Chapter 3: The necklace

Raven's POV

Raven Blackwell smiled at him before a look of recognition flashed through her face.

“ Oh my God!, I know you. You are the man who was walking under the rain that night, right…” she said as he stood to his feet.

Lumiére was more concerned about the fact that her hands were still touching him. Any other human, he would have pushed away, but for her, he just let her touch him.

“ I guess… I don’t remember people that much” he replied.

She frowned before smiling once again. What was it and her smile that always affected him.

“ I see, well, I’m sorry about this… the person who should have done this suddenly quit. I’m so sorry…” she said as she bent down to pick up the books.

He should have moved, his guts told him to walk away, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know why this particular woman captivated him. He lowered himself and started helping her.

“ My Lord,” Middleton said, trying to stop him, but he glared at the man, daring him to say anything. He could see the other humans also waiting there by the corner and probably wondering what he was doing.

“ You don’t have to help you know…” Raven said.

He ignored her and continued picking up the book until everything was stacked properly. He dusted his hands and stood up.

It took Lumiére a second to notice that she was now standing close to him, too close that he could perceive the smell of coffee lingering on her breath, she has probably been working since morning. It wasn’t just the smell of coffee, he was also intoxicated by the scent of her blood, he could feel himself starting to lose control.

She noticed their closeness too and took two steps back, “ sorry about that” she muttered, “ I tend to be clumsy at times”, Raven added.

He took in two steady breathes before he willed his legs to move. He was about to walk past her when she stopped him.

“ I didn’t get your name sir, I have this feeling we will see more of each other in the future…” she said in a low voice.

No, this was the last time they would be seeing each other. She was a dangerous force that he needed to stay away from. Standing close to him was making him loose all form of control that he had, any minute now, his fangs was going to come out.

“ I don’t think we will…” Lumiére said through gritted teeth.

She smiled at him. wrong move, His body shuddered, “ well, I’m Raven just so you know” she chirped.

He forced himself to disentangle her hold from his arm and continue walking.

‘ don’t look back Lumiére Colton, don’t look back' he kept on telling himself until he rounded the next corner. He just had to avoid her for the night, a task he had perfected very well.

The opening ceremony went as planned. A lot of persons had donated books and money to the library and he had to give the humans this one, they had out done themselves here. He checked his watch, twenty more minutes and he was out of here.

He had not seen Raven throughout the night. She had probably gone home, which was a good thing because he needed to get himself under control. Loosing control in front of a human was catastrophic.

Lumiére couldn’t remember the last time he had lost control like this, meaning it had been years, a decade perhaps.

A scent hit him, making him annoyed instantly. What was she doing here, he thought, turning around to see who was approaching him.

“ who let the cat out of the bag ,” Ervine mocked as she walked towards him.

He snorted, “ and who let you in…” he fired back at her.

She rolled her eyes, coming to stand beside him at the balcony. She looked down at the floor beneath them, filled with people who were either socializing or looking for attention.

“ Disgusting…” Ervine whispered.

She shared the same opinion he had about humans in general. They had bounded over their dislikes when they were young but as they grew up, he had noticed that her dislike was born out of a place of selfishness and arrogance.

“ Why are you here?” he asked her instead.

“ why are you here too?” she asked him.

He arched a brow at her, the effrontery she had, talking back at him. His eyes flashed red briefly and he saw her take a step back.

“ I was invited. I donated some of my books too…” she stuttered.

He rolled his eyes, since when did she have books. Last he checked, she had no interest in building up her knowledge.

“ I see…” he said, crossing his arms together.

“ though I didn’t have to bother since you practically gave all your collections. The historical books section is filled with your aura, High Lord…” she muttered with a slight chuckle.

He arched his brows, really?. He did not know which books he had donated. He had just given Middleton the permission to give the books out. He couldn’t remember the last time he had read some of them. They were just old and needed to be placed somewhere where they were needed and going to be valued.

