Apparently unable to speak, the woman merely shook her head. Turning away, Lucern continued up the hall. Despite the woman's frightened appearance, there hadn't appeared to be anything wrong with her. Besides, the screaming had seemed to come from the back of the house rather than the front. Another shriek pierced the silence as he rushed for the kitchen, proving he had guessed right. But this time he could tell that it hadn't just come from the back, it had come from the basement.
Cursing, Lucern crashed through the kitchen door. He had specifically told the cleaning company that his basement and upstairs were to be left alone. No one should be in the basement.
"Jesus, how many of you people are here?" Lucern snapped when he spotted the woman frozen by the basement door. She was staring at it as if it might explode at any moment.
"Two of us, sir," the woman answered, then immediately cried, "I just turned out the light. That's all I did. The door was cracked open and the light was on—I just turned it out. I didn't know anyone was down there."
Lucern ignored her and dragged the door open, then flicked on the switch. The screaming did not stop, though it was growing hoarse. Lucern was halfway down the stairs when he heard Etienne saying, "It's okay. It's just me. Really, it's okay."
When Luc reached the bottom step, he saw his brother standing to the side of the stairs, hands held up placatingly.
"Etienne?" He barked his question and Luc's brother half turned, relief on his face. "Luc, thank God. I didn't mean to scare her this bad. I mean, I heard her muttering about rigor mortis and coffins, and knew she was going to open the lid, so I closed my eyes to give her a little spook, but I didn't think…"
Lucern wasn't really hearing his brother. His gaze, his entire attention, was focused on the woman he could now see standing in his basement. Kate. His Kate. Her gaze was locked with his, and while she had at first been pale and trembling, she was regaining her color—along with a spark in her eye that he hoped was passion and happiness at seeing him.
"Kate," he breathed. Smiling, he held out his arms as she rushed to him, ready to welcome her into his embrace and his life. But Kate didn't exactly rush into his arms. She more or less shoved past him, snarling, "You said you didn't sleep in coffins." She started to stomp up the stairs.
Hmm. The spark was anger, not passion at seeing him. He hurried to trail her up the stairs.
"We don't. I have a bedroom," he assured her. He found himself a tad distracted as he was face level with her upside-down-heart-shaped behind, and he was unable to tear his eyes away. I really should have more stairs in my home and follow her up them at every opportunity, he thought vaguely. This was a delightful view.
"Ha! Then what was he doing in that coffin? Thinking?" she asked sarcastically. She burst out into the kitchen.
"Well, yes. Actually, I was," Etienne announced from behind Lucern as he followed them. "I find that the dark and silence afforded by a coffin allow me to work out some of the difficulties I run into in programming my games."
"Coffin?"
They all turned to stare at the cleaning woman still standing in the kitchen. Lucern was debating whether to blank the woman's mind when Kate made a distressed sound and rushed out into the hall.
Lucern took a step to follow her, then paused and turned on his brother. "What did you do? She's furious."
"I just… She…" He grimaced. "I heard her coming down the stairs and was at first worried it was one of your cleaning crew, but then I heard her talking and recognized her voice."
"Who was she talking to?"
"Herself," Etienne answered promptly. "She was trying to convince herself to open the coffin and that you wouldn't be in there."
"And what did you do—close your eyes, then pop them open and sit up to scare the life out of her when she did build up the courage to open it?" Luc asked with disgust. It was a trick Etienne had pulled on all of them at one time or another.
His brother winced, but nodded apologetically.
Lucern cursed under his breath and started to turn away, but Etienne caught his arm to stop him. "I didn't mean to scare her that badly. I mean, she half-expected to find someone in there anyway. She shouldn't have been this startled, but then the lights went out. She caught just enough of a look to know it wasn't you in the coffin, but didn't get enough of a look to recognize me before Ms. Energy Conserver over there turned out the lights."
They both paused to glare at the cleaning woman, who shrank backward, bumping into the wall under their combined irritation. The front door slammed. Lucern started to hurry from the room again, but Etienne stopped him. "Wait. I don't think all her anger is about the coffin, Luc."
"What do you mean? What else could it be?"
"Well, she was saying some pretty weird stuff as she tried to talk herself into opening the lid."
"What kind of stuff?"
"Er… well, she seemed to find it distressing enough to sleep with a six-hundred-year-old guy, but the idea of sleeping with a dead one—"
The cleaning woman gasped. Lucern scowled at her. "Leave," he said.
The cleaning woman was off in a flash. Lucern sighed and turned back to his brother. "I am not dead."