Belle Morte Bites (Belle Morte 4.3)

A Little Motivation

Modern Day

Roux placed the laptop on the bed in front of Ludovic. "I won't let you keep avoiding this," she said.

Ludovic gave the laptop a disgruntled look. "I don't like these things."

"You didn't like phones either and look how far you've come with those." She winked. "You can handle one without supervision now."

"Phones and computers aren't the same thing," Ludovic said.

"How do you know?" Roux challenged.

Ludovic didn't have an answer for that.

"Sweetie, you can't hide from the real world forever, and you can't always rely on me when it comes to technology," Roux said.

Ludovic sighed. "How do I turn it on?"

Roux flipped open the laptop. "This is the power button," she said, pointing. "Press it."

Ludovic did, but reluctantly, and Roux narrowed her eyes.

"Less of the attitude," she said.

The screen flickered to life, and Ludovic recoiled slightly. His eyes flicked over all the icons on screen, looking more panicked by the moment.

"This doesn't look like your phone," he said.

"It's not."

Ludovic looked even more unhappy. Roux didn't blame him for struggling – he'd shut himself away like a hermit for decades. Many technological advancements of the years had passed him by, and once he'd arrived at Belle Morte, things had only got worse. The mansion was like a bubble in time, where nothing ever changed, and that had once been the perfect environment for stubborn old vampires.

But Belle Morte had changed.

The vampires had to change too.

An idea came to her and she smiled wickedly.

"Tell you what," she said, and lifted the hem of her T-shirt, showing off her flat stomach. Ludovic's eyes heated. "You need a little motivation. We're going to run through some basics today, and every time you get something right, I'll take something off."

Ludovic's gaze drifted down, travelling over Roux's long legs, and then back up, a hint of red creeping through.

"You make a persuasive argument," he said.

"I usually do."

Ludovic's gaze lingered on her a little longer, then he turned back to the laptop. "What do I need to do?"

"Do you see the icon at the bottom of the screen? The one that looks like a curling blue wave?"

"Yes."

"And do you see the little white arrow in the middle of the screen?" Roux put her hand over Ludovic's, guiding his fingers on the touchpad. "Guide it down to the blue icon."

Ludovic did so, slowly, carefully.

"Now click on it by pressing down on the touchpad," Roux instructed.

Ludovic did, then looked expectantly up at Roux.

"Do I get rewarded now?" he said.

Roux pulled her T-shirt over her head, posing with one hand on her hip. Her breasts were small enough that she didn't always wear a bra, but she was glad she'd put one on today because it was one more thing to take off.

"What do I do now?" Ludovic asked, tearing his eyes away from Roux with obvious difficulty.

"You see the white bar at the top of the page? Click on that, and then type in gmail.com."