A Bride Contested By Vampire And Angel

Chapter 4

"Unforgivable...!" I was standing right outside the reading room when my body flinched upon hearing the mistress of the house scream out of the fury she felt from the bottom of her heart. Mary was in the room and so was the master of the house. It was still a little past dawn and I was still clad in my night dress. I had yet to see the faces of my new parents... or should I say my masters? The mistress, however, had a voice that was so frightening and chilling that I had a hard time trying to convince myself that she might have been a human.

"This goes beyond disrespect! How dare he...! To my servant!" The mistress continued to yell as Mary further explained what I had explained to her earlier. I clutched the fabric of the bottom of my outfit with such pressure that I came close to causing a tear once or twice. It was safe to say that the mistress was as frightening as the previous night's event that kept me up all the way until dawn.

"You invited him to the party with the full knowledge that he is still the mischievous brat he has always been," the master began to speak to the mistress and I heard his voice for the very first time. He sounded younger than the mistress and was very calm. One could say he was nonchalant about what had happened. This caused a tiny rift in my chest. I was wrong to assume that both of my adoptive parents would care so much about me so as to defend me when I was in danger. It seemed that only one half had those feelings.

"Mary, you did warn her-" the master said.

"Most certainly-" and Mary broke his train of words.

"... to turn the lights off... to lock the door-" he continued.

"... and not to answer or open it to anyone... even me... but it seems that he masked his voice once again to imitate mine," Mary spoke, "... it was her first night. I don't blame her that she hesitated. I should have made it even clearer that she was and still is not supposed to make her presence known to the guests." I bit my bottom lip as I listened to Mary speak so apologetically. She had warned me, sternly, too. Even though I did not open the door or turn on the lights for the rest of the night, I revealed my presence to the person on the other side of the door. If only I had stayed quiet...

Mary appeared at the door right after she finished speaking to the Masters. I moved away from the wall and approached her by the door.

"Who was that?" I asked nervously. The Masters had indicated that they knew who exactly it was that was banging on my door the previous night. Mary's lower lip formed a pout as she contemplated on whether or not I was prepared to hear the truth. She grabbed my hand and led me away from the door. As I crossed the hallway, I happened to glance into the reading room where the mistress and master were. The mistress had been turned away from me and faced the closed curtains, but I could tell that her face had formed quite a scary scowl.

I did not get a glimpse of the master who was seated in an armchair at the nearest corner of the room away from my field of vision. Mary took me back to my room and once we were inside she told me to get prepared for the day. As I ironed my uniform before I could put it on after taking a warm bath, Mary sighed for the umpteenth time that day and sat down on the edge of my bed.

"I want you to be wary of that man... I don't want to tell you about him so that you don't get involved with him but that would be inevitable if you did not know who to avoid," Mary began as I ran the steel iron over my uniform. I did not want to get involved with any supernatural beings, but that would be unavoidable considering I was living with some then. And yes, if I did not know who to avoid, how could I possibly do so? The man sounded very dangerous.

"Daryl has been a menace to the community ever since the day he learned to walk. And when he did learn to speak...!" She could not bring herself to mention all the despicable things the said Daryl had done throughout his life.

"He has a taste for young human maids such as yourself. He can't resist even if they're someone else's property," Mary finished off by leaving me slightly hurt. The notion that I was someone else's property hurt a lot more than I was willing to admit. I was growing too attached to my new Masters even though I had never seen even their faces.

"You made a mistake and you won't be blamed for it... at least not this time," she stated next. Mary, the mistress and the master had nothing to worry about anymore. I had learned my lesson. I would not open the door to anybody during nighttime, only when there was a party being hosted, that is. But apparently there were quite a number of parties held on a monthly basis, each being planned at least a week prior to the actual occurrence. For instance, the guests were to return two days down the week, the masters of the house unable to keep the place quiet and somber for more than two days at most.

Mary was aging with every passing day and the duties and heavy work were weighing down on her shoulders. It was not a surprise that she needed the assistance of a capable, young maid. As she said earlier, the masters had no use for a child.

