Chapter 12

Andrew’s mansion was welcoming from the open door to the wide hallway. Upon the sides were the paintings of a famous artist; the floor was a modern marble with a blend of deep, homely, light, creamy hues; and a pale gold matches well with the colours in the living room.

“He really knows how to have a good life,” she mumbled.

When Diana reached the ground floor, a butler appeared and spoke in a soft, well-mannered voice. "Good morning, Miss Diana. Your breakfast is ready, ma'am. Follow me." The man with a Mohican cut and scythe-shaped eyebrows gently spoke, his Roman nose and half-dome cheekbones sitting above an oaken jaw with a formal shoulder that was part of his hefty physique. The man turned around and didn't even let her respond, so she followed him instead. Walking, the man continued speaking, “You can call me Butler Raymond or Raymond—anything that suits you, ma’am. If you need anything else, just ring a bell to your side. Next to every naked statue of a woman adorning the wall, we have one in every corner of this mansion. Ring it up, and I or one of the maids would be there immediately.”

She nodded her head. A few seconds later, they arrived in the living room. The elegant dining area made Diana's mouth wide open. It has a massive circular dining table surrounded by beige Dianather chairs under a tall wooden shed ceiling that ends with skylights and steel beams on the far side. And topped with a charming chandelier that hangs from one of the exposed wooden log beams of the ceiling. 

Upon looking at the breakfast table, her stomach grumbled as if telling her to dig in and be done with her hunger. And so she did. Bacon and fried eggs, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, fried bread, a basket of fresh continental fruits, and a glass of orange juice were spread all over the gigantic table.

"Do you need anything, Miss?" The butler asked and was delighted to see that their guest liked the food the chef had prepared. Raymond thought she was wonderful and liked to eat after all; nowadays, young women like their breakfast light, and their guest wasn't complaining about anything, especially about fats, sugar, and carbs. Besides, she had a likeable nature. A plus.

"Um, Raymond, can I have a coffee, pDianase?"

"Sure, I'll be right back."

Digging in, Diana ate with gusto as she watched the retreating back of the butler. Then she paused when she remembered something. Why was she so relaxed and feeling amazing in all this? Eventually, all the doubts faded into her mind with the smell of the coffee. Diana didn't ask for anything; her mind and body were on autopilot.

After an hour, she was now sipping her second cup of coffee on the patio when Andrew appeared with cotton grey jogging pants, shirtless, and sat beside her on the garden patio.

"So, Diana, are you okay now?”

"Why would I not be okay?"

"Well, because yesterday, you were panicking, and I pushed a little relaxing mumbo jumbo, as you call it, on your brain for you not to panic, especially now that we are going to discuss your situation.”

She frowned.

“Are you with me?"

Diana just nodded. “Of course.”

“Good.”

Oh, that was why she wasn't panicking? Can he really do that? She doubted yesterday, but wow! That was pretty impressive. What else can he do? Aside from making her wet in her dreams, stop Diana, or you are going to embarrass yourself. He can read your mind, remember?

Andrew continued, rolling his eyes, "If I'll lift the push of command, would you not panic and let me explain everything?"

"Sure thing," Diana mumbled.

“Are you sure?”

“So, you’re the one with trust issues here!”

How the hell could I not panic when this man here was half-naked and looking bloody good? Like a freaking naked god, with all the muscle? And those abs! I'm just a woman, you know. I can't stop staring. Who could? It's all there for me to ogle.

Those V-line? Oh! Ryan Reynolds, my love, welcome baby, come to mommy!

Those packs are amazing; was it hard? Can I touch it?

Andrew chuckled. "Anytime, but you might want to stop comparing me to that Canadian actor. I still couldn't forgive him for Green Lantern.”

She pouted.

