“I say. He’s not bad, is he? And look at that sexy open shirt. I wonder how long ago he lived.”

“He still lives. That’s the whole point, Belinda. I swear he was my vampire last night.”

A wicked smile crossed her face. “In that case I may well volunteer to change rooms with you. I wouldn’t mind being bitten by someone like him.”

I looked at her and realized she was still joking. “You still don’t believe me, do you?”

“I think the logical explanation is that you fell asleep with that portrait staring down at you and you had a little fantasy dream about him.”

“All right, I’ll prove it to you. Look, here’s the chest.” I stomped across the room to it. “And I bet the cape is still damp. See?”

I flung it open triumphantly, then stopped. The chest was completely empty.

“An invisible cape, how unique,” Belinda said.

“It was here, I swear. And when I first came up here I saw someone crawling up the wall.”

“Of this room?”

“No, the outside wall of the castle. Just over there.”

“But that’s impossible.”

“That’s what I thought. But this—whatever-it-was—climbed up the wall over there and then disappeared.”

Belinda put a hand on my forehead. “No, you don’t have a fever,” she said, “but you must be hallucinating. This isn’t like you, Georgie. After all, you grew up in a gloomy place like this.”

“We had a couple of ghosts, but no vampires, at Castle Rannoch,” I said. “I asked Siegfried and Matty about them. Siegfried made light of it but Matty was definitely cagey. You don’t think she’s been bitten and become undead, do you? And that’s why she looks so gorgeous? She’s sold her soul or something?”

Belinda gave that delightful tinkling laugh again. “I think it was more likely to be that expensive cure at a spa, and watching her weight. She has hardly eaten a thing since I’ve been here.”

“Well, I think of myself as a sane, rational person but I’ve been uneasy since I got here. Before I got here, in fact. I think someone was following me on the train. And someone’s been watching me from the shadows here.”

“How deliciously dramatic, darling,” Belinda said. “What a change from your boring existence in London. You wanted adventure and now you’ve got it. Who do you think could be following you?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea. I can’t think why anybody would be interested in me. Unless vampires are particularly attracted to virgins. Dracula was, wasn’t he?”

Belinda laughed again. “In that case my blood will be quite safe. You know, maybe someone is actually following that horrible woman who is chaperoning you. Perhaps her husband has paid to have her bumped off en route. I know I would.”