That day was an uneventful one; our duties were simply to clean up after the party, prepare the meals for the day, water the garden and then to await further instructions from the Masters. Evening came so quickly that my soul was worn down at the idea of retreating to my room where I would wait until I felt sleepy enough to fall asleep and wait for the next day to begin. However, I was quite surprised when Mary enquired of my early retirement on that.

"You have no reason to keep your presence a secrecy right now...or do you, by any chance?" She asked and I reluctantly shook my head. She heaved a sigh; the previous night's event had been buried so deep in my mind that I forgot that I was not supposed to reveal myself unless there were guests present. I had no intention nor the desire to do so even if I was not instructed to. Vampires were not exactly pleasant beings to be around and I would rather not intentionally subject myself to such torture.

"You may work here as a maid, but don't forget that this is your home, Charlotte. Some dangerous folk may intrude upon it from time to time but you have parents who are willing to keep you safe. I suggest you place some trust in them, even though you have hardly seen their faces..." Mary's voice trailed off as she exited the kitchen, leaving me in deep thoughts. Certainly, I had not yet come to view the large house as my home yet. In fact, I needed that little push Mary gave me in order to find even an iota of comfort at that moment. I was to live in that house for as long as the Masters wanted me to. Who knew how long it would be before I would have to move on.

I was not attending a school at the time, so unlike at the orphanage and any other normal household, the baby bird was not to leave the nest once it could fly, even though I could take care of myself. I retreated to my room despite Mary telling me it was not necessary to do so. Then again, I did not have much to do other than to assist the head maid. She brought up some books from the Masters' study, but I found those oddly complex and too illustrative to actually find them entertaining, let alone interesting. But they were educational books, meaning that I could still have some privileges in my new home as those that I could have at any school.

An hour into reading, I stifled a yawn, not from tiredness but from boredom. Books could only be so much interesting. In the end, I needed to be active. I stood up with the intention of exploring the rest of the house, but a sudden breeze caused my body to shiver violently as my window suddenly burst open. I hurried to the door, shocked and confused, and once I was there, I turned around to see what had caused the commotion. I held my breath as a hand gripped on the ledge of the window. Another followed and a body hoisted itself up, throwing one leg over the lower sill to steady its structure, then proceeded to jump into the room with a huff.

All I could do was remain still and watch as the dirty-blonde haired, male figure stood up straight and dusted himself off. The windows were stained on the outside and I could only imagine how dusty the actual wall was. Yet his clothes were clean and dustless. I could now see the height difference between us two, with him being slightly taller but not too much. I had in mind to call out to Mary or the Masters for help... or both, but I was still frozen in place. I had not moved even when the man looked up and around the room, taking notice of me, and his handsome features further worsened my state.

Being at the orphanage, I viewed all the boys there as my brothers and not once did I think of them in any way different. This could be, in a way, considered as my first time standing before a man I found highly attractive, but after a brief thought of my situation, I shook my head and backed up against the door.

"Mar-" I attempted to yell out the maid's name, but the man lunged towards me so fast that my naked eyes did not stand a chance at perceiving him. Before I knew it, he his hand was pressed against my lips, muffling my cries for help.

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down, or else Mary will come up here," he whispered in a masculine yet sweet voice that was like music to my ears. I didn't know what overcame me then, but I opened my mouth wide and bit down hard on the palm of his hand. He made no reaction whatsoever. That's right, I bit down on his hand with such fierceness that I tasted a metallic tang of blood on my tongue but he did not even flinch as a reaction to the injury. All he did was peer over my shoulder to the door, listening attentively to make sure that nobody was coming up the stairs or that they were anywhere near my room.

