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"This building is four hundred years old," Faraday explained as we entered through the main double doors, which had to be at least fifteen feet high. The main entry was all wood paneled, hand carved luxury with a backdrop of gorgeous, but haunting stained glass. The images depicted what looked like fallen angels, crying women, and fields of bodies. "It has survived two fires, a near miss from a tornado, vandalism, and even a direct attack from a particularly angry pack of werewolves." He gave Riggs a lingering eyebrow raise at the last.
"Wasn't my pack," he muttered.
"All the same," Faraday said, gesturing for us to follow him up one of two curved staircases. Groups of students were moving about the building in what must've been a changeover period between classes. "The building has endured. My job is to keep it standing. I’ve repaired nearly half of the woodwork, personally restored several of the portraits in the smoking room and seen to updating many decorations and furniture pieces to be in keeping with the original style of the home. I’ve never had children, but I do have Blackridge. That means if you and yours decide to make a ruckus, it'll be me you're dealing with."
Riggs grinned. "Noted."
"These windows are original. Two hundred and forty-four years old. They were commissioned by Robert the White as a wedding gift for his misses. Of course she died before they were finished and he was beheaded by a town mob a year after that."
"Lovely," Riggs said. "You can spare us the tour guide act. Just show us where our rooms are and leave us be."
"Actually," I said. "I find it interesting."
Riggs sighed, but didn't stop Faraday when he jumped back into explaining every detail of the things we passed.
"This wainscoting was actually done by Henry the Pink himself. Lived here three hundred years back and had a bit of a woodworking hobby. He cut the walnut trees, milled them, and did this all on his own for a winter project one year."
"Henry the Pink?" I asked.
"Working with your hands isn't the most respected pastime among vampires. It especially wasn't in his day. The name was intended as an insult from his fellows, but Henry took it on officially to thumb his nose at them."
Faraday grinned as he talked about Henry, and I gathered he had a fondness for the memory.
"Do students take classes here?" I asked.
"They do indeed. We have two hundred and twelve students at the present. That's including the two we lost last month when they ran afoul of the Brittlebark pack while on a school trip to the Alpines."
"What?" I asked.
Riggs grinned. "Brittlebarks are nasty bastards. They've got strict traditions, and it doesn't take much to bring them to violence. Vamps probably didn't bother looking into it before they made some offense."
"The vamps were two lovely young girls I was fond of. And they made an honest mistake that cost them their lives, Mr. Riggs. I'd appreciate if you didn't speak ill of the dead in my presence."
"I'd appreciate if we didn't need to be in each other's presence, too," Riggs said.
I had enjoyed his ornery nature with Victor, but I kind of liked this Faraday man. I elbowed Riggs in his ribs. "Behave," I whispered.
"The young woman could be a good influence on you, if you let her," Faraday noted. We had reached the fourth floor and he was now showing us down a long, carpeted hallway. "It's not common for your kind to take human mates, correct?"
"She's not my mate," Riggs said.
"He’s acting as my bodyguard," I explained. "And he thinks he's going to extort some wild amount of money out of me when this is all over for his services."
"Ah," Faraday said, nodding. "Werewolves have an unfortunate love for siphoning money and favors out of those in need, don’t they?”
“Better than blood,” Riggs growled.
Faraday smiled, unbothered by Riggs’ attitude. It seemed like the vampires almost expected him to be this way, because his grumpiness hardly faze them. Or maybe that’s just how vampires were—hard to irritate.
Faraday dug out the keys to a door and unlocked it. “You’ll have to excuse the lack of space. Your fellows have taken the other two rooms and Mr. Felix assured me you would be happy to share this room with your friend here.”
“Uh,” I started. “I don’t know if that’s the best idea. Could-”
“We’ll handle it amongst ourselves. You can leave us.”
Faraday swung the door open and gestured for us to enter. “Oh. Before I leave you two. There are just a few ground rules here at Blackridge. Nobody is allowed access to the second floor. Those are the private chambers of Victor and his inner council. You must also avoid the student dormitories on the third floor. Otherwise, feel free to explore the grounds as you like. And Mr. Riggs, I must warn that we will not tolerate violence under any circumstance.”
