I woke up, turned over in bed, opened my eyes, and jumped. Alec was sitting on the chaise longue watching me. I frowned and sat up.
"Us talking last night doesn't change anything, I'm still angry with you."
"I know," he replied.
I frowned at his relaxed attitude. I got up out of bed and walked into the bathroom, which was behind a door opposite the bed. I made sure the door was locked before I stripped and took a shower. I had used the shower a couple of times before, but I tried to avoid it because it hurt my wound as I had to lift my arms up a lot to wash my hair. It was getting better now, which was good. The shower was nice and warm and I almost fell asleep again, but I didn't. I picked up a white towel and wrapped it around my body. I walked out of the bathroom and almost dropped the towel in shock as I saw Alec still sitting in the chair, a small smile forming on his lips. I thought he would have left by now, from boredom of waiting for me to get out of the bathroom. I frowned and opened the wardrobe doors to hide my blushed cheeks and to find some clothes to wear. I felt very uncomfortable in front of him, I didn't know him, he could try anything, my heart started racing as I tried to find something to wear quickly. I pulled out a dress and turned around to go back into the bathroom to change but I bumped into Alec who had moved quickly and silently across the room. I gave a small exclaim of surprise as I dropped the dress, luckily still clinging onto my towel, just.
"Black again," he said.
I looked at him confused.
"You wore black yesterday," he replied.
I realised he was right.
"It reflects my mood," I said before walking back into the bathroom to get dressed, dodging Alec on the way. It was when I locked the door behind me that I realised I'd forgotten underwear. I went to open the door and found Alec on the other side holding out a black matching underwear set for me. It was pretty, if not a bit too lacy and sexy for me, but I took it anyway too embarrassed to look for something else.
"Thanks," I mumbled.
He smiled as I turned back into the bathroom. Pervert.
I came back out of the bathroom a while later, towel drying my hair. Alec was still there.
"Aren't you bored?" I asked him.
"No, why?" He replied.
I sighed. "No reason."
I grabbed the book I had started reading the day before, took it out to the balcony, and carried on reading it. Alec followed me and sat on the same chair as he had the day before. I felt him looking at me again. It bothered me. I felt very self-conscious. I slammed the book shut.
"Why do you keep staring at me?" I half shouted, letting the annoyance show in my voice.
He ignored my question and just carried on looking at me.
I sighed, deciding to indulge in his fantasy world again, "So how many vampires are there?"
"There are three vampire covens," he began, happy to talk about, 'his world' again, "The Valik Coven, that's ours. It's ruled by Maveric at the moment but he's passing it to me in couple of months because his health is very poor. There's also the Latorex Coven, they're led by Dantel, a friend of mine and then lastly there's the Morvan Coven, lead by Lex." He practically spat this name out. "Each coven has its own rules and territories with strict trespassing consequences." I think he was hinting at death. "The Latorex are ok, they have similar rules and codes to us, but the Morvan..." He drifted off, worry clearly plastered on his face.
"What?" I practically whispered not sure if I wanted to know the answer; ok by now I was quite into the story.
"I said I didn't kill when I fed, and neither does any of this coven. The Latorex Coven doesn't really, they have been known too, but it's not common. And then there's the Morvan. Lex, he's greedy and has persuaded his coven to think that they need to kill every time they feed. He's always tried to start a war in all his years as Morvan's leader, bloodthirsty right to the bone," he looked angry, for the first time I really believed what he was saying, there just seemed to be so much truth, depth, and emotion in his story that it might have been true and it made me shiver. Maybe he really wasn't going to kill me, unless it was an act, but it annoyed me that he was so convincing about the whole thing.
"How long has Lex been in charge of the Morvan?" I asked curious this time, rather than just playing along.
"100 years, this Tuesday" He said, giving me a much more precise answer then I was looking for.
"Was the Morvan coven like this before Lex was in charge?"
"They were, but they weren't this bad."
"How old is Lex?"
"350"
"So he's quite young?"
"Yes, unfortunately his reign will probably last for another 500 years, unless something fortunate happens, but his blood lust is getting worse, he'll do whatever it takes to stay in power, especially, he's planning something, something big."
His tone and the way he looked scared me, but I smiled; he really did hate this vampire. Wait, did I just think the word vampire in a way as if they were true? I closed my eyes contemplating, I shouldn't let myself believe so easily that there are vampires; it could still be a trick.
"How old is … Maveric, was it?"
"Yes, he's 675. He's too young to pass the coven rule over really, but he's in too ill to carry on."
"What's wrong with him?"
"He's just aged very quickly, the stress of leading a coven was too much for him and then there was a war not long ago, well 140 years ago, I suppose that's long for you."
"You think." I said sarcastically.
He smiled.
"So where does Zane stand in this coven?" I asked.
"The coven is broken up into a hierarchy. At the bottom, is just the common vampire, they belong to a coven but they don't have any part to do with coven decisions, laws excreta, just like you really, in your society, you work for you community, then you go home and do your own thing."
Great so I'm the common vampire. Alec carried on, breaking my stray thought.
