No Chance of Concentration

Charles had a long and restless night. Being a vampire, he didn't need much rest. As he sat at his desk in his office trying to do research, or sat in his favorite chair in his room reading, or laid in bed to rest his eyes for a few minutes, all he could focus on was the smell of human blood in the house.

Virginia's blood smelled much like any other human's: it had a metallic base, like a jar of copper pennies, and, depending on the person, either a salty, mineral-like smell or a sweeter, citrus smell, like a grapefruit before it's totally ripe.

However, though he wasn't sure why, to Charles her blood smelled sweeter than any other human's. It was quite an attractive smell, and as much as he tried to ignore it, he couldn't.

It wasn't that he wanted to suck her blood, but it did cause him the desire to be near her. At least, that's what he blamed those desires on.

All through the night, Charles kept wondering what it might be like to touch her.

It had been some time since he'd felt the warmth of a live human, a couple of years probably. He'd reached out to touch her hand to comfort her before they entered the mansion. Her hand was cool from the rain.

It was such a light, brief touch that he wanted to do it again.

At Richard Downing's home, he heard her blood course quickly through her veins, smooth but hurried. That was composed panic. He could see on her face when her father offered her up that she was astonished and afraid, but it was the sound of the pace of her blood that made him feel sorry for her. It made him feel protective of her.

In the car on the way to Prince Mansion, for most of the ride, Virginia's blood had evened out into normal, rhythmic pulses. All she really did was look out the window longingly.

Charles wanted to stroke her back and tell her everything would be fine. But, of course, they were total strangers and she wouldn't have believed him anyway. Not after he'd so willingly and selfishly taken her from her home.

But when they arrived at the mansion, Virginia became afraid. Her heart beat wildly as he looked upon Charles' home. It drove him crazy to hear her blood thrashing frantically through her like that. He couldn't resist the temptation to touch her hand. He wanted to comfort her.

Usually, the sound of blood was similar to that of a clock. Its monotony made it easy to tune out most of the time, but on rare occasions, especially if someone was excited or afraid, it made it difficult to concentrate on anything but that.

That's what Charles was facing now. All through the night and off and on so far this morning, aside from the smell, all he could focus on was the sound of Virginia's blood pulsing quickly. It was as if he were locked in a small room with nothing but a hasty clock.

He was on the floor above her and several rooms down the hall, but he could hear and smell her clear as day.

He wondered what caused her heart to beat so fast all those times through the night. It sounded as if she were afraid, the way her blood thudded hard and fast against the walls of her veins. Once, he'd even heard her ragged breathing turn to a wheeze and her heart pumping out the blood erratically. She was hyperventilating.

He tried to ignore it, but after a long couple of minutes, he rushed down the stairs. He had stopped at her door, with a firm grasp on the door handle, when he hesitated. He wasn't sure he was in any position to be comforting her. And as he stood there in the dark hallway, with a deadly grasp on the doorknob, he heard her slowly calm down and begin to cry.

Since then, he'd gone to his study, which was a bit further from Virginia's room. He did his best to research new artifacts and where they were rumored to be located. He had a few items on his personal list that he hoped to find someday, so he read up on those as well.

It was a long night and several times he found himself mid-sentence in what would have otherwise been a fascinating article, pausing to listen in on Virginia's state. For a couple of hours at least, she seemed to have fallen asleep, and during that time Charles got the most work done.

Around 5:00 a.m. Charles took a break from work and went downstairs to the kitchen.

He retrieved a bag of blood from the fridge and ate. He began to think about Virginia and how she would need sustenance as well. All they had at the mansion presently was a fridge full of blood bags. He rang the two kitchen staff and sent them on an errand to buy some food and directed them to have it prepared by 6:30 a.m. He then found Angela roaming around downstairs and asked her to take Virginia to her breakfast at 6:30.

Angela smiled at Charles with her eyes raised, like she thought she knew something that amused her, but she only said her usual "Yes, sir," and went along her way.

At 6:30, when Virginia was taken to her breakfast, Charles retreated back to his study. He was suddenly nervous to see her and he thought it would be best to give her some space for the time being.

He drew back the curtains in his study on the west wing to let in the faint morning light. He stood at his desk of recently collected artifacts and held one gently in his hands. It was an anthropomorphic and zoomorphic Iron Age belt hook that had been found in Germany.

Charles ran his fingers over the metal and grabbed the magnifying glass from the table. As he was studying the strokes and scratches in the finish, his good friend Giovanni Hutto entered the room.

Charles didn't need to turn around to see who had entered. His best friend was the only one with the audacity to come into his study without an invitation or a knock. Plus, according to the clock, it was about 7:00 a.m., and that's when Giovanni usually came to assist Charles in his research.

"Hutto, will you ever learn to knock?" Charles said, focusing on a dent in the belt plate.

Giovanni laughed. "Why would I need to knock when you're already expecting me?"

Charles rolled his eyes. "Come here and look at this."

"What've you got?"

Charles handed the artifact over to Giovanni. "It's a belt plate. Found it in Bavaria on my last visit."

Giovanni turned it over in his hands.

"See that?" Charles asked, placing the magnifying glass over a spot on the metal.

"Hmm" Giovanni focused on the spot.

"Looks like someone's ass got saved from a stab. I'd say that's the knick of a sharp blade."

Charles smiled. "Yeah, that's what I thought too."

Giovanni placed the artifact gently back on the table and leaned his hip against the table's edge. He squinted at Charles like he was judging him for something.

"What is it?" Charles said after a moment.

"Two-thousand-year-old sword nicks in rusty old metal belt plates are fascinating and all, but I want to talk about something that's even more interesting."

Charles waited. He knew what was coming.

"I was just wondering why there's a juicy little girl downstairs eating human food at the kitchen table." Giovanni teased.

"She was ... my payment from Richard Downing. He wouldn't give up the artifact we'd originally agreed on, so, instead, he paid me with ..."

Giovanni waited expectantly. He tapped his fingers on the table.

"... his daughter." Charles finished slowly, looking away from Giovanni. He was a little embarrassed, a little ashamed.

"Don't tell me we've gone back in time and are accepting people as payment again," Giovanni said mockingly.

Charles rubbed the back of his neck. There was no use in trying to hide anything from Hutto. He was perceptive and he knew Charles all too well.

"How furious was Gabriel?" Giovanni asked, dropping into a more serious tone.

Charles scoffed. "He was pretty mad."

"That sucks. So why'd you taken her? What about the cross?"

Charles sighed and leaned back against the table, craning his neck back to look up at the ceiling. "I honestly don't care about the cross right now."

Giovanni raised an eyebrow in speculation.

"Do you ... like her?"

"What? No."

"Don't. Don't do that," Giovanni said. A playful smile crept across his face. "I see you, boy."

Charles raised his hands in defeat. "I mean, she's beautiful, but there's no way anything could happen."

"Why not? You've dated humans before."

"I don't know. She's different. I mean literally just agreed to take her away from her family and bring her to a house full of vampires."

"Yeah, but you're Charles friggin' Prince. You're like the second wealthiest, most powerful man around. She's gotta dig that."

Charles sighed. "I'm pretty sure the Prince name isn't as positively notorious as you like to play it off to be. I think it'll be better to just let her work here as part of the staff for a while and just let her readjust. I should keep my distance, I think."

Giovanni's playful gaze softened. "You don't sound so sure."

Charles shrugged.

Giovanni nudged Charles' arm with his elbow. "Well, maybe it's for the best. Wouldn't want Eliza to find out about her."