Fated to Love

Rose looked up at the giant mansion in front of her, eyes blurry as tears welled in her eyes. It looked nothing like she had pictured in her mind. There were no bats flying around, no dark ominous aura surrounding the giant building, there were no shrubs, bushes or vines covering or surrounding the walls, and the building wasn't old and rundown. It looked nothing like the vampire mansions she had seen on TV or read about in books.

The giant mansion looked modern and elegant. The walls weren't cracked or falling apart. It was well cared for. The greenery surrounding it was well kept, the paths leading up to the mansion were paved and clean, the windows looked spotless, not even a smudge that she could see as she looked up at them, the decorations around the windows and the doors visible to her were elegant and looked expensive, but it was the front door that stole all of the attention, standing at least thirty, maybe forty feet high from the ground.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked up at the double doors. Just thinking about how much it weighed, how much power it took to open one side made her heart ache. This was her new prison, and the door was the gate that led to her freedom, or incarceration. Looking up at it, she knew she would never be able to open it herself; no way she'd be able to escape.

The sudden thought ran through her mind, that perhaps that was the whole point, to make a giant door, too big or heavy for any normal human to open. Who were they trying to trap inside this giant prison? How many unfortunate humans had been slaughtered here after being kept inside like prisoners?

She swallowed hard and her body shivered at the thought of being stuck behind those doors forever. What would be her fate from now on? Was she going to be killed right way? Would they play with her first? How many vampires would attack her before she actually died?

"Ahh!" She creamed and jerked in shock as a hand landed on her shoulder. She felt the blood drain from her body as fear washed through her. She quickly swung around, heart pounding out of her chest, eyes wide, and arms tightened around herself. She looked into the eyes of the equally shocked driver as he stared back at her.

"I'm sorry miss, I didn't mean to scare you," the driver said, apologetically. "I just wanted to let you know all of your bags are ready," he said politely.

Rose nodded in acknowledgment, body frozen to the spot. Shit. If the vampires didn't kill her, she was going to die from a heart attack! She heard a loud noise behind her and quickly turned realizing the doors to the giant mansion were opening.

Her breath caught at the sight in front of her; five men walking out towards her, dressed elegantly, with an aura of royalty around them. They were all ridiculously handsome, tall, well built, and mysterious. But it was the man in the middle that she couldn't look away from. She knew who he was, Caleb Romanov, the king of all vampires, her future husband.

She stood frozen in place, unable to move a muscle as he walked closer. She swallowed hard as he stopped a couple feet in front of her and looked up into his black smoldering gaze. A shiver ran down her back as fear griped her. She fought the urge to flee, to run away as fast as she could before this monster grabbed her and forced her into his prison. But, she knew she wouldn't get far. They were vampires, and she was a weak human.

"Rose, welcome to your new home," Caleb said stretching out his arm to greet her. He frowned when she didn't move and his eyebrow lifted as she continued to stare up at him. He could see the apprehension, the fear in her eyes, and at once, the hope he'd had for them crumbled. He knew she was scared of them, but the girl in front of him wasn't just scared, she was terrified. She was the perfect image a tiny rabbit trembling in front of her predator.

Rose heard one of the men clear their throat and she jerked out of her terrified trance. She let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding and took a deep breath before she stretched her hand out to take his.

Caleb fought the disappointment he felt, watching her hand trembling as it reached out to him. He smiled down at her and squeezed her hand gently. "Please don't be scared. No one is going to hurt you here. I promise."

She nodded and pulled her hand back. "Thank you," she said.

"Would you like to come in?" he asked, keeping his distance to avoid scaring her even more.

Rose gulped, but nodded her head slowly. It's not like she had a choice. She followed Caleb towards the giant doors and lowered her arms to her sides to tighten them around her dress. She watched him say something to his men before walking to her side to guide her inside. She tried to remain calm and not show her fear, but she knew he could see right through her as he tried to keep his distance from her.

"I'm glad you're here," Caleb said as he looked over at her while he guided her through the entrance and into the foyer.

Rose walked inside, eyes looking around the giant room surrounding her. This, much to her delight was exactly what she had pictured. Stairs on one side of the room curving up to the second floor, elegant furniture decorating every corner, and numerous doors around leading to god knows where.

Rose watched the other men spread around the room and disappear in different directions. She jumped in surprise when she heard the door shut behind her. This was it, her life was officially over. There was no way out for her anymore. There was no escape.

Caleb led her up the stairs towards the second floor, watching as she looked around, inspecting her surroundings, and part of him wondered if she was looking for a way out. A smile crept up his lips at the thought. He didn't like the idea of her running away from him, but it made him smile anyways as he thought about her stumbling around his home trying to find an exit.

"Your house is beautiful and elegant. I didn't expect this."

His eyebrow rose. "What were you expecting; coffins, bats, and corpses lying around?" he asked with a chuckle.

Her cheeks burned, realizing what she had said. "No, of course not," she said, shaking her head. "I just… it's bright in here," she said, grabbing on to the first excuse that came to mind.

"So you were expecting something dark and gloomy?"

She cleared her throat, realizing she was just digging her grave deeper the more she talked.

