Bloodcircle - Chapter Five
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i_read_whatSo last time, we got traumatic vampire backstory, Revolutionary War edition, and Jack's going to do some minor crimes.
Meanwhile, on a side note, I finally sat down and read my Lunch Time Reading Omnibus that has a lot of the Vampire Files short stories in it. They're pretty good, as expected, though I will say, I think "You'll Catch Your Death" really needed a fucking content warning.
But I digress.
So we rejoin Jack as he's off doing his whole breaking and entering schtick. I'm wondering if that's a great idea. We know from Gaylen in Lifeblood that vampires can perceive each other in mist form.
On the other hand, Jonathan doesn't seem to have really explored his abilities in any sort of larcenous capacity, so maybe Jack's okay. And Jack knows to be careful.
He gets to the garage first. Notes the cars: an early Ford on blocks, a Rolls, a Caddy and a "brand-new white Studebaker". Jack jots down the plate numbers and eyeballs paperwork: they belong to Emily.
This bit made me chuckle:
The floor above the garage was occupied by two women, both comfortably asleep. They had separate rooms, but shared a bath and had black uniforms hanging in the closets that identified them as regular staff. I picked gingerly through their purses to get their names, and ghosted outside again without disturbing them. As a vampire hell-bent on finding slumbering maidens to drain into terminal anemia, I was a total washout.
Heh. There's the stables, horses, some more living quarters for servants. The dude above the stable has a collection of Zane Grey novels and a pile of magazines "whose pictured contents were less than modest". Jack keeps raiding wallets for identification and names.
I'm not going to go through the full search for you, but Jack does notice something interesting about the kitchen: it's too small for the exterior. Very carefully, Jack manages to sift through the brickwork (very unpleasant experience) and stumbles onto Jonathan Barrett's inner sanctum.
I enjoy vampire lairs, so you get a description:
On this side the bricks were hidden by fine oak paneling, and the utilitarian presence of the support pillars had been softened by similar decoration. Some of them had been converted into four-sided bookshelves, each loaded with hundreds of titles. A thick rug covered most of the parquet flooring and several lamps held back the darkness. The chairs and sofas looked comfortable and the air was fresh.
Barrett had done very well for himself.
He’d said his room was fireproof and secure, qualities which struck me as wise precautions. It was no wonder vampires had a reputation for hanging around graveyards; few things are more fireproof or private than a stone mausoleum. But this basement location was a real luxury and far better than anything I might have planned for myself. I was frankly envious.
So anything notably swanky:
His quarters consisted of a large living area, bedroom, bath, and a good-sized closet. The bed was unusually large, with a fancy embroidered canopy. It was for use, not for show, since the nightstand held some personal clutter. His carpet slippers lay jumbled on the floor next to it.
I cautiously looked under the brocaded blue bedspread and plain white sheets and found a doubled thickness of oilcloth stretched over the mattress.
It was sewn shut at the edges, but I could tell by the weight and feel that it contained his home earth. It was a very neat arrangement, one that I intended to adapt for myself, now that I had the idea.
Beyond the bedroom was a spotless white-tiled bath, supplied with the usual appointments, except that the cabinet over the sink lacked a mirror. It was an easily understandable omission.
His closet was stocked with a number of suits. He favored dark blues and grays for his business wear, had two tuxedos, and some riding gear. One long rack contained a rainbow of shins, ties, and handkerchiefs. Almost everything was silk.
At the back of the closet was a big antique trunk. It was banged up, but in good, solid condition. It was also locked, but I could guess he had a spare supply of earth inside in case he felt a need to travel.
I don't know about Jack, but I'm feeling a little bit of class envy here. I enjoy Jack's practicality though, he may not like Barrett, but he's willing to steal a good idea when he finds one. And maybe there's something that the two men could bond over in there: since both of them have absentee sires (mothers?), they missed out on a lot of introduction to vampirism tips that they otherwise might have learned. Jack had gotten SOME out of Maureen before she left, but that's not entirely the same.
Anyway, Jack's search is interrupted by footsteps. Crap. Jack happens to be in the closet when Barrett gets to his bedroom, which gives him the chance to do a quick dive for a ventilation shaft. He makes a very uncomfortable escape. (Jack isn't normally claustrophobic, but squeezing yourself through a very narrow shaft is apparently mentally taxing. Especially when you can't see in a traditional sense.)
