History of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Castle Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Gayla Twist
necessary for our move to America.
It was all well and good for my grandfather to announce that we were leaving for America, but orchestrating the move was a monumental task. First we Vandlerinds had to decide on the necessities we needed for the next several months. Our essentials were packed and transported to a large estate that Grandfather had rented. Then the servants had to pack their own possessions and join us. After that the entire contents of the castle was packed and stored in a warehouse. That made room for several architects, carpenters and electricians to come in and take apart the rooms that had been modernized with wood floors, also removing the doors, woodwork and light fixtures. After that the stone masons came in, numbering every single stone that comprised the castle so it could be disassembled. The top stones of the castle were sent to a warehouse while the bottom stones of the structure were loaded onto numerous freight trains. They crossed several countries before being loaded onto a massive cargo ship that headed out across the Adriatic and on its way to America.
It was unsettling to see the hole where the castle had sat for the last couple of centuries, like viewing the gap left after a tooth has been ripped from the mouth of a giant. But there was hardly time to reflect upon our departure due to an absurd number of bon voyage parties that were thrown in our honor. There were parties in the country with horseback riding and polo. There were parties in the city on rooftops that could only be accessed by the air. All mortals had to be carried up by the undead. There was even an elaborate banquet in the catacombs under Buda Castle followed by dancing. Each of our undead hosts did his or her best to outshine the previous party. I began to feel that the parties had started to spiral out of control in terms of ostentation. The entire experience of having our friends wish us farewell was rather exhausting. Especially for a mortal like me, because the parties usually ran until just before dawn. As one of the guests of honor, it would have been considered the height of bad manners for me not to stay until the bitter end.
The months of constant bacchanal probably explained why, when an outbreak of scarlet fever ravaged through the streets of Budapest, I was quick to be overpowered by the malady.
Chapter 5
Colette
It turned out that Lev Wilson was available Friday night and the double date was arranged. Lilly was behind the moon. My feelings were more reserved. I just couldn’t imagine what I would have to talk about with a young man of twenty who worked doing… I couldn’t even remember what he did for a living. That’s how little I was interested in the date.
“You don’t actually have to say that much,” Lilly told me as we were getting ready and I expressed my concerns. “All you really have to do is smile, be pleasant and listen when he talks. You can do that much, can’t you?”
“I’m sure I can,” I assured her, but the very idea of just smiling and nodding at a young man made me dread the date even more. I knew there were plenty of girls at school who would laugh their heads off whenever a boy said anything even remotely funny, but I couldn’t bring myself to be so mindless. Why should I pretend a boy is interesting or charming or intelligent when he’s not? It seemed to me that just gave the male half of the species a false sense of superiority.
Of course this wasn’t something I could say to most girls or they would stare at me like I’d lost my mind. “Questioning a boy’s intelligence is no way to land a husband,” a friend’s older sister once told me when a few of us had been invited to their house for a sleep-over and I had brought up my thoughts on the subject.
The only person I could really share my feelings about wanting more out of life than to be a wife and mother was my friend Lois. She was top in our
It was all well and good for my grandfather to announce that we were leaving for America, but orchestrating the move was a monumental task. First we Vandlerinds had to decide on the necessities we needed for the next several months. Our essentials were packed and transported to a large estate that Grandfather had rented. Then the servants had to pack their own possessions and join us. After that the entire contents of the castle was packed and stored in a warehouse. That made room for several architects, carpenters and electricians to come in and take apart the rooms that had been modernized with wood floors, also removing the doors, woodwork and light fixtures. After that the stone masons came in, numbering every single stone that comprised the castle so it could be disassembled. The top stones of the castle were sent to a warehouse while the bottom stones of the structure were loaded onto numerous freight trains. They crossed several countries before being loaded onto a massive cargo ship that headed out across the Adriatic and on its way to America.
It was unsettling to see the hole where the castle had sat for the last couple of centuries, like viewing the gap left after a tooth has been ripped from the mouth of a giant. But there was hardly time to reflect upon our departure due to an absurd number of bon voyage parties that were thrown in our honor. There were parties in the country with horseback riding and polo. There were parties in the city on rooftops that could only be accessed by the air. All mortals had to be carried up by the undead. There was even an elaborate banquet in the catacombs under Buda Castle followed by dancing. Each of our undead hosts did his or her best to outshine the previous party. I began to feel that the parties had started to spiral out of control in terms of ostentation. The entire experience of having our friends wish us farewell was rather exhausting. Especially for a mortal like me, because the parties usually ran until just before dawn. As one of the guests of honor, it would have been considered the height of bad manners for me not to stay until the bitter end.
The months of constant bacchanal probably explained why, when an outbreak of scarlet fever ravaged through the streets of Budapest, I was quick to be overpowered by the malady.
Chapter 5
Colette
It turned out that Lev Wilson was available Friday night and the double date was arranged. Lilly was behind the moon. My feelings were more reserved. I just couldn’t imagine what I would have to talk about with a young man of twenty who worked doing… I couldn’t even remember what he did for a living. That’s how little I was interested in the date.
“You don’t actually have to say that much,” Lilly told me as we were getting ready and I expressed my concerns. “All you really have to do is smile, be pleasant and listen when he talks. You can do that much, can’t you?”
“I’m sure I can,” I assured her, but the very idea of just smiling and nodding at a young man made me dread the date even more. I knew there were plenty of girls at school who would laugh their heads off whenever a boy said anything even remotely funny, but I couldn’t bring myself to be so mindless. Why should I pretend a boy is interesting or charming or intelligent when he’s not? It seemed to me that just gave the male half of the species a false sense of superiority.
Of course this wasn’t something I could say to most girls or they would stare at me like I’d lost my mind. “Questioning a boy’s intelligence is no way to land a husband,” a friend’s older sister once told me when a few of us had been invited to their house for a sleep-over and I had brought up my thoughts on the subject.
The only person I could really share my feelings about wanting more out of life than to be a wife and mother was my friend Lois. She was top in our
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