"So does iron hurt you at all?" Gabriel asked from the kitchen door as he appeared with a tray of food. I was slumped tiredly at one of the dining room chairs. It had taken three hours to tour and memorize the entire castle- excluding the east wing, of which I was grateful. If I did anymore walking today- I wouldn't have feet left.
"Uhm it's fine in the form of steel, or dishes. I haven't been brave enough to attempt touching iron from concentrate" I replied
He disappeared back into the kitchen and came back with an actual fork and tossed it to me.
"Just checkin'" He mumbled, sitting beside me and watching me eat with an amused expression.
"Can you and Nathaniel eat human food?" I asked.
"No. We can't survive off of it. But we indulge every now and then"
"Don't you miss living off of human food?"
Gabriel chuckled softly "Judging that I haven't had any in over three hundred years…I'm going to say no"
I bit my lip and put my fork back on my plate "Done"
Gabriel opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the dining hall doors opening.
"Excellent. Now I can show you to your room" Nathaniel said cheerfully.
My room was at the very top of one of the castle towers. I opened the door to my bedroom and found myself having to use the knob for support.
Gold. There was gold everywhere.
The walls were a creamy white but gold molding covered them almost completely. A giant, extravagant, chandelier hung in the center of a gold and sapphire ceiling, and then my eyes fell on the massive, king sized bed that faced the room.
"This room is based on King Ludwig's room in the Linderhof castle; your room is just bigger" Nathaniel said, mistaking my silence for dislike. "If you don't like it, I can-"
"no, no, no- don't. I love it" I said "It's beautiful"
Nathaniel smiled
"I hoped you would like it" He admitted "Me and Gabriel will let you get settled"
Once Nathaniel had shut the doors, I hopped onto the royal blue velvet comforter that rested on the bed and just laid there, staring at the ceiling.
I hadn't realized I had fallen asleep until the next morning, when I woke up and felt hands roaming all over my body. I opened my eyes to see Gabriel lying beside me, using one hand to prop his head up, and the other to trace circles along my skin. He smiled arrogantly and raised his eyebrows.
"Morning, princess" He chuckled.
I shivered as his breath brushed against my throat, and scooted away.
Something changed in Gabriel's eyes. They took on a red tint and then it was gone as suddenly as it had appeared.
"C'mon" He said as he rose from the bed "We have shopping to do"
"Shopping?" I repeated. I hadn't seen anything, but suddenly my back was against the wall, and Gabriel was so close that his chest brushed up against mine.
"Well, you can't walk around in that sorry excuse for a gown all the time. It is much-" He brought his lips to my ear "too tempting"
He whispered as one of his hands grasped my behind to accentuate his point. I stared up at the vampire with wide-eyes. I think now's the time that I should be frightened.
"Gabriel, please stop" I pleaded as I pushed against his chest.
Gabriel sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Fine" He sulked. Gabriel started for the door, but paused mid-stride.
"Nathaniel's handling some family business in England, so he'll be gone for a few weeks. Looks like you'll be stuck with me-" He paused to flash me a dazzling smile "Oh, and there are clothes in the closet. Dress warm"
And then Gabriel left me alone.
How long had he been in here while I slept? I shuddered at the thought. Instead of freaking myself out, I went over to the closet and picked out some clothes to wear today.
Third Person
Gabriel pulled out a chair from the dining room table and waited patiently.
He was curious about this pixie.
Only one woman had ever interested him this much.
And that ended well, didn't it? Gabriel sneered mentally.
The vampire straightened when he heard Chloe's jumbled thoughts getting closer.
A half second later, Chloe appeared through the two doors. Gabriel looked her up and down slowly.
She was wearing a navy-blue dress with some black boots and a black pea-coat on top.. Gabriel raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Let's go" He sighed.
"Um, what are we shopping for, exactly?" Chloe asked as she followed him from the room.
Gabriel glanced over his shoulder to answer "Clothes for you, food for you, other things you may need or want- and a few things for Damon"
"Damon's coming with us?" Chloe shouted
"God- no" Gabriel replied "And keep it down- I would have heard you just fine had it been a whisper. Damon hasn't left the east wing in over a hundred years. But he's going to wake up tomorrow and he'll need to feed. It's my job to make sure he doesn't mistake my pixie-human for food"
Gabriel grinned when Chloe made no snarky comment about belonging to no one.
"Sleeping?" She repeated "For a hundred years?"
Chloe then received one of Gabriel's infamous 'you poor thing- it must really suck to be so stupid' looks.
"Don't be ridiculous. Damon hates sleeping for long periods of time. He's only been sleeping for about…fifteen years or so. It's been awfully quiet around here since then"
Chloe frowned "What do you mean?" she asked, as Gabriel held the door to a very expensive looking car open for her.
"I mean that I don't at all miss the extravagant Balls and parties, the screams, or the horrific mess that me and Nate are always stuck with cleaning up" Gabriel muttered as he started the car.
"Hm. From what I've heard he doesn't seem like the partying type" Chloe said softly.
"Damon can be very charming- when he wants to be. Right now, is not one of those times, unfortunately"
Chloe resolved that a subject change was in order, so she asked the first question that popped into her head.
"So how could someone hurt a vampire?" She asked "You obviously have no aversion to sunlight" She stared pointedly at the bright sun, rising in the east.
Gabriel raised his eyebrows "Looking to stake me already, are you?"
Chloe smiled but motioned for him to continue.
"Well, there are several ways actually, driving a hawthorn, aspen, white thorn, or ash stake through our heart could nearly kill us. Although, I'm almost positive that ash will get the job done. Those things hurt like fucking hell- excuse my French. Setting us on fire would definitely slow us down. So would crossing running water. It's harder the more powerful the vampire is. I tried it once and couldn't get even two feet in the water! Excruciating stuff- running water. Oh and then there's decapitation. That'll kill us."
