Chapter Three

By the time that the sun had gone down, Alec and I had already gone through several arguments. We fought over what he had said to me earlier in the hall about allowing the world to believe that I was dead, we fought over whether or not I would be able to leave here, we fought over whether or not I would be eating dinner tonight, with him insisting that I would, while I insisted that I couldn't stomach food at the moment. I think that was the only argument that I won but, it certainly didn't feel like a win after spewing the food into a nearby trashcan.

Alec was clearly both frustrated and annoyed with me as I apologized to the women that entered the kitchen to clean up the remainder of the food that I left in the bowl on the kitchen island where we once sat. As expected, we also argued on the way back to his chambers over how dramatic he thought that I was being for reacting in such a way.

As a way to avoid any further discussion with him, I demanded that I was allowed to shower and this was just about the only thing that he didn't fight me on but when I was finally finished, I came to the realization that I had no clothes to change into. For several minutes I stood beneath the steaming water as I debated what I would do. My options were limited to wrapping myself in a towel and confronting him about the issue or having enough pride to simply put on the dirty clothes that I wore as if they didn't carry today's exhaustion on them. Truthfully, I never wanted to see those clothes again. They would always be a reminder of the worst day of my life.

When I finally stepped out of the shower, figuring that I would have to grow up and go to Alec with my problem, I was surprised to find that my clothes that I had left in a pile on the floor were gone, replaced by a set of silk, scarlet pajamas on the counter. Instantly, both embarrassment and rage coursed through me again at the thought of Alec stepping into the bathroom and invading my privacy.

"What the hell?" I asked, raising my voice as I stepped out of the bathroom. I think that any other moment, I would have felt hesitation about approaching this man with so much skin exposed from the silk ruffle shorts and camisole pajama top but, in this moment, I was too annoyed to care. When I approached the man, who was seated in his living area reading a book that he had in his lap, he seemed to not have a care in the world.

"What is it now?" He asked, without as much as lifting his eyes from the pages of the text.

"What is it now?" I scoffed. "You know exactly what it is. You walked into the restroom as if I weren't naked in there!"

"Believe me, my biggest interests in life do not revolve around seeing you naked." He commented, finally glancing up at me. "One of the keepers came and dropped them off. I am sure that she did so without sneaking a glance at you showering if that is what you are worried about."

At his comment, I rolled my eyes and shook my head before glancing through the open double doors at the bed that I had woken in earlier. "While the hospitality is just so nice in here," I started, sarcasm leaking from my words. "I'm ready to finally go to whatever room I will be sleeping in."

"You will be sleeping in the bed that you are looking at now. I didn't realize that I would have to be the one to piece all of this together for you, but you will be staying here, in this wing with me." He said, sounding suddenly uninterested in our conversation.

"I'm not sharing a bed with you. You're insane if you think that I even want to be within five feet of you." I sneered.

"Well then it's a good thing that I don't sleep." He said, turning his attention back to his book as if to dismiss me.

With a sigh, I walked through the double doors and closed them behind me before doing a once over of the bedroom that I was in. So much for the idea of vampires sleeping in coffins.

Before I could allow myself to wonder why on earth a vampire needed such a large bed in their room when they didn't sleep, I forced myself to crawl into it and pray that the sheets were cleaned regularly by the people that he had called the keepers.

Once I had leaned over the bedside table, turning off the lamp that was lit beside me, I rested on my back and stared into the pitch darkness. I couldn't believe where I was right now, and I couldn't believe what I had lived through today.

Closing my eyes, I made my best attempts at forcing myself to lay still for long enough to fall asleep but when I relaxed, my thoughts overcame me. I first thought about Bronwyn and the way that she had looked at me just before she died. While I knew that she would have likely died whether I bumped into her or not, I still felt a wave of survivor's guilt overtake me and when I wasn't thinking about my classmates, I was thinking of my family.

I knew that my mother would be heartbroken, so much so that she would likely break down and not be able to compose herself for days. She had always been a beautiful woman, but she was cursed by how deeply she felt for others. I remember as a child, when our family dog died, she couldn't look at me in the eyes for a week because she knew that she would break down. My father would likely be her rock even though he would be just as devastated. I had never seen him cry in my entire life and as much as it pained me to think in such a way, I hoped that he would cry over the loss of me. Even the strongest people needed moments of vulnerability.

I cried at the thought of my parents and never getting to see them again, never getting to have a proper goodbye. But when my head began to ache and I felt that my sobs were becoming too loud, I forced myself to regain my composure. After nearly an hour of tossing and turning on my now wet pillow, I finally sat up and walked back to the double doors that pushed open, leading me to find Alec sitting on one of the couches, unmoved from his position earlier. I said nothing as I sat on the couch across from him, staring at the unlit fireplace for several minutes

"So, you really don't sleep?" I asked suddenly, pulling my knees to my chest and turning my head to look at him just in time to catch him turning the page in his book without as much as glancing at me in return.

