Love Bite Obey

Chapter 16: Life (rewritten)

Author's Note:

The last three chapters were rewritten, so make sure to read the new versions of chapter 14 and 15 too.

With me in his arms, Rahlan opens the bedroom door. We step into the living room, and my attention immediately jumps to the brown-haired vampire woman that bit me – Mia. Her eyes land on me, but she quickly looks away. Even though I'm the one being carried like a child, she appears more embarrassed herself.

The first thing I notice is her sky-blue dress. It's simple, closer to something a peasant farmer would wear than an aristocratic vampire. Unlike Rahlan, I'd never know that she was a noble lady just by looking at her. From behind, she could be mistaken for a tall human. Maybe she didn't want to be associated with Paral and his men when living on his land.

"Julia." Her eyes slowly move back to me. "I must beg your forgiveness. My fangs left you bedridden with a scarred arm." Her words spew out like water. "To my eyes, you appeared very frightening that day, and I had been among many who wished to do me harm. Fear had its grip-"

"It's okay," I interrupt her before she can work herself up to a state. Rahlan has been by my bedside for days. Watching that, she must have felt awful about the whole thing. "I know what it's like to be tied up and at the mercy of a sword-wielding maniac." I give Rahlan a sidelong glance.

"That was only once," he says.

"Twice," I correct him, earning a laugh from Mia.

"Perhaps, however, sword-wielding maniac is a bit of an exaggeration. A proactive master swordsman is of better fit," he says.

"I know you well," Mia says, "Sword-wielding maniac is accurate."

Rahlan dismisses her comment with a snort.

He puts me on a chair at the dinner table and takes an adjacent seat. Mia and Jaclyn bring the food from the kitchen and take their places too, with Jaclyn to my right and Mia opposite me.

I'm eyeing the chicken soup. "It smells delicious."

"Thanks," Jaclyn says, "It was difficult to make with Rahlan hovering over me the whole time, claiming to be an expert at human cooking, as he called it. He tried to pour in an entire jar of cinnamon when I wasn't looking, and I had to fish out an uncrushed garlic bulb because of him."

"You cook now?" I ask Rahlan, unable to believe it.

He glances at Jaclyn for a moment, as if to make sure that she's listening too. "I have watched you brew soup a grand number of times. 'Tis not a perplexing process."

"The watched part of that sentence can't be overstated," Jaclyn says.

A laugh escapes me, earning an annoyed look from Rahlan. Luckily for him, I'm back to do the 'human cooking' that he loves so much.

I take a spoon of my soup. It's a strange sight – two vampires and two humans, all sitting together in a vampire castle that rules over a human village. Just a few months ago, I had never seen a vampire in my life, and now I live with one, sharing a meal with his sister – another vampire that has begun to grow on me despite our rough start.

We finish our food and chat a bit more. Mia has no intention of returning to Paral or Urko, which is no surprise. With my agreement, Rahlan offered her a place in our guestroom while she finds her new path in life. Jaclyn didn't seem too pleased about that, and I figure her disapproval of Mia stems from her time being owned by a vampire woman – one who bit her too. But I do sympathize with Mia. Having seen her living conditions as a captive, I understand why she tried to fight me, and she's her own person, different to their mother Ella and Jaclyn's old mistress.