It still almost concerned Olive, in an odd way, how Marcus appeared to have memorised every last twist and turn of the halls like the back of his hand. The whole building was so incredibly easy to get lost in that she was sure she would've easily done so herself if not for him leading her around.
While he had been holding her hand the whole way, he reluctantly let go in order to reach for the lock on a door they had stopped in front of after several minutes of walking. It was getting late in the evening by this point, and after having spent a few hours in the gardens after eating her lunch, Olive was exhausted to say the least.
The door pushed open easily as soon as it had been unlocked. Marcus entered first, but he ensured he held the door for her behind him. Olive hesitantly followed through right behind him but jumped when the door slammed itself behind her.
"Er, Marcus? Where are we, exactly?" she asked. She pulled the edges of her denim jacket further around her, since there was an undeniable chill in the air.
He glanced over his shoulder briefly as he continued along a much shorter and narrower hall with her trailing just behind. "I am glad that you decided to wear a jacket this morning," was all he said before he pushed the door open.
Olive followed into the room after him. She had to admit, it was a nice place. The room was in a layout very similar to the one she was staying in, only this was much bigger. The main area of the room had quite an interesting dark grey theme, with seemingly endless bookshelves adorning the walls which contained countless books, and a very comfortable-looking living room area. Those couches look so good to nap on.
However, Olive didn't exactly have much of a chance to take in the place before she was bitterly reminded of the reason why she'd been shivering for the last few minutes. "Why the hell is it so goddamn cold in here? Jesus, do you keep bodies frozen in here or something? Tell me now so I'm less likely to puke later."
Marcus chuckled humouredly and shook his head. "Blood storage is located seven floors below ground." Olive tried not to work herself up over the complete seriousness of his tone. "The reason for the chill is that we have no need for central heating, cara mia." Olive blinked for a moment. Where Marcus had been standing was now completely empty. She slowly turned her head to find him in front of the fire, which he'd somehow managed to start up considerably in the space of a split second. "Nevertheless, this room should warm up considerably within the next 30 minutes. I hope you have no issue with waiting."
"Not at all," she lied. She was as impatient as they came.
Despite that, she planned to recline back on one of the maroon chesterfield sofas gracefully, but instead found herself unceremoniously hurling herself onto her butt. She let out a heavy and tired huff and allowed her head to lean back against one of the decorative cushions.
"This is nice," she mumbled tiredly after a long and tranquil moment. "This entire building has-," She covered her mouth to yawn, "really nice couches, like the kind of ones that swallow you whole and you can just take a long nap on them. I don't know how you even stay awake. If I were you, I'd become a permanent and eternal couch potato."
Marcus walked over to the sofa at a human speed, since he'd noticed the way she'd subtly flinched at his sudden movement just minutes prior. He took a seat beside her, leaving a respectable amount of space between them, with one leg resting over the other.
"You see, that is where you are wrong," Marcus explained. Olive had mentally lined up an entire argument of why the sofas were the best she'd ever rested her rear end on, but Marcus continued before she could even use it. "We do not sleep."
She blinked at him a few times. "Come again?"
He laughed under his breath. "Not I, nor my brothers, have slept for even a moment within the last three millennia."
"Oh," was the only reply she could even come up with. Way to kill a conversation. "So," the word drawled out of her mouth for much longer than necessary, "want to watch a movie or something?" she suggested, nodding towards the particularly expensive-looking flat screen TV mounted to the wall above the fireplace. She then glanced down at the glass-topped coffee table, on which sat five or so remote controls. "If we can figure out how to turn it on, that is . . ."
Marcus silently picked up the black remote second to the end of the row and handed it to her, his expression indicating that he was doing everything in his power to resist the temptation to laugh. Olive narrowed her eyes at him and nodded towards the remaining remotes. "So what do they do then, wise guy?"
"Why does it matter? You now have the television remote control in your hands," he replied. She raised an eyebrow at him, so he relented. "Air conditioning, radio, DVD player, VHS player-"
Olive snorted and covered her mouth with her hand. "You have a VHS player? How much of a boomer are you?"
From his glare, she was beginning to get the impression that the man particularly disliked being interrupted when speaking. "And this final one controls the CD player."
She paused and blinked into the distance. "Wow," she whispered, pressing the red button at the top of the remote. She waited a moment, and then pressed it again. "Seriously?! The fuck is wrong with-"
"Language," Marcus scolded.
Olive rolled her eyes. "What the fudge is wrong with this remote? Or is it the TV?" She jabbed her index finger into the button a few more times. "Come on! Just turn on, you stupid piece of . . . right, no swearing or cussing, got it."
The corner of Marcus' lips turned up slightly. "Would you like me to explain how to turn it on?"
