Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Wynn

Antoine was going to kill me. Why had I given Piper my blood? I was already attracted to her, I didn’t need another reason to want to be near her.

Maybe you wanted to make sure you won.

So maybe not being able to use my powers was a bit irritating, but was I really so unsure of my own abilities that I had to make her want me?

The moment my blood hit her mouth, I wanted to reach for her. I wanted to show her that all the things she dreamed about could come true. I heard the way she touched herself in her room, we all did. She wasn’t exactly quiet, though I was sure she didn’t feel that way. In fact, if Piper knew how we all stared at the ceiling of our daytime resting place, she’d run away and never come back.

Women were strange that way. After all these years, I still hadn’t completely wrapped my head around their actions. Whether it be France or the U.S., the actions of women astounded me.

Like the way that Piper drank the vial of my blood without a hint of revulsion. Most women would have been disgusted by the thought. However, she also hadn’t quite reacted the way we had thought when she found out we were vampires.

There had been no attacking or threatening us. Piper had tried to leave, but a simple word or two from Antoine was all it took to convince her to stay. One could chalk that up to Antoine’s persuasive abilities, but it didn’t keep her from still interacting with us.

When I’d seen her in the dining room afterward, she hadn’t seemed afraid. In fact, if anything, she had grown even more of a backbone, as if us being monsters somehow gave her even more reason to speak out against us.

I chuckled at that thought.

“What’s so funny?” Piper asked, her brows crinkling. “Did I do it wrong? Was I supposed to sip it?”

Shaking my head, I touched her hand, making her eyes drop to it. “No, that was fine. Don’t mind me, my mind got away from me for a moment. How’s your hand?” I stroked the line of her knuckles which had been purple and blue before, but now it was more of a sickly yellow.

Piper frowned and wiggled her fingers. “It’s healing, I think? I doesn’t hurt like before. It only aches some.”

“Good.” I bobbed my head, patting her arm before standing. I needed to put some distance between us before the blood in her took full effect. “Then you should be completely healed within the hour.”

“Really?”

The shock in her voice made me smile. “Would I lie to you?”

Piper seemed to think about it for a moment, her head cocked to the side. “I’m not sure. I don’t really know you all that well. So, you might be lying to me right this moment and I’ll be a vampire by morning.”

I snorted, barking out a laugh. “That is truer than you know but becoming one of us takes far more than a little vial of my blood.”

“Is that so?” The way her lips parted with an eagerness to learn made me want to teach her everything else I knew of being a vampire, including the more salacious aspects that only could be taught without clothing.

Turning my back on her so as not to jump her on the spot, I strode to the bathroom and replaced the first aid kit. “You should keep that wrap on your hand, at least for appearances sake. Rayne would run and tattle the moment he found out I gave you my blood.”

“Is that wrong?” Her voice closer than it had been before.

As I turned around to face her in the doorway of the bathroom, I was surprised she had snuck up on me so easily. Obviously, my mind was elsewhere, or that was what I told myself.

Offering her a small smile, I kept my distance though every part of me screamed to take her. “It’s frowned upon.” Her pouty lips turned down in a frown and I was quick to add, “Don’t worry about it. If anyone gets in trouble, it will be me.”

She seemed to think about it for a moment but then gave a curt nod. “Alright. Well, I should probably get going before someone sees me in here.”

“Why?” The word escaped my mouth before my brain even processed it. Piper stopped in the doorway and turned back to me an adorable confusion on her face. “I mean, why would anyone care you are in here? You’re the maid after all. Maybe you needed to clean up a spill. I can be awfully clumsy.”

She smiled, and if my heart still beat, it would have skipped one.

“I don’t see any mess.”

I grabbed the cup off my sink, filled it with water, and then promptly dumped it on the ground. “There. Now you have an excuse.”

Piper giggled. The sound of it was like peals of angels coming from Aphrodite’s lips. I wanted her to do it again.

“Why did you become a maid?” I asked, leaning back against the sink. “You are far too pretty to be cleaning toilets.”

Piper’s laughter cut off. Her eyes dimmed and her mouth pressed into a thin line. Instead of answering me, she moved further into my bathroom which made the large room feel small with her presence. Piper’s scent filled my senses the closer she came, and I almost reached out despite myself, but she completely bypassed me. She grabbed a towel from the cabinet and knelt on the floor, wiping up the water.

“Piper?” I didn’t like the silence that had come from my question. “I apologize if I have offended you, I didn’t mean—”

“You didn’t.” She shook her head, standing with the towel. “Offend me that is. I just don’t want you to think badly of me.”

“You don’t?” I arched a brow at her, making her flush. Happy that she was no longer frowning, I stepped into her space ignoring the warning in me telling me to keep my distance. “I don’t think I could think badly of you, no matter what you have done in the past.”

She let out a little nervous laugh, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”

I smiled down at her. “You punched a vampire and lived. You didn’t go screaming into the night when you found out what we were. Believe me, there isn’t much that surprises me, but you have, Piper Billings.”

That beautiful shade of red on her cheeks spread to her neck and chest. I wanted to see how far down it went but curled my fingers into fists to keep myself from finding out.

“More from my own stupidity than bravery,” she belittled herself, shifting in place, her eyes not meeting mine. Piper was quiet for a moment before holding up the towel. “I better put this in the laundry.”

She scurried out of the bathroom, not answering my question. I followed after her, watching her every movement as she practically ran for the door. Before she darted out of it, she did stop and turn back to me.

“Thank you, Master Durand.” She held her hand up with a small polite smile. “For healing me.”

She ducked out of the room before I could correct her.

“... Call me Wynn...”