The Vampire's Deal

Chapter Six: Manipulation

"No. She won't be hunting with us," Desmond reassured.

One more time Daniel asked as if she weren't in his presence. "She's human?"

Suddenly she was annoyed. "Yes, I'm human. Though I can see you've been a monster long before you ended up here." She stormed away not caring whether Desmond was going to say anything about her outburst.

When her hands had reached down to push open the doors, Desmond had called to her. "Wait."

Attitude seethed through her. "What?"

He seemed shocked but then replied, "Do you need anything while we're out?"

She crossed her arms and felt embarrassed again. He had only ever helped her and yet she was so quick to pin him as a bad guy. "What?" she croaked again, her tone changed.

"Do you need food? Clothes? Supplies...?" he listed as example.

"Oh," she sighed. Looking over the room she wondered if there was anything she needed and realizing she was all set she was about to say no. Though she whispered what would have been a great thing to have while she cleaned. "Music?" she asked. "Is there anyway of, like, getting a radio some how?"

"I'll see what I can do. You can go now. Do some more cleaning upstairs and finish the master bedroom," he requested and Catharine left.

When she went back upstairs, she headed to the the master bedroom. She had taken a peek in each room, but didn't really do much exploring of them till it was time to clean. This one had carpeting, a large canopy bed, two bureaus, a stand with a TV and a bookcase full of books.

The room was in as much disarray and smelt equally as bad as her room once did. Pushing open the bathroom door, she examined it as well. Filth everywhere with the smell of rust. She was overwhelmed just looking at it.

She spent the rest of the night just going through the room, one draw was just full of trash and paper and the other she went through clothes. After making the bed and vacuuming, she felt the room was as clean before she went back to the bathroom.

Again opening the door, she felt tired as she looked around and when her eyes peered out the window, she could see the sky turning orange and pink; the sun laying at the edge of the ground. A dawn sky was coming up and exhaustion was now working it's way over her. She needed a break from her duties and was proud of the accomplishments.

If Desmond wanted to say anything she could always just say that she'd have more time to clean if she wasn't helping him abduct people. But two rooms and a kidnap in one night? Impressive.

She closed both the doors and took her way down the hall and entered her own room.

Looking around, the dim light that illuminated the room almost made her feel at peace. Everything was quiet and she wondered if Desmond had made his way home with his demon-in-training.

Breathing in the room goosebumps fell down her arms. She wondered how it was possible to be living among monsters and feel such safety. It seemed like now that she was sure that Desmond wanted nothing more than her help to build his pack and maintain his home that she was feeling she could breath again.

It was a long time she had waited for peace of mind.

When she picked up her night clothes to get undressed she decided that taking a hot bath would be perfect before heading to bed. She took her clothes in with her to the bathroom and laid them on the toilet before she began running the water.

Over the sink, she stared at herself in the mirror and at that moment everything around her seemed to feel more real. As if this whole time everything around her including herself didn't exist and it had taken to this moment to plant her in reality.