“Hi!!!” Hailey jumped off the couch, dropping her magazine to the floor, and skipped after Axel into the kitchen. “I made pancakes!!”
“Aww… Well, you’ll tell me eventually. We have a lot of time to bond. Approximately, until I die.” She nodded as though that was satisfying information. Hailey rubbed and eye and looked around, trying to think of a question that was personal but not too personal. “…tell me how you and Brent fell in love.”
“Nope, I wont. Its not something I share with everyone.” He told her as he finished his cup of tea and pancakes getting up to clean them before laughing lightly at her question. “Like most people do, we were attracted to each other and slowly fell in love.” He explained simply.
Hailey only glimpsed the person’s figure before shutting her eyes tightly. She couldn’t bring herself to look, as if bracing for something unspeakable to be done to her. That was the first possibility she considered, anyway, before the question was posed. Was this man a guard of some sort? A person on a nightwatch? If so, why would he tackle her? Perhaps he thought she was trying to steal something. But no, the true reason she was here was much lamer than that. She needed a moment to even out her breaths before answering the question.
“I-I was– research. Finishing my paper– I– couldn’t sleep.” How the hell was he supposed to understand what she meant when she said she couldn’t sleep? And even if he knew she meant she couldn’t sleep due to her excitement, how was that a legitimate excuse for breaking the rules? “Am I in trouble?” The real question was: How much trouble?
“You are in a lot of trouble.” He told her as he stood up and dragged her to her feet effortlessly. “You must be aware of the rules that this place has yet you are in here when you are not meant to be.” HE explained as he let go of her.
“I do not care that you were unable to sleep, my house is off limits to your kind after night.” Axel growled. “And do not dare tell me you dont know the rules cause everyone does.” He was not in the mood for games, he hadnt fed yet tonight and he had only been awake for an hour at most. “Leave, next time I will call the police.”
“Yes!” Hailey threw her fists in the air in victory. “I knew you didn’t like sweater vests. I can’t imagine you in a sweater vest. You’re too…I dunno. You’re too something for sweater vests. But I can’t picture you in denim, either, for some reason. Anyway– I’m going to go fix my make-up, and I’ll see you in an hour– do you want me to do your make-up? I can make you look like a real vampire!”
He laughed at how excited she was just to go shopping with him. “Hey now….I can wear denim, mostly it is just jeans…Though in the 80′s I had a denim jacket.” He laughed as he yawned and looked at her. “I already look like a real vampire.” He told her. “Vampires just look like normal people.”
“Hi!!!” Hailey jumped off the couch, dropping her magazine to the floor, and skipped after Axel into the kitchen. “I made pancakes!!”
Hailey pursed her lips and blinked a few times. She stared at Axel with a really awkward smile before shrugging a shoulder. “I mean…I’m pretty sure at least half the people I know think I’m insane, so…judging you would be pretty hypocritical, you know?” Honestly? She wondered if Axel was one of those people.
“I guess that is true, but I am still not telling you my secret Haliey. I do not know you well enough to tell you that sort of thing yet.” He told her as he finished his pancakes and drunk more of his tea. “I can tell you some other things if you ask.” Axel laughed as he looked at her.
It was probably illegal to stay here past the hours of her assignment group. Not that Hailey wasn’t a goody-two-shoes, always listening to her mom and never breaking a rule, but she just needed to finish this paper. Now. Today. Well- tonight. The point was that she couldn’t have been able to sleep if she went home and left countless rooms in the mansion unexplored. She would have lay wide away like a child too excited for a school trip to fall asleep. So Hailey hid in an empty room when her group started to leave.
There were rumours around town of this mansion being haunted at night by the spirits of the vampires annihilated in it. People claimed that disappearings happened here often, and sometimes a person near enough to the windows could hear conversation. Hailey thought it was just a tourist attraction because vampires died off long ago.
So she unsuspectingly roamed the hallways, taking note of several paintings and sculptures she paused to admire. Most of them didn’t seem to have historic relevance, but they were all breathtaking. Even the portraits that spoke volumes of a vampire lord’s sinister reign made her smile. At one point, she stopped in front of a painting at the end of a corridor and took out her phone. She shouldn’t take pictures, but she’d already broken the no-staying-after-sundown rule, so…
When she lifted her phone to snap a picture, the air got knocked out of her lungs as she was tackled to the ground. Her phone dropped and slid across the floor. She squealed loudly and tried to push the attacker off, only screaming when she felt something sharp against her arm. Despite her kicking, the person wouldn’t budge.
Axel had lent his house to tourist guides during the day as a bargain he had struck with them a number of years ago. THey would host tours and tell the history and in return they supplied him with blood bags so he wouldnt fest upon the locals. He only had one rule which was that the house had to be empty before dusk so that he could live his nights out in peace and quiet.
As he walked through the halls of his house he frowned as he could hear a heart beat. He started to walk towards it frowning once more as he saw Hailey taking a picture he moved closer quietly and tackled her, his nails digging into her arm as he pinned her against the ground. “What are you doing here?!” He asked.
“Hi!!!” Hailey jumped off the couch, dropping her magazine to the floor, and skipped after Axel into the kitchen. “I made pancakes!!”
Hailey smiled then shook her head at him. She eyed the sink, where he’d drained her tea, and pondered for a moment before looking back at him. “Y’know, if you and Brent keep this up, I just might start to think you’re a murderous couple, and Brent moved out so Dad and I don’t get in trouble with the cops,” she said, her tone half-ironic. “But really, what are you guys keeping from me? I wanna know. I won’t tell the police, I promise.”
.”Its nothing that you could go to the cops on, but we have secrets just like everyone else.” HE told her as he sipped his tea and had a mouthful of pancake. “Brent like to keep to himself and so do I so it is perfect that we live together.” He smiled before looking at her. “And if I told you my secret you would think I am insane.”
“Its with an X, K-S Is not common where I am from.” HE sighed as he entered the kitchen and grabbed his cup before starting the jug. He looked at her and sat down. “Explain why you are here again.” Axel told her as he rubbed his eyes.
Hailey followed him and watched him start preparing his cup. She only sat down when he did. “Umm…I just wanted to see what Brent’s place looks like. We…I mean, he’s been away for a while. I wanted to know where he’d been all this time. Didn’t know someone else would be here, though. Sorry I…startled you. I guess that was pretty rude of me, wasn’t it?” She tilted her head, scratching the side of her neck. “Where are you from?”
Hailey followed him and watched him start preparing his cup. She only sat down when he did. “Umm…I just wanted to see what Brent’s place looks like. We…I mean, he’s been away for a while. I wanted to know where he’d been all this time. Didn’t know someone else would be here, though. Sorry I…startled you. I guess that was pretty rude of me, wasn’t it?” She tilted her head, scratching the side of her neck. “Where are you from?”
He put his tea bag into the cup and watched her quietly. “You maybe should have rung first, neither of us like unexpected guests.” He told her as the jug boiled, he got up and poured the water into his cup. “It was rude of you, but I am guessing that is normal for you?” He asked her as he waited for his tea to steep.
the-solitary-monster 