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There were any number of initial red flags.
Number one was the idea of spending a whole winter with someone who, well, had the money to hire them for the whole winter. Sadly, that was just the nature of being a person who did odd jobs for a living. Echo supposed it was better than usual, if only because the person hiring them could just be a rich eccentric rather than, like, an obvious literal criminal. Not that they had much of a moral qualm with most of those types, but avoiding them was definitely less dangerous.
Red flag number two was that the job was for the winter. As in, the whole winter. Their employer lived up in a manor in the hills, tall enough and high enough up for Echo to know which house it was even if they’d never been out that way. They’d sent mail to confirm those terms and had received some clarification – the lady of the house didn’t usually hire permanent help, but the road up to the house got treacherous once it froze over. In her reply, she acknowledged that it was a big ask, and reaffirmed that the compensation would match.
But that led into the thing that Echo found themselves turning over in their head on the carriage ride up. It was far from the worst thing they’d done for money. Aside from the isolation, it seemed fairly easy – a roof over their head, meals paid for on top of what they themself were making. If the owner of the house needed this help every winter, Echo wondered why she’d struggled to fill it. It seemed to them that there ought to have been some hired hand from a past year looking to come back, or someone who came by to work during the rest of the year willing to stay through those couple months for the extra money.
But there wasn’t, apparently. And the money was enough to provide for them for a good while once they left, and nobody they’d asked had had anything bad to say about the woman who hired them (most hadn’t heard of her at all, somehow). And they weren’t drowning in alternatives. So, they sent word ahead that they were taking the position and found someone heading in that direction who could take them along.
~
Belgard Manor was tall, taller than most buildings Echo had been inside. The carriage left them at its front gate, and they stared through its wrought-iron spirals up at it. Its sides were grey stone, but they were nearly covered in vines, all the way up to its sloping black roof. The windows seemed to have some sort of tint to them - the reflections on them were faintly colored pink and purple. They’d arrived late in the afternoon, shortly after the sun had set, and it looked imposing against the darkening sky.
Echo was so caught up looking at the building that it took them a second to notice a woman appearing out of it. She was tall, with long blonde hair and a dress so elegant that it seemed impractical for her to be walking across a field in it. Once she was close enough she called out, “Mx. Reverie?”
They nodded as she unlocked the gate. “Nice to meet you. I assume you’re Lady Signet.”
“I am. Just Signet is fine, though.” She pulled the gate open - it creaked, as if not used often. “Welcome. And thank you for the help.”
“My pleasure,” they said politely.
Signet led them up to the building in silence. It was set back some ways from the gate, across a field and through a set of ornamental gardens. They weren’t well-kept - Echo noticed withering plants with weeds set between them. The manor’s front steps were crumbling on the sides, and as they walked across them Echo could see curls of paint peeling off the shutters. The front door showed signs of age as well, but the ornamental carving on it was still in fairly good shape. It was a scene of butterflies, lifting off out of a field. It was drawn in a vertigo-inducing downward angle - they were somehow relieved when Signet pushed it open, leading them into the foyer inside.
It was large and high-ceilinged. Sure enough, a large window above the door was made of stained glass, turning the room dusky colored on the inside. A grand staircase stood opposite the door. Signet gestured towards it. “Your room will be up there. I can take your coat.” She smiled, closed-lipped. “Beyond that, please, make yourself at home.”
~
Echo’s tasks for the winter amounted to this:
They were to tend to the manor’s water pump, and to mind the water furnace and keep the fires that ran it maintained. They would be expected to help repair leaks and cover up drafts. Once it started to snow, Signet would need help keeping the front steps cleaned. That seemed to be about the extent of it, oddly enough - Signet denied their help with bathing and dressing, and was particularly adamant about not needing help with cooking.
“I take my meals up in my bedroom,” she’d said that first day after they arrived. “I have facilities attached that I use to prepare them myself. The pantry in the main kitchen should still be well-stocked, and you’re welcome to help yourself to anything therein.”
Echo didn’t push it. Less work for them to do, they thought, even if it was odd that she was so insistent on that. It wasn’t a long list of responsibilities for them, however, and their days quickly began to stretch out. They explored the manor from one end to the other, everywhere except Lady Signet’s quarters which remained locked whenever she wasn’t in them. Despite it being the largest building they’d ever spent any large amount of time in, that didn’t take them long. They walked the grounds until they knew the paths and dying plants well, and then by the time they’d been there for two weeks the weather had started to truly get too cold for that to be pleasant. Echo hunted the house for leaks and drafts, and tended to the water pump, and then began to spend the days working through the manor’s library.
