Little Doll (Blackmoth House #1)

Chapter 11 Nova

Chapter 11

Nova

Life settled into a dreamy routine of days cuddled in bed with Astrid amongst the extravagant dolls and expensive toys, and nights playing in the garden together under the moon. Astrid was a funny and quirky child, if not a little melancholy at times.

One night, we had brought some of her dollies and a delicate China tea set out to the garden to host a tea party under the moon. Fireflies lit around us like a magical sort of rain. Astrid moved her dolls and acted out an entertaining scene with them.

And then, just like that, she brought her little fist down onto one of the delicate China cups and smashed it to smithereens. I wouldn’t have thought such a tiny hand could’ve done such damage. Yet the cup was pulverized, and Astrid’s hand was unscathed.

I slowly lifted my eyes off her hand and into her face. “Astrid! Why did you do that?” I asked.

Her eyes narrowed and her face was stony. “They lock me away in a room full of pointless toys. I’m over seven hundred years old. What do you think I want with toys?”

We were seated on the ground and Fane was behind us, sitting on a stone bench. I turned my shoulders to peer up at him. He looked on, ever watchful of us, but he said nothing. I returned my attention to Astrid.

“You don’t like your toys?” I asked.

Astrid blasted to her feet. Although she was tiny, her frame had taken on a different posture. Her cherub face now cast in a strange, womanly expression. She looked like a nightmare at that moment. She kicked her foot through the tea set, overturning cups and saucers. The miniature spoons clinked along the stepping stones. Then she began to stomp down on the cups, popping and breaking the fragile toys. “No, I don’t like toys. I’m an adult trapped in this dastardly child’s body. I hate them. I hate them! I HATE THEM!”

Her body vibrated with rage.

I leaped to my feet too and stepped forward to embrace her, to soothe her. But she jerked away from my grasp. “Astrid,” I pleaded. “What would you like instead?”

“Blood,” Astrid replied without hesitation.

My pulse quickened at the mere mention of the word. I had fed briefly on a maid and had not thought much of it since. But now that Astrid brought it up, I was hungry too.

I turned to look at Fane again. “How is Astrid fed?” I asked him, surprised I had not thought about this already.

“Costel keeps a supply of blood he gets from the funeral home cool in a hidden room in the cellar. I bring her blood when she is hungry.”

Astrid snarled. “You know what I mean, brother.”

Fane gave her a strange small smile, as though they were exchanging a secret, I wasn’t privy to. “Yes darling, I know what you mean. We’ve been over this before, however, and you know I’m not able to take you on a killing spree around London.”

Astrid growled and began stamping her feet again.

My night with Carmilla in London returned to my mind’s eye just then, and I spoke to Fane. “Cousin Carmilla taught me how to feed from people discreetly. How to take short fast drinks, so fast that your human eyes cannot detect us. Perhaps I could teach Astrid?”

Fane smiled. “What do you suggest?”

“I suppose if we could find some sort of nighttime activity or excursion that you could take Astrid and me to? Something appropriate for children,” I added, recalling the masked man I met at the dancing room Fane had taken me to. Obviously, we couldn’t take our sister anyplace like that, or like Salon Nocturne.

“Mother and Father would never approve,” Fane said. “I think it’s a marvelous idea!”

Some of the tension eased from my little sister next to me. She reached up, unfisted her tiny hand, and slipped it into mine. A silent apology for her tantrum. “Where can we take her?”

“It just so happens that the circus comes in one week!”

“What is a circus?” Astrid asked.

Sadness panged me at this poor child, so ancient, and yet so innocent. She had missed out on all of life’s greatest joys. I scooped her off her feet and into my arms, hoisting her onto my hip. She slipped her arms around my neck. “Oh my,” I said. “The circus is a marvelous place of wonder. There are people there who perform incredible feats that seem like they must be magic. They fly through the air on a thing called the trapeze, they can swallow swords that are on fire, they can bend their body into impossible shapes! They can tame lions and dance on the backs of elephants! All while wearing fanciful costumes and playing the most delightful of music!”