"Then there's the functioning vampire, they're the vampires who are basically like your community support officers, they help run the coven but again, don't really have any say in laws. Err like your manager in the restaurant for example. Next up is the token vampires, this is where Zane stands, they have more authority within the coven, more of a say in decisions. Then there's the bidding vampires, which is where I am, they have the highest ranking in the coven, other than the leader, they have power over everyone, follow direct orders from the leader, govern laws and decisions of the clan excreta," he smiled as if proud of himself.
I rolled my eyes. "So what about the staff? Doreen, I mean, where is she in this hierarchy?"
"She is just staff in this household, ordinary humans work here, just help serving us. The manor we're in is mine, usually only bidding vampire households have staff; otherwise we don't really have need for humans."
"Where do you get your staff?" I asked frowning.
"Most lead lives they hate, some are dying and need Zane's expertise in healing for example."
"What if they don't want to be here though, what if they want to go back home?"
Alec sighed. "Well they can't, once they're here, they have to stay here."
I frowned getting angry, and Alec could tell. "Don't get angry again, what is, is. It's always been like this, and most of the staff here never complain."
I was silent for a while, waiting for the anger to pass, I still had more questions to ask. Alec waited patiently.
"How do you get to the top of the hierarchy?" I asked after a while.
"People get to the top in different ways, Morvan knew me when I was first turned and luckily liked me," he smiled as he reminisced in an old memory. "On the other hand, many vampires have to make themselves known to those further up the scale, you know, helping the coven a great deal and so on."
"So how is it that you are taking over the coven?"
"Choice of a leader has nothing to do with age or blood heritage, it's who the previous leader chooses who wants to lead his coven preceding him."
"So why did he choose you then?" Did that sound rude? Oh well.
He smiled. "Maveric and I have always been friends. I've looked up to him and tried to follow in his footsteps ever since I was young...ger."
It was my turn to smile.
"Finally a smile," he commented.
"Well there's not much to smile about when you're abducted and then left to rot in a room," I said, not trying to start an argument, just stating the facts.
"It's for your own protection, just until your wound is healed. There are probably some hungry vampires on the other side of that door that can smell the blood from that wound."
I shivered.
"I'm only joking Darcy. It's only me and Zane here unless we have guests I don't know about."
"So where is the rest of the coven?" I must have looked really stupid too him.
He smiled again. "We don't have to live in the same building, Zane is only staying here because he's looking after you, and we're friends. Our territory is quite large so there are vampires everywhere outside that front door."
I shivered again.
"They can choose how they want to live, some in houses, others prefer the wilderness."
"So where exactly do I come into all this?" I asked slightly apprehensive.
He took his time to reply, obviously thinking of how to say whatever he was going to say so as not to offend me or cause an argument like last time.
"Well, every vampire leader has to have a link. This is a human they drink from. Leaders of all covens usually have them because they're often busy and don't have time to hunt." He paused examining my expression, which I'm pretty sure was blank, I hoped anyway.
"How often?" I asked.
"It depends, once a week, maybe more, maybe less," he replied looking uneasy.
I stayed quiet wondering what it would be like to have blood sucked out of you. I decided to change the subject.
"So where are we exactly?"
Before Alec had a chance to answer however, Doreen came in with a tray of food. She brought it out to the table and placed it front of me.
"Your breakfast," she said to me, and then turned to Alec, "Master Alec," she said curtsying and left quickly.
I ignored the food and looked at Alec waiting for his answer. He was looking at me again, staring intently. I frowned.
"Aren't you going to eat that?" He asked me.
"I'm not hungry," and I wasn't.
"Why have you lost your appetite all of a sudden?" He looked concerned. "Or do you just not like the food. I made sure they wouldn't send up anything you didn't like."
I looked quizzical at him, but he didn't seem to notice. "It's not that," I replied. "I told you I'm just not hungry."
There was silence. I got slightly annoyed; he still hadn't answered my question.
"Where are we?" I asked again.
He smiled a mischievous smile and I knew what was coming, "I'm not going to answer you until you eat something."
I sighed. "Why don't you eat it?"
"It doesn't taste very nice."
I frowned. "Toast isn't disgusting. It's the best breakfast item."
"According to you," he smiled again.
Alec wasn't that bad once you got to know him but I think I would have liked him more if he hadn't kidnapped me.
"Where are we?" I persisted.
"If you love toast so much why aren't you eating it?" He changed the subject.
"I told you twice already, I'm not hungry."
"You know if you don't eat you won't get strength and without strength your wound will take longer to heal and that means that you won't be able to leave this room for a long time."
I frowned and picked up the toast. Did I say how annoying he could be? Because he could. He got up when I was halfway through eating the toast.
"I have to leave," he said.
"That's not fair, you still haven't answered my question," I said standing up too, dropping my toast back on the plate.
"Later," was all he said as he started to walk to the door.
I followed him hoping I could escape the room. He stopped to open the door and I stood behind him waiting for it to open. Before I knew it, he was already gone and I could hear the click of the lock. I frowned.
It scared me that I was starting to like Alec now, which annoyed me as well because I was starting to like the person who kidnapped me. But what scared me even more was the fact that I was actually starting to believe that he was a vampire.