AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He pulled me against his chest again, but that time with only one arm since he was still carrying my box. “My apologies, Miss Morell. I am too insensitive.”
For a long moment I let him keep me like that, far longer than I should have before he released me and I pulled away. “You’re a vampire. Who ever heard of a sensitive vampire? Don’t trouble yourself over it, Mr. Stead. I am freshly affected by my loss, but it will fade soon enough.”
We continued on until we got to the translation lab. It was simply…wonderful, for lack of a better word. The light was golden and bright, lamps hanging from the ceiling, and standing on the floor, tables of all shapes and sizes spreading throughout the large space, while windows on the opposite side from the door looked out on a waterfall, lit with dancing glowing orbs, with a balcony outside two large double doors. It was comfortable and comforting, with the shelves, cozy couches, chairs, plants, and paintings effusively welcoming.
Everyone turned to look at me, and by everyone, I mean a woman with some kind of demonic heritage, a man who I would swear was an elf, and a human woman who wore the most garishly clashing clothing I’d ever seen, but had an extremely sweet smile.
“The Misses Sultry and Trombull, and Mr. Glade. Miss Morell will be here for a short introduction before she must return home, but she will come regularly after this. Sultry, see to explanations,” he said to the demon lady.
She didn’t make sultry eyes at him like her name implied, just nodded at me. “Welcome. We’re still working on the texts you found on eternal fyre. If you’ve already translated them, our work will go much more quickly.”
“Yes, I can bring my notes, but I’m not authorized to translate officially for anyone. I’m still a novice, so you’ll have to forgive?—”
“What office should she have?” the Scholar asked, cutting me off.
“The far one overlooking the falls is available,” Sultry answered, giving me a slight frown. “She’ll be needing an office?”
“Miss Morell will be working here full time until she has made decisions about her future work situation. They rendered her from her library, so I will be spending time here as well until she is no longer in danger.”
I frowned at him. He made me sound so weak.
The human, Miss Trombull gasped and came over to grab my hands, her purple sweater matching the small barrette holding back her wispy dark hair, the only things that matched. “You were rendered from your library? That can kill someone! What kind of barbaric people run your library? Usually if someone bonds with a library, they’re kept in some capacity until they die. To do otherwise is the worst kind of cruelty. Did they want to kill you?”
I rubbed my chest while feelings threatened to spill over into more tears.
“This way, Miss Morell,” the Scholar said, gently leading me away from the furious human, his warm hand on the small of my back.
I leaned against him as we walked, not caring for a moment how it must look to the others to touch a vampire without flinching.
The office was beautiful, spacious, with a magnificent view looking over the falls, but I didn’t appreciate it, even though I’d never had an office. It wasn’t really mine.
He put my box on a shelf next to the bare desk before he turned and gripped my shoulders, staring into my eyes. “You will have to spend time with me until your broken attachments heal or they might destroy you. You loved that library.”
I nodded at first before his words sank in, then I shook my head and stepped away from him. “I’ll be fine. Why did you interrupt me when I was talking to Miss Sultry? I need her to be aware of my limitations before she agrees to take me on. I might be a liability.”
His lip curled, and he crossed his arms, scowling at me darkly. “I dislike hearing you apologize for your imperfections, Miss Morell. I would much prefer if you were arrogant and unaware of your shortcomings if you have any. My employees will not take you at your word, but look at what you can do. They will teach you what you don’t yet know, but they will not treat you like a subordinate. I will not have it. Abasement and false humility have no place in my lab.”
I sputtered and crossed my arms, echoing his pose. “Respecting their expertise is not abasement or false humility. Have you been deceived somehow to think that my love for dead languages translates to expertise? I am not going to pretend to be something that I’m not.”
He leaned close, arms still crossed as he gazed into my eyes. “On the contrary, Miss Morell, you pretend so often and so well that you even convince yourself.”
I gritted my teeth. How dare he pretend to know me and my abilities? Just because he kept a lab filled with brilliant translators didn’t make me one. “What is that supposed to mean, Mr. Stead?”
We stood like that, his eyes flaring red before shifting to a shiny black that started to show striations of blue in their depths. His eyes were mesmerizing, powerful, and beautiful. I definitely shouldn’t stare into his eyes, because he could put me under his spell easily, but I didn’t back down, didn’t look away, and finally, he looked down and took my hands, his warm grip so wrong for a vampire.
“I apologize for doubting your sincerity. It seems that when you touched a demonic book, or when I tasted your blood, there was more than angel in you.”
I flinched away from him, pulling my hands out of his. “Whatever is in my blood doesn’t change the fact that I’m mostly human. It would be unnatural at this point in the evolution of humanity if everyone wasn’t touched by both sides.”
“My apologies, Miss Morell. Once you are settled in, I’ll show you how to get back home, and of course, provide you with the proper ID and papers for your temporary position here.”
Temporary. It’s not that I wanted to permanently stay in the Scholar’s laboratory, but it was a reminder that I’d lost my permanent work. I froze for a moment’s pain before I took two steps forward, ramming into him and wrapping my arms around his waist while I pressed my cheek to his chest.
He responded by pulling me tighter against him and pressing his cheek to my hair while he murmured singsong words a language that I’d never heard before that I couldn’t begin to comprehend any more than why I’d willingly go into a vampire’s arms, but this wasn’t a day for understanding, but a day for surviving, and forgetting as soon as possible.
When I got home, through the bottom floor of the Lydian, I found Mirabel in my apartment, playing her harp for Pansy, who started howling and barking as soon as he saw me.
“Well, look who decided to show up,” Mirabel said, bouncing to her feet and slinging her harp over her shoulder.
