Dealing With The Devil

Chapter 5: Necklace

"Nichole!" I hear my master call. Immediately, I turn to follow the sound of his footsteps and voice. "Nich-" My master stops when he sees me. I wait for him to look at me full on before I respond. 

"Yes, Master?" I ask, offering my work with a simple question. I see the muscles on my master’s jaw clench tightly for a moment before he clears his throat. The order that is on the tip of his tongue seems to be consuming him in the worst way possible, twisting his thoughts and forcing a frown on his face. This could get interesting.

"What do you know about vampires?" He questions. I scoff, surprised by the question. He glares at me and I swallow to try to clear the tension forming in my throat. 

"Master I-" It's almost impossible to describe my feelings right now because the situation is so horribly funny. He's asking me what I know about them when everything he does violates what I have read in the books. Heck I probably would have trouble knowing even 5% of what vampires are about. "Are you serious?" I ask. He nods. I shake my head, not sure how to start so I just start reciting things I had read. 

 "Well, I read somewhere that vampires could potentially live forever." I glance at him, seeing him nod. "That it's not impossible to kill them, however it's very difficult as they have many more defenses than a human." He eyes me warily. 

"They have enhanced speed, hearing, eye sight, taste but they can't feel or sense anything that is colder than them, only things that are warmer." My master sits down at a desk and indicates for me to take a seat in the opposite chair. "Well, vampires rely on blood, mostly human, but not always. Some are like the Cullen family, you know 'vegetarians'." I smirk at the Twilight reference. My master doesn't seem to find it amusing. Okay then. I clear my throat and start again. 

"Vampires have a spell over humans. The humans are naturally drawn to a vampire as if entranced by the beauty of them. This therefore, is an effective way of luring prey in. Vampires usually hang out in one area and there is a supposed group of leaders, but no one knows for sure." I pause to look at my master who has not lowered his gaze from me. 

"The vampire's weaknesses are quite umm, well I believe that most of them could be myths or just things said to give humans a go to. Vampires die from too much exposure to the sun as it melts their skin. They are supposedly 'chased' off when garlic is around, but I think it's just a fun game for vampires. Crosses really have no effect on vampires, they simply don't usually like religion, refusing to believe that when they die they will go to heaven. A stake through the heart would kill anyone so I don't see the point in that one and a secret potion, as some would like to believe is out there, is very possible as poison is also a possibility, vampires just have a stronger digestive system. And silver burning vampires haven't been proven either way yet." I pause in my explanation because my master is staring at me intently and I am a bit uneasy. 

"Continue on, it's quite amusing." He waves me on, but the amusement in his eyes is consuming me. 

"Master-" 

"No, do, continue on." He presses. I nod and start again. 

"Um, well I think vampires can have children, it's just that they often choose not to. Vampires don't change into bats, but they can, however, talk to bats. Dracula helped with that." I smile slightly at the thought. My master chuckles. "The poison in a vampire is often their way of killing their prey and it is everywhere in their body, constantly being created and used. A vampire can transfer their poison to a victim in doses to kill, or to change. A vampire will not come back to life once it has died, as there is no way to just m**m them in their form so that they don't miss going fully into the void. If they die, they die, no question about it. Vampires won't take over the world because if they did they wouldn't be able to control their appetite, thus the reason there are few vampires, and even fewer cases having seen them. Vampires tend to live quietly but are sometimes blamed for things that were murdered, therefore getting a bad reputation." I stop talking because my master is now laughing hysterically. 

"Oh, this is too good." He wipes tears from his eyes and waits for me to continue. I shake my head. 

"Master, I'm not really up for any more of this interrogation." I mumble. He smirks. 

"Hmm, alright, you're free to go." The tint of a smile on his face and his unusual joyful manner give the impression I either know a lot and he doesn't want to admit it, or I said something that was majorly wrong. I'd like to think it was the latter but I wasn't really sure. 

I exited the room and immediately went to the kitchen, making myself a bowl of soup. As I ate, I ignored the feeling of being watched but then it became all too much. "Are you going to keep staring or start talking?" I ask before I take another spoonful of soup. Immediately the taste is gone and I frown but when I put the next spoonful in my mouth I can taste it again. "Will you quit eating my food?" I ask, smirking slightly. 

"As soon as you stop eating mine." My master says as he sits next to me. I smile. 

"Touché." I nod at him and see the slight smirk on his face. 

