Jane Slayre Read Online Free PDF Page B

same occasion I heard more to expand upon what my uncle Reed's ghost, real or imagined, had told me. Miss Abbot spoke of my father, a wicked demon slayer who passed himself off as a poor clergyman; that my mother had married him against the wishes of her friends, who considered the match beneath her; that my grandfather Reed was so irritated at her disobedience, he cut her off without a shilling. That after my mother and father had been married a year, my mother's training was complete and she went out slaying with my father, conduct most unbefitting a lady! My parents were on a mission to rid a large manufacturing town from a ravenous band of vampyres when they were outnumbered and surrounded. They died fighting together.
    Abbot seemed to think it was right that they should die, as if they attacked poor helpless vampyres out of some sort of misguided prejudice. I suppose she must have forgot what it was like for the Reeds before they were turned and considered all their acts since to be somehow right and good because they were, after all, gentility. Abbot's thoughts reflected her mistress's so well I suspected she was grown in a laboratory from a bit of Mrs. Reed's brain, had Mrs. Reed any little bit to spare.
    Bessie, when she heard this narrative, sighed and said, "Poor Miss Jane is to be pitied, too, Abbot."
    "Yes," responded Abbot. "But I suspect she's got too much of the Slayre blood in her." A long pause ensued in which she must have fallen asleep and then woken herself with a loud snore to continue as if she hadn't missed a beat. "Like her parents, that one. Watch and see."
    "I don't think her capable of real violence, Abbot, such a weak little thing," Bessie defended. "At any rate, if she were lovely and athletic like Miss Georgiana, you would no doubt have more faith in her potential."
    "Yes, I dote on Miss Georgiana," said Abbot somewhat listlessly, as if reading from a script. "Bessie, you had better get some rest. The
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    Reeds are out late hunting and won't be in need of you, but you'll be up early with your charge."
    "Indeed. I will have to wake Jane early so she gets used to her new schedule. I'm glad Mrs. Reed can spare me to take care of her properly."
    "No one else would be up for the task. Besides, the Reeds are grown as much as they will be. They haven't much need of a nurse."
    "True enough," Bessie said, though her tone seemed to offer some disagreement with her words. "Well, Abbot, good night."
    CHAPTER 4
    TWO DAYS AFTER Mr. Lloyd's visit, I'd finally recovered my strength enough to venture out of doors. At midday! I nearly stripped off my cloak and danced under the sun, it felt so glorious shining down on me. Unfortunately, a chill wind blew, despite the sun's brightness, and I was forced to wrap my cloak tighter around me to keep out the breeze. Cold as it was, nothing could stop me. I ran across fields, jumped over rocks and twigs, and relished the pricking in my expanding lungs. My heart raced. My spirits lightened. I shouted out with glee, not even caring if they could hear me in the house. Let them shake in their coffins. I was free to roam.
    A little later in the day, I was gathering small twigs to build a house for my doll when I had a sudden inspiration, a memory of my vision. I was standing over John Reed with a stake in my hand. Oh, the power it inspired! The house was forgotten. I found a fine-edged stone and started rubbing it against the twigs, sharpening them to a point.
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    After a while, I decided the rock wasn't doing the trick and I stole into the kitchen and pocketed a tiny dagger when cook wasn't looking. Though only a small one, just large enough to pare potatoes, it allowed me to whittle fat twigs to a fine point. I spent half the afternoon experimenting with branches of different shapes and sizes. When I found what I felt was just the right size twig and worked it to the sharpness for a stake, I practised stabbing it into the ground, imagining John Reed's body in the dirt.