It was a silent as a graveyard throughout the house, as though nobody actually resided there. He looked down at me not because he noticed that I bit down on his hand but because he caught a whiff of the smell of blood in the atmosphere. The sight only made high sigh heavily as he moved his hand away from my mouth. I stood by the door, frozen, as a small river of blood ran down the corner of my lips and stained the floor along with the top of my outfit. The blonde took a few steps from the door, stopped as though motioning for me to join him, but when I didn't he turned and returned to my side.

He leaned forward to closely observe my face. I still didn't move an inch because I had a few drops of his blood still in my mouth. I did not know what action to take next. I didn't want to swallow his blood; who knew what repercussions I would face from doing something so dangerous? I also did not want to spit it out out of fear of offending him, a strange man in my room who would most likely harm me if he wasn't already present to do just that. A small smile appeared on his pale lips, as I now noticed due the short distance between us.

His eyes were a deep set blue, but the shades varied depending on what angle the light shone down on them from. From a distance I noticed that they glowed a bright blue, and close by they were a deeper tone, almost an onyx color you could mistaken if you weren't observant enough.

"Swallow it," he said as more of a demand than a statement. He had noticed why I was so hesitant even to breathe before him. He, on the other hand, showed no signs of breathing. I did not feel any warm air against my face and upon closer inspection, his chest remained still throughout the time he was close to me. I lightly shook my head, holding the contents in my mouth steady so as to not accidentally swallow anything. But the urge to swallow heightened by the passing second. I did not know how much longer I had left before I would give in to the urge.

When I shook my head, he clicked his tongue out of pure annoyance and moved away from my face. I took that as a sign that he had given up and hurried over to the left bedside table where a small handkerchief was resting. I took it in my trembling hands and proceeded to wipe away the blood on my lips, flowing down my chin and spat out the drops that were in my mouth. It was a shame about my top and the carpet, which I would have to clean up soon before the blood would set in on either one of them. I picked up a glass of water on the same table, took a sip, rinsed my mouth and spat out the water in the same cup again. Once I was satisfied and all my worries were washed away, I turned around, saw the same person standing in the middle of the room, and my body began to tremble once again.

"You're a human, aren't you?" The man asked after he patiently waited for me to clean up. I did not know how to respond to his question. Was being a human at that specific time a bad thing or was he just trying to confirm that I was not a malicious beast who would harm him?

"Y-Yes," was my simple response. He c****d an eyebrow, not having anticipated that I would actually respond to his question.

"Now why would Althaia and Klaus bring a human into this house? It's bad enough that they have that old hag serving them; why do they need another?" I felt slight irritation as the blonde continued to speak. Firstly because of the words he chose to refer to Mary, and because I wasn't too sure if he was calling me an old hag as well. But that was only a minor problem. That was the first time I had heard the Master and Mistress' names ever since my arrival. The fact that this man knew them meant that he was affiliated with them in some form or another.

"I don't know about that. I am an orphan and I was adopted by them a few weeks ago. I arrived here only yesterday and I don't know much-" I instantly shut my mouth when the blonde man glared in my direction. He had beautiful eyes that were frightening beyond belief at that moment. I had to look away and glanced down at my feet, taking notice of the blood on my top that was beginning to dry up.

"Adopted? They adopted a maid?" He said, confused and contemplative of what he heard. I could not answer all if any of his questions and the stains that were drying up made me uneasy. I had to clean them up or I ran a risk of getting into trouble.

"I don't know the answer to that and I doubt I can answer any other of your questions, but I'm certain you can answer mine. Why are you here?" I asked hurriedly. The blonde shrugged his shoulders and turned to the door.

"To see your 'parents'," he said, applying emphasis on the word that I did not miss. He walked towards the door and opened it. I was keen on believing that he had wanted to keep his presence a secret, but he opened the door wide and quickly enough that it slammed against the wall and shook at the hinges, arousing attention throughout the house.

