I was brought to a small room with a bed near the window, a dresser, a wardrobe, and a hearth.
It wasn’t anything particularly nice—four stone walls and a small window overlooking the grounds on the third floor.
The castle itself seemed rather bare; there weren’t any tapestries or flowers indoors. The carpets, what few there were, were threadbare.
It was like seeing ruins in a place that should be thriving, stone crumbling or worn where it should be sleek and smooth.
Nothing about this place felt like a home.
For a place thriving with magic, its castle and inhabitants were cold and desolate, as if they lived in the Middle Ages and they too were crumbling.
Though to be fair, they were dressed better than typical humans from what I had seen online. Nicely cut suits, likely tailored.
As they exited I heard a lock turn, keeping me in this room. Well, a weak witch perhaps. Was this a test to see if I would escape?
I sighed, ignoring the possibility, and pulled out a book from the small satchel I brought with me.
Vampires were notorious for being very poor with time management. The older they were, the more scattered they seemed to be—from my experience with them, as limited as it was.
But they, just like any other creature, could only be around me for a limited time before they would get sick. A walking plague…
It was no longer something I felt sad about; it was simply a fact that made me who I was.
Being as old as I was, I was not about to play some political game of cat and mouse, so I was quite content sitting and reading in my spare time.
I read until the sun rose, at which point I stopped feeding the fire with the small stack of logs next to the hearth.
It hadn’t been lit when I came in, and there was nothing to light it with, but it took little will to spark a flame; it was also comforting to sit next to a fire like I did at home while I read.
By noon I had eaten everything from my satchel and was parched. Knocking at my door, I called out requesting water, but no one answered.
Now that left me to do one of two things—play into this game of leaving my room or stay here parched.
Well, that is if I couldn’t simply conjure up some food through say…a witch’s ward that was pitiful at best. Then again, the standards for a witch these days were fairly low.
It made me curious as to who this witch was, and why they had requested another if they had a decent one defending the wards.
There were a lot of unanswered questions, which normally I never troubled myself with. “Very well.”
I had made my choice; a statement sure to get the attention of the vampire I was supposed to meet. All I did was go without.
Funny thing about being immortal, I still had needs and desires, but I knew they wouldn’t kill me. A lot of things wouldn’t kill me, as much as I tried or as uncomfortable as it made me.
It was the end of the second day as I was turning to the last two pages of my book when I heard the lock scrape and open.
I didn’t look up—partially because I wanted to finish my book. The other part? Oh yes, intended rudeness.
He cleared his throat, and I held up a finger, finishing the last few paragraphs in the silence before snapping my book shut and looking up at him.
“Yes?” I asked, as if he had intruded on my private room.
He looked at me quizzically, clearly annoyed. “You came here to wed me?”
My eyebrows lifted as I looked him over.
He looked very unlike most of the vampires I had met. He wasn’t as pale, but I could tell he was very old by the way he stood and the way he pronounced his words.
They rolled off his tongue as if he were from Europe, yet they had a bite to them that was almost German? I couldn’t place it.
His eyes were like two dark, sharp pieces of flint with their dark-gray depths, his hair a stark contrast of chestnut that was cut short but ruffled as if he had combed it by running his fingers through.
His outfit was a suit, but it was ruffled as if he had been working much too hard.
Why was he so attractive?
At least that would make bedding him easier. “I suppose that’s what I’m meant to do,” I replied flippantly. I was annoyed and this vampire would not intimidate me.
“What makes you think you’re meant to do anything?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I do as my coven commands,” I said, setting my book on the little table next to me before crossing my leg beneath the other and placing my hands on my lap.
His eyes quickly flicked over my movements before settling back onto my face. “So your coven willingly gives up girls like livestock—and you listen like cattle.”
My mouth opened in protest, but before I knew it, his lips were on my neck and his teeth were in me. I cried out in pain, but I expected it to be short-lived.
I had never had a vampire suck my blood in all my years, and after the first pull of my blood into his mouth, I didn’t want him to stop.
I knew my blood would kill him, but it felt so good I moaned, moving my gloved hands into his hair, pulling him closer. Gulp after gulp of blood, each one made my nipples tighten and my core clench.
It was true, vampire feedings really could be wonderful. As he pulled on me though I could feel what his actual motives were—a normal witch would be too weak to fight now her blood was starting to slow.
Instead I felt the magic as I did so many times when my darker days got a hold of me. It burned in my veins, creating more blood as he drank—and drank and drank.
I moaned, rubbing against him like a kitten in heat—I couldn’t help myself.
My body begged him to touch me; I could feel the need and desire filling my thighs. The longer he drank from me though, the stiffer he got, and not from arousal.
Slowly he stopped drinking from me, running his tongue over the bite, making me shiver and pant. I knew what I looked like as he pulled away—flushed and full of desire.
I didn’t expect him to look down at me completely fine, I expected him to vomit or fall over, to be pale. Perhaps even to vomit blood?
Instead he looked down at me with unfathomable eyes, suddenly standing in front of me wiping a small speck of blood from the corner of his lips and sucking on his thumb.
Oh gods, that mouth was sinful… It made me tighten all over again.
“I refuse.”
Two words—and then he disappeared from the room with the door left wide open.
