by Mia Harris
“Certainly. When the werewolves gained power in Rome, they brought in worldwide laws to stop vampires from killing humans by draining them, and also began a mass culling of known vampire families.”
At this, Damien’s face dropped slightly, and Ari detected a hint of sadness as he spoke.
“The law itself was fair enough; the people and vampires in ancient times were, after all, far more savage than they are today, so in today’s terms the practice of draining humans to death does seem rather barbaric. Today, we simply feed on them in their sleep without killing them, and they simply wake up thinking that a large bug has bitten them, or something like that. Unfortunately, this, along with the mass-culling of vampires, has led to an explosion of human over-population. The world is in chaos, and it is partly the fault of the werewolves for their attempt to cull vampires,” he said.
“Oh.”
“As long as the werewolves continue their political and financial domination of the world, order will never be restored. They don’t care; werewolves are rough, violent creatures who feed on chaos and ruin. They are hoping for more war and destruction, just to quench their thirst for negativity.”
“So you really are protecting me from him?”
“Yes. As I said, you may remain here as long as you wish, but if you want to leave, no one will stop you. As a show of good faith, I brought you this.”
He reached into the pocket of his expensive-looking suit jacket, and pulled out a cell phone.
“Hey, that’s my...”
“Yes, it is your phone. If you wish, you can call anyone you want, just to prove that I am not stopping you from having contact with the outside world. I’ve made some adjustments so that your whereabouts cannot be traced from the phone.”
“What will happen if I leave?” she asked.
“Right now, you are in my mansion, in a safe vampire compound. If you go outside this property, Remy will be able to pick up on your scent and locate you. If that is your wish, then by all means… go to him. As I said, I will not stop you. I only thought that you should know what you are getting yourself into.”
“And if I stay? What about my job?”
“If you stay, I will be able to keep you safe at all times. As for your job, if you choose to stay, I can arrange for you to work for my political campaign instead of taking the paid position in the White House. I would pay a better salary, and it would be a great opportunity. Again, if you choose to leave, the White House position is still available to you. I took the liberty of calling in sick for you today, so don’t worry about that.”
Ari contemplated the situation. She still had many questions, but the vampire was beginning to gain her trust. Everything he said made so much sense, and while he had seemed cruel the first few times that she had seen him, he actually seemed kind and gentle now.
“Beth said that you have a reputation for being a tyrannical boss,” she said.
A smile played on Damien’s lips, and this time it reached his eyes.
“Yes, I admit that sometimes I can be rather abrupt with my employees. As a vampire, I have no need for sleep, and I tend to forget that humans need rest sometimes. So I often end up working them too hard. It is something that I am working on, believe me.”
“Why not just hire vampire staff then?”
“Because we have great respect for humans, as our equals in this world. It would be unfair and unethical to only hire vampires. It would be like nepotism, really. I hire the best candidates for the job, whatever they are.”
“What if a werewolf applied?”
The smile faded from his face.
“A werewolf would not apply to work for a vampire. They can smell us a mile away, and cannot stand being near us.”
“Oh. I need a shower,” Ari replied.
“Certainly. I will leave you to it,” he said. “If you need anything, come downstairs and find one of my assistants. They will provide you with anything you need. I have several meetings to attend today, and will not be home until this evening. I have taken the liberty of buying you a laptop computer and several books that I think you might like. They are over there. There’s also a wardrobe full of clothes for you.”
Damien pointed to a desk and shelf that Ari had somehow not noticed until now, and then smiled, stood up and exited the room. Ari finished the fresh fruit on the tray, and then stood and stretched, yawning widely. Earlier, she had noticed two doors across the other side of the room, and she assumed that one of them was the wardrobe. The other must be a bathroom.
She padded across the soft carpet and opened one of the doors, and gasped as she saw the size of the wardrobe. It had a bright light installed that automatically turned on when the door opened, and there were rows and rows of beautiful shoes, along with countless blouses, coats, cardigans, dresses and skirts hanging up. Opening some of the drawers, she found brand new lacy underwear, bras that were somehow her exact size, and several pairs of expensively-cut pants and jeans. I think I could get used to living with a vampire.
After selecting an outfit for the day, she took it into the other room. She was right about it being a bathroom; it was a beautiful, spacious room with a double basin, full-length mirror on one side, what appeared to be a large spa bath on the other, and a shower. She undressed and took a long hot shower, and as the warm water flowed over her body, she remembered the time that Remy had burst in on her in her shower at home. Why did you lie to me about everything, Remy? I was just starting to fall in love with you.
Feeling more than a tinge of sadness, she decided to get out, and once she was dried and dressed, she picked up her cell phone. Something had just occurred to her, and she wanted to know the answer.
“Hello?” said a familiar female voice on the other end.
“Hi, Beth. It’s me,” Ari said.
“Oh, Ari, how are you feeling? Your room-mate called in sick for you… at least, I think it was your room-mate. It’s hell here without you. I hope you feel better soon!”
