Mitzi walked behind Darius as they entered his beautiful stone castle.It was neatly piled up on itself, not as sprawling as Zane's, but more compact with more floors.It seemed less intimidating than Zane's was because it was surrounded by mostly trees.It sat on top of a gently rolling hill instead of the mountain top she was used to now, where balconies had overlooked over a cliff that fell far, far below.She instantly felt a little sense of safety here, she hated heights and had tried to avoid Zane's many balconies.
Right after the doors closed, Darius spoke to Mitzi before he even turned around to face her."Tell me, why are you here?"
"Master, to be the servant you needed."
"Slave.” he turned to face her fully now. “Let’s get that cleared up right away.You are my slave.You will obey me.You will not speak unless spoken to.Do we have that clear now?"
"Yes, Master."As much as Darius insisted all of his 150 slaves address him as Master, he wondered that it may get annoying coming from Mitzi.She was so soft spoken, so shy, and so timid. "Zane told me that you needed a house slave that you could trust to keep your quarters neat and clean and to do your own personal laundry.And to cook small meals for you when you desired them."
"Oh, is that all?" Darius was being sarcastic.He was cynical, skeptical, and just plain rude at times.And he silently cursed at Zane in his head.Yep, it would be like him to tell Mitzi that those would be her duties.Darius was kind of was stuck now.He would have to make her a personal slave to him instead of sending her away to work with the other slaves and to live with them in their little slave huts.Damn Zane, he had set this up to make sure that Mitzi would be around Darius a lot.Sneaky bastard!Personally, he was looking forward to roughing the girl up now because of it.Mitzi’s voice broke into his thoughts….
"Master?"
"Will you stop, damn it!" Darius pointed his finger at her, his face full of anger.
"But w-w-what have I-I done w-wrong?"
"Nothing." Darius put his hands on his head and turned around, putting his back to her."Nothing, at least not yet anyway."He then faced her again, sighing in frustration.He was going to give Zane a good tongue lashing for this."So, I needed a personal slave, huh?To take care of me and my quarters.” Darius blew a sigh up out of his mouth so that it lifted the hair off of his forehead. “I guess that means I will have to give you a room inside of them as well.Since I don’t think a personal slave should mingle with the regular ones.Too much chit chatting and all that nonsense." Darius walked across the foyer and when under the chandelier his hair lit up a lovely shade of gold.His long leather coat fanned out behind him."Mitzi," he turned to her again.She still stood where she was before as she had not moved at all. "Get the hell over here because I don't feel like shouting at you now, although I'm sure I may need to do it in the future, and quite frankly, I'll probably enjoy it." Mitzi gasped. "Just - come here." He motioned toward himself with his arm.Mitzi walked over to where Darius was standing.He slung his arm around her little shoulders.She felt like he would smother her with all that leather and his height and his hair that brushed against her cheek as he walked with her. "I will make sure you have everything you need." He sighed. My quarters, he thought, good god Zane, I'm going to get you for this.
Darius continued to walk with Mitzi, his arm still over her shoulders.Mitzi could smell Darius's scent.It was a nice scent, like she remembered it just yesterday on the path from Zane's north garden.Now, that moment seemed so long ago.She was once again alone with a man - vampire - that would most likely abuse her.Like her husband did, and like Zane did in the beginning...
Suddenly Mitzi really missed Zane and Bree and Jasper.She started to cry.Darius heard it and looked down at her, shoving her away from him."Get over it!! I don't want you all glum and crying around here.Just, just.. stay out of my way.Don't think I am going to give you special treatment just because you were a gift from Zane.”
