Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

letter. “Not to mention his money. I think you should apologize.”
    “What?” Splotches of scarlet appeared suddenly on the woman’s cheeks. She was outraged. “Apologize to that monster?”

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    Evangeline salvaged the moment with a stern look at her companion. “You are forgetting that you are a servant and that you may be dismissed at the discretion of your employer, Mrs. Brackett.
    You are no longer dealing with a little man like Silas Sidley. Please apologize to Lord Ravenscroft at once or I must dismiss you myself.”
    Mrs. Brackett looked Raven squarely in the eye and appeared for a moment as if she would tell him exactly what she thought of him.
    Evangeline held her breath in fear of what would come next.
    “Begging your pardon, Lord Ravenscroft, I forgot my place.”
    Raven blew hard through both nostrils to indicate what he thought of the woman. When he looked at Evangeline a very slight smile of approval tipped up one corner of his mouth. Without needing to lean forward to bridge the gap between them, he took her hand in his, holding it briefly to his lips. He remained on the castle steps watching as they left.
    “Mrs. Brackett, I’m so sorry,” Evangeline burst out the moment the carriage was in motion.
    “I should hope so, making me apologize to the likes of that deviant.” She crossed her arms and looked away.
    “I had to.” Evangeline shrugged apologetically. “You were making things worse. Surely you could see that. It was going to be difficult enough putting our plan into action with Lord Ravenscroft present. The fact that he has been called away and is still allowing us to go could not be more fortuitous. I won him over last night. We agreed to keep him unsuspecting.”
    “Yes, well...I just don’t like the man.”
    “Neither do I. At least you did not have to have dinner with him last night. He ate very little and only the bloodiest meat. It quite turned my stomach.” Evangeline gripped her middle at the memory.
    “You never did tell me what he did to make you faint, my lamb.
    Did he have bad manners? Did he try to attack you?”
    Evangeline felt her cheeks grow hot at the memory of what he had forced on her the night before. “Actually he did several things, most 64
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    of which I will not repeat, since good manners prevent me.”
    “He didn’t threaten your chastity, did he? Because when we get away you’ll want to marry a real gentleman. We don’t want you ruined, Miss Evie.”
    “I am not ruined, I assure you of that.”
    Though the memory of last night’s dinner had faded for a time with her fainting spell it resurfaced now, bringing with it the strange picture of her cut hand. A small cut, nothing serious, though it had bled profusely for a moment or two. Raven had got down on his knees to hold her hand and had actually sucked at the wound, swallowing her blood. Evangeline swooned in her seat.
    Mrs. Brackett threw an arm around her to support her. “Are you feeling faint again, pet? What’s the matter with you?”
    “He drank my blood.”
    “What?”
    “He did. I remember now. I cut my hand, Mrs. Brackett.”
    “I know that. I put a bandage on it for you. What happened before that?”
    Evangeline sorted through the misty memories of the incident. “I was rather nervous and accidentally cracked my glass against my plate. A shard of glass stuck in my hand. Lord Ravenscroft grabbed my hand, I thought to tend the wound. Instead he sucked my blood.”
    Mrs. Brackett’s mouth dropped open in horror, “By all that’s holy, I knew he were one of them bloodsucking creatures. It’s indecent, that’s what it is, indecent and unholy.”
    “It is certainly very strange and disconcerting. I fainted more from shock than anything else I suppose.”
    “God protect my poor lamb!”
    They were outside the big wrought iron gates when three figures emerged from the hedgerow—a man and woman who looked only a little older than Evangeline and a child of perhaps three or four years.
    They were dressed in rags barely covering their spindly limbs. Their sad, worn faces peered up at her. “Stop the carriage! Hodder, stop!”

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    She stood up and banged on the roof. The horses came to a jolting halt and she opened the carriage door.”
    “What are you going to do, Miss Evie?” Mrs. Bracket inquired.
    “We can’t leave them. They’re cold and hungry.”
    “Well, we can’t take them with us and that monster won’t take them in at