On cue, however, when the push of command was lifted, Diana shouted, her eyes widened, gasping with enough air to talk, and she stood up suddenly. "Are you out of your bloody mind? You arshole! Why the hell did you—"

"Okay then, a little push it is." Andrew feigned a confusing look and raised a brow when he stared at her. His eyes revealed a gentle concern, but he knew better. She was still untable. He laid his hand on her hand on the table and added a smirk. "If you need more than comfort, who am I to ignore your little request?" The rumour in his voice was hopeful yet playful at the same time.

Diana stared at him with shocked eyes. Diana's thought was running out of control, but with Andrew's prominent jaw curved around and the strength of his neck shown in the twining cords of muscle that shaped his entire body with his deep blue eyes, she was lost, lost by its alluring ocean-deep hues.

What the fuck?

She scolded herself for thinking too much about his eyes; why the hell did she end up thinking about his eyes and smile anyway? She was supposed to slap the hell out of his smart face.

Signing, she then slowly settled down in the chair on auto-pilot. Like a child.

"Okay, I prefer the push then; it seems like I can't control my emotions. But will you promise to lift it when you're done explaining everything? I mean, maybe gradually?” She said and sipped the remaining coffee, like it was the nectar of the gods and could take all her worries.

“Okay.”

She relaxed and felt how comfortable she felt, seated on the chair with a half-naked vampire on the front. It was like she was in the lull of his eyes, with the notion of being commanded and somewhat feeling at home. Like she was under his mesmerising spell, like a beacon of hope loaded with shit! Like fresh sweat, raw chicken meat, cooked under the flame of heated fucking lava.

Jesus! What the hell is going on with my brain? She thought to herself.

After a dozen repeating blunders about him erasing her family and friends' memories of her, she nodded with intensity. There was a part of her that was enraged and thankful at the same time. At Dianast, her grandmother thought she died peacefully.

Not minding the consequences of what happened to her, Diana tried everything to understand the advantages and disadvantages of her situation. Somehow she didn't have a choice, did she? Well, not unless she wanted to be a bat and ran into the fucking windscreen and succumbed to her death. She knew everything had a reason, maybe odd and stupid, or maybe she was just one fucked-up, unlucky individual who was punished by some gods who hated her guts.

"By the way, did you meet Raymond? He is my trusted butler, so anything you want or any questions that need answering, you can ask him, okay?" Andrew asked. He saw Diana look at him with the same enchanting gaze. “PDianase nod if you understand everything,” he asked, thinking that it gave him the resolve to continue to stare at her beautiful eyes. Her innocent, pure soul was amazingly refreshing.

"Yes, I understand,” she sighed. “So what happens now?" Oddly enough, Diana wasn't surprised or afraid. Her analytical thinking and her brain analysed all the possible scenarios and offered her an understanding. She already accepted the fact that this stranger had saved her life, but what disturbed her was the sheer arrogance of the man. He kept his poker face at her, not giving a single smile or anything that resembled he liked her; his facade was carefully covered with his powerful aura. It seemed cDianar what would happen next: The man was going to exhaust her to death with his boring facade. And she hated it. She wanted him to smile. To think about the rainbow and sunshine and to see the beauty of the world.

"Why are you a vampire, Andrew? Who turned you?"

"I don't know you. All I know is that this has been me since the beginning, Diana. I don't have any memory of it, though, and what I know is just a few bits and pieces of vague facts and recollections."

"Really? You don't remember your past? Your human life or anything?" Aw! So cool. He was just like a mushroom who happened to appear anywhere and poof!

"No. I don't remember anything."

She didn't look away immediately, and he certainly had no intention of breaking eye contact. If it were up to her, she could have spent the rest of the morning sitting there like that and gazing at his mesmerising blue eyes. 

“Dracula has red eyes; yours is blue.”

“Is that a question?” Andrew frowned.

“I'm just trying to keep the conversation going; don't be such an ass.”

“Dracula is fiction. I am real.”

“Dracula can turn into a bat. He is a badass, and you can't, so yeah, blame me for liking him.”

“Is that supposed to insult me?”

“Maybe,” she grinned. “But anyway, why are you not scared of the sunlight and didn't turn into dust or shimmer like Edward fucking Collen?”

