A Demon's Mate

Chapter 23 - Out Of The Loop

The feeling of warmth and comfort overwhelmed me as I slowly regained consciousness. I snuggled closer into the body radiating heat, instead of getting up. Lying against the smooth skin of Ash's chest, I felt the vibrations of his voice as he spoke.

"Morning sleepy head," he teased, rubbing circles into the small of my back.

I lift my head up to meet his chocolate orbed eyes, "good morning," I smile. Ash pulls himself up, positioning me on his lap. He leans his lips down to mine and gives me a chaste kiss. I pull away quickly, conscious of my morning breath.

Ash laughs, clearly hearing my thoughts, then kisses me again. My embarrassment only grows as my stomach decides it is now the perfect time to growl.

"Hungry?" Ash questions, teasing me once again.

"I'm starving," I reply, exhaling a breathy laugh.

"They should still be serving breakfast in the dining hall, let's get dressed and go," he says softly, rubbing my back again.

I stay quiet for a moment, letting this sink in, a warm fuzzy feeling settles in the pit of my stomach. A shiver then goes down my spine as the warm feeling fades and is replaced by a chill, like the room suddenly dropped in temperature.

I shake it off, still experiencing a little cold, and stretch my arms forward, finally I speak, "dibs the bathroom first." Unsuspecting my next move, I push Ash back into the pillows and jump off him, running into the bathroom I lock the door before he can react.

Listening to movements outside the door, I hear some rustling, "that's just unfair," he speaks followed by a sigh of annoyance. I giggle at how I've made him annoyed then begin to move away from the door. Reaching to turn on the tap, I stop to listen to Ash speak again, "we could always share, love."

I smile not expecting what Ash does next, one second, I'm staring at the door that stands between Ash and me, then I'm staring at the frame where there was once a door on its hinges.

Ash places the door to one side and steps in, he begins to brush his teeth like nothing happened. Following suit I grab my toothbrush, repeating his words, "that's just unfair," I huff, then brush my teeth.

After going through our usual bathroom routine, we went to our respective sides of the closet and changed. Ash wore a simple burgundy coloured t-shirt and jeans, while I put on a loose blue jumper and black leggings.

"Ready?" Ash asks with an extended hand. I nod in response, taking his hand.

The doors open to the dining hall still looking elegant as ever. Taking side by side seats, we are quickly served with two plates of large pancakes, syrup and an array of fruits.

Before I can dig in, the doors open once more. My eyes meet those of a familiar face and smile, "sleeping beauty and his prince have arrived," I announce with a knowing smile on face.

"Good morning to you too," returns Clyde, Eli waves with a smile matching mine, "sleeping beauty? I'm not stupid enough to prick myself into eternal sleep but I am smart enough to hibernate," he laughs.

Clyde's gaze goes to Eli, "hibernate?" He shakes his head slightly in disapproval, "I'll be sure to keep you up all night," Clyde purrs.

Eli throws Clyde a little glare but the blush creeping up his neck clearly displayed his other emotions.

I stuff my mouth with food to stop from laughing, I wasn't about to get in Eli's bad side.

I continue to eat, finishing my plate quickly, and stealing some of Ash's food in the process. He responds to my act of thievery with an accusing stare which I return with blinking eyes and a wide smile.

He chuckles then takes a sip of a coffee like liquid that smells disgustingly sweet. My eyes linger a moment longer on the cup in his hands, my tongue aches to get a taste.

I bite my tongue gently in order to quell the urge but it only grows stronger as Ash places his cup back down, further away from me. The dark red substance teasing me from afar caused my new hunger to grow.

"Elle?" Ash's voice brings my attention to him, curiosity and concern clear in his tone, "are you alright?"

I look down at my plate, then back up to him, for a second my attention goes to blood, "I feel off," I admit, probably because of all the magic and trouble I've been getting in.

I notice that Eli and Clyde have gone quiet, Eli's worried expression made guilt stir in my head, even the tiny furrow of Clyde's brow showing his concern made me feel queasy with guilt.

I give the table a smile and let out a laugh, "I must be a little dazed after yesterday's fiasco, I think I'll just kick back and relax today, since you guys are going to be busy with things, I can just stay in bed or something."

The tension from everyone visibly lifts, "jeez, guys I'm fine, stop worrying so much," I say, this time the concern evident in my voice.

"We'll stop worrying when you manage to keep yourself out of danger, until then we'll be here," Eli speaks, half jokingly half serious.

Ash squeezes my hand as Clyde talks, "where ever Eli is, I'll be there too." Although my relationship with Clyde is limited, I don't doubt that we would look out for each other.

"And I'll always be here for you too," Ash finishes.

Clyde's face suddenly fills with panic, "we're late!"

Ash looks down at his wrist, his face quickly matches Clyde's, "crap! We'll never hear the end of this, I'll see you later love," he says before they both rush out.

"I'll guess I'll see you later tonight for the party," Eli says as he gets up.

"Party?" I question as we walk to the door together.

"Yeah, some sort of vampire get together for the eve of the coronation," he explains.

"Interesting. Time for Elle and Eli to get tuent up at an actual party," I joke, "I'll see you later then."

"See ya," he says with a wave as we part our own separate ways.
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Good morning, good night and good afternoon to my lovely readers. It's Winter Term which means no school for the next 2 weeks, hopefully doing nothing will motivate me to write.

I've made a plan of how this story goes and if I stop putting in fillers there should only be at most 5 parts left. After I finish I'm definitely going to edit this story and then probably start a new one hehe.

See y'all later.

Enami out ;-)