Chloe laughed at Gabriel's nonchalance and sat back in her seat. Within a few minutes, they had reached the town.
"That's odd" Gabriel whispered as he stepped from the car.
"What?" Chloe asked, when he appeared the next second, holding her door open for her.
Gabriel paused, as if he were listening to something that Chloe couldn't hear…
"Wha-"
"The night you ran up to our gates. When you were being chased- you're sure it was a wolf?" Gabriel interrupted.
"Yeah. It was huge. As big as a horse. But I never told you that I was chased to your house by a wolf" Chloe replied, confused. Gabriel rolled his eyes and tapped his head twice.
Mind-reader, right.
He pulled out his cell-phone and Chloe frowned, leaning against the car while Gabriel hissed into the phone.
Finally, Gabriel hung up the phone and turned back to Chloe.
"Okay, lets go" He said, flashing a sexy smile.
They began walking down the cobblestone streets, which were creepily deserted.
"So what do you want?" Gabriel asked "I'd prefer that we don't stay long"
His eyebrows furrowed as the sentence left his mouth.
"Well, I would like another silk chemise" Chloe offered.
A slow grin lit up Gabriel's face as he led Chloe into a small boutique.
"We'll take a silk chemise in every color, and any bra that's a size 38 b cup" Gabriel told one of the women working there.
Chloe narrowed her eyes at the vampire. Perv.
Chloe's POV
We returned some hours later with a shit load of bags filled with clothes and food.
I slumped against the couch and sighed tiredly.
Gabriel stared down at me with his hands in his pockets.
"I've got to go" He said boredly.
I frowned up at him "Go? Where?"
"Just to England. I need to take care of some business of my own, it would seem. And I'll be bringing Nathaniel home with me. He's finished with his business sooner than expected"
I stood up, with my frown deepening. "When are you leaving?" I asked.
Gabriel glanced out the window and stared at the setting sun, covered by rolling clouds.
"I should probably be leaving right now" he murmured "So the hired help are here so that you won't be alone. And…don't…go outside, until I get back"
"Why not?" I asked "What's outside?"
Without noticing it, I had moved closer to Gabriel during our conversation. Now our chests were touching.
"I think something is going on in the town. Nathaniel and I will probably be back before lunch tomorrow- but just in case" Gabriel said.
I smiled, relieved that Gabriel and Nathaniel would be back by tomorrow.
Before I realized it, Gabriel's face was inches from mine, and his cool hands were running through my hair. I surprised both him and myself when I leaned into him rather than pulling away.
Gabriel kept one hand in my hair and used the other to cup my face, planting light butterfly kisses along my cheeks before pressing his lips against mine. I kissed him back, feeling suddenly overwhelmed with a jolt of different emotions. But the strongest by far, was passion. Soon, my and Gabriel's lips were at war, mashing to the other fiercely, they fought for several minutes before I had pull away for air. I didn't unwrap myself from Gabriel. He didn't let go of me either, just smiled at the dazed and dreamy look in my eyes.
"I'll be back soon" He said. And disappeared from sight.
I sighed and sat back down on the couch, turning on the television. Before I knew it, I fell asleep.
I woke up to the sound of the front door slamming shut, and shot up off of the couch. Gabriel and Nathaniel must have gotten back early. I stumbled around a bit, still feeling a little groggy, but eventually, I gained function of my legs. I walked out into the hall to see that it wasn't Gabriel and Nathaniel. It wasn't the vampires at all.
Instead, what I saw, made me puke all over the ground in front of me.
On the floor some twenty feet away, was one of the maids. Her stomach had been torn open along with some of the rib cage and the woman's intestines were spilling out gruesomely. She was also missing a large chunk of her throat, making her look like a pez dispenser. But that wasn't the worst part.
Standing above the woman, with its giant nozzle eating her insides, was a giant wolf- with insanely black eyes. The wolf paused when it heard me throw up, and its head raised to look at me.
I pulled on my invisible glamour and hoped that it wouldn't start sniffing the air- although, I'm pretty sure that the beast could hear my heart pounding away in my chest; I wasn't thinking straight.
And of course, with my luck, the wolf didn't even pause to sniff the air. He just charged.
I darted off in the opposite direction and ran up the stairs as quickly as my legs would allow. There was no way I would be eaten by a wolf. Not today.
I risked a glance back and instantly regretted it. The wolf was right on my tail.
I let out a small squeak and darted off towards the right, when I made the first landing. The wolf followed quickly behind me and I cursed aloud when I realized that I didn't know where I was.
I took another right, and resisted the urge to scream. I had just cornered myself. I was on the eastern side of the castle- and the two enormous eighteen foot doors in front of me- were bolted shut. I tried them anyway, knowing that I would be screwed even if they were open- because then I would have to fend for myself against an uncontrollable vampire. I doubted I could even push the doors open, before the wolf got me…
I pushed the door and it opened easily under my weight. Before I had a chance to rethink my decision, a cold, pale, hand snaked around my wrist and pulled me into the darkness of the east wing.
I was tossed onto the floor with a soft thud, and could only make out the outline of a man before the small sliver of light from outside was cut off by the door shutting.
I could feel my heart beating like the anxious flapping of a bird's feathers, and knew I was on the edge of hysteria when I realized that it was too dark to even see two feet in front of me.
Suddenly, there was a flash of red and I glanced up into glowing red eyes. In the dark, I could barely make out the faint glow of pearly white teeth…and two fangs.
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