Captured

Eleven

His eyes squinted against me, and he regarded me quietly, one corner of his mouth pulled up in a snarl. The displayed fang was a threat to be silent, which I almost always was.

"Why did you wake me up?" he asked, the deep timbre of his voice even lower from sleep. "I-I.. you.." I trailed off, at a loss for words. An eyebrow pulled up. "I know you're half mute, but are you totally illiterate?" he drawled, releasing my wrist from his grasp.

A flush creeped up my neck, staining my cheeks red with not only embarrassment, but anger. I pulled my hand away and straightened up. "You're always awake when I come in and this morning you weren't." My voice was quiet but firm. Casper ran a hand through his ruffled hair. "Don't you think that me sleeping in was intentional?"

The King leaned back into the comforter of his bed, his eyes never straying from my face. I gulped and stepped back, murmuring a quiet, "No, sir." The eyebrow quirked once more. "Do you care to explain why?"

As he regarded me, I could see the glint of curiosity at my answer. "No, but I believe it wasn't intentional. You always work so why would you give yourself a day of rest, birthday or not, when you live forever, knowing you can rest later?" Casper remained silent at my carefully worded answer and I took that as my cue to ready his breakfast for him. My heart was still racing against my chest from his abrupt awakening earlier but I used this time as a moment to recollect myself.

The platters were filled with food, probably more than he could eat, honestly, and my stomach grumbled quietly. In my rush and in the midst of Amber's haste, I forgot to grab my usual roll of bread this morning as my breakfast. I carefully adjusted the tray and when I turned around, Casper was now sitting up, his arms crossed over his chest, with a frown.

Tenderly, I placed the tray of food on his bed for him but he ignored it. After quietly regarding me, I felt unsettled under his gaze. I turned back around and started my daily morning routine picking up his bedroom and tidying up any objects left out. While cleaning made the silence less tense, the feeling of his eyes boring holes into my back was burning.

"Did you eat this morning?"

Casper's question jolted me from tidying and I glanced at him over my shoulder. I swallowed down my nerves and replied, "No, sir." The vampire sat in the same position as I had left him and the food remained steaming and untouched on the platters.

Silence blanketed the room and I opened his wardrobe to pick out today's attire. Casper's style was dark everything; dark shirts, dark pants, dark shoes, all littered his closet. Any pop of color was subtle and most times, too dark to notice that his clothing had color and it wasn't a stark black.

Nibbling on my lower lip, I wondered if today he would want to wear something different. But what does he have that he doesn't wear all the time? Every morning I had an outfit laid out for him, and it never really varied. I pushed a few button-ups out of the way and sought for a different color. Any color.

Then, buried deep within the black fabrics, I saw a sliver of burgundy. For a vampire, dark colors and reds seemed to be their stereotypical style, but I had not once seen Casper adorned in red. Well, it is a special occasion tonight, isn't it? I thought as I dug out the burgundy dress shirt. Pairing it with his usual slacks, I set it out for him for after he finished breakfast.

When I faced him next, his eyes were narrowed, but instead pinned on the shirt. "Red today." It was more of a statement than a question but I still nodded regardless. When I finished setting out his clothes, I stood silently by the door, waiting for him to dismiss me. I was sure Amber was impatiently waiting for my arrival so she could launch more cleaning chores at me before our downtime before the event.