"That, too, is fiction.”

“Really? Jezz, real vampires are boring.”

"That was a stupid Hollywood portrayal of our kind; those movies have been overly exaggerated. So no, the sun doesn't kill our kind."

"Garlic?"

"No."

"Cross?"

"Fucking no! I felt insulted!” his mouth opened with disbelief. He thought she didn't seem bothered by his reaction though. She sort of enjoyed these mind games, like they were playing some sort of stupid twenty question.

Diana grinned, "Holy water?"

"No, that bullshit is just water, and who the fuck is Edward?"

“Seriously? You don't know them? Like really, really don't know them?”

Poor thing. She thought to herself disappointedly.

“Am I supposed to be acquainted with them?”

"Ah, you poor thing. Don't worry. I'll introduce you to them later. You poor baby.”

“Diana, what on earth are you thinking? And trust me, I'm not poor. I have all the money and time in the world. I am a vampire, but I am never a poor thing.”

She rolled her eyes. Poor thing! So innocent and stupid!

“I'll pretend that I never heard you, okay? But my friends used to call me the human vampire of Twilight! "

“I see now, you are talking about that silly movie about a vampire who shimmered in the sun? What was it again? A twilight?”

She nodded her head, smiling. Finally,their conversation was going somewhere, she thought.

“Those pathetic fools?”

Her eyes widened, and she raised her eyebrow as if daring him to tell her how boring those movies were.

Try it! Tell me, or I'm going to turn you into a bat, and I'll pluck those silly wings, and I'll barbeque you. Go on! Tell me Twilight is boring. Dare me, Andrew!

He thought hard, smirking, but the movie meant nothing to him. None came to mind; what was this vampire movie that made her idolise this Edward fool, anyway? He thought, "I don't watch those stupid movies," he finally admitted.

That did it! Abracadabra, and I'm turning you into a fucking hairless babybat! You stupid dick!

Poof, you're a bat now!

If only it was that easy!

She breathed in really hard and stood with renewed vigour of a villain, "Seriously? You thought the movie is stupid?” Her question was sarcastic, she knew that, then again, he was a jerk! She glanced at her empty cup of coffee and thought how satisfying it would be if he could just throw the non-existing hot liquid to his face.

"Yes!" Andrew grinned.

She sat again. "Whatever, okay, I can take that, but how about Jacob?"

"Woman, what the hell are you talking about?"

Oh my God!

Diana closed his eyes for a second, like she was contemplating something very deadly, though she seemed unfazed. But honestly, Andrew lost the train of his thoughts when he saw that she was using her index finger to wipe some coffee foam from the corner of her mouth. She was like an innocent baby, like an enchanting goddess of Eden. He couldn't even stop himself from staring at her lips, even though she was talking about this Jacob thing. He followed her movement carefully, like the way she licked her lips absentmindedly, like it was such an ordinary thing to do. He was enchanted and drawn to her. He knew for sure that Diana’s lips were now officially a tossup feature in her that interested him more than anything in the world.

"I mean, you know that he is a werewolf, right?”

“What?”

“Jacob, he is a werewolf; you know werewolves, right? Those hairy, amazing eight abs, naked creature with a strong muscular shoulder and huge... You know…never mind." She paused, realising her mistake. Andrew wasn't even listening to her. He was watching her mouth like he was about to devour her. “Can you stop staring at my mouth? I've brushed my teeth, you know,” she lied. “But if you can smell my breath, surely you can…you know,” she sighed. “I ate bacon and everything the chef cooked, so yeah…um, you know.”

He frowned. “What?”

"Whatever, you’re not even listening to me.”

"Unfortunately, I am,” he grinned, still staring at her lips.

“Fine, seeing that you are a vampire, you know, werewolf, right?”

“Oh, yes, the werewolf community existed. Long time ago. But they don't have those eight abs you mention; instead, they have a deadly stinky breath and furry bodies that will make you not want to get near them; trust me, I know, they smell and are covered in fDianas too."