Then there's more investigation. There's lots of space, but most of the rooms are underfurnished and dark. Emily Francher clearly isn't interested in the kind of social entertaining the house is built for. Her own rooms are swanky: full of every comfort and convenience. No earth though. She's got a lot of clothes, but even Jack's "uneducated male eye" can tell that a lot are years out of style.
(One thing I really like about Elrod, is that she always drops in little details like Emily having used up crossword books and a copy of Anthony Adverse in her bedside table.)
Barrett's office is a dead end sadly, but then Barrett himself arrives. There's apparently something gasp-worthy about his clothes, or so Jack's reaction indicates. He hides to get a closer look and clues us in:
Barrett was leaning against the mantel. My initial glimpse hadn’t been any hallucination; he’d changed his business suit for a costume from a long-lost century. He wore a flowing, open-necked white shirt with loose, full sleeves, some form-fitting riding pants, and a supple pair of boots. All he needed now was a fancy coat and sword, or maybe a brace of dueling pistols to complete the effect. With his thick hair now carelessly tumbling over his forehead, he looked like a friendlier version of Bronte’s Heathcliff.
Hee.
Anyway, Jack eavesdrops. Barrett is talking to Emily about Jack and Escott:
“I don’t think they’ll be back,” he was saying to her. “They just had a few questions about someone I once knew.”
“What about her?” she asked. “That young man seemed very anxious to find her.”
He shook his head. “I think they’ll look elsewhere now.”
“You’re still troubled.”
“Only because I don’t want them to come back. I don’t want them bothering you.”
Aw, I like that Emily actually seems a little concerned about Jack. Anyway, the talk turns romantic and there is biting, and Jack feels like a voyeur and books it, musing a little on vampiric love:
That they were lovers was no stunning surprise. Their style of going about it was much more sedate than some of the wild tumbles that Bobbi and I had shared, but to each his own. Despite their quiet method, the passion was there, and I could sympathize with it enough to get stirred up myself, but Bobbi was nearly eight hundred miles away. As for the horses in the backyard—they were for food, not sex. There is a very decided difference between the two, at least for me. I’d just have to hike around in the woods until the pleasant frustration wore off, and try to make up for it when I got back to Chicago. Bobbi wouldn’t mind.
Well, they're old, Jack.
He muses about their conversation: the impression he gets is that they seem genuine. Barrett wanted them to go away, but his love for Emily seems real and he may just want to protect her. Jack can understand that.
There is one interesting thing that Jack picked up on that I didn't really. One of the romantic bits of dialogue I didn't excerpt was Emily wondering if it'd be "different" for her and Barrett. She obviously knows Barrett is a vampire, and seems to realize Maureen had been one too, though she doesn't seem to know much about her.
Jack is also too focused on Maureen to want to take "seem" at face value for any of this.
There's another notable person in the house though: Laura Francher. The blond who had been swimming. At the moment, she's dancing naked to music. Jack enjoys the view a little too much. Dude. I'm disappointed in you.
Anyway, eventually she stops and quickly pulls on a bathrobe. Moments later, Barrett is at the door. He's still in costume, but less relaxed and his eyes are solid red. Laura doesn't seem to mind.
Interesting. I guess that's what Escott reacted to after Jack fed. Jack can't hear the dialogue but he observes quite a bit. The gist of which is that Laura absolutely wants to seduce Barrett. From his expression, Barrett wants her too, but for whatever reason, he doesn't go through with it. He leaves instead.
So Jack reports in with Escott. He does some "self-conscious editing" when talking about Barrett with Emily and Laura. Escott, of course, notices, but doesn't comment on omissions. He compliments Jack's groundwork and thinks this all needs further study.
They both agree that they're not going to wait indefinitely on Barrett.
-
We shift scenes to the next night: Jack has woken up in a strange room he didn't expect. His trunk was shoved against a wall, and the lid can't open. He has to mist-form his way out. They're in Glenbriar Inn, Long Island, per a brochure. And Escott's suitcase is there, but Escott is not.
He comes back though, explaining that he'd decided that it was "necessary and more convenient" to move closer to the Francher estate. The village they're in now is where the Franchers do local business. Escott doesn't get into how he managed to get Jack and the trunk upstairs, but notes that he had help.