“Yeah, I’m really feeling bad,” she lied. “Listen, did I ever get any letters or messages delivered to the Chief of Staff Office?”
“Yes, you did. Several, in fact. Hang on a second,” Beth replied, before erupting into a fit of coughs.
As Beth coughed, Ari was suddenly suspicious of her. If she knew, why didn’t she give them to me?
“I saw that they were marked as personal, so I had them forwarded to your apartment instead. I hope that’s okay. Was there some problem?”
Oh.
“No, I was just wondering, that’s all. Thanks, Beth. I’ll talk to you later.”
After they had said their goodbyes, Ari felt stupid for having distrusted Beth. Despite her sending them, Remy’s messages from when he was in Australia hadn’t made it to Ari’s apartment, so what had happened to them? It had been bothering her for weeks now, but she hadn’t had time to really think about it until now.
Pushing the question from her mind, she spent the rest of the day reading on the chaise longue. It was quite nice to be able to take a break from her hectic work schedule, and at lunchtime and dinner, a kindly older woman knocked and delivered meals to her room. At this stage, she hadn’t quite decided on what she was going to do, but figured she may as well enjoy Damien’s hospitality until tomorrow, at least.
After dinner, she curled up on the bed with the laptop, pleased to note that Damien had copied lots of her favorite movies and TV shows onto it. Halfway through an episode, there was another knock at her door.
“Come in!” she called, expecting to see Damien again, or perhaps the woman with dessert.
A tall male figure stepped into the room, and Ari’s mouth dropped open as she realized who was standing there.
Marco.
***
Marco smiled and crossed the room, sitting on the end of the bed.
“What are you… how did you know where I was?” Ari asked, suddenly realizing that she hadn’t let him know that she wouldn’t be home for a while.
“My uncle told me you were here. He asked me to call in sick for you,” he said.
Beth’s earlier words flashed through Ari’s mind. ‘Your room-mate called in sick for you… at least, I think it was your room-mate’. She had assumed that it was Damien who had made the call, and that Beth simply didn’t know what Marco sounded like.
“Your uncle?”
“Uncle Damien. He is my mother’s younger brother.”
Marco is a vampire. Another memory flashed through her mind. When she had first told him of her suspicions about Remy being a werewolf, he had made a joke… or at least, she thought he had.
‘Seriously, Marco, I think the President is… a werewolf.’
‘Right, and I’m a vampire,’ he had replied.
“This is all too much. What the hell is going on?” she shouted, leaping to her feet. “Was it you who hid my letters?”
Marco looked guilty.
“Yes. But only to protect you.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that? I can look after myself!”
Marco sighed.
“After you told me that you had seen the President in his wolf form, I knew that it was only a matter of time before he realized that you knew. When I was called away on a work emergency that night, only to discover that there was no emergency, I realized that he had gotten to you. I could smell him in our apartment. I couldn’t say anything to you, because then I would have had to admit what I am, and we don’t like telling many people of our existence,” he said.
“So you are a vampire? Just like Damien?”
“Yes. I was just worried about you, Ari. I tried my hardest to make you break it off with him by hiding the letters, but you just kept seeing him. He is dangerous, Ari. I saw all the bruises on you. I had to tell my uncle what was going on.”
So that’s how Damien found out.
She blushed as she recalled the reasons why she had so many bruises on her. Remy was a very rough lover, but she had never disliked it. In fact, she had loved feeling so powerless and dominated; something about the experience was incredibly erotic.
“I really think that there’s been a misunderstanding,” she said.
“No, there isn’t. You might think he’s just playing a little rough with you, and maybe he is… for now. Trust me, Ari, you cannot get involved with one of them. He is dangerous, and he won’t let you go now that he thinks he has you. If you leave, it won’t be long before he seriously hurts you. Please stay here, where my uncle can keep you safe,” Marco replied, a pleading look in his eyes.
Ari considered his words and sighed.
“I’ll think about it. God, Marco, how did I ever not notice what you are? I mean, you’re always out at night, but I just assumed you were staying over at a girl’s place, or something.”
He grinned.
“Nah. I just don’t need to sleep. Don’t feel stupid for not knowing. Like I said, hardly anyone knows about our existence. Except the werewolves, who hate us with a passion.”
“I’m really tired, Marco. I’m going to go to sleep. I’ll think about what you and your uncle have said,” she said.
“Okay. I’ll go home and make sure Remy doesn’t try to break in again. I know what he’s like.”
With that, Marco left, turning out the light before closing the door behind him. Ari couldn’t believe what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Remy wasn’t who he said he was, Damien Xavier is actually good, and Marco… one of my oldest friends… he’s a vampire. What else could possibly happen?
Her cell phone pinged on the bedside table next to her, and her blood ran cold when she saw who was calling. Remy. Hitting ignore, she blocked his number, turned the phone to silent and then fell into a deep sleep, filled with images of vampires, werewolves and ancient Rome.
When she woke the next morning, she had made her decision.
