Chapter 7
On Ji-Su’s second full night at Raul’s, he wandered the ranch, getting to know where everything was.
Gloria had offered to have someone show him around the large estate.
But since he didn’t have any of his gaming systems there yet, he didn’t have much to do during the night.
He liked taking long walks around the property on his own to fill the time.
It was a beautiful home both inside and out. The mansion’s exterior was constructed of pale-yellow stone and honey oak beams with a multitude of white-framed windows. At night, nearly all the windows were lit, which made the mansion glow gold.
They were in Michigan but the interior would have been right at home in Texas, Mexico or the American southwest. Gray stone and earth tones were brightened by splashes of color. The floors on the main level were polished dark wood and lined with thick throw rugs.
Every room was large yet warmly decorated, lit by expensive chandeliers, and filled with designer furniture that was big and sturdy enough for a man of Raul’s size to relax in.
Oil paintings depicting vaqueros hard at work or mustangs running free over grassy plains graced the walls, and the high ceilings were held up by wide, dark wood beams.
Ji-Su explored all the main areas. There was the great room where Raul had brought him last night, a dining room with a massive oak wood dining table, and a game room that had a pool table, air hockey, and a black felt topped card table.
Earlier that evening, he’d gone down a short set of steps behind the bar area and found an indoor Jacuzzi surrounded on three sides by glass walls.
The room was meant for both entertainment and relaxation since there was a TV securely mounted on a stand across from the hot tub.
The kitchen was built for function but prettily decorated in shades of white, orange, and blue.
Across from the breakfast room, was a relatively small den with deep burgundy suede couches and a wide screen TV set into the wall.
Ji-Su hadn’t opened the doors upstairs, but he assumed the bedrooms were as nice as his own.
Outside, his car had been moved to the multi-vehicle garage at the rear of the main house.
He’d peeked inside to see his Kia parked along with luxury cars, work trucks, four wheelers, and two golf carts.
Also on the estate were two guest houses and multiple buildings where the ranch hands, servants, and guards stayed.
The grounds were well kept with acres of grass spreading out in every direction.
There were stables he hadn’t visited, a large greenhouse, and a gazebo with padded seating all connected by neatly paved stone paths lined with tall electric torch lights.
At the rear of the house there was lush greenery, several decks, and a small garden courtyard.
The biggest deck where he currently stood had comfy outdoor furniture and a brick fire pit.
Below the deck was a boulder and plant lined pond with a tiny fountain bubbling in the center.
It was a nice spot, peaceful and quiet in the dark night.
That quiet was broken when boots rasped over stone a second before someone called his name.
“Ji-Su.”
He turned to see Raul approaching the deck from the stone path on the left. The vampire was dressed in black pants and a black Western dress shirt stitched with an elaborate scrolling pattern in blue thread. Tonight, his belt buckle was silver with a blue stone in the center.
When Raul stepped onto the deck, he towered over Ji-Su, and the lights outlining his shape from behind made it appear as if he glowed.
Since they were standing mostly in the shadows, his dark brown eyes did glow.
The vampire trait turned his normally brown irises to an incandescent bronze.
As Ji-Su took in the big, handsome vampire, his breath caught in his chest for a moment before he spoke.
“Hi,” he greeted his new patron with a welcoming smile. “It’s really nice here.”
“I’m glad you like it. There’s lots to do on the ranch. We have walking trails, horses, and four wheelers. The pond here isn’t for fishing, but there’s a spot farther out that’s stocked.”
“I’m not really the outdoorsy type. But it would be nice to sit outside and play my Nintendo Switch once I have it.
” Ji-Su tucked his hair behind his ears with a half-embarrassed smile.
Someone as rugged as Raul would probably laugh at the idea of taking technology outside when there were so many physically active things to do.
“There’s plenty of good spots for that too. I like to sit on the deck and play solitaire sometimes. Enjoy the grounds however you choose.”
Ji-Su’s smile went from half-embarrassed to pleased. Not only did Raul not mock him, he shared a non-physical leisure activity that he enjoyed. That made him feel even more comfortable. “Thank you. I will.”
Raul smiled down at him.
“I’m sure we can find an extra-long extension cord if you want to set up your gaming system outside.”
Ji-Su laughed at the gentle teasing. “Cedric always called my video games and other interests silly.”
“I promise I won’t ever talk to you that way,” Raul said sincerely.
“I appreciate that.” He’d only been at the ranch a couple of days but the differences he’d noticed between Raul and Cedric were vast. He felt lucky to be here with Raul.
“You’ve been so nice to me I’m having a hard time believing you’re real.
Are you sure this isn’t an elaborate scheme to get me into a time share?
” he playfully asked, referring back to their first conversation.
Raul laughed, his eyes glowing brighter with his amusement. “I’m sure. I would have shown you my PowerPoint slide show by now if I were trying to sell you a timeshare.”
“I guess I’m safe then.”
Raul leaned in close. “You’re safe for now. But you’d better run if I break out the presentation screen and the brochure packet.”
Ji-Su had to laugh at the silliness of their conversation. “I will. But I don’t think I can outrun a vampire.”
“You can’t. I’d catch you.”
As Ji-Su stared up into those softly glowing eyes while listening to Raul’s rough, flirty voice, it was on the tip of his tongue to admit that he wouldn’t try too hard to get away if Raul were to chase him.
But the sliding door behind them opened and a staff member poked their head out, interrupting their playful conversation.
“Sir, there’s a delivery for Mr. Ji-Su.”
Ji-Su looked at the servant in surprise. “For me?”
“Yes.”
Ji-Su and Raul went back in together, Ji-Su wondering who would have sent him something. In the entrance hall, servants carried in several packing boxes.
