Her Vampire Master

Chapter Nine

The house was eerily quiet as Elizabeth got out of the bath, Charles and Mary had taken the fledglings hunting. She dried her hair, the ends were getting a touch too long. She would have to Agata trim it soon, she always had short hair when she was home. Barely touching her shoulders, but ladies here didn't have short hair. They had elaborate hairstyles that took forever to do with rounds of cotton and pins holding it in place.

She moved to hang her towel in the bathroom next to her stockings a chemise, she got dressed in a light-colored chemise, thick wool stockings, and a dressing gown. The house was cold since no one had bothered to light the fireplaces today, she sat about lighting the one in her room sprinkling sage and a few other herbs with cedar chips onto the logs before lighting the kindling. It took her a while and she sat down watching the flame catching to the wood with a smile.

She pulled her feet close to the small fire with a happy sigh glad to be warming up and to collect her thoughts in the quiet. She was glad to be back in her own room, her journal was here and she could write her feelings out. She hated herself for being glad for Charles and Mary's return, but she did miss them.

She missed the sweet moments with Charles where she would pretend that they were a normal couple having sweet moments and talking with Mary while the raven-haired woman worked on her complex cross-stitch. She was amazing with a needle and it was always pleasant to watch her work. Sometimes she forgot what it was like to be normal and not have to worry about what you say or do all the time.

Her life before had been so carefree, the things that had worried her before like her crush or hanging out with her friends didn't seem like such a big deal anymore. She missed them of course, she missed her parents as well but they weren't around much before she had messed up sending herself here.

She shook her head, it wouldn't do to think about things she couldn't change. She stood slipping on a pair of soft slippers to head down to the kitchen for a cup of tea. She made her way through the quiet house, everything was almost back to normal the rug in the foyer was hanging outside for the sun to try and get the stain out tomorrow. The curtains were missing from the formal dining room, the soft light gas-lights making the house have a dreamlike quality.

She grabbed the copper kettle placing it beneath the pump to fill it, once it had enough water she took it to the stove and got everything set up to boil her water. She grabbed a cup and pulled out the chamomile tea putting it into a tea ball, she sat on the stool thinking about the times she had sat in her to talk with the chef while he prepared meals for her. It made her sad to think that they probably wouldn't be able to have the same conversations as before.

She watched the steam start to rise from the spout of the kettle, she thought of the children's nursery rhyme, when I get all steamed up, tip me over and pour me out. She remembered singing that on the playground with her best friend, she poured the water into the cup watching it change color as the tea steeped.

She took her tea with her as she made her way to the study to grab a book Charles wasn't ready for her to be around the newly turned vampires yet, and it could be very boring with everyone stuck in the house all day. She walked along the shelves searching for a particular book, at this time it was still fairly new but it was one that brought her great comfort.

Finding the well-worn copy of Jane Eyre she smiled, as a child, she had watched the movie at her grandmother's house. She had loved to see Elizabeth Taylor on the screen, sitting on her grandmother's floral couch eating toffees. She took her tea and the book to her room, she sat the tea on the nightstand beside the bed and crawled in to lose herself in Charlotte Bronte's classic novel.

***

Charles and Mary walked arm in arm, she looked up at the sky humming in her own world. Teaching the minions had been easy and they had left them on their own to hunt after explaining some of the finer points of the kill to them. The two casually made their way through the park, the stars were twinkling overhead.

"Is our kitten nice and safe?" Mary said in a sing-song voice.

"As houses, my love. Warm and cozy." He smiled at her, looking up into the sky he smiled happily, content that she was close by. He had spent the two months away from her drinking til he passed out most nights to fight down the emptiness he felt without her. He missed her more than he had thought he would, she filled something in his life that previously he didn't know had been missing.

The little things that he missed were what bothered him the most watching her bathe, brushing her hair, just talking with her about little things and he missed listening to her conversations with Mary about whatever little craft they were working on. The way she smelled after making love as she curled into his side, her warmth seeping into his skin for a brief moment warming him.

He moved his arm to wrap it around Mary's waist, "What's on your mind luv?" She smiled up at him, before starting to hum Silent Night.

"Christmas isn't for another nine months, my dear. What brings on the carols?" He asked confusion coloring his handsome face.

"She could be turned then, like our own Christmas gift." She said before she continued humming again, "That way she can be with us forever, no more moving back and forth for our pet. Settled with us safe as a newborn."

Charles tilted his head in thought, he didn't mind the idea of turning her. Sometimes the things Mary said confused him, this was the first time that Elizabeth had been away from him in over four years. When he had found her in a back alleyway in Bristol he had been just looking for a quick shag and a bite to eat. He had f****d her roughly against the dirty brick wall, but the second he had tasted her blood he knew that he would keep her until the day she passed from this life into the next.