"Wait, are you the one who-"

"Almost burst down your door last night? Yes, and it's a shame that I didn't get to meet you sooner. I wonder why they've decided to keep you a secret from me..." He spoke as he walked out the room and his words trailed off when he entered the hallway. I wondered who that person was and about the reason for his visit. He evidently wasn't human, judging from the lack of pain receptors on his body. That was the conclusion that I had come to; that my new parents really weren't human and neither was that man. Without thinking too deeply about it, I hurried to fetch a bucket of water and cleaning supplies and got down to cleaning the carpet, but not before soaking my top in some water.

All the while I was curious about what was taking place downstairs. Mary caught me wondering around the hallways downstairs, which was oddly suspicious considering that I preferred to lock myself away in my room when I wasn't on duty. It did not take her long to realize what was troubling me.

"I warned you against getting too friendly with Daryl... but since he did not use the front door, I assume you already met him?" She asked, already aware of what the answer was going to be.

"I'm sorry... He just appeared in my room. There was nothing I could do against him," I explained to hear her sigh. She was not frustrated nor was she annoyed. In fact, it sounded like she had given up on the prospect of keeping Daryl away from me.

"Considering the fact that you are well and breathing, I assume that Daryl has no interest in you whatsoever, which is a very rare occurrence. Normally he would have sunk his teeth into a young, fresh maid by now. I'm not so worried about you as I initially was, but now I'm completely unsure of how the other servants will fare off," Mary stated, turning to walk down the hallway and into the kitchen. Her words made me so curios that I followed behind her. I had been at the mansion for over 24 hours and not once had I come across any other servant in the house. I asked her what she meant by that and she obliged to inform me with a sense of regret in her voice.

"Don't think that you're the only one the Masters have adopted. Two other children will be coming along soon; a boy and a girl, both younger than you. You were brought here first to get accustomed to the place so that you can teach and take care of the rest when they arrive," she explained. I understood what she meant. That large house could not be maintained by only two servants, but four sounded like too much. I voiced my thoughts and Mary just smiled at me.

"I won't be around for much longer. I'm about to retire, you see, and I can't keep up with this demanding job. You'll have to take over when I leave." The idea that new servants were being brought in because Mary was soon to retire had not crossed my mind. I could not fathom the though of taking over once she was gone, let alone of being in charge of two other children. I was going to be an older sister again like at the orphanage, except that at the orphanage we had Sisters who were like parents to us. I didn't have to take care of the other, younger children without the help of my peers. Thinking of taking care of and basically raising rambunctious children on my own was exhausting.

"I'm sad to hear that-"

"You're just sad because of all the heavy and hard work you'll have to do," Mary said with a light laugh, which was partly true. But I was still upset because she was very competent in her work and was basically perfect in everything she did. I did not think I could become as good as she was in such a short amount of time.

A short silence fell over us, and I quickly retreated to my thoughts. It was too silent. The Masters were down the same hallway on the other side of the first floor. They weren't ones to close their doors as I observed the last time and there was practically no door on the archway that led into the kitchen. I should have been able to hear some voices even if they were murmurs from a distance, yet I didn't.

"By the way, who is Daryl?" What I meant to ask was what was he. Mary paid attention to the literal question I asked and looked over at the door right after I did.

"He's a menace, that's who he is. All he ever does is cause trouble wherever he goes. But the master and mistress have a very deep relationship with him so you'll be seeing him often, and I hold strong to my advice of avoiding him if possible. No, you definitely have to avoid him or else you'll be sinking into the depths before you even know it."

'The depths of what?' was what I wanted to ask next but she left the room before I had the chance to. Mary was serious and stern about what she said about Daryl. She was against him and made no intentions of hiding her opinions. I wanted to take her advice and I would do so with caution but I did not know if I would be able to completely. One way or another, he was a guest and if Mary was right about me taking over, I wouldn't be hiding in my room in the future. That meant I would have to make preparations for the parties the Masters would hold and tend to all the guests, including Daryl, who did seem like nothing but trouble. It was all a conflict between taking warnings or doing my job and I would take both of those to heart.

In the meantime, what I stuck in the back of my mind was the warning to stay clear of him. It was not yet my time to get involved with the dirty work though I was not yet aware of it.