Moonlight Lovers

Thirteen

FOR the rest of the evening, Selene could not find a single reason to still say that she needs more time to think about working for Godric Octavius who had graciously offered her a job at his successful multi-million company, The Orchid. It looks like he was a really genuine and kind person and she can’t wait to start getting to know the man and create a meaningful relationship with him, like he said he was looking forward to, as she did with her boss and co-worker at the Café Bliss.

Earlier, Godric had shown her around the house. And Selene loved every part of it. The rooms are magnificent, and every last one was at least twice as big as the apartment she was renting in the lower-class district of Clairhill. Godric told her that she could have one of the rooms, any one that she liked, all to herself if she decides to take the job he was offering. The details of what her possible work is going to be are still not clear to her even after talking to Godric tonight. But seeing how advantageous accepting it will be for her, the side of her that has always been deprived of the chance to live comfortably was immediately wanting to say yes. And right now, it feels like there was nothing that could make her say otherwise.

Godric invited her for dinner when Silas found them going downstairs, after checking all the rooms and every part of the house, and told them that dinner was prepared. The grandiose dining hall was brightly lit with expensive decorations all around the room. The long dinner table was made of smooth marble and covered with velvety red tablecloth and the dining wares placed for three people on the table were lovely.

Godric helped her sit down on one side of the dinner table, before sitting at the end of the table which she assumed was his usual seat. Silas sat opposite her direction.

Selene looked at the scrumptious food laid out in front of her. She and Silas had the same dish, some kind of steak meat, seared and smelling like honey and lemon. With vegetable side dishes.

When she looked at Godric, though, she noticed that he’s the only one without food. In front of him were a silver bottle and a tinted wine glass.

Her eyebrows crossed. “Are you not going to eat, Godric?”

“Oh, I already ate earlier. Don’t worry, I have this wine.”

“You must like wine a lot.”

Godric grinned. “I do. But, actually, alcohol has a different effect on me. Whereas other people lose inhibition when they’re drunk, it helps me keep a straight head.”

Selene nodded and thought about whether that is actually possible. But not wanting to initiate an argument with her future boss, she just accepted his answer.

“By the way, I know you are very curious, but I’m thinking of employing you as my assistant,” he said.

Selene stopped eating. She looked back and forth between Godric and Silas. He was surprised that the latter was not even startled by Godric’s announcement. Was he not the assistant? Is he resigning from his position then?

“But that’s Silas’s job, isn’t it?”

Godric chuckled. “You are not replacing Silas. He just already got too much in his hands and could need some help. So, you’ll be my second assistant.”

So, she was right, Silas could be her mentor. They’d be doing the same work after all.

“And that’s why I need you to stay here. Like I said, I work remotely, so you need to be here.”

She coyly smiled. “That’s great. I look forward to working with you, then.”

Godric smiled back.

After dinner, Silas was the one who offered to drive her home.

“Silas, you’re not her dad,” Godric complained.

“It’s almost midnight, Godric. Besides, Miss Roseburn still has work tomorrow,” Silas told Godric before turning to her. “Is that right?”

Selene nodded. “Yes, my shift will start at 9 AM tomorrow. Also, you can just call me Selene.”

Silas slightly tipped his head in acknowledgment. “Well, Selene. I’ll just get my coat upstairs and we’ll be on our way.”

“Okay.”

As Silas walked upstairs, Godric turned to her. “I hope you had a good time tonight, Selene. Even though I mostly just showed you around the house and watched you have dinner.”

Selene laughed. “I did have fun. And you’ll be happy to know that tonight may not exactly be a deal-breaker.”

The side of his lips slowly turned up, he’s obviously pleased with what he heard. “Good. I’m glad to hear that.” Selene was silent for a second as Godric kept looking at her. “Actually, can you stay here for one second, Selene? I’m just going to grab something in my room. I think I have to give you a little present for coming here today.”

Selene immediately shook her head. “Oh, please, no, you don’t have to do that.”

“No, just stay here, okay?” He smiled and left her alone in the foyer.

Selene shook her head looking at Godric’s broad shoulders as he retreated and climbed up the stairs. When she could no longer see him, she looked around the enormous house one last time, her hands covering her mouth, and tried to convince herself that this was really happening.

This is like a dream. No, actually better than a dream.

Her moment was briefly interrupted, however, by a soft knocking on the door. Is Godric supposed to have another guest? She thought. Knowing the servants were still busy in the kitchen, she went and opened the door.

Selene found a tall, lean man outside the door. He was wearing a messy but seductive man bun and a large overcoat over his simple shirt and black pants ensemble.

He grinned widely at her but furrowed his brows. “Sorry, I didn’t know Octavius already had a woman over.”

Thinking the guest was assuming she was there for a different reason, Selene extended her hand and introduced herself. “I’m Selene Roseburn. I’m his guest—well, uhm, applicant, of the sort.”

She actually doesn’t mind being mistaken as Godric’s girlfriend or whatever. It’s actually flattering. But she can’t have people think a very kind man like Godric is casually hooking up.

When Selene looked past the man’s shoulders, she saw that he was with three women. They were all wearing skimpy black clothing despite the cold night. One of the women looks like she already caught a cold because the tip of her nose was red. They all had dark, heavy make-up and were looking with one raised eyebrow at her.

The man clicked his tongue and shook his head in disappointment. “That goddamn vampire probably forgot about our arrangement.”