Astrid’s cold eyes lit up. It was the most happy and childlike I’d seen her look. “It sounds wonderful!” she cried. “And I can eat them? ”

Fane chuckled and walked over to us. He placed one hand on my shoulder and used the other to stroke Astrid’s cheek. “No, Astrid, you know you can’t eat them. But Little Doll can teach you how to just take a bite.”

Astrid stuck out her lip. “Why is Nova your Little Doll?” she pouted. “Shouldn’t I be the little doll? I’m the tiny one!”

We both laughed. “Don’t worry,” I told her. “He only calls me that to make me furious. He knows I hate it and likes to make me miserable.”

Fane and Astrid both burst into fits of laughter.

“Nonsense, Little Doll,” Fane said. “I love you very dearly.”

My cheeks reddened. “Oh, why, that’s… I…”

He laughed again. “No need to say it back, Little Doll. I know it is difficult to love a devil.”

I smiled shyly. Indeed.

I placed Astrid gently back onto her feet and we both took her hands and began ambling back toward the house, chatting about plans to venture out to the circus and answering Astrid’s litany of questions about the event. As we reached the back door of Blackmoth House, a question occurred to me. We stepped inside, and instead of entering the kitchen, we found ourselves back in Astrid’s windowless room.

“Fane,” I said, turning to him while Astrid bound away to pluck a book from her massive bookcase. “Why do you know about Astrid?”

He turned to me as well, and his face was drawn and serious. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I’m here confined to this secret life now that nobody can know about, constantly having it hammered into my mind that Draven cannot know. The servants cannot know. Outsiders cannot know. And dear Astrid, her life is even more secret than my own. So… Why are you allowed to know about us?”

His shoulders slumped and sadness crossed his face. He took my hand and raised it to his lips, kissing it. “There are reasons, Nova,” he whispered. “And someday I will share it all with you. But not this night.”

The sadness in his eyes broke my heart. I loved seeing new sides of my brother, but I could barely stand the sadness.

Discovering the existence of Astrid quieted the little voice in my dreams, calling my name. As for the obnoxious scratching sound, however, it intensified tenfold without Astrid’s voice concealing it.

The scratching plagued my sleep. My waking hours too. I asked everyone I saw if they could hear the infernal scratching. I convinced Father to check for rodents, certain an infestation of some sort had taken over the walls of Blackmoth House. But no one else heard. No such infestation was discovered. My family began secreting concerned glances at me when they thought I wasn’t looking. Cleo traveled to the libraries of London to research discreetly whether this was some symptom of a vampire in her infancy that no one was aware of.

By the time the night of the circus arrived, Astrid was over the moon, and I was exhausted. I hardly wanted to venture out anymore, but I wouldn’t dream of disappointing my sister. So, Fane packed us into the carriage late that night, and away we went.

The circus was on the outskirts of London, and we reached it before ever having to venture into the city. It was barely visible in the fog except for the flickering gas lamps along the perimeter and the pointed tops of the grungy striped tents. The carriage let us out at the entrance, and we watched for a moment as it rolled away into a misty field to await our return. Sounds of music, laughter, and shouting drifted out from the arched entrance and the swirling mist.

Astrid jumped up and down and clapped. Fane and I laughed, took her hands, and led her to the ticket master and into the circus.

A clown on stilts stood juggling and making jokes to the crowd inside. There were a surprising lot of people milling about and spectating. My skin tingled with the familiar sense of something magic nearby when I caught a glimpse of a handsome man under a tree smirking at us. A vampire. I gave him a small smile and a nod.

I crouched down before Astrid and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Now listen to me, Astrid,” I said. “You can move very, very fast; too fast for humans to see. And then you simply slip your teeth in, don’t bite hard! If you bite too hard, they might notice. I’m going to show you. Watch carefully.”

She nodded solemnly.