He's also been busy collecting local gossip. He actually vents a little about how hard it is to turn a conversation from local celebrities and spectacles to a house fire. But he did get quite a bit of information about Emily's mother's death.
The notable thing is that the fire took place at night. Emily, Laura and Barrett were in their own house. Interestingly Laura used to stay with Violet, but had luckily moved in with Emily this time. This is why she didn't die too.
More interesting facts: Violet Francher did NOT like her daughter's new giggalo/secretary and wanted him out. Emily refused. The women didn't speak for months. Barrett himself stayed neutral and refused a lot of bribes to leave.
THEN Violet apparently started assembling psychiatrists to find Emily mentally incompetent. Given that this was 1931, and Emily had already had a breakdown, this tactic might well have worked. Fortunately, that ended with Violet's death in the fire. Convenient. And somehow, his name isn't mentioned anywhere in articles about the fire.
If it wasn't an accident, there are three people who could have set the fire. And Barrett's the most likely. Though Emily and Laura are too. (Jack protests that Laura would have been a kid at the time, but Escott reminds him of the two kids who killed for a cat.)
The actual cause of the fire was a frayed wire. Could have been tampered with. But the next step in the investigation is to catch a cab. The one Maureen used was from a one-man cab company. (Escott explains how he found out about the guy through talking with folks who'd been on the construction crew. Escott was very busy.)
So they catch the cab and ask the driver about the Francher's estate. He actually remembers the night in question: he'd gotten a call (first time, since both Violet and Emily have their own cars), drove up, picked up a woman who was little, wearing dark clothes, and a veiled hat.
Jack notes that Maureen often wore that kind of hat to protect her eyes from the afterglow of sunset. She didn't say much but asked to be taken to Port Jefferson. That's at the north side of the island. She was dropped off at the ferry, paid a five dollar tip, and the guy drove off.
This was 1931, remember, a five dollar tip was a big fucking deal. No wonder he remembers so many details.
But there are interesting questions. Why a boat? Jack has trouble even just going over bridges. Admittedly, we don't know if that's universal. Jack has his own significant boat related trauma, if you recall. They make plans to trek out on the ferry themselves. Jack flinches, and good boyfriend Escott is willing to not go, but Jack thinks if Maureen can take it, he can too.
They get back to the hotel to check out and Jonathan Barrett is in their room. The chapter ends there.
Meanwhile, on a side note, I finally sat down and read my Lunch Time Reading Omnibus that has a lot of the Vampire Files short stories in it. They're pretty good, as expected, though I will say, I think "You'll Catch Your Death" really needed a fucking content warning.
But I digress.
So we rejoin Jack as he's off doing his whole breaking and entering schtick. I'm wondering if that's a great idea. We know from Gaylen in Lifeblood that vampires can perceive each other in mist form.
On the other hand, Jonathan doesn't seem to have really explored his abilities in any sort of larcenous capacity, so maybe Jack's okay. And Jack knows to be careful.
He gets to the garage first. Notes the cars: an early Ford on blocks, a Rolls, a Caddy and a "brand-new white Studebaker". Jack jots down the plate numbers and eyeballs paperwork: they belong to Emily.
This bit made me chuckle:
The floor above the garage was occupied by two women, both comfortably asleep. They had separate rooms, but shared a bath and had black uniforms hanging in the closets that identified them as regular staff. I picked gingerly through their purses to get their names, and ghosted outside again without disturbing them. As a vampire hell-bent on finding slumbering maidens to drain into terminal anemia, I was a total washout.
Heh. There's the stables, horses, some more living quarters for servants. The dude above the stable has a collection of Zane Grey novels and a pile of magazines "whose pictured contents were less than modest". Jack keeps raiding wallets for identification and names.
I'm not going to go through the full search for you, but Jack does notice something interesting about the kitchen: it's too small for the exterior. Very carefully, Jack manages to sift through the brickwork (very unpleasant experience) and stumbles onto Jonathan Barrett's inner sanctum.
I enjoy vampire lairs, so you get a description:
On this side the bricks were hidden by fine oak paneling, and the utilitarian presence of the support pillars had been softened by similar decoration. Some of them had been converted into four-sided bookshelves, each loaded with hundreds of titles. A thick rug covered most of the parquet flooring and several lamps held back the darkness. The chairs and sofas looked comfortable and the air was fresh.
Barrett had done very well for himself.
