The vampire and the assassin

Chapter 22

"Why were you worried about me?" I asked simply, as I couldn't help myself, and looked at him. I noticed the way his eyes were much lighter and more of a sage green than black. He'd fed when he'd been busy out.

"I wasn't home yesterday, so I never got the chance to find out how you were doing. Did you sleep well?"

"I slept better last night." I admitted. "Probably because I tired myself out with shopping." Xander laughed a little at my comment. I wasn't sure why it was funny. I guessed it was because he already knew what I'd done yesterday, and I was merely confirming what he already knew.

"I heard you went shopping with your friends. I'm pleased you had fun." Xander leaned back in the chair and seemed relieved. "Does your shoulder still hurt?"

"A little, but I felt more confident to have a shower and let the hot water on my shoulder, to ease the pain." I watched as he laughed again and then realized why he'd laughed, and it was because I'd overshared. "Sorry." I blushed, getting a little flustered, so I looked down.

"No, no, I asked if your shoulder still hurts, and you told me." Xander didn't seem bothered by the conversation. It was as if he was pleased to just enjoy a bit of small talk with someone.

"Why did you really ask me to come?" I asked, looking up at him. I knew I was overstepping my mark, and I knew my words could have been seen as disrespectful and distrusting, but my intentions were far from that; I had simply wanted to set my head right and know I wasn't in any trouble. Or if he had plans to send me away like Marie had suggested after I'd listened to their conversation. I had to know where my fate was about to take me.

"You're not in trouble for what you overheard earlier, if that's what you're worried about." He grinned. "I merely wanted to check on you and know you were doing ok as I felt guilty about your injuries."

"You didn't cause them, so you have no guilt." I told him. There was a silence between us as we both seemed to look at each other, but it wasn't a heavy silence; it was slightly enjoyable until I turned my head away. I couldn't enjoy being in Xander's company; if I did, I knew it was going to cloud my judgment and choice to get all this mess finished and sorted.

"Why did you decide to listen in on the conversation?" He asked.

I didn't say anything as my head thought about the question for a moment. Why had I listened to the conversation? I had no clue why. Maybe because I'd hoped to learn something that would make my job easier and wouldn't make me feel guilty about killing Xander?

"I don't know." I answered, looking at Xander. "I had decided to go for a run, and I thought I was running away from the main house..."

"I'm pleased you ran in the direction you did; the grounds around the main house can get dangerous at night. On the boundaries of our land is a wolf pack that has large hunting grounds. You could have easily run into their grounds and found yourself their prey." Xander's tone was light, but yet he was scolding me again in his own quiet manner. "I don't mind you going for runs, but stay near the main house and its grounds. I couldn't bear to think about you getting hurt by those wolves from the pack." The last part of his words seemed to come out as a growl.

"I'll remember that." I settled for before my mouth could get me into any more trouble as I bit down on what was really annoying my brain, which was why he was being so protective.

"You are very lucky. I told Marie not to chase after you, as she was ready to." I lowered my head as I felt guilty yet again.

"I'm sorry, I keep causing you nothing but trouble," I muttered.

"Hmmm, you do." Xander spoke lightly. I looked up at him as he was putting his fingers together as he looked at the fire. "What should I do, Rosa?" He muttered, but a playful grin crossed his face.

"Whatever you think you should do. I will accept my punishment." This had been the moment that I'd waited for—to see the real Xander, to see his real personality, not the sweet Xander that wanted to look after and protect.

Xander began to laugh at my comment as he looked at me. "There'll be no punishment, Rosa." He told me lightly. "I am enjoying having you around. I am pleased my brother brought me such... a character." He decided, which made me frown.

"Lord Xander, in the past three days I've caused a lot of trouble; I got myself hurt; I broke some of your things; I listened in on a private conversation... I... I should be punished for that."

"That is what Lucian would do. I am not Lucian...." He broke off and began to tap his fingers again as he seemed to mull something over for a moment. "Ok, I will punish you. I want you to tell me about your family." He retorted, looking at me. I blinked a couple of times in confusion. My punishment was... to tell him about my family? I looked down at my hands and frowned, wondering what this was a punishment.

