The Cleaning Lady??

Mike gives Devin leave to look around the house, except that she cannot go into the back rooms and backyard area. The reason he gives is that Sarah has those rooms for herself, and she only allows her stepmom in there with her.

The backyard, he says, is full of mosquitoes due to the yard being up against the lake. He also says that Devin's room is the last door on the right when she goes down the hall, which is also right before the closed door to Sarah's rooms.

Deciding to get settled first, Devin walks back through the living room, noticing the odd smell again, and heads down the hall. The walls have textured, slate blue paint on them, giving the feeling of water. There are five dark wooden doors, two on each side, and the one at the end of the hall.

The foul smell is a tad stronger here, so she decides that maybe Cameron has a rotten piece of food in her bedroom or something.

She makes a note to mention it to Mike later. When she flips a light switch as she walks, the hallway is brightly lit, the walls lined with childhood photos of the girls, the lost brother noticeably absent.

Devin opens the door to her room, and is greeted by a cozy, sunny space. Pale green walls have hints of vine patterns on them, the pale blue carpet plush enough to sleep on. Her bed is made with beautiful white bedding, and the nightstand has a couple of books waiting for her to read them, it seems.

The bay window has blinds as well as lace curtains dressing it. She places her bag in the closet and sits down on the bed. It is so comfortable that she almost wants to forget why she is here and pretend she is on vacation.

One question has been itching at her mind though: 'Why doesn't Cameron know about her sister? – then another though hits her: what does she think I am here for?'

~Sarah~

"I hate my life!" Sarah throws the calendar across her room.

'One week until it happens again. Mom's going to have me drinking that nasty milk again to try to stop it.'

She lays back on her furry pink pillows. 'I wonder who they brought this time. The last guy that they brought ended up on the missing persons list…and gave me diarrhea. He drank too much, I guess.'

'Wait! Why am I thinking like this again? I hate what I become, it's pure evil! I just hope this person survives, like some of the others have…and that he or she doesn't lose their mind, like I am losing mine.'

~Devin~

Devin notices a written note under the books. It reads:

To whom reads this note:

You are not the first to come here, nor do I expect you to be the last. I am a demon on the inside, turning into a creature of the night three times a year. I killed my brother the first time I turned. My stepmother stopped me from killing my baby sister by pouring some nasty milk stuff down my throat when she was an infant.

No, I don't remember any of it, other than what she tells me happens afterwards.

My little sister thinks you are our new maid. Yep, you have to clean and cook for us to keep up the disguise.

I will come out to meet you on the first night at dinner. Make sure you give me the "milk" as my drink, and no meat on my plate. I'm vegetarian.

Oh, and one final thing; do NOT come into my area, no matter what. You might trigger me to change sooner than normal…or so my stepmom tells me has happened. I am more uncontrollable and dangerous then.

-S-

Devin puts the note down, feeling a few questions being answered, now so many more replacing them. She is now a maid…great. At least it's only until she fixes the problem, if she can call it that. Devin has solved mysteries, saved lives, even completed a vampire banishment or two, but this is new to her.

There's a knock at her door. She places the note under the books on the nightstand, as a gut feeling told her to do. "Come in," she greets it.

Mike walks in with a guilty look on his face. "I forgot to tell you, but you are to act as our maid until you leave."

She feels as if he wanted to say "if she leaves". She feels as if she weren't supposed to know this ahead of time, so she is glad that she hid the note out of sight.

Acting surprised, "Really? Okay, that is not something I was expecting, but I think I can manage." She smiles and continues, "Plus, it gives me reason to snoop around, because it will be under the premise of cleaning." Devin laughs, "Don't worry, I will actually clean though, too."

Mike lets out a breath she didn't realize he was holding, "Oh, thank the Creator! I thought you were going to be mad!"

He walks over and sits in the black wooden desk against the wall. "Others have been upset when I tell them up front, and some would just leave. That is why I waited to tell you." He clears his throat," I hope it helps you understand why Cameron doesn't think anything weird of you being here."

Leaning back on the bed, Devin shrugs, "It makes sense. I have a question though. Does she ever ask why her sister doesn't go with her to her grandmother's house, or to school? Also, which grandmother?"

Taken aback, Mike clears his throat, "She goes to my wife's mother's house. She is under the impression that her sister is too old to go, and she hasn't ever questioned it that I know."

He looks her in the eye, "If she happens to mention anything to you, as if asking why randomly, you will tell me, won't you? I don't want her to think of anything different in our routine."

Scratching his head, "Cameron thinks she is getting special grandmother time, and thinks that Sarah got it until a certain age… I only wish that were the truth instead of what we live with." Standing up, "I need to get back to work. My advice to you is this for now; use your time wisely. While my wife is at work, "clean" as thoroughly as you can."

He turns and walks out the door, closing it behind him.

A whiff of that odor hit her again as the door closes. 'I really need to clean then, with that stink showing up in almost all the rooms I have been in,' she thinks to herself.

Devin crosses the room, and opens the closet door. She finds in there some maid's aprons and a small cleaning caddy with all of the usual cleaning supplies. Weirdly enough, there is no bleach though.

Sighing, she pulls a change of clothes out of her bags. Slipping into the maid's uniform is surprisingly easy, as Devin was afraid of it not fitting. It conforms to her hourglass shaped body without any issues, not even a pull across her chest on the buttons. It is like the outfit was tailored to her exact measurement. She then ties the apron on.

Pulling her hair back, she looks in the mirror, 'I got this. This is no worse than trying to make a vampire human again.'

She reaches down and picks up her caddy and walks out into the hallway. She decides the door across from her room is as good as any to start. Crossing the hall, she tries the doorknob. Locked.

'Well, that won't do. How can I clean a locked room? This isn't one of the doors that I was told not to enter. Let me fix that…'

She pulls a pin out of her hair and swiftly picks the lock, watching to make sure that Mike doesn't come down the hall and find out that she has unlocked the door this way. The lock opens with a light click, and she turns the knob quietly.

After all, this door was locked, maybe she is supposed to ask to enter here fir--? "Huh!", she gasps as she opens the door. After being hit immediately by the strongest gardenia smell, the most elaborately decorated room she has ever seen is in front of her. The walls have support beams that are gilded in scroll work of gold and silver, seeming to remind her of a place in the back of her mind, but she just can't place it.

The trey ceiling has the same on each level, alternating with silver on one and gold on the other. All of this is on an ivory background of paint. The floor is the plushest ivory carpet her feet have ever stepped on.

On the far wall, a window has been blocked by heavy silk ivory curtains, with the same scroll work in silver and gold. An ornate table is against the wall to her left, its cherry mahogany wood gleaming like it has never been touched before. A matching tall-backed chair sits at an angle in front of it, inviting the guest to sit as they take it all in.

The room is lit by inset round lights, five in a circle on the roof. On the desk, blooming gardenias explain the scent of the room, or at least she thinks they are gardenias.

'Since when is a gardenia purple?' She notices what looks like a piece of paper rolled up neatly on the table, with a set of the only out of place feeling items in the room; really worn old books. With everything so pristine, why would there be worn out old books here?