Caleb smiled as he watched the tint on her cheeks and the way she nervously played with the cloth of her dress. They finally reached the door to her room and he opened it as she stood behind him.

Rose watched as he opened the door, grateful that it was normal sized, so she could open it and close it as she pleased, and then followed him inside. She looked around and smiled as she spotted a bookshelf lining the left wall of the room.

"Your father said you liked reading," Caleb explained as he watched her walk towards the bookshelf enthusiastically.

"Thank you," she said as she looked over at him. "This is very nice."

"These are just a few books I had picked out for you. The study downstairs has a bigger selection if you're ever interested."

She nodded and turned around to keep looking at the room. There was a giant bed against the wall opposite the door, with dressers and a vanity on either side, a couple doors to her left, and to her right a fireplace and a floor to ceiling window. She walked towards the window and her eyebrows lifted in surprise, realizing it wasn't a window, but double doors leading to an outside balcony.

"Do you like it?" Caleb asked, wearily.

"It's a door," she said, stating the obvious.

"Yes, it's a door," Caleb repeated, frowning.

"Aren't you afraid I'm going to try and run away?" she asked as she pointed towards the door.

Caleb chuckled. "No, I'm not. I believe if you were going to run away, you would have done it already."

She looked up at him and met his eyes, those black piercing eyes that seemed to look right through her. Her breath caught as she watched a slight glimmer in them and she quickly turned back to look at the doors.

Fuck. He cursed himself for getting carried away and showing his emotions, but when she had looked up at him so casually, he had been caught off guard and the thoughts and emotions that had ran through him left his gaze glued to hers. "This will be your room for a few months, until we get married. After that we will move into the room on the top floor."

She nodded, but refused to turn around and look at him again as fear crept up inside her again. "Okay," she said and continued to look out the glass doors.

"My room is the one next door if you need anything," he said as he watched her back stiffen. He smiled at her reaction, wondering what was going through her mind.

"You're sleeping next door?" she asked, and finally turned around to look at him. She had a bad feeling about this. He wouldn't dare and sneak into her room at night right? Vampire or not, he still had to respect her wishes.

"Yes. And if you need anything at all, just let me know, or you simply clap your hands and say what you want. Someone will come and deliver whatever it is you wish."

Her eyebrows lifted. "Really?"

He smiled at her shock. "Yes. Go ahead, try it."

Rose felt silly doing it, but she clapped her hands anyways. "I would like a glass of water," she said and gasped when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," Caleb said.

Rose's eyes widened as she watched a woman in her forties walk inside the room, holding a glass of water. She swallowed hard as the woman walked up to her and handed her the glass. "Thank you," she said as she stared at the woman in shock. Witchcraft? Magic?

"If you need anything else miss, please let me know," the woman said and turned around to walk towards the door.

Rose lifted the glass to her lips and chugged. Her whole life was a fucking mess and things just kept getting weirder every day. She put the glass on top of a small table next to the fireplace and turned to look at him again, looking at him up and down. Rumors didn't do him justice; he was more attractive than she'd heard. To be honest, he was the most attractive guy she had ever seen. He was like a Greek god, in modern clothes, with dark penetrating eyes.

Caleb smiled as he saw her eyes roaming his body. He had to admit he was very surprised when he saw her again today. She was more beautiful than he remembered. The last time he had seen her was about a month ago, when he had barely started this deal with her father. They had met briefly, but they didn't have a chance to speak. So Caleb had suggested she move into his home a couple months before the wedding, so they could get to know each other, and she could familiarize herself with her new home.

Rose frowned as she looked at the rippling muscles that almost seemed to break out of the sleeves of his white shirt. Holy crap! How much did a person have to work out to have such amazing arms? She suddenly remembered he was a vampire, the king of vampires, to be exact, so of course he was going to look this perfect.

"Is there anything else I can get for you? Anything else you need while I'm here?" he asked with a warm smile.

Rose looked up into his eyes, wondering who he was, what kind of man he really was. "Can I get my freedom back?" she asked, keeping his gaze. She watched his eyes lose their softness before turning sharp and intimidating. She shivered, feeling the temperature in the room suddenly drop.

Caleb took a few steps forward and stopped in front of her. He raised his hand to her face and lifted her chin to look up at him. "I'll tell you this once, because you've already mentioned leaving twice. Forget about escaping. Forget about the life you had before you came here, and forget about having a future without me. You're going to be my wife, and I will not allow you to run away from me. I will follow you to hell if that's what it takes to find you. Do you understand?"

She swallowed hard as his words ran through her mind. She nodded slowly.

"Good. Now that that's clear, I will leave you so you can rest. You must be tired."

"T-thank you," she said, nervously.

He sighed and turned around. "I'll have someone come and get you for dinner. Today, all you have to do is relax."

Rose watched the back of her captor move away from her until finally it was out of sight. She sighed with when she saw the door shut and quickly ran to lock it. She turned around, leaned back against the door and sank slowly to the floor as she realized how stupid it was to lock a door in a house full of vampires. A dark shadow enveloped her, clenching her heart painfully. She lifted her knees, wrapping her hands around them to bury her face against them as she resigned herself to her fate.