SNAP: The World Unfolds

23.4K 484 112
                                    

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

I’d slept some on the plane.  Being back on vampire time, though, was going to take a few days.  I excused myself and headed up to my rooms where Elise and Lisbet had finished unpacking. Books were on shelves, framed pictures were set on tables, clothes were in my dressing room and toiletries in the bath.

Both women grinned when I thanked them.  “If we’ve misplaced anything, please tell us, or tell Elise,” Lisbet nodded to her sister.  “The Baron made it clear that he wants this to be your home.  I’ll leave you and Elise now.” 

Huummm.  This might be awkward.   I’d never had a maid.  On my last trip, Lisbet had been helpful, but she had other duties in the house and her own rooms.  Now, Elise would be with me, even sleeping in my apartment.

She sensed my hesitancy.  “If you’re ready to go bed,” she said, “your nightgown is laid out and everything is ready.  I’ll say good night.  Please call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you.”

“By the way,” she added as she started to leave the room, “please don’t just walk out of the apartment.  There’s a guard at the door.”

“We’re locked in here?”  I could feel my scalp tingling.  My voice was reaching shriek stage.

“No, no, we’re not locked in.  It’s simply a demon who will watch through the night.  I didn’t want you to open the door and be frightened.”

She was gone and I was on my own, at the beginning of my new life.

Once again, after reading myself to sleep, I woke to a presence in the room.  Disoriented, I let out a small scream when a hand touched my face.  “Hush, hush, it’s me,” Jean Louis said and his hand stroked me.

“You have to stop doing this.  I don’t wake up well.  I’ll have a heart attack or something.”  My comments were getting quieter as his hand worked its way down to my breast and his mouth covered mine.  This love-making was slow and languorous and I drifted back to sleep held against his beautiful chest.

When I woke, he was gone.  I got up and wandered through the sitting room, drawn by the smell of fresh coffee.

Elise had set up a tray by a small window.  I called her name and she popped out of a pantry carved from a corner of the office.

“Good day.  I guessed you were waking so I had some rolls and coffee sent up.”

Last night I didn’t take the time to check out all the rooms.  I’d overlooked the pantry, a cubicle with storage for basic utensils and a dumbwaiter connected to the main kitchen, two floors down.  This meant that I didn’t have to have all meals with the vampires and was a way to have privacy and keep my own schedule.

Elise pulled the drapes and weak sun filtered in.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“It’s just before 2 in the afternoon.  Do you want to bathe or shower before you eat?”

First, I just needed coffee. 

Once awake and cleaned up, I went into the office and logged on.  Fifty-seven emails popped up, more than half of them from Jazz.  She was keeping in touch, as she’d promised.  I answered the ones I needed to and checked our sites for any updates.

Elise tapped on the door.  “The Baron wanted to know if you’d dine with them tonight?”

Was he awake?  During the day?  She saw my confusion.  “He leaves all the household orders before he retires at sunrise so that all is ready when they wake.”

SNAP: The World UnfoldsWhere stories live. Discover now