Lizzy walked amongst the darkness of the secret passage, her guiding light being nothing but a half-burned lamp she found at the library. She had no idea of where the passage was leading to, but she knew that it was leading outside. After going down a couple of stairs, the passage kept going in a straight line. The tunnel was big enough for her to be able to stand up straight, but as she kept going she felt like it was becoming smaller (whether that was an illusion or not, it eluded her). The most surprising part of all was the fact that the tunnel was surprisingly clean. One would expect that a passage like that one would be covered in spiderwebs, but nope! It was all clean, if not a little humid.

Was that a sign that it was often used? Did the servants knew about this passage?

Did her dad know?

It was impossible to know how much time had pass, she was engulfed in darkness and there was no way to peak into the outside world. She supposed that it wasn’t that much, considering that she didn’t feel exhausted. At least, she hoped it wasn’t a very long time, people would wonder where she was and correctly assume that she managed to sneak out (and then Irene would follow on her threat of confining her to her room). Part of her wished to go back, dinner time was approaching and she was beginning to get hungry, but she had to keep going, something in her guts was telling her that she was almost there (and she learned from a very young age to trust that feeling).

And she was correct.

She arrived at the end of the passage, finding in front of her a single ladder that lead to a trap door on the roof. She put the lamp down for later and climbed the not-very-tall wooden ladder. Once up, she opened the trap door and found herself in a unlighted room (maybe she shouldn’t have let the lamp behind). She couldn’t see very well what was in front of her, but she noticed a source of light behind a door in front of her, across the room.

There was someone else inside that place.

She followed the light despite the fear of knowing that she was not alone. Technically, the owner should be the one with fear, considering that she was the intruder, but who knew how they would react. She cautiously opened the door and peaked through the gap, there was no one else in sight, just a simple table with a lighten lamp, a window that indicated that it was already nighttime and more doors.

“Hello?” she called. “I found a passage that leads to here, I’m sorry if I’m intruding!”

She had no response. She decided to check if she could find the owner of the house. Opening one of the doors near the table, she found herself in the kitchen, but there was no one there. Neither in the storage area connected to it. She went back, as she wasn’t keen to use the door to go outside, and tried another door. Then she found herself in the living room. There were a couple of velvet sofas that looked old and uncomfortable surrounding a small table, all in front of a big fireplace that was lit — a beautiful painting of a calm sea decorating the space on top of it. On the walls she noted that there were weapons on display, sables, rapiers, guns… it was a whole arsenal. On the top of each door there was a crucifix, to prevent vampires from entering, Lizzy guessed.

This was what she would imagine the home of a vampire hunter to look like.

She kept looking around in awe when she finally heard movement. Someone was walking down the stairs at a worrisome speed. She turned around and found herself frozen in front of a fairly old man (judging by the white beard and the bald head). He wasn’t that intimidating, considering that he was about as tall as her, and that he was fairly round, but he also looked strong.

“Who’s there?!” he demanded to know. What looked like anger hiding panic and fear turned into surprise when he rose the lit candleholder.

“Uh… Hi! It’s just me, Elizabeth Dabeltorn!” she awkwardly greeted. “I’m sorry for barging in, sir, I just found this passage at my home that lead here, I didn’t wish to intrude!”

His expression turned jovial. “Ha, ha! It’s okay, lassie, don’t worry. But next time you try out a secret passage, try to do it doing during the day, I thought one of those damned vampires got in!"

“So, why is there a secret passage that leads to your home, mister…?”

“Paul. The name’s Paul Smithson. I guess your father didn’t tell you about me?”

“No, mister Paul. I’m sorry…”

“Oh, don’t worry! That father of yours has always been so secretive. Can you imagine that he didn’t tell me that he was courting your mother until he asked for her hand?”

“No, I… Well, I actually can believe that!” She remembered how he refused to give her a good explanation as to why she was forbidden to leave her home when it wasn’t the case in the past, or why he stopped being a vampire hunter in the first place. Marcus Dabeltorn was a man of many secrets, it was incredibly hard (borderline impossible) to have him open up, every time it was like pulling teeth.

“As you should, lad!” he laughed. “But where are my manners? Let me brew you some tea.”

“It’s not necessary, I’m technically intruding, so…”

“Nonsense! You are no intruder, you are my guest! So feel free to seat down while I make us something to warm up!”