They didn’t see much of Signet. She seemed to keep strange hours - Echo was most likely to see her in the evenings, after they’d already eaten dinner, when she would often appear in the grand library upstairs. When she saw them, she would always invite them to take tea with her, and Echo began to take her up on it.
“How long have you lived out here?” Echo asked, one day not too long into their time there.
Signet hummed. “A long time.” She took a sip of her drink. “The house came to me after the death of its previous owner. Really, in a way, I feel like it chose me.”
“You don’t wish you lived closer to town?”
She shook her head with another thin smile. “I value my privacy. Even if it’s inconvenient.”
Signet would always still be up by the time Echo retired to their room. Sometimes she’d stand with them with a word about checking something and being right behind them, sometimes she’d just say she was going to stay up with her book a while longer. It took them a while to think anything of it - it wasn’t that strange, given that she also seemed to sleep late.
They gradually realized, though, that she was often leaving in the evenings. They would hear the front door close, and if they got up to check they’d see her boots and cape missing from their spots. Odd, and more and more so as the weather got worse.
They were curious. One night when she went out late, Echo decided to stay up. When they finally heard the door shut, the sun was rising. They slowly opened the door to their room, an excuse about not being able to sleep on their lips. They didn’t need it - Signet hurried down the hall right past them, a wild look in her eyes, seemingly unaware that they were there. And-
Echo’s heart raced as they shut the door. The front part of Signet’s dress had been stained crimson. Her hands were bloody too, and streaks across her forehead as if she’d been pushing her hair back.
Echo’s hands were shaking. They climbed back into bed, staring up at the ceiling.
~
They debated their next move. They could always leave - the snow was heavy and dangerous, and had left more than one person shaking and cold and choked, but there was a chance that was a safer bet. Signet didn’t seem dangerous, though. She’d been kind to them since they’d arrived. She could have been keeping them in one piece for some nefarious purpose, but Echo wasn’t sure.
“I heard the door early this morning,” they said when they saw her next. That seemed safe enough - a normal thing a person would say to their employer.
The two of them were playing chess. She stared down at the board rather than meet their eyes. “That was me. I thought I saw someone from my window and wanted to go out to check.”
“You could have woken me,” they replied. “I’ve been hired to do security before.”
She shot a quick smile at them. “I can handle myself well. No need to wake you.” She moved a piece. “No one was there, in any case.”
So, she wasn’t eager to admit to anything. That left Echo doing some investigation on their own.
They found a blank notebook in the library of Belgard Manor and began tracking the times of things - when they went to bed, when they heard Signet leave, when she got back if they were up late enough to hear it. What time they saw her the next day, as well, and if they saw anything out of place before she got up. The floors were always clean, but now that they were looking they would sometimes find little drops of red on door handles or the banisters. Signet still was doing all her own laundry, but they’d seen a piece or two of it before she did, all of it stained dark.
They paid more attention to her, as well. Her elegance, the collection of antiques across the house and old texts in the library. She was pale. Echo found themself staring at her mouth as they talked, doubting themself as to if she really had long fangs in her mouth or if their mind was just playing tricks on them.
That would throw some things into perspective. Like an idea for why she needed them in the first place - if she was going to be here all winter, and if she was what they thought she was, then she would need some assurance that any tasks that needed to be done during the daylight would get done. And, Echo’s brain supplied, if her hunts were unsuccessful, she’d have a ready supply of food at home.
Somehow, though, despite all of that putting them on edge, Echo found themself enjoying their time. Signet was good company. They liked sitting in her library with her, drinking tea and playing games and talking. She seemed to enjoy their company as well. She’d say as much when they were together, speak of how the house was less quiet with two people in it. And, well, it was an easier winter than they’d had in a long time. That put a bit of a guilty turn into their stomach, that they were here sleeping late in exchange for tending to the house and their siblings were back home resorting to whatever they needed to do in order to get by.
They’d have the money to share with them at winter’s end, at least. Even if they were a bit sad to watch the months go by. That felt crazy to admit, when they could be living under the same roof as a creature of the night, but it was true.
~
“Echo! Echo!”
Echo was roused from sleep by shouts from the front entrance of the manor. When they rushed downstairs they found Signet slumped against the end of one of the banisters. She was bleeding hard - there was a series of long gashes on one of her cheeks and a matching set on her opposite shoulder. That shoulder of the dress she had on was shredded, as were the ends of it. She was breathing hard, her eyes glassy.
When she saw them, she gestured towards the kitchen. “Bandages. Quickly, please.”
Echo ran and retrieved the box of bandages from the kitchen. When they got back she’d lowered herself down onto the lowest stair, and was pressing down on her shoulder.