"You're different." My master says suddenly. 

"I get that a lot." I shrug, not wanting to have a deep, awkward conversation right now. 

"No. You're different in a way that I haven't decided is good or bad yet." He says quietly, as if still analyzing it in his head. Knowing what little I do about him, he probably is. 

"Well, let me know when you do." I clear my throat and wash the dishes in the sink as I feel his eyes on my back. "Would you stop staring?" I ask, stopping to glance back at him. He is gone in a blur and then he's standing beside me. 

"Does it bother you?" He asks. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and then release it, opening my eyes. 

"Yes, Master, it does." I finish washing the dishes and dry my hands to glance at him. 

"Good." He walks out of the room and I am left to stare at empty space, once more completely confused as to how his methods worked. Was he socially awkward or did he just like being a pain in the rear? 

'I can hear you.' He says in my head. I sigh, shaking my head. Just one more thing that's going to get me into trouble. 

Trying to be a good kid I grab cleaning utensils and begin to clean around the house, sweeping all of the rooms on the bottom floor. The pain I had been having earlier had subsided completely and I could feel strength returning to my limbs. My stomach didn't hurt and I was so thankful that the painkillers were working because it was one less thing to gripe about. Once I was done sweeping I began to start on the windows, glad that the sun was down and it wouldn't leave streaks on the window. 

"Go to bed." My master says from behind me. I pause in mid-swipe, contemplating what he was saying before continuing to finish the last window. "Nichole, I mean it, go to bed." He says again. I hum in response, not really wanting to talk. Every time we had a conversation it never seemed to end in my favor. 

"Yes, Master." I mumble as I finish. When I turn to leave I meet his eyes and notice the hurt behind them, but I don't say anything, not wanting to start something and brush past him to put the supplies away. I walk away from my master and feel the emotions swirling around him as I pass. "Did you need something Master?" I ask, pausing before I am completely out of the room. 

He doesn't respond, rather walks up to me from behind. I waited patiently, knowing full well he was going to tell me something of importance. "Nichole." He says quietly. I turn to face him and his eyes slice through me. They're a bright red and I take in a deep breath before relaxing, knowing what he needed. It was scary seeing the brilliant red in his eyes, but I knew he couldn't help it. So I did the normal thing that any blood slave would do. 

I moved my hair from my neck and exposed my neck to him. My master wasted no time in latching on to my neck and drinking thoroughly. I don't know if I screamed, but the pain seemed tolerable this time instead of overpowering. When my master was done I was lightheaded but other than that I was fine. His eyes had returned to their normal color and though his lips were stained with red, he was back to his normal self. 

"Go, off to bed." He says, shooing me with one hand. I pause a moment before turning away and giving a small 'yes master' before heading off to my bedroom. It was a horrible feeling, the nagging in the back of my head, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. As sleep seemed to creep into my limbs though I took a quick rinse and found clothes had been placed in the closet, not girl clothes, but an extra pair of my master's clothes which I changed into. Then, without further delay I obeyed the demands that the world was telling me and fell asleep. 

It was in the middle of the night when I felt his cold fingertips on my skin. I was about to react but I thought better of it and instead focused on keeping my breathing steady and my heart rate normal. "I still don't know whether you're a good different or a bad different." He whispers. I can feel his fingertips grazing up my arm until he pauses at my neck. 

He gently pulls my hair back and rubs his thumb across his fang indentations. "It seems that you are supposed to be a good different, but the way you manipulate me to act the way I do, doesn't seem like a good kind of power. But you aren't evil." He takes in a shaky breath. "Maybe you are a good kind of evil." He chuckles at his own wording and then sighs. 

It is a moment later and I feel a small chain being laid on my chest. My master's hands move to clasp it around the back of my neck. He straightens the necklace out and then I hear him stand up. "In answer to one of your myths, silver only burns minor vampires." He leaves after that. It gives me chills to feel this foreign necklace on my neck. Finally I open my eyes and I am met with a gorgeous piece of jewelry. 

The necklace was beautiful and yet simple. A small, twisted, silver chain laid on my chest, but it was the beautiful jewel that really put this necklace in the precious category. The jewel was a simple teardrop but it was a brilliant red. Inside of the jewel the red swirled in an unknown pattern, twisting and turning to its delight. I noticed a small portion of the red was darker than the other and it was interesting to watch the dark red swirl around the lighter red, only to disappear again.

But a question nagged in my mind. 

Why?