Chapter Twenty
“Why are you covered in gold paint?” Tristan asked Matthias warily. The muscular vampire was wearing a wife-beater that showed off his physique and, yes, the gold streaks on his arms.
“Because I gave Vic the stars!” Matthias said proudly. “Is that the package from the courier? Sweet.”
Matthias took the box from Theo’s unresisting hands and skipped back inside the Manor with it.
The two vampires looked to me for an explanation.
“Just come to my room and see,” I turned and said over my shoulder.
“Um, that’s not the way to your room?” Theo questioned as we went left instead of right on the upper floor.
“It is now.”
I opened the door to my chosen room and it was total chaos.
Matthias was standing on a ladder, reaching towards the ceiling, now decorated with a myriad of golden stars, and adding even more stars to it, this time tiny fluorescent ones from the box that had just been delivered.
Behind him, on two mismatched cabinets, lay the curtains we had taken down and hadn’t yet replaced.
Half of the furniture was pushed away from one side of the room where I decided to put a wide stripe of decorative wallpaper on the wall.
The fight with the wallpaper glue was real but we won in the end.
“I see you are doing some redecorating,” Tristan said, his lips twitching up at the corners.
“Is it... alright?” I asked, biting my lip. Maybe in my feverish wish for change, for making this space mine, I went a bit too far?
“Of course it is,” Theo piped up. “We want you to customize your living space!”
I relaxed, seeing Tristan nod as well.
“What can we do to help?” Tristan asked.
“Ah... you don’t have to...” I said, embarrassed I was pulling all of them into my bullshit.
“Nonsense,” Tristan dismissed my protests gently. “Do you need help moving some of that furniture?”
“I was actually going to search for a different desk when you came...”
Theo lit up and started jumping excitedly.
“I have one you will love! It has pockets!”
As I quickly found out what Theo meant was that the old, massive desk had a plethora of secret drawers, locked compartments, and intriguing mechanisms. It barely fit through the doorway but the vampires somehow managed to squeeze it in, and it took the place of pride in the room where I promptly walled it in with bookcases, creating a small office space in a corner.
I was allowed to roam the Mansion and take back whatever took my fancy back to my room.
A stained glass lamp here, a chair with six legs there.
I collected items like a magpie. Over the hundreds of years the group of vampires had managed to gather quite an eclectic collection so roaming around the various rooms and storage closets was quite fascinating.
The only place they steered me away from was the basement but I just shrugged and accepted it, too busy with exploring the other areas.
“I thought you may like this,” Tristan said, presenting me with a beautiful quilt. It comprised of colorful squares, solid colors mixing with patterned ones. The underside was lined with a cool, silk-like fabric which made it perfect for the warm weather.
“Did you make it yourself?” I asked, admiring the craftsmanship.
“Ah. No. My own attempts didn’t quite yield this quality,” Tristan said, shifting a little.
“Can I see the one you did?”
Even though the oldest vampire was embarrassed he still pulled his own quilt from the storage. The stitching wasn’t as masterful as the previous work and some of the squares looked a little wobbly but I still clutched the quilt to my chest.
“Mine,” I said, daring Tristan to argue.
“Yes,” the vampire said. “I’m yours and all my possessions are as well.”
My cheeks flared with heat at the shameless declaration.
Hours later my energy was flagging and we decided to call it a day.
For the first time in days I was left to sleep alone.
“I can’t sleep… and the room smells like paint and wallpaper glue.”
“Of course it does,” Tristan responded to my sheepish admission with bemusement. “Then you can always use the room that was originally meant to be yours for tonight.”
“It’s too spacious,” I mumbled, hiding my face in his arm.
“Then the couch is an option. Or any of the guest rooms. Or…” I looked up at him, hanging onto his words. “Or you can accompany me in slumber. I have been told that my mattress is to die for.”
“You know how to entice,” I tried to joke. The truth was, in just a few days of having a constant ‘bodyguard’ with me, even in bed, I had somehow gotten used to having someone cuddle me to sleep. Expected it. Looked forward to it. Missed it. “I have to see if those claims are true.”
I made a high-pitched squeak as Tristan suddenly picked me up.
“No time like the present,” he said as he carried me to his bed.
The mattress was truly heavenly. As was the feeling of his arms around me.