17th chapter

Caroline felt tired but happy. The last weekend was relaxing and nerve-wracking at the same time. She hummed quietly to a tune that got stuck in her head as she sorted the papers for the tour on that Tuesday. She was glad, that she had a rather uneventful Monday, so her body and soul could go back to normal. She glanced at the clock on her monitor and drummed with her hand on the desk to match the song. When the door opened, she looked up with a smile. Before she knew, who would come to the door, she rose to her feet to great that person.

"Just me, sit down," Heidi said with a bright smile on her face. "Good morning," Caroline greeted nevertheless and sat down after. "Did you get everything for the tour?", Heidi asked as she walked over to the desk. She stopped next to the other woman and looked at the papers. "All done, sorted and everyone paid," Caroline answered. She gave the documents to the vampire and looked at her patiently. "A lot of French people today, huh?" Heidi smiled and looked through the papers. "Yes, maybe you can talk to them in their language," Caroline said and smirked at her. Heidi looked back at the sitting woman, an almost arrogant smile on her lips. "C'est très simple, mon ami."

Caroline huffed, but smiled. "For the love of God, I swear, you need to teach me," she said. Heidi just laughed at her remark and put the documents back on her desk. She looked at the watch on her wrist and put her hand on her hips. "Ten minutes, I guess I'll check up on them and let them in." Caroline always wondered, how Heidi could remember all those names, by just reading them on the papers once. She had to check the tourists one-time last week, and it took so much time. She asked for the name and the ID-card and had to check it with those on her papers. She blamed it on Heidi's vampiric trait and she hoped that she would get something like that as well.

"Show must go on," Heidi said as she stood at the door. Her hand on the handle, she winked at Caroline before she put on her breathtakingly beautiful smile. She opened the door and was greeted by almost all people that had a reservation for that day, who were eager to learn more about the castle. Even Caroline could hear several gasps from the people outside, when Heidi opened the door. She smirked but kept her attention on the payments she was about to check. After a few minutes, Heidi led the group of people in. She spoke in perfect French and Caroline couldn't help but admire her. She rose to her feet once more, greeting the tourists in the little French she knew and sat down again. She noticed the little smirk from Heidi at her words, but the vampire was quick to get back to her charade as tour guide. It didn't take Heidi long, to get all of the tourists' attention and she began her tour through the castle.

Once Caroline was alone again, she sighed while shaking her head in amusement. Now, that she could concentrate properly again, she redid the payment check to be completely sure, she didn't miss anything. Every so often, she checked the clock. There were another 20 minutes until Heidi would be done with her tour. Since the tour for Thursday was booked completely, she printed the documents for that day as well. It seemed like a more mixed tour, language-wise, than the current one. She sorted them alphabetically and put them on a separate pile. The phone rang twice, nothing of importance as usual, and she took already care of the mail.

Caroline left the restroom and hummed slightly to the song again. Back at her desk, she opened the banking program to pay the open invoices. She always double-checked every single entry before she made the remittance. It wasn't her money, so she was extra cautious. By then, she heard Heidi nearing the room with the tourists. The door opened and Heidi glanced at Caroline. She rolled her eyes slightly but kept the smile on her face. She continued to talk to the people in French and Caroline listened without understanding. What she understood, was the thanking of some of the tourists as they were about to leave the place. Some took a few pamphlets from Caroline's desk and others made a last look through the entrance hall.

When the last tourist left the castle, Heidi closed the door and she sighed. "Tough tour?", Caroline asked with a smirk as she watched the other woman approaching her. Heidi made a gesture as she arrived at the desk once more. "The usual, I just wasn't in the mood. I barely get to speak French, so that took a little more of my concentration than I thought." Caroline nodded and looked over her desk. When her eyes landed on the pile of papers for the next tour, she grabbed them. "Thursday is full as well, all paid, sorted and ready to go," Caroline said and handed the documents over to the vampire. Heidi took the papers and eyed them, when the door to their right opened once more. Caroline stood up again with a smile on her face, but when she saw who entered the room, her facial expression faltered. She even stumbled lightly on her place and her right hand shot on the desk for comfort and stability. Her eyes widened and her jaw clenched, while her heart kept pounding heavily in her chest.

"Good afternoon," she said and pressed each word through trembling lips. Felix eyed the human carefully, he knew full-well that she was afraid of him and, truth be told, he couldn't blame her. His attention switched to Heidi. "Aro wants to speak to you. He's waiting in the throne room," he said with his deep and melodic voice. Heidi smiled at her coven mate and handed the papers in her hand back to Caroline, who took the documents reluctantly. "Of course, thank you Felix," she said and turned her attention to the woman next to her. "We'll talk later." With these words, she made her way out of the room, in the direction of the throne room.

Much to Caroline's displeasure, Felix didn't follow Heidi. He stood there unfazed and she could only look at the tall man in fear. Her mind knew, it was all Aro's doing, he ordered him to do all of that, but her body wouldn't acknowledge that. All of sudden, it was as if she could feel his large, cold hand on her throat once more and her breathing hitched. Caroline tried desperately to calm down her senses and after a short while, she made progress. She gulped hard and blinked a few times, before she was able to form words again. "Can I help you with something?", she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, but he understood her nonetheless. Felix sighed deeply and let his eyes travel through the room. "I'm not here to hurt you," he said and his eyes were fixated back on the woman. "I know," she whispered and forced her body into a more relaxed stance. "I know our first encounter was not ideal," Felix said and moved his hands to emphasize his statement. "Orders! I'm sure you understand." He looked distinctively at her and she could only nod. Felix knew that as soon as she was turned, she would see him as a potential threat, just like all newborns. To make his and partly her life easier, he wanted to even out the path a little, by getting over the past before she was turned. Her newborn mind would still see almost every other vampire as a threat at the beginning. Felix saw it many times and even though newborns were far stronger than normal vampires, he won every single time. He knew how to handle them, just like the majority of his coven mates. He knew quite a bit about her, through all the gossip in the castle and her fiercely and stubborn personality was something he encountered first hand. She knew she had no chance against one of his kind and still she fought.

