You've been marked

The girl dropped the tray on a table and bowed before leaving. Leah went to the bathroom to wash her hands before returning back to the room. She sat on a couch close to the table and began to devour the fruits one by one. She closed her eyes, moaning as she munched a strawberry, totally ignoring the man sitting opposite her.

Lucius mood slowly lightens as he watched Leah chew the fruit in her mouth loudly. She looked like a starved squirrel as she munched the strawberry in her mouth. She would shut her eyes and moan whenever she takes a bite from a fruit. Lucius rested his jaw on his knuckles as he watched Leah in amusement without her notice.

Leah stopped chewing when she felt a pair of eyes on her, she slowly opens her eyes to find Lucius staring at her. She rolled her eyes at him on resumed chewing her fruit.

"Can you stop staring. You're making me uneasy." Leah said as she picks up another fruit from the tray.

"I can't help it. You look so adorable and sexy when you eat."

Leah almost choked on the apple in her throat. She stared at Lucius like he was mad.

'Was this man flirting with her.' She thought to herself.

She knew that there was nothing sexy about the way she ate. People have always told her how she ate like a rodent; a rat to be precise.

"Thanks Mr, but i don't think i look adorable or sexy right now." Leah said, picking up another fruit from the tray again.

"You do, it's just that you can't see your face when you eat." Lucius said, resting his back on the couch.

Leah had a slight blush on her chicks as she chewed the strawberry in her mouth slower this time. She sat properly when she was done eating.

"What happened to me the night you found." Leah questions Lucius immediately she finished eating. "My memory is a bit fuzzy."

Lucius glanced at the window before staring back at her. "Nothing serious happened. Except that, your neighbor sneaked into your apartment and hit your head with a flowerpot." Lucius said, with a serious face.

Leah was shocked by what she heard. Why would any of her neighbor sneak into her house and attack her. All her neighbors were very nice so she couldn't think of anyone who would do such a thing. She tried thinking but it only made her head hurt even more.

Her eyes widened when she remembered her dog; max, who she had been looking for that night.

"I need to go home." Leah stood up from the couch in panic. "I have a little puppy at home and..."

"Your dog is okay, Leah. I brought it here." Lucius said to her relieve.

She exhaled in relief. "Thank you, so much." She thanked him and sat down back.

"How did you enter my apartment? I remember locking my door after I came in that day. So how did you enter?"

"I broke your door." Lucius replied her with a bored expression.

Leah narrowed her eyes at him. Something didn't feel right. The fact that he brought her here instead of taking her to a hospital was questionable.

And she felt weird, she was supposed to be worried and scared or experiencing negative emotions right now, but for some reason, she felt too calm about the whole thing. She is in a strangers manor for crying out loud, so why wasn't she panicking. She felt warning bells ringing in her head, telling her to leave this place.

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr." Leah flashed him a small smile. "But I need to leave now. I have a lot of explaining to give to my boss for my absence."

"Don't worry about your boss. You can talk to her tomorrow."

'Or maybe never.' Lucius thought in his head as closes his eyes.

"I really want to go home, I'm just home sick and I don't want to be a bother to you."

"Your can never be a bother to me, Leah. I find your presence really comforting." Lucius said and opened his eyes. He stared at her intently. "I want you to understand that."

Leah was speechless. She did not understand why Lucius was speaking that way. They were merely acquaintance who had met only twice. Even though their previous meeting didn't end badly as the first one did, that didn't mean that they were close. So how was she evening comforting to this man.

Leah cleared her throat and stands up before speaking. "Umm, okay, but I want to go home now. I just need a ride back."

'You would be needing more than a ride home.' Lucius thought inwardly.

He sighed and stands too. "I would love to take you back home, I would really love to, but the problem is you can't leave this manor."

"What do you mean by that?" Leah asked with a frown.

"I'll go straight to the point. I am a vampire and I am sure that you know what that means because you come from a hunters family, am I right?" Lucius asked her with a serious look.

