I Worship Only What You Bleed

After returning from the shopping excursion, I said goodbye to Hanna and went up to my room. It took quite a bit of effort, as my feet were close to numb from walking and my arms were sore from carrying so many bags. Maybe I was exaggerating a little bit, but that kind of shopping required some athletic skill, something I didn't have much of. I locked the door behind me to keep out any unwanted intruders.

I dropped the bags on the floor, figuring I would fill my dresser and closet later. I shook my head at the thought; the dresser and closet weren't mine. They were Ethan's, and he was only letting me stay up here because he felt bad for me or something.

I stood in front of the door to the bathroom for a while, debating whether or not to use it. I felt like I didn't want to touch anything, disturb anything. The light was off inside but I could still make out the general layout. There was a tub on the floor with clawed feet across from a long counter below a mirror. Thinking about laying down in the warm water surrounded by bubbles made my muscles ache for it, and after only hesitating for a few seconds later, I stepped into the bathroom and flicked on the light. It was a dim light which I was grateful for, since it really added to the relaxation factor.

I turned the faucet on the tub and started to remove my clothes, the only ones I had left from my old life. Thinking about that should have made me sad, should have made me angry, but I wasn't. I looked down at them crumpled on the floor in a heap, tinged with dirt and speckled with bleach stains. After scowling at them for a second or two I stepped into the tub. The water was a little hot but it felt like heaven on my feet. I sighed and slid down deeper into the tub, reaching for the bubbles that sat on the ledge next to me. I poured some in and watched as the water turned into bubbles, shiny and iridescent. They smelled of vanilla and something floral, though I couldn't put my finger on it.

How had I adjusted to this so quickly? Not the warm water, but my new life? I was kidnapped and forced to become a servant, and yet here I was, soaking in a warm bubble bath after a day of limitless shopping and being chauffeured around in a car that probably cost twice as much more than my college tuition (which was quite a bit, considering I'd been accepted into a four-year university in the city without a scholarship). Obviously, this was better than my old life. So why was I still so angry?

Perhaps it was because I didn't have a choice. Ethan had stolen me without consent. I've always been strong-willed and stubborn, so I guessed that the fact that someone had control over me was driving me crazy. And it was.

I growled as Ethan broke into my thoughts, ruining my peacefulness. I felt my blood pressure rise at just the thought of him, how infuriating he was. Somehow he always managed to get under my skin, and that only made me hate him more.

But he was hard to hate. It was like there were two sides of him; the side that kidnapped me and had bitten the woman in the alley, practically reducing her to a lifeless heap of skin and bones. The side that had stopped me from escaping after he flung me into a life of servitude and was forcing me to forget everything I thought I knew, to leave behind all of my memories of independence and freedom.

And then there was the side that Mary and Hanna had told me about. The Ethan that was a savior, the person who talked me to sleep about how he had turned after giving me my own grand bedroom when I had my inevitable yet incredibly embarrassing breakdown. It was the side that I had yet to see. My eyelids fell closed and I let my head fall back against the porcelain edge of the tub.

Not to mention, it was hard to hate someone so achingly beautiful. His skin was radiant like moonlight, even during the day. His eyes were impossibly filled with so many emotions that it made my head swirl trying to decipher all of them. His body was hard and sculpted by gods, I could tell even through his clothes. The way his shirt strained across his broad shoulders to allow each fluid, carefully choreographed movement was breathtaking.

I flushed in the bathtub and shook my head, erasing the thoughts. What a stupid idea.

It wasn't until I heard a deep chuckle that I noticed someone was in the bathroom. I jumped in the tub, instinctively sinking further under the water to cover more of my exposed body.

Ethan was standing against the door frame, his dark gray t-shirt constricting against his shoulders while his arms remained crossed.

I gaped up at him, surprised at not only how he'd been able to sneak up on me, but that he would completely invade my privacy.

"What are you doing?" I stumbled after a moment of silence. He was staring intently at me, something dark flashing in his eyes. I realized they were no longer caramel, but now much deeper, almost like coffee. Their contrast shocked me.