I straightened back to standing and peered around at all the finely dressed circus goers. I spotted a woman nearby who wasn’t wearing an overcoat and whose soft bosom showed above the low-cut neckline of her gown. I smiled down at Astrid and gave her a wink. I flew to the woman and took a tiny nip of her flesh. I was back by Astrid’s side in a heartbeat.

Astrid jumped up and down and clapped.

“Did you do it already?” Fane asked, giving me a wide eyed stare.

I nodded and gave a dramatic curtsy.

“Amazing, I didn’t even see anything!”

“Neither did she,” I said, laughing. He made me point out the one I’d drank from and the woman was still chatting to her date.

“I’m going to do it again, Astrid. Watch,” I said.

I zipped to a man who was handing out circus program booklets. I took a drink from his wrist and swiped a booklet, and he was none the wiser when I returned to my siblings.

“It’s amazing,” Astrid murmured, her eyes sparkling devilishly.

“Did you do it again? ” Fane asked. Astrid and I both laughed.

I crouched before her again and put my hands on her shoulders. “It’s very easy, darling,” I told her. “But it’s also easy to get carried away. Can you be careful?”

She nodded, looking me in the eye.

“Because if you’re not careful, it could be a bit of a mess.”

“I understand, Nova,” she agreed.

“You’ll have to find children, since you’re so short,” I added, patting her on the head. She stuck her tongue out at me and batted my hand away. Then she darted out to slip her teeth into the fat cheek of a toddler.

Fane and I ambled on hand in hand while Astrid flitted about, taking little bites of people. The few vampires in the crowd looked upon us with great interest and some suspicion. I wondered what the history was on child vampires. Was Astrid the only one? Would our fellow creatures be impressed by her care and control? And what did they think of our being escorted by a human? Frankly, I hoped they’d keep their distance. I didn’t care to answer any questions.

A man caught my eye, dressed in a handsome suit with a fancy black waistcoat and tails. He had a shock of brown hair swept back from his face, with a vibrant streak of white shooting out from his right temple. He was juggling butcher knives and staring at me with a wide grin and hooded eyes.

I smiled back as we passed, mesmerized by the glint of his knives and the way they wished as they circled through the air.

Astrid spotted a tent with a sign above the entrance that said “Marionette.” She jumped up and down and begged us to take her in.

“There will be lots of children in there to eat!” she said excitedly.

I pat her back, “Shhhh, Astrid. Careful what you say, my love,” I warned. Fane and I flanked her, and we went inside.

It was a strange show and for some reason, when we stepped into the dark place, I began to hear the scratching. I hadn’t even realized it had stopped until it started again. I could have burst into tears.

I tried to focus on Astrid, buzzing about from child to child, taking little bites. She didn’t even pay any mind to the strange scene taking place on the rickety wooden stage. It was just as well because the puppets were odd looking, and the show made no sense. Additionally, the puppets were so big, they almost seemed like real people, with strings sewn into their flesh. Their movements were jerky and unnatural, their costumes tattered and torn.

One puppet, a female with a face sloppily painted with clown paint, the colors of which were running and bleeding together, pantomimed the act of throwing open something and looking inside. It seemed to jump down from the stage, drop to its knees, and dig into the dirt with its hands. I couldn’t understand how such a sophisticated movement could even be achieved with a primitive puppet.

It seemed to stare at me while it clawed in the dirt.

Just then, Astrid bit a little too hard and a little girl yelped. Astrid was already back by our side when the child began to cry, and we ushered our sister back out into the night.

I almost used the incident as an excuse to make Fane take us home. The scratching grew louder, and I felt like everyone was staring at us.

The vampires who were there were staring at us.

Perhaps it had been reckless to bring our sister here.

Perhaps our parents and Cleo knew best.

But Fane crouched down to remind Astrid that she must be careful, and she promised to do so.

Then I spotted the knife thrower again, and he was watching me with his cold, dark eyes.

Maybe we could stay awhile longer…