He’d said his room was fireproof and secure, qualities which struck me as wise precautions. It was no wonder vampires had a reputation for hanging around graveyards; few things are more fireproof or private than a stone mausoleum. But this basement location was a real luxury and far better than anything I might have planned for myself. I was frankly envious.
So anything notably swanky:
His quarters consisted of a large living area, bedroom, bath, and a good-sized closet. The bed was unusually large, with a fancy embroidered canopy. It was for use, not for show, since the nightstand held some personal clutter. His carpet slippers lay jumbled on the floor next to it.
I cautiously looked under the brocaded blue bedspread and plain white sheets and found a doubled thickness of oilcloth stretched over the mattress.
It was sewn shut at the edges, but I could tell by the weight and feel that it contained his home earth. It was a very neat arrangement, one that I intended to adapt for myself, now that I had the idea.
Beyond the bedroom was a spotless white-tiled bath, supplied with the usual appointments, except that the cabinet over the sink lacked a mirror. It was an easily understandable omission.
His closet was stocked with a number of suits. He favored dark blues and grays for his business wear, had two tuxedos, and some riding gear. One long rack contained a rainbow of shins, ties, and handkerchiefs. Almost everything was silk.
At the back of the closet was a big antique trunk. It was banged up, but in good, solid condition. It was also locked, but I could guess he had a spare supply of earth inside in case he felt a need to travel.
I don't know about Jack, but I'm feeling a little bit of class envy here. I enjoy Jack's practicality though, he may not like Barrett, but he's willing to steal a good idea when he finds one. And maybe there's something that the two men could bond over in there: since both of them have absentee sires (mothers?), they missed out on a lot of introduction to vampirism tips that they otherwise might have learned. Jack had gotten SOME out of Maureen before she left, but that's not entirely the same.
Anyway, Jack's search is interrupted by footsteps. Crap. Jack happens to be in the closet when Barrett gets to his bedroom, which gives him the chance to do a quick dive for a ventilation shaft. He makes a very uncomfortable escape. (Jack isn't normally claustrophobic, but squeezing yourself through a very narrow shaft is apparently mentally taxing. Especially when you can't see in a traditional sense.)
Then there's more investigation. There's lots of space, but most of the rooms are underfurnished and dark. Emily Francher clearly isn't interested in the kind of social entertaining the house is built for. Her own rooms are swanky: full of every comfort and convenience. No earth though. She's got a lot of clothes, but even Jack's "uneducated male eye" can tell that a lot are years out of style.
(One thing I really like about Elrod, is that she always drops in little details like Emily having used up crossword books and a copy of Anthony Adverse in her bedside table.)
Barrett's office is a dead end sadly, but then Barrett himself arrives. There's apparently something gasp-worthy about his clothes, or so Jack's reaction indicates. He hides to get a closer look and clues us in:
Barrett was leaning against the mantel. My initial glimpse hadn’t been any hallucination; he’d changed his business suit for a costume from a long-lost century. He wore a flowing, open-necked white shirt with loose, full sleeves, some form-fitting riding pants, and a supple pair of boots. All he needed now was a fancy coat and sword, or maybe a brace of dueling pistols to complete the effect. With his thick hair now carelessly tumbling over his forehead, he looked like a friendlier version of Bronte’s Heathcliff.
Hee.
Anyway, Jack eavesdrops. Barrett is talking to Emily about Jack and Escott:
“I don’t think they’ll be back,” he was saying to her. “They just had a few questions about someone I once knew.”
“What about her?” she asked. “That young man seemed very anxious to find her.”
He shook his head. “I think they’ll look elsewhere now.”
“You’re still troubled.”
“Only because I don’t want them to come back. I don’t want them bothering you.”
Aw, I like that Emily actually seems a little concerned about Jack. Anyway, the talk turns romantic and there is biting, and Jack feels like a voyeur and books it, musing a little on vampiric love:
That they were lovers was no stunning surprise. Their style of going about it was much more sedate than some of the wild tumbles that Bobbi and I had shared, but to each his own. Despite their quiet method, the passion was there, and I could sympathize with it enough to get stirred up myself, but Bobbi was nearly eight hundred miles away. As for the horses in the backyard—they were for food, not sex. There is a very decided difference between the two, at least for me. I’d just have to hike around in the woods until the pleasant frustration wore off, and try to make up for it when I got back to Chicago. Bobbi wouldn’t mind.
