"Hot in the Desert-2"

Ivory was surprised to hear him say her name for the first time, and it made her heart beat like war drums. His deep voice sounded so sexy. She wanted to avoid his gaze because of embarrassment, but because of the way he firmly held the back of her head, she couldn't look away.

"I said it's nothing, why are you-" Ivory was interrupted when she saw his eyes glow once again. Sigmund's eyes glow whenever he's serious.

She finally concluded that Sigmund has been acting so possessive after their Contract Ritual because he did not want to break their bond and trust unlike what had happened in the past when his past Master kept a secret from him.

"Fine! Fine! I'll tell you what's on my mind!"

"Good girl. So what is it about?"

"It's… you! I was thinking about you!" Ivory exclaimed. Her reply made her Servant calm down, so he finally let go of her head and sat up straight. She added while blushing, "I was thinking about… where you would… bite…"

Pleased that he was the one occupying his Master's mind, Sigmund smirked, "Where do you want me to bite you?"

"Uhm… I… Uhh…" She stuttered, still avoiding his gaze. "In my… p… pfinger!"

Sigmund chuckled as he took his Master's hand, "As you wish, dimwit." He licked her pointing finger, then lightly bit her with his fangs. His bite was not that deep; it was just enough to let the blood ooze.

Ivory stared at Sigmund as he sucked her finger. She noticed how handsome he was in front of the fireplace. Again, she felt attracted to his features, and the more she recalled how he had saved her more than once in the past, the more she felt her romantic feelings for him grow. However, knowing that they couldn't be lovers, Ivory only settled with telling her secrets to her Vampire Servant but never her true feelings for him.

Sigmund's tongue gently licked her bleeding finger before grazing his lips on her fingertip. He then noticed his Master staring at him which caused her to blush even more, making her pull away her hand from his. Ivory, whose heart was already beating crazy, quickly turned around, laid on the bed, and faced the wall. She was about to cover herself with the blanket, but Sigmund slid next to her and tucked themselves under the cover.

"Go to your bed, Sigmund," Ivory murmured before shutting her eyes.

"You might get cold, so I'm staying next to you, weakling," Sigmund murmured as well and almost rested his forehead on her nape.

Ivory felt his breath on her skin. She thought of sleeping on the other bed, so she slowly tried to get up, but Sigmund placed his arm around her waist the moment he felt his Master moving away from him.

"You're not going anywhere-"

As soon as Ivory turned to him, Sigmund's lips almost grazed over her forehead and her hair, which made her unable to move.

The Servant gazed at his Master before speaking in a low tone, "Good night." and Ivory stayed still, only having an inch of sleep that night.

The next morning, as Educators Alphonse and Alexandra were talking with the two of them while waiting for their relatives...

"Don't worry, one or two thieves will be easy for you to shoo away. So, while not doing anything, and since you're here to be punished, you might as well clean the house," Educator Alexandra said. "They can do that, right?"

Educator Alphonse laughed, "Yes, yes. Also, please feed the camels in the shelter. And please organize my library, and…"

The list of errands kept on adding and Ivory just nodded at everything as she also kept herself from yawning in front of the Educators, while Sigmund raised his eyebrow as he listened quietly.

Their relatives then arrived. The Educators bid their farewell, and the Iceburgh family left the residence in the care of Ivory and Sigmund.

"Time to… clean, I guess," Ivory finally yawned and stretched her arms up lazily. "Sigmund, let's feed the camels first, then-"

She was interrupted when she turned and saw him walking back to the house!

"Sigmund! Don't tell me you're running away from the errands?" She walked fast to reach him, "Help me organize the scrolls in Educator Alphonse's library."

"Why should I help you? You're the one who got punished, not me."

"You're so mean! I thought you're going to help me because you're my Servant!" Ivory pouted. The two of them passed by an arched doorway and reached the brick brown colored living room with an open ceiling. It was spacious, with only a lounge sofa set and a vintage red rug on the right part of the room. There were pots hanging on the wall, which served as decors, and a carved nightstand was situated at the corner. Alphonse's library was located at the side of the living room.

Sigmund headed for the cushioned seat and sat with a figure four leg cross. Seeing that her stubborn Servant did not want to clean the house, she proceeded to enter the library. The entrance was an irregularly-shaped arch, and only a linen curtain hung on a wooden bar gave the room privacy.