Selene’s brows creased. The welcoming smile she had on her lips slowly vanished. “Vampire?” She asked with a flat chuckle. She couldn’t imagine such a prominent man like Godric giving himself a nickname like vampire to his peers.

“Did he already feed off of you? Do you think he still needs more? Because these girls are expecting the money tonight.”

Selene began to feel scared. “I don’t understand. What did you—”

All of a sudden Godric Octavius appeared behind her and grabbed the man in the collar of his coat. He looked furious.

“Get out of here, Müller!” He hissed.

“What the f**k, Octavius?! We talked about this last week! You said you need at least three women to feed off tonight.”

Shocked at what the man said, Selene was more startled when Godric pushed the man against the pillar of the open terrace. The girls that came with the man shrieked and started running away in their high-heeled shoes. Selene could not take his eyes off the altercation unfolding in front of her.

Is this man really the Godric Octavius that she just talked to earlier? The soft-spoken, mild-mannered CEO of The Orchid? Why is he appearing very violent all of a sudden? What is going on with him?

Earlier when they were checking the rooms of the house, she was sure he told her his room was the one on the third floor of the estate. It has not been a full minute since he went upstairs to his room when she started talking to the man, how did he get down to the foyer so fast?

And feed off of? What exactly was Godric supposed to do with those women?

Selene almost jumped when she felt hands over her shoulders and found that it was Godric. He took her to the parlour.

“I’m so sorry that you have to see that. I’ll talk to him. Please just stay here.”

She could not move. What just happened?

“GODRIC!” Silas tried to draw Godric away from the uninvited guest, pulling away the hand that was clenched around the poor man’s neck whose face was slowly turning red. “Goddamnit, Godric! Selene is still here! What’s going on with you?”

“This bastard almost slipped his filthy mouth!” Godric growled.

“What?” Silas looked at the man. “Hang on. Who the hell are you?”

The man touched his neck, panting. “Asmodeus Müller.”

“Did the council send you here?”

“No! That motherf**ker asked me to bring three girls tonight. He went to my vampire brothel last week.” He was pointing at Godric.

Silas could not believe what he was hearing. “Godric, what the hell is going on?” He insisted.

Godric exhaled. “When I first went to the café Selene was working at, I told you I got help from an old friend. Roald sent him to take me to a brothel for vampires that he owns. Hosmurg was worried that I have not been drinking enough blood because of restrictions from the council.”

Silas covered his face with his hands, taking them to the bottom of his chin.

“But I didn’t ask you to come to my house bringing those half-naked girls!” Godric snarled at the man again. “And what were you thinking telling my guest about my identity?” His voice fell into a sharp hush.

“I didn’t know that I shouldn’t have told her,” Asmodeus defended.

“Of course, you shouldn’t! Not all humans know about the vampire society.” Silas snapped.

“A woman in an Octavius lair? And I’m just supposed to immediately assume she was here for a non-s****l purpose?”

Silas pinched his temples with the thumb and index finger of his one hand. He sighed loudly. “You should go, Müller.”

Asmodeus looked at Silas and Godric, extremely displeased. “I did you a favor, Octavius. You should pay me.”

Godric’s face darkened. He slowly walked towards Asmodeus, who was stepping back each time he would step forward. Until his back touched the pillar Godric pushed him onto just a few moments ago.

“I don’t care how close you are with Hosmurg, Asmodeus. I will kill you if you still don’t leave my house,” he whispered chillingly.

Asmodeus clenched his jaw and started walking away.

Suddenly, lightning strikes across the pitch-black sky. Godric straightened up, as if he sensed something wrong. “Where’s Selene?” Godric asked.

“In the parlour,” Silas replied.

Godric worriedly looked towards the direction where the parlour was. He sprinted towards the room.

“Godric, what’s going on?”

“I heard something breaking.”

SELENE yelped when a terrifying sound of lightning broke the silent corners of the parlour. She had not noticed that she had reached the furniture occupied by Godric’s different brand of expensive alcohol since she started fidgeting around when Silas left her in the room. The sudden reaction caused her body to bump against the furniture and some of the bottles sitting on top of it crashed down the carpeted floor.

She gasped. “Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no!”

She dropped to her knees, careful not to touch the shards of glass. She tried to pick up what she could from the mess. Her hands eventually touched the liquid that stained the carpet. She just hopes Godric would not ask her to pay for it. It looks very costly.

When she put up her hands to place the glass shards she collected inside the half-broken bottle on the furniture, she noticed that her hand was very red…like blood.

She saw the silver bottle on the floor and immediately recognized that it was the same as the one Godric was drinking from at dinner earlier. But why would the content of it resemble the color and texture of blood so much?

Selene brought her hand to her face to smell the back of her palm. She was immediately repulsed by the strong stench of the liquid that hit her nose. She fought the urge to throw up. She knew, and she didn’t need any medical person to confirm for her, that it was blood.

She wanted to think that it was animal blood. But she abruptly remembers what the man earlier told her.

Goddamn, vampire…

Did he feed off of you?

Does he still need more blood?

Her breathing started to hitch as realization slowly dawned on her. Selene stared horrendously at her hands and started sobbing helplessly. She tried to remove the blood that had stained her cream-colored complexion.

She’s in the house of a vampire!

Selene helped herself up on her feet but before she could reach the door, Godric and Silas had come in from downstairs.

Fear danced inside her chest. She didn’t expect that this is how it would turn out. She suddenly wondered if Godric took her to his home as his dinner and not as his guest.

“Selene,” he called, and walked towards her.