A Heart For The Heartless

The words left his mouth before he could think twice.

“Is there anything you’d like to distract yourself with in the meantime?” he asked stonily. “Books, perhaps? Or some pen and paper? An easel? A chessboard? Say the word, and I will give it to you.”

Cassy raised an eyebrow. “Are you attempting to be hospitable to me right now?” she said unkindly.

“You are going to be living here for three months, after all,” he answered simply. “It would not be gracious of me if I don’t ensure that you’re treated well.”

“That’s surprisingly nice of you to say.”

Mikhail did not miss the sarcasm in her voice. He shook his head. It seemed she was much more fiery than he had thought. It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected it, considering what had happened during their first meeting.

But it certainly made her interesting compared to the rest of the humans. He was so used to being hated and feared that it was very rare to see someone stand up to him, speak their mind, and have little to no fear in their eyes when they were in the same room.

‘I need to know more about her,’ he decided.

“Then tell me what kind of books you want to read. Or what your hobbies are,” he said. “It would help me understand your… mindset.”

Cassy turned her back to him, leaned back against the sofa, and closed her eyes. “Aren’t you going to your room now? Don’t let a measly human like me keep you from your vampire duties. I think you have far more important things to do than make small talk with someone like me.”

Mikhail’s lips curled slightly upward, a hint of amusement in his expression. “Have you forgotten the real reason I offered to let you stay here?” he said. “It’s because you’re my mate. That’s something the two of us can never change.”

“Unfortunately,” Cassy muttered.

“Whether we like it or not, we are both drawn to each other no matter what,” Mikhail said. “Even if you say it’s ‘small talk’, it’s not like that for me. I feel very reassured whenever we’re together. I want you to know that.”

“I…” Cassy turned her head towards him, and for a moment she looked absolutely speechless. As if she had never expected those words to come out of his mouth.

And strangely enough, Mikhail wasn’t embarrassed at all.

***

That night, the two of them sat down on the same couch, an awkward air hanging around the atmosphere. Cassy had moved to the far end of the sofa, as if she abhorred the thought of being so close to a vampire. Mikhail, on the other hand, was indifferent and simply stayed where he was, sitting in the middle. His arms were folded across his chest as he cast her a sideways glance.

It took a while for the awkward atmosphere to fade, but when it did, it was… bewildering, to say the least.

It turned out that Cassy Lenoir enjoyed reading books and taking photographs. She was particularly interested in the horror and mystery genres. She admitted that fight scenes and the mystery of the killer made her life more exciting.

“Sometimes it’s also interesting to read the perspective of the killer,” Cassy said. “You get to know his motivations, his backstory, and his thoughts as he commits the murder. It’s morbid, but fascinating at the same time.”

“I see,” Mikhail said slowly. “An unexpected description from a human who hates vampires.”

“Fiction is different from reality,” she said simply.

“An interesting reason.”

“It’s kind of cathartic, I guess.” With a lethargic shrug, she rose from the couch and stretched her arms. “It’ll be dawn in an hour. Maybe we should go to bed now.”

Her remark took Mikhail by surprise. First, he hadn’t realized he’d been talking to her for so long.Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

And second, she looked so tempting in that pose that he could hardly keep himself from grabbing her and sniffing her neck.

‘Not yet,’ he told himself. ‘Drinking from her too much will not be good for her health.’

It was still astounding, the fact that he had to constantly remind himself like this from time to time. He never had to practice such restraint before.

Such was the difference of having a human mate in his life.

“I’ll be going first,” she said before walking away.

He watched her go, feeling a familiar burning in his chest.

Whenever the two of them were in the same room, the other servants would scurry away as if to give them some privacy. They only came when they were called, and that was it.

Before he offered Cassy to live here with him, this living room was always empty. The only signs of life were the servants dutifully cleaning the area, even though it was hardly ever dirty.

Mikhail, on the other hand, was often in his bedroom. He didn’t go to the recreation rooms or talk to the other residents whenever they were in the house. Besides, they were all wanderers, so they weren’t exactly the homebody type.

So he was often all alone.

But now it was as if he saw the room in a different light.

This was an area Cassy often visited. For some reason, she almost never stayed in her room and just sat on the couch, either brooding or spacing out. Her behavior was a bit puzzling, but nothing quite alarming yet.

It would be a concern if she felt depressed, though. He still couldn’t relate to human emotions. After all, it had been more than a hundred years since he had last been human. He had already forgotten most of his mortal life before he got turned into a vampire.

‘The past is no more,’ he thought. ‘The present is what matters now.’

He watched as Cassy walked to her bedroom. But then she stopped for a moment before turning to him.

There was this unreadable look on her face that struck him as odd. Instinctively, he stared into her eyes, but his mind went blank.

Nothing. He couldn’t read her mind at all. It was frustrating, but also challenging. She was someone different. She was like a pill of stimulation in his monotonous life. She was a small flame that lit up his darkness.

This pull… This subtle attraction…

No matter how many times he had felt it, he still couldn’t believe it. He was actually feeling a bit of emotion.

He cared. He lusted. He yearned.

He wanted to tell her, “Be mine.”

He wanted to suck the life out of her and watch that look of ecstasy on her face whenever he drank her blood.

He wanted to consume her.

He wanted everything from her, including her soul.

“You’re not leaving yet?” she asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“I am,” he said as he stood up from the sofa.

He had to stop thinking about her this much.

Or else he might suddenly snap and do something that he’d regret.