He made a reminder to check that section later while he was leaving.

“ is that not Reagan?” Ervine said, squinting her eyes to look at someone below them.

Lumiére followed her gaze and yeah, that’s Reagan, his annoying cousin and best friend who should not be here right now. He scoffed when the man saw them and gave them a salute before walking away.

“ I didn’t know he was back from his trip to the North…” Ervine muttered.

He also didn’t know about his cousin’s return since the man had not informed him. He turned slightly to ask Middleton who shook his head; he was also not aware. Meaning Reagan just got back.

He checked his watch and smiled, right on the dot. It was time to leave. He didn’t bother to let Ervine know, he spun on his feet and began to walk away.

“ Hold on!, Are you leaving?” Ervine asked, rushing after him. He would have used his vampire powers to avoid her but there were a lot of humans in the building.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t use his powers to compel them to forget what they saw. It was just that compelling a great number of people was going to take a lot of his energy. The same energy he was trying to reserve.

Taking Animal blood was not as effective and long lasting as a human blood, and one gotten directly from the human veins. He had would have to do a lot of things if he wanted to drink human blood, so he tried to avoid it for as long as he could.

“ I don’t remember seeking your permission before I was allowed to leave” he sassed.

“ that wasn’t what I meant, I mean the night is still young and you can actually have fun if you let yourself have fun, plus you might find someone sweet enough to drink from…” Ervine said, wriggling her eyebrows with a crooked smile.

He was disgusted by her suggestions, “ have fun on my behalf…” he told her walking away.

He was walking through the hallway that led to the back entrance when he saw the big bold writing on the wall, ' Historical books Section'.

“ Wait here” he instructed a confused Middleton as he walked into the section. Indeed, it was filled with his aura. He walked down the aisle, touching his books which were no longer his. He felt one and chuckled.

“ The human race: Extinction or not…” he whispered reading the title out. He had gotten this book when he was still infatuated with humans.

He didn’t know why, but he felt a warm embracing presence envelope him as he flipped the pages of the book. Maybe it was because of the fact that he was surrounded by his own collections.

“ funny title right?” Raven said behind him. He turned his head to face her. She was watching him from the shelf behind him.

“ I don’t know why someone thinks that the human race can go extinct, I mean, look at us… we ain’t going nowhere” she said, walking round the shelf to meet him.

“ hi, we meet again” she said.

He would have scoffed at her, but he felt that that was insulting. Since when did he care about others, he thought.

“ Years ago, it was probably possible…” he replied.

She snorted, “ you talk like you were around then…” she said, pulling another book out from the shelf.

He blinked, “ I mean the population was little compared to now that the world is highly populated with humans, so it would have been possible then…” he muttered.

Shit, what was he saying.

“Oh” she said staring at him.

He bit his lower lip and frowned when he saw her necklace. He had seen that before, he just didn’t know how she had it.

She had seen him looking at the necklace obviously, because she hid it inside her shirt, laughing awkwardly.

“ my grandma, she’s fetish…said it would protect me from the creatures of the night” Raven said.

“ Its beautiful…” he whispered with a frown on his face, stopping himself when he tried to reach for it. That necklace belonged to a certain creature of the night, he would know, because he had given it to her to protect her from … what exactly?, he thought. Why it was in Raven’s possession was beyond him. It had to be a fake.

“ uhm, thanks?” she mumbled.

“ Ever heard of The Night Watcher?” she asked with a distracted voice.

He snapped his eyes to stare at her in shock. Night Watcher?, Was she one?, That would explain why she was immune to his powers. That would also mean that she knew he was a Vampire.

Raven waved a book, the one she was holding in front of his face, “ whoever wrote this book is nuts… The Night Watcher and The vampire…” she scoffed reading the book title as she place it back on the shelf.

He pulled the book to check it’s title again. Taking a deep breath, He had to remind himself that she was referring to the book and not him.