"Look," Felix started after a while and made a step in her direction. His posture was calm and nothing about his behavior was alarming. "I won't apologize for what I did, as it was an order I followed. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again if any of my masters wants me to." He stopped in front of her desk and Caroline stared wide-eyed up in the eyes of the man. Her body reacted calmer to his presence than she anticipated but her mind raced, showing her pictures of that specific day. "Okay," she managed to say. "But we will have to live with each other for quite some time," he continued and showed her a toothy grin. "So, here is my suggestion to start again." He held out his hand to her and simply waited for her to react.

Caroline looked from his face to the offered hand and back again. Once more, she had to rely on her gift and hope that it would have warned her if he had bad intentions. But there was nothing, she remembered how he opened the door for her when she left the throne room. He didn't act on his own behalf, so she shouldn't hold him accountable for it. She gulped hard and lifted her slightly shivering hand. When she put her hand in his much larger one, he closed his hand for a handshake. He used no force; it was a mere gesture of kindness. "The name's Felix, pleased to meet you," he said and smirked at the woman. Caroline couldn't help but smile at his behavior. "I'm Caroline, pleased to meet you." Maybe they could start anew on better terms. Heidi told her, that most of the other people were 'easygoing' if you were nice and respectful.

"You don't need to fear me, as long as you don't upset me or the masters," he said and lowered his hand. His facial expression was still the same and Caroline widened her smile at his playful remark. She was still in a state of careful watching, but she was sure, if both of them would spend more time together and she would finally acknowledge, that he wasn't a threat to her anymore, they would get along just fine. But for now, she appreciated his attempt to ease the situation between the two of them. Usually, she would have made a comment at his words, but for the moment she kept it to herself. She still needed to find out how she could interact with him and feel safe inwardly.

Felix turned slightly, apparently listening to something, Caroline's human ears couldn't catch. After a few seconds, he looked back at the woman, another grin appeared on his face. "See you around," he said and left through the door without a second thought. Caroline followed him with her eyes and once he disappeared, she let herself fall into her chair. A deep sigh full of accrued stress and tension left her mouth and she closed her eyes for a moment. It took her a few more minutes to process all of it and she finally got back to her tasks.

Just moments, before her shift was done, Heidi entered the room again. She had a small smile on her lips but something in her eyes told Caroline, that she had some important news she wanted to share. "What's wrong?", Caroline asked, her voice full of concern. In the corner of her eyes, she saw how the computer shut off. "I have to leave again," she started and took a chair that stood at the wall behind Caroline's desk. She put the chair next to Caroline and sat down. "Why is that?", Caroline asked further and turned completely to the vampire. Heidi smiled halfheartedly and let her eyes roam the place for a moment. "Another fishing trip," she answered a little later and looked back into the worried eyes of the human. "Oh," Caroline mouthed and nodded in understanding.

It was uncomfortably quiet for a while. Caroline felt that Heidi wanted to explain further or add anything else, but she didn't want to intervene her thought process. "Well, it's not for an ordinary feeding, you see," Heidi started. At those words, Caroline lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head a little. She remained silent to let the other woman continue. "I will be back at the 16th February and some of those will still be spared, for that time at least." Caroline's mind raced at the mention of that date. As the realization hit her, her eyes widened. It was the day, before she would be turned. Of course, the masters would make sure, that everyone was fed, especially those present during her turning. She gulped and looked at her hands, that fiddled hastily with the lower part of her shirt. It was then, that she thought about her last words and she raised her head again to meet her gaze. "Spared?", she asked in a low voice and Heidi let out a sigh. "Yes well, once you're turned, you need to feed and not just once. The first few weeks you will need more blood than one of us in a year." As Heidi explained, she watched the woman's reaction closely.

Caroline knew she had to feed on humans and she tried not to think about it too much. It was nothing she could change, she was to be turned and once that happened, she had no choice but to kill innocent humans. She spent hours, thinking about her future diet, but she came to no conclusion, how she could avoid murdering people. Her stomach clenched at the mere thought, she had no clue, how she could do that, if every part of her mind screamed at her that it was wrong. It was possible, that her wish for blood was so strong, that her rational-thinking mind had no say in it at all. She felt as if she had to vomit, but she couldn't tell Heidi, a vampire, that she didn't want to kill people. She knew, she had to get through that herself and a very small but loud part in the back of her mind hoped, that the urge to drink blood, the mere smell of it, would stop her thinking, whenever she had to feed.

"Oh, okay," she said after a while and forced a small smile on her lips at all those rambling thoughts. "That also means, we won't see each other before I'm turned?" Heidi smiled warmly at her. "I will do my best so that we can talk in the evening before that," she said and those words put a smile on Caroline's face as well.

The women continued to talk for a some more time, until Caroline decided to get back to her room. She was starving and desperately needed to get out of those clothes. Once back in her room, she made herself some ready-made lasagna in the oven and let her mind process everything that happened that day.