Well, they're old, Jack.
He muses about their conversation: the impression he gets is that they seem genuine. Barrett wanted them to go away, but his love for Emily seems real and he may just want to protect her. Jack can understand that.
There is one interesting thing that Jack picked up on that I didn't really. One of the romantic bits of dialogue I didn't excerpt was Emily wondering if it'd be "different" for her and Barrett. She obviously knows Barrett is a vampire, and seems to realize Maureen had been one too, though she doesn't seem to know much about her.
Jack is also too focused on Maureen to want to take "seem" at face value for any of this.
There's another notable person in the house though: Laura Francher. The blond who had been swimming. At the moment, she's dancing naked to music. Jack enjoys the view a little too much. Dude. I'm disappointed in you.
Anyway, eventually she stops and quickly pulls on a bathrobe. Moments later, Barrett is at the door. He's still in costume, but less relaxed and his eyes are solid red. Laura doesn't seem to mind.
Interesting. I guess that's what Escott reacted to after Jack fed. Jack can't hear the dialogue but he observes quite a bit. The gist of which is that Laura absolutely wants to seduce Barrett. From his expression, Barrett wants her too, but for whatever reason, he doesn't go through with it. He leaves instead.
So Jack reports in with Escott. He does some "self-conscious editing" when talking about Barrett with Emily and Laura. Escott, of course, notices, but doesn't comment on omissions. He compliments Jack's groundwork and thinks this all needs further study.
They both agree that they're not going to wait indefinitely on Barrett.
-
We shift scenes to the next night: Jack has woken up in a strange room he didn't expect. His trunk was shoved against a wall, and the lid can't open. He has to mist-form his way out. They're in Glenbriar Inn, Long Island, per a brochure. And Escott's suitcase is there, but Escott is not.
He comes back though, explaining that he'd decided that it was "necessary and more convenient" to move closer to the Francher estate. The village they're in now is where the Franchers do local business. Escott doesn't get into how he managed to get Jack and the trunk upstairs, but notes that he had help.
He's also been busy collecting local gossip. He actually vents a little about how hard it is to turn a conversation from local celebrities and spectacles to a house fire. But he did get quite a bit of information about Emily's mother's death.
The notable thing is that the fire took place at night. Emily, Laura and Barrett were in their own house. Interestingly Laura used to stay with Violet, but had luckily moved in with Emily this time. This is why she didn't die too.
More interesting facts: Violet Francher did NOT like her daughter's new giggalo/secretary and wanted him out. Emily refused. The women didn't speak for months. Barrett himself stayed neutral and refused a lot of bribes to leave.
THEN Violet apparently started assembling psychiatrists to find Emily mentally incompetent. Given that this was 1931, and Emily had already had a breakdown, this tactic might well have worked. Fortunately, that ended with Violet's death in the fire. Convenient. And somehow, his name isn't mentioned anywhere in articles about the fire.
If it wasn't an accident, there are three people who could have set the fire. And Barrett's the most likely. Though Emily and Laura are too. (Jack protests that Laura would have been a kid at the time, but Escott reminds him of the two kids who killed for a cat.)
The actual cause of the fire was a frayed wire. Could have been tampered with. But the next step in the investigation is to catch a cab. The one Maureen used was from a one-man cab company. (Escott explains how he found out about the guy through talking with folks who'd been on the construction crew. Escott was very busy.)
So they catch the cab and ask the driver about the Francher's estate. He actually remembers the night in question: he'd gotten a call (first time, since both Violet and Emily have their own cars), drove up, picked up a woman who was little, wearing dark clothes, and a veiled hat.
Jack notes that Maureen often wore that kind of hat to protect her eyes from the afterglow of sunset. She didn't say much but asked to be taken to Port Jefferson. That's at the north side of the island. She was dropped off at the ferry, paid a five dollar tip, and the guy drove off.
This was 1931, remember, a five dollar tip was a big fucking deal. No wonder he remembers so many details.
But there are interesting questions. Why a boat? Jack has trouble even just going over bridges. Admittedly, we don't know if that's universal. Jack has his own significant boat related trauma, if you recall. They make plans to trek out on the ferry themselves. Jack flinches, and good boyfriend Escott is willing to not go, but Jack thinks if Maureen can take it, he can too.
They get back to the hotel to check out and Jonathan Barrett is in their room. The chapter ends there.