A Vampire's Life Book 6

Chapter 13

It had been two days, she hadn't gone near him, she worried about the wall in his mind, she feared her feelings for him and how quickly things had moved between them. She knew that her father would not care if she took a human or a slave as a lover. He didn't even care if she took one as her husband. The only requirement he had was that if she was to be queen her husband had to be a vampire too. That would mean that if she was to take Zane as a husband, she would have to turn him. Would he want that? She laughed at herself. Since when does a slave get a choice at turning? She had his answer though, he couldn't say it in words, but she knew. He thought that he didn't want it but he was wrong, she knew he did want it, but she wanted him to say it. But there was the issue about the wall in his mind, why was it there? What was he hiding? Ariella was angry at herself for letting her guard down. He had wormed his way into her heart and she had forgotten to continue her questioning of his past. She didn't want to tell her father about her poor behaviour. Her heart had taken over her mind, forgetting what was necessary and now she could have put her loved ones at risk. He could be a rogue, preparing to take down her family at any moment. He could be readying to kill every single vampire in this estate. If he figured out the path to the rest of her family's properties, he could take down her father's entire family as well. Picking them off one by one. Property after property of vampire families taken down by one man, one man that she had allowed to walk freely around. Ariella knew her father would be most displeased with her behaviour. She knew he would never get angry at her, he adored the ground she walked on but she had risked the lives of her family members for one man. She thought she was a fool.

Over the past two days, she had seen him in the garden tidying up the mess from the storm as she played the piano. This was her coping mechanism, to lose herself in the black and white keys. He watched her from the garden, the mournful songs that poured out of the windows saddened him. Zane wondered if he had upset her but then he looked at the blackened tree in front of him. Was it the tree or was it him? Should he have offered himself to her? Is that what she wanted? He had no idea what she wanted but it was consuming him, he had to get through to her, make her crack, make her give in to her emotions.

Zane looked around for the slave keeper, no longer in sight he moved to the window. She sat at the glossy black piano, the lid lifted. Her soft white dress traced the edges of her legs, pooling at her feet, the top of her dress falling so low, almost exposing her breasts, the sleeves hanging on her arm. Her hair draped around her shoulders, somewhat messily.

'You play beautifully.'

She stopped playing, replacing the cover over the keys.

'Plenty of practice.'

'Did I upset you?'

She shook her head.

'Then why so glum?'

'Because to me you are food. You keep getting too close and you are going to end up dead.'

It wasn't the whole reason for her sadness, she wanted him to open his mind to her, to reassure her that he wasn't going to kill the people she loved.

'I can't help it Ariella, I look at you and I see everything I have ever wanted.'

It was the truth; he couldn't resist her. It was more than the other things that weighted his life, Zane knew Ariella was his future, even if he didn't have one. She softly smiled at the thought and then contemplated it for a moment. What if he was a rogue planted to take down her family?

'I am going to ask you something and I want you to be completely honest with me.'

'Sure.'

'Have you come here to kill my family or any of the vampires, slaves or staff at this property?'