Page 4 of Vampire's Breath

“In the office,” I called, a smile playing on my lips.

A moment later, Amy appeared, framed in the doorway, the light behind her casting her in silhouette. She leaned casually against the frame, the sun shining through her curly, light brown hair like a halo. Seeing her eased the weight on my chest. In a world without my mother, she was the family I needed.

Amy stepped into the room, looking effortlessly chic in her fitted jeans and tank top with a loose, wide-necked sweater thrown over the top. She turned toward the right to help herself to a cup of tea from the small table with drinks set on it. The bangles she wore on her wrists clinked together as she worked. “Just about ready for tonight?”

I sighed, drumming my fingers on the desk. “Not really. I think it will be a lot of fun, but I didn’t expect how much work it would be.”

Amy poured the water from the kettle over the infuser, holding the chain against the china. I loved my eclectic, mismatched teacups and saucers. She smiled at me through the rising steam. “That’s what you have me for. The caterers arrive at five. I’ll have the fires ready in the pits by five thirty, and we open the doors at six.”

I laughed, my heart fluttering with a tinge of excitement. “You mean the doors will already be open since the garden center doesn’t close until six.”

She flicked her hand. “Mere details,” she said, her voice taking on an upbeat, singsong quality before she chuckled.

I glanced down at the journal and cleared my throat. “I think this event was a good idea. It’ll be a wonderful way to raise money for charity and bring more customers into the business. Thank you for doing it.”

The party tonight had been her idea—floated after an impromptu, sweaty yoga session in my greenhouse a few days after the funeral.

“Can’t you see it?” she had said before taking a long draw from her water bottle. “A garden party in the center. We can call it Fireside in Bloom, with fires, a beautiful spread of appetizers, wine, champagne—the works.” Her smile widened as she’d proposed it.

I’d rolled my eyes, but my grin had betrayed me. “Only if you’re organizing it. I can’t put something like that together. Not now.”

“Are you serious?” Her face had lit up even more, as though I’d handed her the keys to the kingdom. And perhaps I had, but seeing her excitement stole just a bit of the pain from my chest.

Amy’s enthusiasm had been hard to match, and I tried to help as much as possible. Slowly, Fireside in Bloom had come together. We expected over a hundred guests who would indulge in the evening atmosphere of the garden center, along with hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and mingling.

Amy sat in one of the two kitchen chairs in front of my desk and gestured at the book beneath my hands. “Looking through that again?”

My voice dropped. “I was just… seeing if it contained anything to help me fulfill my promise to her.” Even to me, it sounded flimsy.

“Did you find anything?”

I shook my head. “Nothing outside the story of my ancestor’s insanity. I wonder if it’s hereditary?”

“Almost certainly, if you’re anything to go by.”

I opened my eyes wide and dropped my jaw, my hand flying to my chest before falling forward in laughter. I needed her, needed this. “Well, Isobel genuinely believed she was killing a vampire—one who had murdered her husband.”

“You can’t be serious.” Amy’s brows furrowed and lifted simultaneously. “How have I missed this part of the story?”

My lips parted, and I hesitated, not finding the words. “I don’t know. She commissioned a knife out of wood from her treen maker—”

Amy’s head tilted with the unspoken question.

“The carpenter who specialized in household objects, like dishes. Anyway, she commissioned this knife so she could goafter the guy, whether or not he was human.” I couldn’t help but feel a strange kinship to my ancestor—a fierce woman, compelled by purpose, even if hers was to hunt a vampire. Her boldness made me want to know more and gave me an understanding of my mother’s passion for her work.

“So either way, the man was going to die,” Amy said.

I nodded, the smirk growing on my lips. “Exactly. If he were a vampire, she’d have been acquitted, right? And my life would be a lot different.”

A long sigh escaped my lips. The woman should have been committed to an asylum, not sent to the penal colony, but in those days, the penal colony was considered the lesser of the two destinations. My mother’s obsession with wanting to go to England made sense now because neither the journal nor anything online helped with what happened or why.

Amy smiled. “I could see you as part of the elite, wandering about your manor, obsessed with your greenhouse.” She laughed, sticking out her pinkie finger as she sipped her tea.

I snickered, joy bubbling in my chest. “Oh yes, and wandering around at night through the woods, trying to discern which sound was made by a stag and which was a vampire just waiting to take advantage of my exposed neck.”

Amy set her cup on the edge of my desk. “Alright, down to business: the party tonight. What do you need me to do?”

I rolled my eyes. “Aren’t we doing this solely because you’re in charge?” I teased. Amy stuck her tongue out at me, a cheeky acknowledgment of the role reversal because I usually remained in control of everything.

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