"No, no," She waved her hand at him dismissively, her eyes never leaving the black, unlit screen, "I've got it. Maybe if I just . . ." She proceeded to click each button in turn, one by one. "Are you sure this isn't one of the other remotes?"
"I could tell you right now why your efforts will not work," Marcus reminded her.
"Why then?" she snapped irritatedly as she slammed down on the remote a few more times, effectively crushing the buttons in with her fist.
"Well, first things first, mutilating this poor device will not help." He pried it away from her easily and placed it back down on the coffee table. "Secondly, did you look to see if the television itself is on?"
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance. With a little too much pride for her liking, Marcus stood up and had the TV working perfectly in a matter of seconds.
He appeared back in his seat and offered her the remote again. "Would you like this back, by any chance?"
Olive snatched it from him and frowned. "I don't like you." Marcus only made a short hum of amusement. "Now we can watch DuckTales."
"I don't understand how someone can go 3000-ish years without watching a single episode of DuckTales even once," Olive remarked. She continued to slowly eat from a bag of M&Ms she'd been brought by Corin when the female vampire had asked her if she needed anything. "I mean," she mindlessly jumped from channel to channel so that the screen flickered near constantly, "what's the point in having a TV if you don't use it to watch cartoons?"
Marcus shook his head humouredly. "In truth, I rarely have any need to use this device. At least now I have some idea of what humanity's idea of 'priorities' looks like."
"Well, duh," she responded. "Next time, we're watching—hold on."
She stopped at a particular channel and began to turn up the volume on the TV so that she could hear it properly. Her face was on the screen, more specifically her most recent Instagram post, accompanied by the word, 'MISSING', in bold red capital letters above it. She dropped the M&Ms carelessly onto the coffee table as she stared intently at the screen.
"In other news, popular social media star, Olive Reed, has been reported missing. The 19 year old girl was last seen just two days ago during her stay in a small town in rural Italy, and has not been sighted since her disappearance. Local authorities have begun their investigation of the area and her family have taken to social media to-"
Marcus managed to make a grab for the remote control before Olive had the chance to stop him. He turned the TV straight off and quickly placed the remote down on the coffee table, which left them in total silence.
Olive stared into space, no longer at the TV but not at anything specific either. She wasn't sure how long she'd been deep in thought for but she'd definitely been pulled out from it when her vision began to blur and her eyes water up.
Tentatively, Marcus reached over and instinctively held her in his arms. She didn't even make any attempt whatsoever to fight it, only leaning closer to him as another salty teardrop trickled down her cheek. As her sobs gradually built up, she pulled herself closer to him and cried against his shoulder.
How could she have allowed herself to blissfully forget that she had an entire life still going for her already? She had a family, for goodness sake, and friends, and so many opportunities that would be thoroughly missed. Worst of all, the very people she was closest to would be suffering the most. And for what? Just so that she could start afresh with a group of creatures she hadn't known to exist over 48 hours ago?
Homesickness generally wasn't something Olive was ever affected by, but at this point she'd never felt such longing to be back with her family in her entire life.
Olive had eventually nodded off on Marcus' lap almost an hour later. The side of her face was pressed comfortably against his shoulder, and a thin trickle of drool began to fall out from between her parted lips.
While she was still fast asleep, Marcus briefly pressed a kiss to her hairline. "I'm so sorry," he murmured faintly.
A sigh, before, "What have you done this time, brother? So you are truly ghastly enough to bring a human girl to tears now?"
Marcus had no need to look up to see who it was. "Why are you here, Caius?"
The blond man leaned forward over the back of an armchair adjacent to the sofa. The amber glow from the fireplace only just reached his perpetually cold and stony features. "I assume she has witnessed the news report on her disappearance, hm?" He studied the sleeping figure of the human curled up on his brother's lap. "Ah, I see. Sever all connections between her and the outside world in order to ensure she has full reliance on you, yes? Cunning, very cunning. Admittedly, I'm impressed."
The only reason Marcus remained entirely still rather than fighting Caius was so that he wouldn't disturb Olive's sleep. At the marginal increase in noise, she stirred slightly but momentarily began to snooze once more. "Did you come here for any reason other than to gaslight me?" Marcus asked.
"There is a discussion to be had in regards to the current newborn crisis." Caius took one last look at Olive and smirked. "I know that look in your eyes, brother. It is taking every last piece of willpower to control your urge to remove her clothing and-"
It took less than a millisecond for Marcus to place Olive down comfortably on the couch under a blanket without disturbing her and threaten Caius with a single look. Caius, to his credit, did take two steps back, but then chuckled as he left the room.
"Oh, how I've missed this," he humoured to himself.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: Shockingly, I haven't completely disappeared. I did have this chapter lined up, but then I got distracted with a few other projects, my bad.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!