At the end of her chores, Charlotte sat in her room and stared at the set of keys that Lord Hunt had given her. It was a peculiar thing to give to someone knowing that they were trying to uncover your past. While he had admitted that he found her to be interesting, he hadn't given a straight answer whether or not this was just a game for him or if he was testing to see how far she was willing to go. She didn't have enough answers about his intentions to determine that or not. Finally deciding that she would go ahead and take the bait that he laid out for her, she snatched up the set of keys. There were only two other rooms that she was not permitted to enter on the property. Lord Hunt's personal study and his bedroom. Charlotte hardly believed he would give her the liberty to enter his room, but she was willing to say that one of the keys on the ring went to his study. Exactly what she would find there, she didn't know. Lord Hunt's study was on the other side of the castle from whe
The question stuck in Charlotte's mind for the next two weeks. So did the look in his eyes as he decided to give into her wants. One personal question each history lesson was a little lackluster, but if she asked the right questions, she might be able to get more out of him. The idea of being able to talk with him about it had her anxiously awaiting the day that he would inform his servants it was her turn to supply blood.When at last the day came, she found herself anticipating his visit all afternoon. Charlotte could hardly keep herself still long enough to concentrate on doing anything. Every hour that ticked by seemed to last longer than she remembered them ever being. Different scenarios ran through her mind as to which way this could go and how Lord Hunt might respond to the question she had for him. As the hour slowly rolled around to ten o'clock, her anxiousness turned into excitement. She wanted to see him. So much so that when the knock finally came on her bedroom door,
Charlotte could hardly believe the words that came out of her mouth. She pleaded with Lord Hunt not to leave as he indicated that he should. The want to have him stay left her with a mix of feelings. It was true that she wanted to know about him and thus get to know him better. Already, he had indicated he found her to be interesting and although he had not elaborated on what he meant by that too much, it was enough that he treated her differently than the others. That much she had figured out. Up until this point, she had figured the cause of that was because he wanted to see how far he could push her. While Charlotte still believed that on some level, there was something different in the words he spoke to her just before he chose to take a bite out of her shoulder. She now began to wonder if he wasn't intrigued by her in the same way she was by him. The desire to get to know her better being there, there was still something stopping him from doing it. His bites leaving her with t
After shutting the door and dismissing Shayla's concern, Charlotte quietly crossed the room back over to the bed. She had no idea what the best way to wake a resting vampire might be. They were creatures of the night and to her understanding, Lord Hunt only ever came out in the afternoon to assign tasks and then he disappeared for the rest of the day. Waking at such an hour could only be difficult, she imagined, for someone who lived during the night hours. She wasn't sure what the others might do if he didn't show up as he usually did. Would they go looking for him? As far as she knew, it sounded like there hadn't been a time where he didn't show up. So, that left it up to her to ensure that he was awakened and made it to their usual meeting place. While she approached the bedside, it occurred to her that she didn't really know how hard of a sleeper he was. He hadn't stirred when she got up nor did he wake when the knock had come to the door. Again, she reminded herself how import
Lord Hunt's gardens were much larger than she had originally imagined. The only section of them she had seen was the pathway from the castle and the center fountain. Beyond that, there was so much more. Just past the fountain were rows of rose bushes that were all kept perfectly pruned and healthy. Every bloom, carefully taken care of. Then, there were a handful of other pathways that branched out from the fountain which led to different sections of the gardens. As it turned out, the castle gardens sat at the center of the castle grounds, in an enclosed courtyard of its own. Every section housed a different type of flower variation and each section was separated off by a wall of rose bushes. It was incredible that someone had gone to such great and careful detail to construct such a place. Any flower lover would be in absolute paradise to take a long walk through arrays of different vibrant colors and aromas. All of which supported a combination of creeping plants which trailed down
Luckily, Charlotte made it to the kitchen with time to spare before it was time to serve everyone. She found Shayla busy with making the final preparations for the night's dinner. The savory smells of the food she had readied for everyone were heavy in the warm, stone kitchen as Charlotte entered. It almost had her forgetting why she had come there as the smells suddenly reminded her how much of an appetite her hard work really caused. A glance from Shayla while she worked quickly had her snapping out of her daydreaming and moving over to stand closer to the counter that Shayla was working at. She didn't want to get in her way, knowing that she was busy moving around the kitchen and checking on everything. But she couldn't just ignore what had been on her mind all day. That was exactly what it was that Shayla caught sight of when Charlotte answered the door to her earlier that afternoon. "Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes," Shayla said automatically, as though she had b
The next afternoon, Charlotte arrived late to the meeting in the entrance hall. She could hardly sleep in the new room that Lord Hunt gave her. It was on the opposite side of the castle and a little closer to his own personal room. It was identical to the last one that she had, except that the color variation of the room was a little different than the last. Not that she minded, she just felt bad that he had to do away with an entire room of decor and furniture for her sake. Even worse, he had promised to replace her entire wardrobe since most of her clothes had been ruined.The other servants were unusually quiet while they waited for Lord Hunt to appear for their daily assignments. The only one who didn't seem uncertain about what had happened the night before was Samuel. He stood a little in front of where Charlotte was huddled near the back of the group, looking smug as ever. She wished there was a way she could prove he had been the one to target her. But she wasn't sure what goo
Charlotte stayed in her room for the remainder of the day after her outburst. She didn't even emerge for dinner time. She was incredibly frustrated with Lord Hunt and had no idea what to think of the whole ordeal. Everything had taken a turn that she hadn't expected. While she was grateful to have more of an opportunity to get to know Lord Hunt this way, she also wasn't sure about his motives. There was some interest on both ends, but no clear stance on how deep it went or if it would go any further than it already had. It only added to the confusion she felt that he would go and abruptly dismiss all the other servants. That just didn't make sense to Charlotte. She understood finding out who had been behind destroying her room and ruining her things, but to cut all twelve of the others seemed a bit drastic. There must be something serious going on in Lord Hunt's mind. Something that she hadn't been able to understand. Thinking it over, part of her wanted to believe that he had done