“Cedric must have sent over all of my stuff. That’s surprisingly nice of him to have it packed up for me.
” He smiled, relieved that Cedric wasn’t being horrible about him leaving and that he had his belongings back without having to go through the awkwardness of returning to Cedric’s town house.
“Do you mind taking them up to my room?” he politely asked the servants.
“Of course not, Mr. Ji-Su.”
They started to head for the staircase. Ji-Su followed so he could unpack but Raul called out to them before they hit the first step.
“Hold up.”
Every one stopped and looked at the head of the household.
“Take the boxes into my office. I want to look through them first.”
Ji-Su frowned. “But it’s only my clothes and gaming equipment.”
Raul came over and put a light hand on his shoulder.
“I know. But humor me, okay?”
Ji-Su only took a second to think about it. There was no harm in waiting a few minutes so that Raul could assure himself that everything was fine with the delivery. And it was nice that Raul cared enough to check. With a nod, he agreed to the request.
AS SOON AS RAUL SAW the boxes, he knew not to let Ji-Su open them on his own.
He had a bad feeling about the delivery and suspected that Cedric hadn’t sent Ji-Su’s belongings over out of the goodness of his heart.
Cedric suddenly doing something nice didn’t make sense after his prior treatment of Ji-Su.
At his order, the servants changed direction and carried the boxes into his office. Raul followed behind, accompanied by Burke who’d come in from the direction of the kitchen. When Ji-Su tried to enter the room, Raul stepped in front of him.
“Wait in the hall. I’ll let you know if it’s okay for you to look through them.” He could see on Ji-Su’s face that he thought he was being overly cautious. And perhaps he was. But he’d rather be safe than sorry.
He left the office door open so that Ji-Su wasn’t completely in the dark as to what was going on. While Ji-Su hovered in the doorway, the servants set the neatly taped brown cardboard boxes down on the office floor.
“I need a knife.”
One of the guards who’d helped carry in the boxes pulled a switch blade from his back pocket.
“Here you go, boss,” he said as he passed it over.
Raul accepted the knife and flipped it open, the metal blade flashing under the overhead light.
He kneeled down and cut the closest box open along the top seam and opened it up.
The stench of dried urine hit him first. Raul grimaced and drew back in disgust. Cursing under his breath, he leaned back in to see what was inside.
The box was stuffed with Ji-Su’s clothes.
Hoodies, sweaters, pants, underwear. But none of it was wearable.
Every single item of clothing had been cut and ripped to shreds.
Then Cedric had pissed all over everything.
Disgusted and furious on Ji-Su’s behalf, Raul moved on to the next box.
This one was labeled electronics. As soon as he cut it open, he saw the electronics had received the same treatment as the clothes.
Everything inside was smashed and broken.
The box stank of ammonia and there were yellow stains on the white casings of the ruined gaming systems.
“Is it okay?” Ji-Su softly called from the doorway.
“No, it isn’t.” Raul hated the answer he had to give, especially when he turned and saw the devastated look on Ji-Su’s face. “You don’t need to see this.”
“It’s that bad?”
“I’m afraid so. You won’t be able to use any of these items.”
Ji-Su stood there in stunned silence, hurt shimmering in his dark eyes. Then he nodded once, turned, and walked away.
After Ji-Su left, Raul went through every box to make sure there wasn’t anything that wasn’t destroyed or something of vital importance that should be saved despite the damage.
There was nothing. Everything was ruined but thankfully it all looked easily replaceable.
He stood and passed the knife back to the guard.
“Take it all out to the trash,” he directed the servants.
“Yes, sir.”
Looking just as angry as Raul felt, they gathered the boxes back up and left the room with them.
“That answers the question as to whether or not he’s a vindictive asshole,” Burke said as he moved to open a window and clear the smell of urine from the room.
With Ji-Su out of sight and hearing range, Raul let his anger show. “You’d think a million dollars would have been enough to placate that piece of shit. Instead, he has to go and pull a stunt like this.”
Burke shook his head. “A stupid move. He has to know that you won’t let it slide.”
Raul started to nod in agreement. His first instinct was to find the vampire and make him hurt in retaliation for harming Ji-Su again. But one thing stayed his hand. “I’ll ask Ji-Su and see what he wants me to do. It’s his stuff that was ruined but he may not want me to engage with Cedric.”
Burke raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You’re leaving it up to Ji-Su?”
Raul wanted to take over for Ji-Su, protect him, destroy anyone who would harm him.
But he had to remind himself that Ji-Su wasn’t actually his.
The human was barely his blood pet. He couldn’t go all possessive vampire on a human who didn’t belong to him.
For now, he would restrain that part of himself and let Ji-Su decide how he wanted to handle this latest offense from Cedric.
“Yes,” he had to practically force the word out to answer Burke. “I’ll go and talk to him now.”
He left the office to seek out Ji-Su, stopping in one of the guest baths to wash his hands first. Before he could decide where in the house to look for his blood pet, he ran into Gloria. “Do you know where Ji-Su went?”
“He’s out on the deck off the great room.”
“Thank you.”
Raul passed through the great room heading for the deck doors.
Before he went outside to join Ji-Su, he watched him through the glass.
He stood there unmoving, staring at the clouds rolling in for the coming storm, his arms tightly wrapped around his body.
He looked small, cold, and alone. Raul wanted to gather him up in his arms and comfort him.
But Ji-Su might not welcome so familiar a touch from someone he barely knew.
Inwardly chafing at going against his instincts to take care of Ji-Su in the manner that he wanted to, he grabbed a throw blanket from the back of the couch and stepped outside.