Her Vampire Master

Chapter Thirteen

She sat reading in the window seat, sipping honey sweetened tea as he watched the light stream in through the window highlighting her pale features. Charles stood in the shadows watching her, her eyes were wet with unshed tears as she turned the page, he loved how she lost herself in books.

"Did you eat today pet?" He said breaking her out of the world of the moorland romance tragedy she was enjoying. She jumped startled and looked towards him eyes wide with fright.

"Charles, You scared me." She said laying her book down along with the almost empty teacup beside the shortbread cookies that she hadn't eaten.

"Vampire pet, it's what we do." He said with a smirk as he leaned against the wall, "I asked if you had eaten today?"

"I had some toast and jam this morning and I'm having tea and cookies right now." She said as she looked down, knowing that he was going to be upset at her for skipping lunch, it was almost time for dinner.

"Let's get you some lunch pet or should we call it an early dinner?." He said as he held out his hand for her, "Can't have you getting sick, can we luv?"

She stood from her seat in the sunlight and moved into the shadows, always the shadows for him he would never again no the warmth of the sun. She took his hand, as he lead her into the kitchen dismissing Chef with a wave of his hand. He brought her to the stool and wrapped his hands around her thin waist to sit her on the stool, tenderer than she was used to.

"Let's see what we have?" He said as he moved to the ice box. Opening it he saw a covered ceramic bowl with small flowers painted on lid, he opened dipping a finger in to make sure it was actually a soup and not some fancy sauce pretending to be a soup.

He smiled as he pulled it out heading over to the cabinet he grabbed a pan to pour some of it into it, he put the pan over the stove and moved back to the icebox to grab some thinly sliced meat and grabbed the crusted bread to fix her a sandwich as well.

She watched him from her perch in the corner of the kitchen, it was moments like this when he was sweet and tender that hurt her heart the most. These were the moments that broke her, they were the calm before the storm. She felt tears well up in her eyes as she watched him lay the bread on top of the sliced roast beef.

"What's with the tears pet, for me?" He said looking up at her from the plate he was fixing. He moved to stir the soup, adding silverware to the tray, before he turned back to walk towards her. She shook her head slowly as tears started to fall, "It's just nice, that's all."

"I could be nice pet, all the time you know." He said as he moved to cup her face gently in his cold hands, her cheeks were warmer than normal and he frowned worrying for her. Was it the sun from today or was she coming down with something?

He leaned forward catching a tear with his lips, "It could stay nice if we let it." He kissed down her cheek and kissed her closed lips with his own, not demanding entrance with her tongue, just a sweet kiss.

"We could give it a try." He whispered against her lips before moving to kiss her again, her lips moving against his.

She pulled back with a shuddering breath, "We could til I did something you didn't like or said something to upset you. That's not the nature of our relationship and it never will be." She tried to pull back from him but he wouldn't let her, he held her face a little tighter holding her close to stop her from pulling away.

"I'm willing if you are." He said with a half smile leaning in to kiss her softly again, he pulled away releasing her. Moving to the stove to pour the soup into a bowl, he tried a spoonful, "It doesn't have much taste, what is it?" He said as he set it all on a tray and took it with him to the dining room where he sat it at the table for her.

"It looks like leek soup, it's one of my favorites." She said following him. "It's kind of like an onion, but tastes better."

He turned to smile at her as he pulled the chair out helping her sit down before pushing her closer to the table. She smiled at him as he sat beside her as she ate, her head was hurting from the sun and once eating she realized how hungry she actually was. They sat in companionable silence Charles was very much enjoying the moment with her.

He knew Mary was never truly his she would always belong to her sire Ciaran. When he had been turned by Mary he had been innocent, never knowing the love of a woman. In his eyes they were as close if not closer than most married couples, it was the moment her sire had returned. The demonstration the man had put on for him to know that he wasn't as important to her as him. Then he knew that she would never be his in the same way, would never have the same kind of devotion he felt for her, but Elizabeth would always be his, her smiles, like the one she had given him now, were just for him.

She finished her meal, sitting back to look at the vampire beside her. A small smile on his face as he watched her, "What is it?" She said grabbing a cloth napkin from the table to dab her chin, "Did I get some on my face?"

"No, I just enjoy watching you eat is all." He said leaning back in his chair, "I've never met anyone like you Elizabeth."

"What do you mean?" She said blushing at his words.

"Someone as smart as you, you shattered the notion that I grew up with that women were not in the least as smart as men. The way your mind works is amazing." He had grown up being told that women were lesser, his mother had died in childbirth with his sister so it had been just him, father, and the servants for most of his life. Being around his sire, great grandsire, and Elizabeth shattered that long taught notion for him. Each of them wasn't just beautiful but incredibly intelligent as well.