Echo was fighting off panic. “What should I- I don’t-”
“Give them here.” She took the bandages from them and started wrapping them around herself. Her teeth were clenched. “I’ll be- I’ll be fine, I just need to… Can you tie this, Echo?”
They nodded after a second, reaching out to tie the ends of the bandage. Their fingers came back with a tiny bit of blood on them. This close, really, they wondered at how little blood there was. The cuts were deep, and Echo would have expected them to be a much worse injury. They squinted at her. “What happened?”
She let out a rattly sigh. “Bear. Can you wipe off my cheek, please?”
They wordlessly moved to sit next to her. These cuts too had less blood than would be expected from their depth. Signet hissed when they rubbed at them.
Echo started speaking before they knew what they were going to say. “Do you need…”
“What, Echo?” she said when they trailed off.
They swallowed. “You’re a vampire, aren’t you?”
Signet went very still. Her mouth opened faintly, and Echo got a better look than they’d ever been able to of her fangs.
Echo pulled down the collar of their shirt, shifting closer to her. “Go on. If it’ll help.”
She made a faint noise of protest. “Echo, I can’t- I just need to sleep it off-”
“You’re in pain,” they replied. “If it’ll help, I want to help.”
She hesitated, looking at them like she expected to find some part of them saying otherwise. After a second, she slowly reached out for their arm. She pulled them in closer against her and brought her face against the side of their neck.
There was a pinch. A piercing sensation, and then a warmth that relaxed them. The sensation of her drinking their blood was foreign, only barely noticeable beyond the head rush that came with it. She crowded them a little closer in, and their head was loud with the sound of her breaths and their own thrumming heart.
They were dizzy when she pushed them back a moment later. They sat back on the step. When they looked at her next, she looked clearer and less pained, as well as full of guilt and worry. “Do you… feel alright? Did I take too much?”
Echo shook their head, then winced when that sent the world spinning. They closed their eyes. “I’m okay. Are you…?”
“I’m fine, Echo.” She looked away awkwardly. “Thank you. And I’m sorry you had to do that, I know you didn’t sign up for-”
“It’s fine, Signet. I’m glad to help.”
She stood after a moment. “Let me get rags to clean us up.”
She hurried off, and Echo slumped further back onto the step, heart still beating loud.
~
The winter’s end approached faster than Echo would have liked.
If they’d been asked back in November how they’d feel if they discovered their new employer was a vampire, they would have sworn they’d be out on the road right away, snow or no snow. Not that they would have believed that vampires were real. But still, they liked her. And trusted her, now that she’d passed up a golden opportunity to kill them.
Signet seemed more eager for their company now, too. She told them stories from her long life. Explained that she would go out most nights to hunt (animals, mostly, she swore). Said, too, that it had been a long while since someone had known the truth about her.
“It’s silly, but… the house is my companion, in a way.” She gestured around the library. “Even if it’s drafty and leaky, and even if it feels too big for just myself. I’ve been out here a long time.”
“It’s a nice place,” they said quietly.
She smiled at them. She smiled more now that they knew - not hiding the teeth anymore, they supposed. “It is.”
But the winter still ended. The first warm day in February, Signet greeted them in the evening by asking if they were planning on leaving, and Echo began packing their things. It was maybe a week longer before the roads cleared up enough for traffic to be going past them again with any frequency. Then, all there was to do was hitch a ride.
Signet walked them out to the road. She had a parasol to keep the sun off of her. They stood at the side of the road waiting for someone to drive by, an awkward quiet in the air between them.
Echo shifted. “Will you… be needing any help next winter?”
Signet smiled, maybe as wide as they’d ever seen. “I should be.”
Something soared in their heart. “Great. Great. Well, I-I’d love to come back-”
“Of course. Please, I’d like that.”
Echo craned their neck down the road. They thought they could see someone approaching. “Honestly…” They swallowed. “Honestly, I wish I could stay.”
“Echo.”
Their gaze dropped to their feet. “Forget I said it.”
“Echo, look at me.” They did. She had a warm look in her eyes. “I wish you could, too. I mean… if you want to, I’d be happy to have you.”
They gaped. “Really?”
“Of course.” She shrugged. “The last couple months have been… lovely.”
“Okay. Okay, I will.” She smiled wide. Echo couldn’t take it - they looked back over their shoulder at the carriage now approaching. “I still need to go home, but… but I’ll come back. A week at most.”
“Okay. Sounds perfect. One thing, though.” A shadow fell around Echo as she stepped forward, the hand not holding her parasol reaching out to their cheek. “May I, Echo?”
“Please,” they said, and Signet leaned in to meet them.