Chapter 15
Marcus
This was ridiculous. I was a powerful and mighty vampire. A creature of the night. Not some guard dog. Certainly, not to a puny human woman. I glared at the back of the human maid's head as she walked through the enclosed garden. The flowers were all ones that thrived in the dark at night. There were prim roses, Casa Blanca Lilies, Queens of the Night, which only bloomed once every year, and my favorite, Chocolate daisies that filled the air with its namesake. There were several others that I didn't know the name of but were equally as exotic. Boris's reach was far and wide. He never skimped on the good stuff.
We'd been walking down the path for a half hour now. Piper had to stop at every single flower to sniff it and give it a good, long look. It was just a fucking flower. How interesting could they be?
"They smell so different than before I was bound," Piper commented, glancing back at me. Her smile wilted at my frowning figure, but I didn't change my stance for her benefit. "You know, you don't have to follow me. I'm perfectly fine with Darren. You can go to bed."
"I have orders," I countered, not giving her room to argue. Except she did anyway.
"Then you can go back to Antoine and tell him to change them. I don't need someone glowering over my shoulder for half the day." She waved me off with a small hand before turning her back to me.
Against my will, my eyes drifted down her small form to hover over her butt. The jeans she wore clung to her curves and would make even the strongest of men fall. I wasn't one of those men.
"I will not." I marched after her with growing irritation. "If you would stay in your room, or any room, I wouldn't have to follow you around."
Piper laughed over her shoulder. I wanted to say the sound of it ground on my nerves, but it was just as lovely as she was. Jesus, fuck.
"Well then, next time I'll just stay in the library. But I need to be outside. I'm human and we need sunlight, even if it's through double paned glass." She frowned up at the ceiling of glass around us. "Besides, walking is good for you. I don't exactly know all the rules of being immortal or whatever, and I'd hate to get fat and be stuck that way forever." She smiled sweetly at me over her shoulder and I felt myself melting.
Forcing a scowl onto my face, I crossed my arms and jerked my head. "Then get walking. You'll need it."
She gaped at me and flipped me off before spinning on her heels and marching away. I grinned at her back, my eyes once more lingering on her backside. I could have told her she needn't worry. Her figure was perfect and would remain that way for the rest of her days.
With heightened senses and quick healing also came a faster metabolism. So, she could eat as much as she wanted and lay around all day, but she'd never get bigger than she was right now. In fact, from the few times I'd seen her eating meals, she could probably eat more.
I strolled along behind her at a close distance without crowding her. I didn't need any more of her intoxicating scent in my nose than I already had now. How Antoine spent time in the same room with her so often baffled me. I didn't consider myself one of the most self-restrained vampires, but I was better than most. However, even I was having a hard time keeping myself from giving into my baser urges.
"Fuck," Piper cried out, holding her hand out in front of her.
Instantly, my fangs ached. The heavy scent of her blood filled the area and I found myself taking a step toward her before I caught myself.
Piper glanced back at me. One look at my face and she stiffened. Her eyes widened and her breathing sped up as she shook her head back and forth. "No, no. Go away." She clutched her bleeding hand to her chest as if that would help the smell.
"Stop panicking, you're making it worse," I instructed, walking toward her.
With wary eyes, Piper let me come toward her but put a hand up before I could get too close. "Stop there. Please."
I stared down at her. Was she dumb? "I need to see it."
"No, you don't," she argued, her lower lip poking out as she cradled her hand closer to her chest. "I'll get a Band-Aid from Darren and it'll be fine. Just stay back."
It finally dawned on me what was wrong. I closed my eyes and focused, taking deep breaths of her scent before opening my eyes once more. "See, I'm not going to go on a blood craze. Now stop being a baby and let me see."
Piper didn't offer me her hand, but she didn't stop me from taking it either. I slowly took her hand in my much larger one and peered down at the cut. It wasn't that deep, barely bleeding.
"What did you cut it on?" I glanced up from her hand to see her point her a finger toward the bush next to her. One of the many night blooming cacti. Of course she'd want to touch that one. "I suggest not touching any others."
"Obviously," she scoffed, glowering at me. "Can I have my hand back now?"
"No," I growled, and then pierced my finger with my thumbnail. Blood welled up at the end of my finger and I started toward her cut.
"Hey now, what do you think you're doing?" Piper tried to pull her hand away, but I held on to it.
"It'll clean it and heal faster."
"So? Doesn't mean I want your blood in me."