Zane, my man!” Darius put out his hand and Zane clasped it firmly.
“How long has it been now since we have gone hunting in the wilderness?It must be over a year.” Darius led Zane into the foyer and closed the door behind him.Zane gave Darius a quick questioning look. “Hey, isn’t the butler supposed to do that?”
“Yeah, but he is not at his post, obviously.”
“Would you like me to punish him?Do you think he deserves the venom, or better, the fire?”
“Weren’t you the one who told me that if I had your power I shouldn’t just go around torching anyone who crossed me?”
“Yes, I guess I did.”
As the two friends walked into Darius’s grand receiving room, they caught up on the latest news. Eventually, Zane asked Darius the one question that he had been dreading but that he knew would inevitably come.“So,” Zane’s eyes were a mute shade of gray when he looked at Darius, “how’s Mitzi?”When Darius didn’t answer, Zane probed him.“Darius?Did you eat her already?”
“No.Not even close.But I do feed on her from time to time.She is adjusting, as well as can be expected I guess.” Darius then stopped walking and stood in front of Zane. “By the way, I really need to tell you how pissed I was about how you set things up so that she would be stuck in my quarters as my own personal slave.” Zane smirked. “Stop it, Zane! I’m being serious.”
“Well, so am I.Do you at least not hate her yet?”
Darius turned and continued to walk to the grand staircase which was covered in perfectly spotless and plush midnight blue carpet. The rails that spiraled up and turned with the fantastic structure were silver and polished to perfection. The slaves made sure that there was no tarnishing in sight anywhere.The room was black, including the marble floor, but the ceiling was painted a deep midnight blue that faded darker toward the center of the dome. The light from the great silver chandelier with its black crystal made the carpet glow.Darius sighed.“Honestly, I don’t hate her.I want to, but can’t.I have even tried to make her duties nearly impossible to complete, giving me reasons to get so angry with her that all I see is the rage and hate I have towards humans.But then she looks at me with those big violet eyes and I just can’t stay that mad at her.”
“Have you ever sat with her and just talked with her?”
“Once.Well, not really.It was brief and was meant only to torture her.”
Zane and Darius began to ascend the stairs.A slave walked by on the balcony and when she saw Zane, she retreated back the way she had come.When Zane spoke it was with disbelief. “How – do you torture a slave by talking with her?”
“Easy.” Darius laughed. “Starve her, then ask her to join you while you eat your breakfast in front of her.Without offering her any.Forbidding her to eat at all for the rest of the day.”
“Wow.That’s cruel.” Zane shook his head. “You know I am very fond of Mitzi.She is sweet and I think she will be good for you.So, did you guys have any kind of a conversation or not?”
“She was polite.She never asked me to feed her, not once.I could see the pain she was in, how hungry she was.But she talked of things – with appreciation.She has this appreciation for life that I don’t understand, coming from her - a vampire’s slave. And you know what?” Darius stopped and looked at Zane intensely. “It angered me.She should be the one with the resentments, not me.”
Zane laughed.“You can learn from her, as I did from Bree.But it won’t happen overnight, and it surely won’t happen if you devour her the next time you get mad at her for not completing chores that are impossible to complete.” Zane sighed and looked off out a window that faced the front lawns.“She’s your slave, Darius, yours to do with as you please.But if you kill her, you will miss out on an eternity of happiness.”