"What?" Leah stared at him like he was crazy. "What are you saying?" Leah asked, smirking. "Vampire huh? And am a hunter?" Leah asked folding her hands.

Lucius sighed.

"I don't normally do this whole explaining stuff, I usually bite those unbelieving humans and that always works." Lucius said, his lips curving into a pleased smirk. "But your different, so I'll show you." Lucius eyes turns red and his fang elongated. Leah eyes widened as stared at his fangs in horror.

She tried backing away but her legs hit the couch behind her and she fell back down on the couch.

"Your going to kill me, aren't you?" Leah asked him from where she sat.

"No, I won't. You have quite a silly imagination. If I wanted to kill you I would have done that the two days ago." Lucius fangs went back in and his eyes returned back to it normal blue.

Leah relaxed a little.

'He did have a point.' Leah thought to herself.

He would have killed her already if he wanted to but he didn't.

"If you don't intend to kill me, then why can't I leave?"

Lucius sat down back on the couch. "You've been marked, Leah. Your neighbor, the one who attacked you was a witch; a black witch in fact. She left a mark on you to enable the other witches find you, so it isn't safe for you to go back. This is the only safe place for you right now because they won't be able to come near this area."

Leah stared at her palm silently as she tried to process everything that Lucius said. She couldn't believe that she was in this kind of mess. She knew what a black witch's mark was; it was a beacon placed on a person through skin contact. She had tried so hard to hide from her past, to forget everything, but now it was all catching up to her in an upgraded form.

Lucius understood that the whole thing must be conflicting and confusing for Leah. He was also confused when he found Kat in her house that night. But he knew one thing for sure, she was definitely important, or else a witch like Kat wouldn't have tried attacking her.

He knew that she needed sometime alone to think so he stood up, ready to leave.

"Someone will come get you once dinner is ready," Lucius said, walking towards the door.

Leah raises her head to look at his back as he walked towards the door.

"Wait." She called out to him and he stopped and turned to face her.

Leah brought down her eyes to her palm again. She had just two more questions for him.

"Why was I marked?" She asked, raising her eyes up to stare at him.

She needed to know the reason why a black witch had marked her. There must be a reason because there was always a reason for everything.

"I don't know," Lucius replied her and she slowly nods.

"Why are you doing all this." Leah asked Lucius.

Lucius tilts his head as he stared at her. "Doing what?" He asked.

"Helping me. Why are you helping me? I mean, you barely know me so why are you helping me?" Leah asked, curiosity in her voice.

He was silent for a moment. Why was he helping her? It was the same question he had asked himself the night he brought her here, but he wasn't able to answer that question. He had felt drawn to her the moment he first saw her at that ball, it felt like he was meant to protect her even though they had never met before.

He gazed into those pair of curious green eyes, patiently waiting for his answer. An answer that he himself hadn't even been able to answer his own self.

"I don't know, Leah." He gave her the same reply and exits the room. Leah leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes in introspection.

...

Lucius opened the door to his study and stepped inside. His mood turned icy when he saw the two persons in the room. He stared at the woman sitting on his desk, with a sweet smile plastered on her face; which he found pesky. His eyes moves to Alexander who had a poker face as he slowly sipped the liquid in his glass.

Lucius closed the door before walking to the chair behind his desk and sat down.

"What are you doing here, Grace." Lucius asked the woman sitting on his desk without sparing her a glance.

"I came to see you." Grace said, her voice filled with enthusiasm.

Lucius raised up his head to look at her. "I did not send for you, so leave." Lucius orders her bluntly.

"But I..." Grace started but Lucius cuts her.

"Don't make me repeat himself, Grace." Lucius warned.

Grace flinched at the coldness in Lucius voice and immediately stood up from the desk.

"I'll come back another time," She said but Lucius did not reply her, instead he brought out a cigar from the cigarette box on his desk, putting it between his lips, before lighting it.

Grace cleared her throat in embarrassment before leaving the room.

Lucius turned to glare at Alexander who now had an amused expression on his face.