He ignored me, "What were you thinking about?"

I rolled my eyes at his apparent attempt at small talk. "Nothing important, why?"

The corner of his mouth began to pick up, "I could hear your heart beating faster." While I shook my head and tried to ignore the heat rising to my cheeks, he moved to the counter and leaned against it, still watching me. "Were you getting excited?"

"Ugh!" I protested, a disgusted look obvious on my face. "You're perverted," I concluded.

"Hey," he argued, though not without a wicked grin, "you're the one who left the door open while you got undressed."

"Did you see me?" I crossed my arms over my chest, though I was pretty sure he couldn't see through the bubbles. "If you did, I'll kill you," I threatened, narrowing my eyes at him.

"You're not really in any position to do anything," he reminded with a deep chuckle, raising his eyebrows pointedly at my body submerged in the tub. His eyes lingered for a moment on my knees and the slight area of my thighs that wasn't hidden by bubbles. It was like electricity, the way his gaze swept over me, and the feeling was too strong to ignore. My arms loosened and moved to drape along the edges of the tub. Despite how uncontrolled the movement felt, I disregarded it.

"Why are you here in the first place?" I asked, my voice calmer, almost husky. "Did you come just to watch me bathe?"

"That was part of it," he smirked down at me, his eyes flashing to the curves of my chest, now more visible. "But mostly it just smelled really good up here."

"The bubble bath," I nodded. "It's vanilla."

He shook his head, his disheveled hair hardly moving. "No," he leered, looking more dangerous than ever. "Not the bubble bath."

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, "Oh." Finally, I had put it together: his eyes, they were dark because he was thirsty. He could smell my blood; hear my heart beating in my chest.

"It frightens you," he teased gently, his mischievous grin widening. He leaned his head back, the light refracting off the sharp angles of his jaw, and slid a hand through his thick hair. "Don't try denying it, I can hear you."

My skin was prickling and my head was feeling dizzy, not from heat or illness, but from his stare. The longer it remained on me, the more dazed I became. His intent fixation was making me feel good.

"No," I said, not sure what I was denying. I leaned my head back again and focused my attention on the wall in front of me, exhaling slowly so he wouldn't notice me catching my breath.

Suddenly he was at the edge of the tub near my legs, leaning so that he was facing me. "I'm having company the day after tomorrow," he explained, letting his finger draw idly on the skin of my knee. "I need you with Hanna and Mary all day tomorrow so that the mansion is at its finest."

My stomach jumped at the thought of having more than one vampire in the house. Would they all react to the scent of my blood the way Ethan did? "Who?" I asked, flicking his hand away.

"Some friends," he answered vaguely. "I'll explain your duties later in greater detail, but for now just know that they won't tolerate your disobedience as well as I do."

I scoffed, "Do you?" Before I could say another word there was a rush of air and Ethan was hovering over me, bracing his arms against the tub so that his face was close to mine.

"I could really punish you, if you'd like," he threatened roughly, and I noticed he was looking at my mouth rather than my eyes. I was tempted to run my hands through his hair to see if it was truly as soft as it looked. His scent was flooding around me and the familiar static feeling radiated from deep inside me. Embarrassing didn't begin to explain how I felt when my heart skipped a beat at the realization that I was completely naked underneath him, separated only by an increasingly more translucent layer of soapy water. I struggled to get control of myself.

"That depends on the punishment," I smirked back, throwing my arms up to splash his chest with water. He lurched away, though not quickly enough to avoid the wave, and stood up with a drenched t-shirt that clung to his muscles.

"Ugh," he snarled, looking down at himself. "You deserve it now," he growled, his eyes narrowing on me.

"No," I held my hands out quickly in front of me. "You can't, I'm naked!"

"Exactly," he smirked, his eyes glimmering with hunger. My eyes widened as he took a step forward slowly, his body seeming to illuminate even in the dim light. I shook my head no and turned my head, not willing to accept whatever punishment he had in mind.

But nothing happened. I peeked through one eye and he was gone. I sighed in relief and sank down into the tub.