Free Bathory's Secret: When All The Time In The World Is Not Enough (Affliction Vampires Book 1) by Romina Nicolaides

the first lot of fresh juvenile organs, but now the kitchen was in operation, she couldn’t go back that way again. She would have to find an alternative route for disposing of the body. She put a layer of fresh straw in the cart she used to bring in wood and bundled the disarticulated girl on the top. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen so she was small and light. Another layer of straw covered her up. Lifting the handles she wheeled the cart out the main entrance and headed down the ramp and towards the forest where hopefully scavengers would finish the job for her. The blood stained floors and bucket of remaining organs she would come for later.
     
    ***
    Katalina crawled into her bed and retrieved Oriana’s spare bible from under her pillow where she’d briefly hidden it and began to read. The printed word was much harder to read than the handwritten notes but she wasn't going to be intimidated. As with anything, she knew dedicated practice would help her get better. Right now she wanted to be able to recognize the words so that she could ask Oriana what they meant later. She tried to learn as many new words each day as she could, so she would memorize them and recite them to herself when she did chores. If she happened to forget she would sneak a peek at a sheet of paper she had in her pocket with all her new words and phrases written out in alphabetical order and repeat the tricky ones several more times.
     
    One evening as they sat on the ground with Oriana conjugating verbs Katalina looked up.
     
    “What’s the matter? Am I going too fast?” Asked Oriana.
     
    “No, it’s fine, I already know this verb.”
     
    “Don’t lie, this is brand new!” Insisted the little teacher.
     
    “No I do, promise! It’s an easy one to figure out from reading the text. Listen:
     
    Habeo: I have
    Habes: You have
    Habet: He has
    Habemus: We have
    Habetis: You have
    Habent: They have.”
     
    “I’m impressed Katalina! You are picking this up so fast!”
     
    “I like learning; I never had a chance to learn anything before. I feel so fortunate to have you as my teacher. You have my thanks.”
     
    “You should reserve your thanks for the Lord, I am merely his instrument.”
     
    “If you say so! Whatever the case, I’m ever so happy to have this opportunity. I know my mother always regretted that I never had any training in anything, so she’ll be thrilled to know I’m learning letters.”
     
    “When I’m lady of my manor, I will insist that all my staff are taught letters.”
     
    “Can I come work for you then?” Asked Kati half in jest.
     
    “Of course you can, you can be my personal maid!” Said Oriana enthusiastically and they both giggled.
     
    “What’s it like where you’re from, Oriana?”
     
    “In Moravia?”
     
    Katalina nodded, serious now.
     
    “It’s not much different from here. Perhaps a little greener. There’s more people in the village near my manor than there are here, that's for sure. And they’re happier too. There’s a beautiful lake near my home and whenever we can get away my sister and I swim in it in the warm weather. Our nurse gets very upset and tells us off. 'Oriana and Roberta get out of the water immediately, that’s most unbecoming of young ladies. Someone might see your modesty,’ she shouts.” She had puffed her cheeks and was wagging her finger in imitation of the older woman. “I think that’s probably why they sent me here; they keep telling me how I need to be more ladylike.”
     
    “Then you shouldn’t be sitting on the floor reading with a maid should you?” Said Katalina, bulging her eyes also imitating the fearsome nurse she'd never met.
     
    “No I guess not, but they’re not here to see me, are they?” Said Oriana with a smile and they started giggling again.
     
    By Easter Kati had made her way through most of the bible and as the months passed her vocabulary grew enormously. Oriana would continue to visit in the evening after