Chapter 14: Mr Gillespie

Toni's PoV:

I spent the rest of the day in the library, searching for any vampire related books I could find. I eventually came away with two books -- one on the Vampire and Werewolf feud in 1687 and another which was on the history of the Fortier pack. They had more run ins with angry vampires than any other pack, so the book was littered with references. I figured that the more I knew about vampires, the more I would be able to figure out about how big the threat was to me and my loved ones.

Sometime after lunch, I decided to leave, so I hid the books under my cardigan and tried to sneak out. As I was creeping past the door, however, I heard a cough from behind me. I spun around to see Mr. Gillespie, the round looking man I'd met the day before.

"Ah, young Marie!" He said cheerily.

I smiled. "Hi, Mr. Gillespie."

"It's nice to see you again -- and back in the library, no less! Reading is always impressive at your age." He took out his handkerchief and dabbed at his forehead. "Are you looking for anything in particular?"

Mr. Gillespie was a very friendly, but gossipy man -- I figured that he was looking for some news from me that he could gossip about later. After a moment, I decided to indulge him -- after all, he could probably give me some information in return.

"I'm researching vampires at the moment."

"Vampires, eh? Is it because of what I told you yesterday?"

"Yeah, I want to know more about the attacks."

Mr. Gillespie followed me out the door and along the corridor, leaning conspiratorially towards me. "I'm afraid you won't get much out of any book in the library," he said, gesturing to the books hidden in my cardigan. "You'd be better off asking around."

I watched his face carefully. "I wouldn't want to step on any toes."

"That's true. Tell me, when is the little princessa arriving? Is there going to be a celebration?"

I laughed. "I'm sure Antoinette is coming soon," I lied. There was no reason to tell him I was already there. "And I don't think there'll be a party -- no one told me about one, anyway."

Mr. Gillespie frowned. "I'm sad to hear that; I do love a good party."

I nodded in agreement. As we walked, I noticed a man dressed in all black speed past us, carrying a strip of red cloth in his hand. I must have looked at him funny, because Mr. Gillespie began to whisper to me about him.

"That's Robert, he's one of the scouts -- the Alpha's most trusted scout, actually. It looks like he's going to the Alpha's office with that cloth," Mr. Gillespie glanced up and down the hallway to check there was no one there. "If you ask me, it's to do with the prisoner."

"What prisoner?"

Mr. Gillespie's eyes lit up. "Why, the one they've been fretting about all month! It's not official, but I heard from the guard in the cellar that they've captured someone -- I think it might be a Rogue wolf, or maybe someone who's an enemy of the pack."

"Could it be a vampire?"

Mr. Gillespie shook his head. "No, I don't think so -- they would have killed a vampire straight away. They're too dangerous just to keep locked up."

"So they've got another prisoner, then?"

"Another?" He looked at me in confusion. I cursed the slip of my tongue.

"Oh, nothing. I just meant that sometimes I feel like I'm trapped here." I laughed.

Mr. Gillespie smiled at me. "You are an odd one, Marie. Just wait until the princessa arrives, then you'll see how trapped a person can be!"

He patted me on the back and turned around. "Now, I really must be going -- I'm sure my friend the guard would love to hear about what we just saw."

I watched him leave before hurrying back to my room. I flung the books on the mattress and stormed back out, determined to begin my investigation again. If I could find the prisoner, then I could get answers to so many questions. I was being eaten alive by curiosity -- why was there a prisoner in the Fortier pack house? Who were they? What had they done that was so bad they had to be locked up?

I walked back down the stairs as slowly as I could manage, not wanting to attract unwanted attention to myself. I didn't know where to begin looking, but I had a few hours before Sophie would bring me dinner, so I had a bit of time. Mr. Gillespie had said the prisoner was being kept in the basement, so I decided to keep going down the stairs.

The pack house was massive, and I had barely explored any of it in the time I'd been there. I'd never even been down to the ground floor, which I only realised once I had passed the door leading to four different floors, but all of them seemed to be far above ground. My legs ached from the constant movement, the pain from the ceremony not having left yet. My limbs protested, but I continued. Eventually I found my way to the ground floor, where I could see the lush green grounds outside from the window.

I stepped forwards, trying to go down one more flight of stairs to the basement, but there was no other stairway -- no door, no steps, just blank wall. It was the end of the line. I swore. There was no way to get to the basement via the stairs, and I had no idea how to find it otherwise -- maybe it didn't exist, and Mr Gillespie was wrong, or even just lying.

I spun back around, pacing the floor at the bottom of the stairs. It was naive of me to think that finding the basement would be so easy -- I needed a new plan. I needed to raid Sophie and Mr. Gillespie's brains, maybe even Phillip's, to find out a way of getting there -- surely, one of them must know.

As I was lost in thought, I heard a sound from behind me.

"Antoinette," said the voice. "What on earth are you doing here?"