Charlotte After Dark

Chapter 37: Babysitting Duties

Author's Note: Sorry, I had to unpublish and republish because Wattpad deleted a whole big chunk of text. I'm rereading through so if ANYTHING doesn't make sense can you please let me know? Also, Wattpad is going crazy with this story for some people and repeated lines/words/etc multiple times. I double, triple checked it in the original entry and it's not in there, so ???

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I replayed the whole interaction with Luca in my head over and over again, become more and more furious with each mental replay. My fists clenched together so tightly they began to draw blood as I muttered to myself as I walked down what seemed like the never-ending hallway to my suite.  

Tall oak doors littered the hallway, each one seeming identical to the other. I kept a mental count in my head as I passed each door. I was almost positive my door was the one at the end of the hall, but with each door I passed, I questioned whether I had misremembered. I reached the final door, pressing the tall door open to reveal the familiar sprawling suite that Luca had delegated me to.  

When I entered the sitting room of the suite, Pallas was sitting on the couch, her arms stretched on either side on the top of the couch. I stopped for a moment, a quizzical look on my face, as I looked at her. 

“So, dinner didn’t go so well,” Pallas told me, pulling one of her arms closer to herself to examine her nails. 

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” I replied, before heading to the bathroom to change. 

The bathroom was just as excessive as the rest of the suite. The floors were a glossy white marble that spanned the entire room, with dark, oaky walls that were inlayed with intricate carvings of mythical creatures and other scenes. The countertops were lined in similar marble, with brushed metal fixtures, and a large, clear mirror bigger than I had ever seen. Behind the sink a mirror lay a large, porcelain bathtub that sat on a marble platform in front of three wide mirrors that overlooked the back of the property.  

“You are absolutely horrible at taking advice,” she said with a sigh, lifting herself from the couch to follow me into the bathroom. 

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I replied, delving deeper into the bathroom towards the dressing room.  

The dressing room was the size of the room I had back at the penthouse, but it’s walls and drawers were empty. In the middle sat a round seat, plush with a jacquard fabric and dark, wooden feet. I threw my shoes down in the floor, and unzipping the back of the dress as quick as I could. The sleeves fell to my shoulders as I heard the distinctive sound of Pallas’ heels on the hardwood floor of the dressing room. 

“Don’t vampires believe in privacy?” I asked, looking back at her as I held the now loose dress as close to my body as possible.  

“You don’t get privacy, kid,” Pallas told me before sitting down on the round seat in the middle of the room.  

“Fantastic,” I sighed with a raise of my eyebrows.  

“So, pray tell, are you at all attached to staying alive?” She asked me, drawing circles on the fabric of her seat.  

“Isn’t everyone?” I replied, sloughing off the evening gown and letting it lay in a crumple on the floor. I quickly threw on my old shirt and pants, and turned to face her. By now, she was mere steps from me, making me take a few steps back in surprise. 

“If you are at all fond of staying that way I would heed my advice a little better next time. I’ve worked alongside your father—” 

“Correction: he is not my father,” I interrupted, fighting with the zipper of my pants.