"I really do not." He said, sounding unamused with the conversation already.

"Do you eat?" I asked, recalling that earlier when I was eating, he only watched me. Not once did he make an attempt to request his own dinner.

"I do not." He said, then lifted his gaze to smirk at me softly. "Although, I think you already know that our diets are very different."

His words sent a shiver down my spine and just as quickly as his eyes were meeting mine, I was looking away from him. The last thing that I wanted to envision in my mind were the events from earlier today all over again.

As much as I wanted to think that I would never let my classmates' memory go forgotten, they were the last thing that I wanted to think about. If I were able to never think about Bronwyn ever again, I think that it would still feel too soon, and I hated myself thinking in such a way.

"What did that man mean earlier?" I asked, still finding it difficult to turn my eyes back toward the dark red that his were. "He said that you had found a deep connection in the room… With me."

"In the mood for upsetting conversation, are we? Right before bed?" He asked. I noted that now, his voice had taken on a new tone. Even after I had asked him the question without malice, he sounded frustrated, sarcastic even. "It's cruel really. I've heard about it happening over my centuries of being alive, but I never thought that it would happen to me. Fate deciding that there was person out there perfectly crafted for me and that person turning out to be a human."

"What are you talking about?" I asked incredulously.

"As fucked up as it may sound, we were meant to meet." He clarified, closing the book that he had in his hands and setting it down beside him. Clearly our conversation made his book suddenly less interesting. "Your blood…it sings to me. It's like nothing that I have ever smelt before and I imagine that once I get a taste of it, I'll never be able to have enough."

I couldn't tear my eyes away from him then. I could tell by his voice that he meant every word that he was saying, and his gaze was so dark, his stare so intense, that my hands begin to tremble. "Y-you said that you wouldn't hurt me." I reminded him bravely although nothing, but fear coursed through me. My mistake was asking this question in the first place. I wasn't sure of what answer I would get from him, but I think that deep down, I was expecting for it to be something that I wasn't prepared to hear.

"Thankfully, I am very old. Centuries so." He said and I took a strange but small comfort in the fact that he had yet to pounce at me if his words were true. "The feeling that I have when I am around you is somewhat similar to when I was newborn vampire, but I have control over my desires and myself."

We both fell into a silence then, with him watching me intently as I allowed my mind to run over a thousand questions that I wasn't sure I was ready to hear the answers to. I wasn't certain of what he was thinking but clearly, he was just as unhappy with this situation as I was and, in this moment, I wasn't sure if fate was on my side or not. Sure, it saved me from being killed alongside my classmates, but I truly had no idea of what his plans would be for me.

"Newborn?" I asked, after taking a deep breath and forcing myself to continue.

"It is a name for those who have recently changed into vampires. Typically, they have very minimal control over their thirst and often times end up being irresponsible leading them to their ultimate demise."

"So that's why there are none beyond this… castle?" I asked, raising a brow. Much to my annoyance, he chuckled in response but nothing about it was friendly. It was honestly a bit terrifying to hear it despite how beautiful it sounded.

"Vampires exist all around you. Across every corner of the earth living in covens. They are free to feed on whatever they desire as long as they are not at risk of exposing what they are. The only reason that you weren't aware of our existence is because they are doing everything in their power to blend in." He explained.

"So, this a coven then?" I asked softly.

"One of the oldest." He said, confirming my suspicion. "Collectively, we are a few of the oldest vampires in exitance, making us a few of the strongest with the most self-control."

"So, what do you mean when you say that fate brought us together? That I'm perfectly crafted for you…like I'm meant to be some sort of sacrifice to you or something? Some kind of perfect meal?" I asked, dropping my gaze down to my hands for a second. "Because if that's the case then… I just want for you to do it. To kill me. There's no reason for you to keep me alive, Alec. You don't even want that."

As terrifying of a thought that it was to no longer exist, I meant every word that I was saying to him. He seemed to have no interest in dealing with me and I had no interest in dealing with him. At this rate, I had nothing left to live for. I had parents that believed that I was dead, friends that were either killed in this very building or at home with the same thought about my existence as my parents.

As far as I was concerned, I would be trapped here. Whether his intentions were to harm me or not, it was clear that I would never be leaving this place and based on the other people here that I assumed were human based on their lively appearances, I would likely turn into some member of housekeeping here. In the end, I'm certain that even those people had something left to live for.

While I spoke, my eyes were downcast but when I lifted my gaze again to see his, I was surprised at the reaction that my words seemed to stir in him. To say the least, he looked upset. "Just minutes ago, you were panicked because you thought that I would hurt you and now you are asking for me to kill you?" His jaw was clenched tightly, and his cold gaze was directly on mine while his brows furrowed. "Go to sleep, Lorelei. I'm done with this conversation."

A/n: Thank you so much for reading this chapter! I thought that I would have it posted a lot sooner and that the chapter would be a bit longer but I've had one of the most stressful weeks since my classes began so I apologize. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless!