The vampire and the mistress

Chapter 5

I woke up early the next day, as I'd come up with the idea that if no one was going, to be honest with me and tell me just what I wanted to know, I'd find it out for myself and find out whatever secret it was that everyone was keeping from me. I got free from Xander and sat looking at him as I noticed how relaxed he looked—totally different from how he'd been when I first saw him last night. I carefully got up from the bed and headed to his bathroom.

"You're up early, aren't you?" I laughed quietly to myself. I should have known that there would have been no escaping Xander; he was a vampire and had heightened scenes.

"There's something I want to do today." I told him as he moved to sit up in bed.

"Will it take long?" His eyes were back to the beautiful sage green colour I loved so much.

"Ummm..." That was when I remembered the conversation last night.

"You forgot." Xander let out a sigh as he threw himself back on the bed in frustration.

"I did, but it shouldn't take long." I decided that I could afford an hour to check Xander's library for something, even if it was simply the upstairs part of the library.

"Rosa, just..." I went back on the bed and straddled him with my legs either side, looking down at him as I leaned over and kissed him lightly.

"It won't take long. Let me get showered so I can get rid of the smell of smoke and get dressed, and then give me an hour, ok?"

Xander kissed me tenderly as he put his hands on either side of my face. "Sure, I can't tempt you back to bed instead."

I bit my lip, and as badly as I wanted to say yes, I'd go back to bed. I knew I couldn't let this chance slip away because I had a feeling that as soon as they knew what I was up to, they'd ban me from the library. "I really need to do this." I told Xander. "One hour is all I need." I told him softly as I went to get up, but he wrapped his arms around my waist and sat up slowly so I didn't fall backwards.

"Ok." He looked at me with a soft smile and kissed me softly. "Rose, while I was away, I was thinking about something."

"What's that?" I asked softly. If Xander had been thinking about something that wasn't a good sign, it usually meant trouble or something was coming.

"I really don't like the title you have because you're human, and because you won't do what my master wants, and because I won't turn you." He stroked my cheek lightly. We'd spoken about it briefly in the past, and he'd known it had upset me as it had made me feel like a bit on the side, but as I got more comfortable being with Xander, I honestly didn't feel like that any more, yet I also understood that I couldn't be his wife either because I wasn't a vampire. Stupid vampire rules, stupid vampire king.

"I know." I whispered softly.

"And you know that I would never think of you as my mistress; to me, you're as good as my wife." We looked at each other in silence, and I felt a lump form in my chest at his words. He always knew how to bring me to tears with the simple things he'd say. I couldn't answer because I didn't want to cry and because I couldn't trust my words.

"As for the vampires, ignore whatever it is they say for me." He kissed me softly. "The ones who are here just for bragging rights are morons, and they aren't worth your time. The ones who treat you with respect are the ones who deserve your time." He stroked my cheek lightly.

"What's brought this on?" I asked, wanting to shift the subject. I didn't want to cry today, I wanted a nice day.

"I've just been thinking about you a lot this week that I've been gone and..." He ran one of his hands through his messy hair. "I just wanted you to know what you mean to me."

"Xander... Mistress is just a word." I shrugged. "Besides, I've been called worse than mistress, so..." I shrugged a little again, and Xander laughed softly. "The vampires and humans can call me what they want. I don't really care; as long as you know what I am to you and as long as you're happy loving me the way you do, that's all that matters to me." I smiled at him lightly.

I knew this conversation wasn't finished, but I'd hoped that I'd put his fears to bed, at least for now until the conversation came up again, and I had a feeling the next conversation would be about him turning me. I knew that was certain off the cards unless it was a massive crisis and there was no other way. Xander had certainly made that clear to me.

"I am happy with you, Rosa. I just wanted you to know." He told me as he kissed me again and then let go of me. I got up and went to walk out the door, deciding I needed a little space to get my emotions back in check. I stopped, turned, and looked back at Xander.

"By the way, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise." He laughed softly. "I need to apologise for being away for a week and..." He broke off as I saw the embarrassment cross his face for a moment.

"And what?" I grinned, enjoying the moment that I'd made the big bad vampire lord embarrassed. I already knew what he was going to apologise for; he was going to apologise for not being a gentleman to me last night, but I wanted to hear it from him.

"If I got a little rough with you last night." He looked at me for a moment and then got up.

I couldn't help myself as I laughed a little and watched him. I certainly wasn't angry with him or upset with him for what he'd done; I adored this vampire too much to feel like that about him. "It's fine, really." I rubbed my neck a little. "You were just a little harder on the bite than I'm used to from you." Xander came over, looked down at me, and kissed me again lightly.

"Sure, I can't tempt you back to bed."

"I'm sure." I grinned. "If you carry on like this, though, I might need a cold shower rather than a hot one." I tiptoed up and brushed my lips against his. "Give me two hours, one to get showered and sorted, and one to do what I need to do."

"Two hours." Xander agreed, and he let me go. I turned away from him quickly and walked out before my resolve broke and I ended up back in bed with him. I went next door to my room, walked in, and went straight to my bathroom. Not even bothering to turn the temperature up on the shower, I left it on cold and got myself sorted and in. As much as Xander drove me up the wall at times with how protective he was getting over me, I still loved and adored him. I just hoped sooner rather than later the rest of the vampires who didn't like me would see this so that the house was no longer divided but was once again whole, all standing with him. I knew it would be a long way off, but I couldn't dwell on that right now. I had to focus on finding out what I could about the chaos, and I only had an hour to do it. Mission accepted.