How to Kiss a Vampire novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The House on Skyline

The Lakehouse sits on the ridge above Skyline Parkway, with all of Lake Superior spread out under its windows.

I had driven past it a thousand times.

I had always thought it was a bed-and-breakfast.

It is a three-story stone mansion with a green copper roof and a glass atrium on top.

I parked at the door at 5:40 on Sunday in my cleanest jeans and my work jacket.

I had the cream card in my pocket and my tool bag over my shoulder.

Torsten got out of the other side.

He wore a dark jacket, somber and silent.

"You don't have to do this," he said, one last time.

"I know."

"If it goes wrong..."

"Then it goes wrong with me standing up."

I rang the bell.

I had promised to, after all.

A man in a grey coat opened the door.

It was the same man from the school, and his face was wet.

He did not meet my eyes.

"Guest right," he said, as if reading from a card. "Come in, Ms. Solberg."

The hall had a black and white marble floor and a staircase.

At the end of it, a pair of tall doors opened onto a dining room with a long table.

Ten vampires were sitting at it.

They were men and women of every age, in good clothes, with their hands folded.

Not one of them moved when I came in.

It was like walking into a room of beautiful clocks.

At the head of the table sat Ragnar Krantz.

He rose, smiling, and held out a chair to his right.

"Ms. Solberg. How good of you to come. Sit, please, and eat."

There was a plate in front of the chair, with roast chicken and potatoes and green beans.

It was real food, hot and steaming.

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