Despite not getting enough sleep, Ivory started looking through the scrolls scattered on the wide, rectangular clay table. Almost all scrolls were labeled through a string tied at the top of it, and there she started sorting according to topic. There were several topics about tactics, and some were about fisheries. She took a long time organizing the documents, and when she was done, she decided to place them on the empty shelves behind her.

One by one, she reached out to put the scrolls on the shelves. But she struggled to reach the upper shelves, so she took the dusty chair from the back of the room, dragged it, and stepped on it.

Unfortunately, she did not notice that it had cracks on its old, wooden legs. As soon as she placed both feet on the seat, the wooden legs broke, and just in time, Sigmund hastily went to her and caught her in his arms, preventing her from falling to the ground.

"Stupid woman. Why did you… Ugh, what are you going to do without me," Sigmund worriedly assisted her to sit on his lap after their butts fell flat on the floor. "Good thing I peeked to see how you were doing."

"I told you I need your help! But you said-"

"Fine, fine. I forgot how clumsy you were," for a moment, Sigmund gazed at his Master's face. He wiped the sweat on her forehead with his fingers, "I guess I have no choice but to help you, weakling."

The truth was, Sigmund was just messing with her when he told her that he wouldn't help. He planned on seeing how long she could do the errands alone, and he was very delighted to see that he was needed by his Master.

Together, they did the other errands, as well. Sigmund took the bucket of grains and the sack of grass to the camel shelter, while Ivory helped in pouring water from the barrels to the clay basins. They wiped the dusty, painted clay pots displayed on the shelves in the living room and the kitchen. When Ivory's stomach growled, Sigmund harvested some prickly pear cactus in the backyard. He accompanied her to the dining room and watched her gobble the fruits. He teased her about being a pig, and Ivory jokingly hit him in his arm. The two were bickering the whole afternoon, even as they lit up the torches and fireplaces around the house at sunset.

Finally, when the sun made its way to the newly lit fire pit in front of the house, the two of them sat on the sofa made of hardened clay to rest, and at the same time, to guard the house.

The sand, even though it was not near the sea, had its ripples that would definitely feel better when one's feet had landed on it. Ivory rested her back on the pillow while wearing a thick cloak and enjoyed the windy, cold night.

Ivory glanced at Sigmund, "Today was really tiring, but it was fun even though I didn't get enough sleep!" She rolled her eyes but giggled afterwards.

"You didn't get enough of what?" Sigmund cocked a brow. "You were snoring and clinging to me the whole-"

She turned beet red and quickly covered his mouth with her hand, "And… It's fun to see you working hard! I can't wait to tell Lucius and Arcea about this!"

He removed her hand, "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't finish all the errands," Sigmund proudly said. "I am the Great Sigmund of the Vampire Class. I can do anything. Errands are nothing for me."

"If errands are easy, then you won't replenish your mana today?" Ivory looked at him with curiosity.

"Dimwit, I still need to replenish mana. Because whenever I breathe and move, I use mana," he leaned in nearer to her and touched her long, silver hair. "Now… Where should I bite this time?"

"Sigmund…" Ivory gazed into his eyes. "Can you bite a little more… gentle?"

"But I am gently biting you lately, aren't I?" He smiled at her, touching her cloak and shoving the cloth at the part of her neck. Her light skin was now exposed.

"It's cold, please don't remove it... Aaaaa-" Ivory's words were interrupted when Sigmund suddenly lowered his face down her chin and bit the left side of her neck.

He paused for a moment, blood trickling down on her neck, and whispered, "Are you still cold?"

"Yes…"

The Vampire embraced her as he continued drinking her blood; his hands settled on her back. At first, Sigmund hadn't planned on biting her deep in the flesh, but his Master's scent drove him crazy for some reason. As his wet tongue grazed her wound, Ivory called his name in a soft voice, which made Sigmund feel something unusual awaken within him. Careful to let a single drop of blood be wasted, he did not mind these thoughts and continued concentrating on sucking his Master's blood. And so, with the moon as their witness, the two of them shared mana and warmth in front of the fireplace.

But their peaceful mana replenishing was interrupted when Sigmund heard some noises nearby. The two of them were shocked to see several silhouettes of people at one side of the house!