liquor cabinet and was about to close up his bed when he remembered Cassie was human. She needed air, unlike when he closed himself in for the night. He left the bed open and went out the door, padlocking her in for her own safety.
    He headed off to the Bat House to try to make his explanations.
    Throwing open the door, he expected to find Antonio, Louie and Sefu waiting to rifle him with questions. Instead, he found the three of them at the table leaning over the open half gallon of strawberry ice cream.
    Louie and Sefu were finishing it off, Antonio was staring at them with a look of disgust upon his face.
    "What's this?" asked Basil slamming the kitchen door.
    "It's called ice cream," answered Louie. Sefu nodded his head and pointed to the picture of the strawberry on the carton.
    "Oh, yeah," added Louie. "Sefu says to tell you it's strawberry."
    "You idiots! I know what it is. I meant, what are you doing?" Actually, it had been a long time since Basil had food, and if Cassie hadn't told him what it was he wouldn't have remembered. Still, he didn't need to tell the boys that.
    "They're eating the cursed stuff, dear cousin." Antonio spat the words in disgust.
    Basil looked at Sefu and Louie licking their lips from the ice cream and it brought back a flood of memories. It'd been so many years, that he'd stopped thinking of the boys as brothers long ago. Only when Antonio called him cousin did it trigger off the sentimental memories. Sentiments were something vampires learned to live without. All vampires were basically one family. Only these two were his blood brothers in a related way.
    "You two look like you've raided the butter churn. What's gotten into you? You're eating human food now?"
    "It's good," remarked Louie. "Tastes a little like blood . . . but sweeter."
    Sefu nodded in agreement.
    Antonio grabbed the empty carton and threw it across the room.