***
It had been three weeks since she made her decision to stay under Damien Xavier’s protection, and Ari hardly ever regretted it. With every conversation that she had with Damien, she came to realize more and more that Remy was as dangerous as he said he was, and further, that he had likely been using her. Occasionally she would dream of Remy, his strong arms encircling her waist as they joined, but Damien would later quash all thoughts of going back to him.
‘Did he ever say that he loved you? That he would tell the world of your relationship?’ Damien had asked two weeks ago, and the question had sent a searing pain through Ari’s chest.
No, he never said that he loved me. He didn’t seem to have any intentions of revealing our relationship to anyone, she had realized.
Damien had arranged for her to begin working for him, and while Beth had been upset to hear that she wouldn’t be returning for the last week of the internship, she was happy for her.
‘I’ll miss you around here. I thought I warned you to stay away from Mr. Xavier,’ she had teased when Ari called her to let her know. ‘God, from what I’ve heard, I would not want to work for him. He seems to like you, though. Good on you, Ari,’
Her work could be done from the safety of Damien’s mansion, so she didn’t need to leave the vampire compound at all. He had given her a small office in the east wing of the mansion, and she worked closely with him whenever he was home. After this long, though, she was starting to feel cooped-up, and missed the outside world.
‘I want to go out. I need some things from my apartment,’ she had said, but Damien had convinced her otherwise.
‘As long as Remy is President, he will be one of the world’s most powerful men. He will be able to find you, and do god knows what kind of stuff when he does. By now, he must have realized that you want to stop seeing him, but believe me, he will pursue you… and if he finds you, he won’t just play rough with you.’
As she recalled his words, she remembered something that Remy had said to her, and a shiver ran down her spine. ‘You shouldn’t have ignored me. I lied to you when I said that I would leave you alone if that’s what you wanted. I’m not going to let you go,’ he had said.
Damien is right, she realized. I guess I just have to wait and see what happens.
It was a Friday night now, and after having had a long work week, Ari decided to take a long candlelit bath. As she relaxed under the bubbles and let the warmth from the water send a pleasant heat surging throughout her body, she sipped a glass of red wine and thought of how kind Damien had been to her. There must be something else that I’m missing. For nearly two weeks now, she had found herself developing an attraction to the vampire, but she had no idea if he felt the same.
As if he could read her mind, she heard a knock on the bedroom door, and his voice called out faintly.
“Ari?”
“I’m in here!” she said, grateful that the bubbles were covering up her voluptuous curves.
He let himself into the room, and then followed her voice into the bathroom.
“Oh! I apologize. I didn’t realize that you were undressed,” he said, casting his eyes down.
“It’s okay, you can’t see anything,” she said.
“I was wondering how your dinner was. And I also wanted to thank you for your hard work this week.”
“My dinner was lovely, and this bath is amazing,” she said.
The red wine was starting to go to her head, and she blurted out a question that she wouldn’t normally have ever asked.
“I know that you said you want to protect me because you see my potential and don’t want to see me get hurt by Remy, but all this… there must be something else you want. Is it me?”
Damien smiled, and for a moment his eyes seemed to glow dark red, the same way it had on the night that he had abducted her from her apartment. The small flames of the candles caused shadows to flicker over his face, so she wasn’t sure if what she had seen was real.
“I do admire your potential as a future leader of this nation, Ari, believe me. But… yes, I must confess that I am attracted to you. I wasn’t going to say anything,
because you are under my protection, and it wouldn’t be right. I would feel as if I were taking advantage of you if anything happened between us,” he said, his calm voice sending another surge of warmth through Ari’s body.
With that, he turned to leave.
“Wait,” she said.
He turned around.
“Yes?”
“I don’t think that you would be taking advantage of me,” she said. “I’m more than capable of making my own decisions. I decided to stay here, didn’t I? I could have left at any time, as you told me.”
“I suppose that’s true,” he said, his lips quirking up in a smile.
“Well… come and get me,” she whispered boldly, setting her wine glass down on the tiles.
His eyes flashed dark red again, and this time Ari knew that it wasn’t a trick of the light.
“Would you like me to join you in the bath?” he asked.
“It’s definitely big enough for the both of us,” she replied.
His smile grew wider, and seconds later he was pulling his clothes off and throwing them to the floor. His body was different to Remy’s; he was taller, thinner and paler, but still very sexy. His skin appeared to be smoother, too, and he had almost no chest hair compared to Remy. Stop thinking of Remy, she thought, reminding herself that he had never really loved her. What we had was never as real as I wanted it to be.
Now standing in front of her in only his underwear, Damien spoke softly.
“Close your eyes,” he said.
She obliged, and seconds later she heard a small splash as he climbed into the bath.
“Open them.”
As she opened her eyes, she saw him sitting across from her on the other side of the bath, and smiled.
“What is it you like so much about me?” she asked, curious.
“You’re a real woman,” he replied. “I’m over a hundred years old, and back when I was younger, human women didn’t seem to care so much about what they looked like. They were curvy and beautiful, as are you.”
“You’re over a hundred?”