Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

here—farmers, villagers, everyone who lives on Ravenscroft land. One thing we Ravenscrofts have always done is to give our people a damn good burial. No one can say we don’t have the best funerals in Yorkshire, if not all of England. Look at this one, for instance,” he said proudly. He stopped to rest a hand on a rather ostentatious tombstone, pointing at the engraved lettering.
    “Cedric Fotheringill, butler at Castle Haven for over fifty years. He died the year after my parents. I never replaced him. There didn’t seem much point. Things began to decline and I left everything to Munk, but he was a good man. A fine man.”
    “Was he a vampire?” Evangeline asked cautiously, never quite sure if she wanted an answer.
    “Yes, he was sanguinarian, was old Cedric. I miss him.”
    “That’s a shame,” Evangeline said.
    “There’s nothing shameful about it. Look at that gravestone. Isn’t it splendid? Gold lettering, dark, heavy granite. Of course they don’t all get granite, but we do well by them, even the poorest.” He smiled and spread his arms to take in the entire cemetery. “Look at how well kept it is.”
    It was true that the graveyard was very well kept. While some of the stones had a little moss growing over them, all the names could be clearly read. “All the leaves are raked and burned. The yew trees are pruned. The dead here have no complaints,” Raven said. He took her hand again. “Come along. Let us visit the Ravenscroft crypt. Every Ravenscroft coffin since the 1200s can be found there.”

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    Fyn Alexander
    “Yes, I can see it from here.” She looked down the snow-covered path at the impressive crypt. The family name was carved into the lintel over the heavy door in gold letters. “Frankly, I find it strange that your family would keep up the graveyard and neglect the gardens. The dead are gone, but the living could walk in the gardens and take pleasure in them.”
    “The living can walk here,” Raven said at once. “It’s a beautiful place to walk in the late evening when the sun has gone down. Come along.” He led her on and she allowed him to even though she was getting cold and wanted to go back inside. Raven was clearly enjoying himself. The cold air and dour atmosphere of the cemetery seemed to invigorate him.
    At the door to the crypt he stopped and began to point out the names, reminding her of the various portraits they had seen in the long gallery. “They are all here. Look! Those are my parent’s names, Lady Maud and Lord Thomas Ravenscroft.” He paused and she wondered if his pleasure at being there was dampened by the memory of their deaths and what it had wrought for him. If so, it did not last long. He turned the solid ring handle and opened the door. Neither the handle nor the door creaked or were difficult to move. Like the rest of the cemetery the crypt was well kept up and probably often visited.
    “Let’s go in.”
    “No!” Evangeline had had enough. “I’m cold. I want to go back to the castle.”
    “Of course we will go back, but I want to show you the family coffins first.”
    “I don’t want to see them,” she protested.
    “Don’t worry, the lids are firmly closed.”
    “That is beside the point. I don’t want to go down there.”
    “Why not?” He seemed confused. “I’ve been planning for days to bring you here.”
    “Why not?” Evangeline repeated. “Because it is a crypt full of corpses. I never knew any of them. It’s cold and no doubt colder still Sanguinarian 237
    down there. It will be dark and I don’t wish to look at coffins. I don’t go visiting mausoleums for pleasure.”
    “You’re being ridiculous,” he snapped, growing impatient. “It’s lovely down there, cool and still. I often go and sit there to contemplate a problem. Come, I’ll leave the door open so you can still see.” He took her firmly by the waist, one arm wrapped about her.
    She was powerless to stop him and he managed to get her inside and down the steps without her actually moving her legs to assist him.
    The crypt was freezing cold and frighteningly still. Evangeline felt the heavy sense of death and soullessness settle over her. She found herself frightened by the vast feeling of emptiness and wanted desperately to leave.
    Raven looked paler still in the thin stream of white sunlight coming down the steps. He stood pointing out who lay in the different stone coffins in the great cavernous crypt. The tops of the coffins were carved