9 Vampire Gardens

"Is there any way you can bring these people in after nightfall tomorrow?" Ash asked a bit desperately.

He needed to sleep. If he didn't get an adequate day's rest soon, he might snap and Ruby would lose what little trust she had in him. He couldn't allow that to happen. However brief their partnership was, he needed that trust to remain.

She didn't seem like the type that trusted easily considering the levels of paranoia it took to glamour herself as another type of fae. Why an elf? Wouldn't it have made more sense to be another vampire?

Though Ash supposed a real vampire wouldn't be awake looking for services during daylight hours. As it was, he was barely holding onto his sanity. Daytime was the worst.

"I can try," Ruby said a bit doubtfully. "But if you sucked it up another few days, they would be done a lot faster. Then you could sleep for like a week uninterrupted. Besides, it should be a lot quieter  now that the major wind magic is done. It's pretty much the water fairies' game from here on out."

He could deal with that but… "I'm going to have to take you up on that offer for ear plugs. I need to go into town to get more blood pills anyway." A thought occurred to him that hadn't before. "Have you had anything to eat since coming here?"

"You're asking me this now?" she asked a bit wryly. "I hope you never have actual houseguests if you forget that they need to eat to live. I had something in town earlier and have been snacking on berries around your property. I would go grocery shopping but I'm afraid to put any food in that kitchen until it's been thoroughly cleaned. I'll survive until then."

Oops. Ash really should have asked earlier. He never spent enough time around races that needed real food for that sort of thing to register with him. Vampires only needed a glass of blood every three days to get by.

"Forgive me," he said lamely. "I should have anticipated your needs better."

Ruby shrugged. "It's fine. I figured you aren't used to worrying about beings that need food. Vampires usually stick to themselves, don't they?"

"Yes. We deal with the witches to get things we can't make ourselves but that's about it."

"Am I the first fairy you met then?" she asked curiously. "I only ask because you're my first vampire."

"I don't know what you would categorize as 'met.' I've seen fairies around but it's not like I ever had a need to talk to them. You're the first I had a real conversation with," Ash admitted.

Fairies lived out in the light. When would a vampire ever get to know one naturally? Over the centuries, he had seen them zipping through the sky in the distance or while doing transactions with witches but that was just about it.

Ruby nodded her understanding and went quiet for a moment with an unreadable expression on her false elven face. Her usual glamour's features were softer and rounder than the sharp ones of an elf.

Ash wanted to know what she was thinking but, before he could muster up the courage to ask, she stood and smiled at him. "This is kind of presumptuous of me but do you want to know what you could do to make this garden magnificent?"

He nearly laughed. So he had been right about her appraising it earlier. "Will you really have the money to hire a gardener on top of everything else?"

An insulted expression crossed her face. "First of all, how dare you doubt me when I've already made you over $10,000. Second, how dare you think I would ever hire a gardener?! I'm an earth fairy! I was made for this!"

The desire to laugh was growing harder to contain but Ash didn't want to insult her further. This girl was a spitfire! He had never met anyone like her. Vampires were much more reserved. Not a single member of his coven had ever talked to him like this.

"My apologies. I had nearly forgotten because you look like an elf right now," he teased.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just follow me. I need something to do while I'm stuck here so I can make this my pet project while you're asleep. I'll lay out my plan for you but feel free to tell me if there's anything you don't like or want to change."

She showed him around pointing out things that needed trimming or straight up removing, telling him what would look nice where. She even accounted for the fact that she didn't know what his taste might be like.

"If you're interested in the dark aesthetic, I can incorporate that instead of making things bright. Darkness can be beautiful too. I've never seen a vampire garden before though so I'm not sure if you want everything to be all spooky or not."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "What would you categorize as spooky?"

Humans had certain misconceptions about vampires such as that they slept in coffins and liked things to be creepy but he didn't realize that extended to other fae races as well. He supposed that was what they deserved for staying uninvolved in fae affairs.

But he was having such a fun time watching her go that he didn't want to contradict her. He was curious what her idea of a vampire garden would be.

"Oh, there are plenty of plants that could be spooky!" Ruby said with more enthusiasm than he had seen from her thus far. "There's this type of tree in Australia that has sap that looks like blood and weeping willows can look super creepy in the fog…"

Ruby went on about black Baccara roses, black dahlias, calla lilies, hellebores, and more dark flowers with surprising vigor. Ash was curious enough about her excitement that he didn't want to burst her bubble by saying he didn't care what the garden looked like.

At his last castle, the garden primarily consisted of white and red roses but that hadn't been his choice. Someone else planted that over a hundred years earlier and let others continue to cultivate it.

He let her go on with an amused smile on his face. Maybe having company for a few weeks wouldn't be so bad after all.