"Lord Xander..." I began as I looked up at him as a knock on the door echoed around the library, and he let out a sigh.

"What?" He snapped, clearly annoyed about the interruption.

Marie came in and eyed me for a moment, which made me drop my head again. They had both known I'd been there, yet they'd still had the conversation.

"Sorry to interrupt you, I am just coming to let you know the Lady of the house has now returned. You asked me to let you know."

"Mmm." Xander muttered as if he hadn't wanted to hear that news at all. "Thank you. I'll finish up here, and then I'd better go and greet her." The door shut, and I looked up again at Xander, as Marie had left. "Well, do we have a deal?"

"I have no choice, but you have no time for this conversation right now, so..."

"We will have to talk again. Yes, I know, funny how fate has a habit of doing this to us." Xander grinned as if he were pleased in some way about the interruption, even though a few moments before he'd been angry about it. "Enjoy the rest of your rest day, and I look forward to seeing you working your light duties tomorrow."

I got up and walked to the door, then remembered what I had in my pocket and turned around to face him.

"Xander." I blushed and quickly put my hand over my mouth at how I hadn't called him by his title.

His eyes shot up at me, and I thought I was in trouble from the look on his face, but a smile crept across his face as if he was pleased with how I had said his name so casually.

"Rosa." He answered back as he got up and came to me, carefully moving my hand away from my mouth.

"Ummm..." The closeness of him made my brain forget for a moment what I was going to do, as the electricity seemed to be there between us again. I made the mistake of looking up into his beautiful sage green eyes.

"What did you want to say to me?" He asked, tilting his head a little.

"Ummm..." I could feel the burning in my cheeks, and I shook my head to clear the embarrassment and some of the fog that seemed to cloud my brain. "Oh..." I went into my pocket and took out the small red dragon, pleased that I'd remembered what it was that I had wanted to do when I'd called his name. "I got you this yesterday to apologize for whatever it was I broke." I looked up to see his face full of surprise. "I saw it and thought of you."

"Thank you, Rosa." He carefully took it out of my hand and looked at it. "It's beautiful." He smiled a sincere smile at me that seemed to light up his face. "The colour..."

"I'm glad you like it." I told him quietly. "I should..." I began.

"Akako..." He muttered to himself. "Do you know what it means?"

"I know it's a Japanese word."

"It is, as you probably heard earlier, my surname. My mother was Japanese, and she married my father, who was an Englishman. My father left us, and my mother ended up dying of a broken heart." He told me quietly. "I was given my father's last name in my living life, but when I entered this life, I chose to take my mother's name as my last name. It means red or red child; ironic, really, isn't it?"

"Oh," I told him with a small smile. I now felt pleased with myself even more that I had given him something that not only I thought was perfect for him, but I'd given him something that had meaning to him, even if I hadn't known.

"Thank you, Rosa. It really is a very beautiful gift."

"Your welcome." I whispered as I carried on looking up at Xander, still with my cheeks burning. "See you tomorrow, and rest well."

"You rest well too." Xander walked away from me, which sent my heart hammering wildly in my chest. I quickly pulled open the library door, walked out, and headed out of the main house and back to my room. The whole time, my head was spinning and my heart was hammering. What had just happened, and why was I now starting to question myself and what I had and wanted? I had no clue, but I knew it wasn't a good thing and if it carried on it would end badly.

((Authors note: (I wasn't sure if all of this would appear on my comment sections...)

If you've made it this far I just want to say a massive thank you for sticking with me and most of all for sticking with Rosa on the chaos of her life journey with Xander and of course Dorian. I just want to also say please, please, please let me know what you think so that I can learn from what people don't like and what people do like about this story so that I can learn from my mistakes so I can make the next part even better (yes, I have actually fully finished the draft of this story and I do have some ideas/chapters for the second part if people love Rosa and want to know what's going to happen) Anyway, thank you so much and I really hope you loved this chapter as I have to admit I loved writing this chapter (there's a couple more chapters I loved writing but I can't share them just yet but I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out when they pop up) anyway, once again a massive thank you to everyone who has read this and it really means a lot to me))