Chapter 9: .•5•.

Diana... Diana...

Slow, seductive whispers reached her ears as she stood completely nude, bathing into the moonlight whilst the gentle breeze caressed her skin.

The window curtains fluttered at her sides as she watched the full and red moon in all its splendor, feeling the sensual touch of warm hands trailing over the curve of her body.

"What are you doing, my love?"

That voice...That deep, masculine voice...

Her breath hitched within her throat as one hand found its way over her breast while the other lowered towards her nether regions, gingerly caressing around the sensitive area.

It felt so good...She didn't want him to stop...

Slowly turning around, she softly gasped as soon as she gazed at that heavily painted face and his dark eyes, rendered speechless as he held her gaze with such intensity... such passion...

And within the next moment, his blood-red painted lips descended upon hers, moving into a slow, deeply burning kiss.

"Give yourself to me, Diana..."

She breathlessly moaned as she once again felt those warm hands caressing her feverish skin whilst the silken sheets of her bed touched her bare back and bottom.

Yes...she wanted to...she yearned to offer herself to him...

Her breaths became so heavy and fast as lips replaced those hands, trailing hot kisses over the valley between her breasts until they once again reached her parted lips, seconds before the straining feel of something thick and hot invading her feminine parts had her moaning out with delight...trembling at the sinful sensation...

Her blood heated in her veins...She wanted more...more from him...her sweet lover...

She mewled out as he slowly started to thrust into her, building her passion...

Only the moment her eyes shot up to meet his, a loud and horrified scream tore through her throat as before her appeared the face of a gruesome monster. Blood-red eyes peered right back into hers, his lips revealing a set of dangerously sharp fangs. And within the following moment those razor-like fangs pierced her throat, effectively taking away her breath and consciousness...

Desperately gasping for air, she shot up from her hard pillow, letting out loud coughs as she fought to regain her breath.

"Girl! What are you doing here?" The familiar sound of miss Nancy's voice reached her ears, only now noticing the old maid approaching her as her sight finally took a grasp of her surroundings, ultimately noticing that she was still in the living room, nestled within the couch's artisanal cushions.

"Has master seen you here, lying over the couch like a lazy cat?" The woman mildly reprimanded her, hands over her hips as she worriedly stared at the girl.

"H-he allowed me to," She weakly stuttered as she reminisced those last moments of awareness before sleep had so unexpectedly taken her.

Brows raised, the woman simply stared at her as she most definitely hadn't expected such an answer, however choosing to put any following thoughts over that specific matter aside as she gave the girl a warm smile.

"Come, let's get you something to eat before you go to work,"

The girl immediately took a quick look to the window, only now noticing that it was indeed early in the morning.

Letting out a whine, she then got up from the couch, only now feeling the ache of every bone in her body, groaning in displeasure as she trudged her way after the maid.

Taking a seat on a stool by the kitchen island, her mind replayed that frigthening nightmare she'd had last night, its horrifying details still making cold shivers crawl up her spine.

Why would her mind conjure up such monstrosity?

And in such a manner... She thought as the image of Mr. King's lust-filled gaze flooded her mind, her eyelids tightly closing into a desperate attempt to rid herself of such image.

"Miss Nancy?"

The maid hummed in response as she busied herself with the cooking of an omelette for Diana, the girl simply watching her as she expertly manoeuvred her way around the kitchen.

"Why does he look like that? And why does he play every single night? Is he a vampire or something?"

"God, no," The woman quickly answered with a loud laugh at the sound of her silly words, lightly shaking her head before she sobered up and gave her an answer.

"He plays because she loved to hear him do so every evening so he plays every night now, hoping that she would hear him from the heavens..."

"She?" The girl's interest suddenly piqued at the hearing of such thing.

"Miss Adelaide, the late mistress of this house and his beloved wife, may God rest her soul," The maid momentarily paused from her cooking to do a cross sign over her chest, the girl experiencing a feeling of sadness after miss Nancy's words. However, she did not dare question about the cause of the mistress' death as she did not want to appear disrespectful, choosing to do a mild change of the subject instead.

"And the whole face-painting thing?"

The maid paused yet again, this time letting out a sigh before she turned around with a full plate, expressing a somehow saddened smile.

"It represents the moment they firstly met, given that they had firstly laid eyes upon each other on an All Hallows' Eve, at a masked ball," The woman's gaze became distant as she explained, seemingly recalling an old memory.

"You have been working in this house for quite a while, haven't you?" The girl observed with a small smile of her own as she and the maid had grown quite acquainted with each other in these past two weeks since they've been mostly cleaning up the place around together, even though the girl didn't have to as she obviously hadn't been hired for that. But she couldn't just leave the poor old lady do all the job by herself. It wouldn't have been fair.

"Ever since master Nicholas took his first breath into this world," The woman stated matter-of-factly.

"He was such a sweet little angel," She sighed yet again as she recalled the memory of his chubby little face and those big brown eyes of his.

"Lady Mira and master Jonathan loved to pamper him, may God bless both their souls," She respectfully did yet another cross sign over her chest, lightly shaking her head as all those memories still brought a sadness into the woman's heart.

"They are dead too?" Diana suddenly asked, a shocked expression marring her features as she expectantly stared at the woman.

"Yes, unfortunately. They had tragically passed after a car crash when master Nicholas was only sixteen,"

The girl's heart sunk at the hearing of such thing, feeling such a deep sorrow bloom into her chest for she herself had not too long ago experienced such pain too. The pain of losing a parent.

"Come on now, girl," Miss Nancy's voice abruptly brought her back to reality as she placed a fork next to her plate, effectively urging her to start eating.

"Hurry up or you will be late for your job,"