Chapter 10: .•6•.

Gently blowing into the steaming mug, she took another sip of the delicious coffee as she gazed through the large window, the sun already beaming at her, even if it was still early in the morning.

And what a beautiful day it will be...

She widely smiled as the thought of finally going to visit her mom and her home again made her feel so happy.

It was her weekend off from the coffee shop, and miss Nancy had been kind enough to also relieve her from her duties today, so she could go home and spend some nice, quality time with her mother and her best friend.

Oh boy I can't wait for that! She thought with excitement as her gleaming green eyes still stared through the panelled window, a brilliant idea now entering her mind as she looked over the sea of thorny bushes filled with big blood-red roses in full bloom.

"Miss Nancy?"

The maid hummed in response as she was still busy cooking some breakfast.

"Can I take a few roses for my mom?" She nicely asked, the maid giving her a warm smile as she turned around to look at the girl.

"Of course dear, you can take as many as you please," She consented, the girl immediately scrambling from her seat to give the maid a quick hug.

"Thank you!"

The woman chuckled, gently patting the girl's back before she pulled back, staring in awe at that radiant expression now marring Diana's delicate features.

"Be careful though, darling, those thorns are very sharp," The old woman advised as she watched the girl hurry to the supply closet to retrieve some gardening scissors and a glove.

"I will, I promise," She nodded with another smile before she ran to go outside and through the garden.

Gazing at the beautiful flowers surrounding her, she carefully walked down the barely visible stone path, stopping from time to time to cut a few roses from here and there and even take off their thorns. She wouldn't want her mom to get a prick or a scratch when she'd be receiving them.

So after a few more roses gathered, she fondly looked at her nicely-made bouquet, taking a moment to admire their deep red color, right before the image of those beautifully tattooed roses on the sides of Mr. King's neck popped at the front of her mind.

She had to admit that they suited him very well though. They made him look so...majestic...Just like the flower itself...

Lightly shaking her head to rid herself of such odd thoughts, she averted her attention towards what stood before her, lastly noticing the glass-made greenhouse filled with all kinds of flowers and plants, its dirty and weathered condition though making her want to make her way right in and give it a generous reconditioning.

Not today though...

She lightly smiled as her gaze once again fell upon the bouquet in her hand, the girl quickly turning around to run back to the house, completely unaware of those dark eyes watching her from a high up window from a while ago.

.••.

Standing close by the window, Nicholas watched with piqued interest as the girl he had reluctantly allowed Nancy to keep was now casually strolling through the rose gardens, the morning sun caressing those silky caramel tresses of hers. She was really beautiful. For a human. He had to give her that.

He'd been so against her staying here at first, after so many mishaps and unfortunate accidents that had happened on his estate's grounds over the time. He was just tired. Overwrought. He was tired of constantly having to cover it all up, to lie and pretend for the sake of his peace. He was sick of the killings. Every goddamned Blood Moon.

Some time ago, it had somehow gotten to his Nana's ears, the utterly absurd and completely false notion that vampires could have human mates. That was when she'd started to bring all these girls into his home. One after the other, under the pretext of her needing help around the estate. It made him laugh at the silly idea. He was no shifter. There was no such thing as human mates for his kind. What would be the point of it anyway, seeing as they were also their primary source of nourishment? They could easily kill their own soulmates, provoke themselves an immense amount of grief. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

He still let her have her way at first, allowing her to hire girl after girl after girl. He ended up killing them, one after the other. Proving her wrong, time and again. But she was way too stubborn to give up. She just kept on trying. Every few years.

Strangely enough, things had been a little different this time. For him, at least. A single glance at this certain girl, a subtle whiff of her exquisite and unique scent and he'd suddenly found himself unable to say no. No matter how much he'd wanted to. No matter how many times he'd told the stubborn woman to stop trying, and that it was of no use. He would never find his true beloved into any of those silly girls crossing his threshold. It was simply not possible. It couldn't be. They were mere humans, to begin with. And it was never meant to be that easy anyway. There was no simple way for him to break the curse. Never was. He would've found out a long time ago if there actually was.

He continued to watch as the girl bent over to smell a red rose, a delicate smile spreading over her features before she proceeded to carefully cut it off and take out its thorns. This peculiar human being. There was something about her. Something that he'd found himself wanting to discover.

She smelled so much better than any other human he had ever encountered in his long and damned life. So sweet and alluring. It was as if her blood itself called out to him. Inviting him to have a taste at it. Not to mention that he'd happened to discover that her body appealed to him too, which was a very rare occurrence. He usually only lusted for blood from these women, not for sex too.

Well, that could only be deemed as a nice bonus, seeing as it had indeed been a while since his last tryst with one of her kind.