Ward of the Vampire: Complete Serial

by Kallysten

  I woke before Morgan, my internal clock still trying to adjust to the change. Enough light filtered into the room that I knew it had to be at least mid-morning. For a little while, I simply watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful, it was easy to forget the kind of demons that tortured him.

  Leaving the bed as carefully as I could, I wrapped myself in a robe and wandered out of the bedroom. I was more than a little startled when I stumbled onto the caretaker in the kitchen, putting groceries away in the fridge and cupboards. She was wearing jeans and a tank top this morning, and I felt very underdressed in my flimsy dressing gown. If she thought anything of it, it didn’t show on her face or in her voice when she said, “Good morning. I’ve gone and done some shopping for you. Mr. Ward keeps the fridge pretty bare with all his eating out, so I thought a few snacks and things might not go amiss.”

  That was very thoughtful of her, and I said so as I thanked her and asked for her name.

  “Kai,” she answered with a smile. “And what may I call you, miss?”

  “Angelina. Just Angelina, please.”

  I thought for a moment she’d be stubborn like Stephen about what to call me, but I needn’t have worried.

  “All right, just Angelina. That’s a lovely name. Is there anything you’d like me to buy in particular? I’ve gone for staples this time: milk, eggs, bread, fruit.”

  “I’m sure whatever you got is fine,” I said. “And I can buy whatever else I need, don’t worry about it.”

  She shook her head, smiling.

  “It’s no trouble at all. If you want tips on the best markets around, just let me know. Or anything else, really.”

  I thanked her again, and she was off. A tiny part of me had expected her to offer to make me breakfast, but I guess that was a leftover from having lived under Stephen’s care. The kitchen was much less elaborate than the one at the mansion, and I had to wonder just how accurate I’d been when thinking of it as Stephen’s domain.

  No fancy espresso machine here, but the coffee pot did a perfectly good job of waking me up. I thought I’d have some fruit to complete my breakfast, and I was out on the balcony having a second helping of the best pineapple I’d ever tasted when Morgan walked in, back in his drawstring pants and mussed-up hair.

  Still blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he came straight to me and leaned down to press a kiss to my mouth. When he pulled back, he licked his lips.

  “Tasty.”

  I grinned at him.

  “My thoughts exactly. Kai came in with some groceries for me.”

  He threw me a quick frown, then his eyes widened a little when he understood.

  “Oh. Kai. That’s the caretaker, right?”

  As he went back inside to help himself to some coffee, I remembered what she’d said about not being sure he knew her name.

  “She doesn’t know about you, does she?” I asked when he came back.

  He shook his head in guise of answer. Maybe I should have dropped the subject, but I wanted to understand.

  “How come?” I asked. “Stephen knows. Doesn’t she play the same role here?”

  He sat next to me at the table. It felt incredibly domestic. I liked that feeling.

  “Stephen is a special case,” he said. “I’d never even met the girl until last month.”

  Had he already forgotten her name? I couldn’t help hiding a grin into my mug of coffee. It was silly of me to be so happy that he wasn’t paying attention to the resident pretty girl, especially when she’d easily admitted she wouldn’t have minded if he had, but I’m sure you already noticed that I can be very silly at times.

  “So how did she get the job?” I asked. “I’m going to go on a limb here and guess you didn’t interview her.”

  Propping his cheek against his closed fist, he shrugged.

  “Honestly, I have no idea,” he said. “The previous caretaker retired a year ago. I had an agency find a replacement. It’s not a demanding job, and the pay is good. I imagine she knows someone at the agency. I don’t really care. The property looked fine when I showed up without warning. Good enough for me.”

  “And if it hadn’t looked fine?”

  Another shrug.

  “I’m a businessman, Angelina. I don’t have issues with firing people who don’t do their job.”

  It was a side of him I hadn’t had much of a chance to see. We’d worked together to organize the charity gala, but it had been just the two of us in that conference room, and I’m not tooting my own horn when I say I’d pulled my own weight in that situation.

  “How does that work,” I asked, curious, “you being a businessman from all the way over here?”

  “That’s the thing about firing people who don’t do their job. You’re left with those who do. Those you can trust when you have to go away.”

  “Does that mean you’re going to stay here for a while?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll stay until I tire of the place.” His eyes gleamed when he met mine and asked, “How about you?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, echoing his tone as well as his words. “How long until you tire of me?”

  He snorted and shook his head.

  “Funny. As if I could.”

  The words slammed straight into my heart and made me feel a little lightheaded. I was trembling when I stood. I went to wash my hands, sticky with juice, at the sink, and tried to compose myself. Then I walked back out to Morgan.

  At a light tug from my hand, he shifted his chair sideways, and I sat on his lap, my hands resting lightly on his shoulders, my mouth pressing a gentle kiss to his. He licked his lips when I pulled back, then leaned forward and licked mine, cleaning away the last trace of sweet juice there before he slipped both arms around me and held me close. I rested my cheek on his shoulder and simply breathed, taking in his scent. His usual cologne was absent, and instead I could smell soap on his skin. Behind that, though, I was sure I could still smell that muskiness that was so purely him.

  I don’t know if he realized how much that casual statement had touched me or if he was showing me how much he wasn’t tired of me. Either way, it was a lovely moment, one I still treasure to this day.

  “So what do you want to do today?” he murmured after a little while, nuzzling my temple.

  “You tell me,” I replied, just as quietly. I felt loath to break the quiet peace that had settled on us. “You know what there is to do or see around here.”

  “Do you want to play tourist or relax on the beach?”

  What I wanted was to be with him, nothing more, and I didn’t really care where that happened.

  “You can’t do the beach thing, can you?” I asked. “You’d burn.”

  “I would, yes. Usually I stay in during the day and go for a swim in the evening. But you didn’t travel all this way to stay inside.”

  I hadn’t traveled all this way to play tourist, either. Didn’t he understand that?

  “I’ll show you the island,” he decided, already nudging me to get me to stand.

  I thought about protesting, but I didn’t—and in the end I was glad of it because it turned out to be a fantastic day.

  After a shared shower that was only a little bit naughty, I put on a summer dress over my bathing suit while he dressed in light cotton pants and a thin, long-sleeved shirt. A baseball cap completed his look, and I have to say it was very different from the suits I was used to seeing him wear. I’ll admit I missed the suits.

  We took the Jeep to a nearby marina, with a quick stop on the way to grab a sandwich for my lunch, along with bottled water and ice to keep it all cool. I’d almost expected Morgan to lead me to a two-story yacht with a ten-man crew, but was nicely surprised when he helped me climb aboard a small boat. Well, when I say small… It looked like a speedboat, but it was large enough to have a cabin with a roof. He maneuvered us out of the marina and headed east, straight opposite from where the sun played peek-a-boo from behind light clouds.

  The ocean was calm, and the boat seemed
to fly over the waves. The coastline was like a watercolor painting on our left side. Every so often, we’d see other boats, sometimes people fishing or snorkeling. I tried asking Morgan where we were going, but his only answer was an enigmatic smile.

  It was a long ride, and it might have grown boring if not for the view. We were heading along the western side of the island, what Morgan called the Napali Coast, and I could hardly get my fill of it. I can still see the dramatic cliffs in my mind, their bright green and ochre folds advancing straight into turquoise water, the waves relentlessly painting the edges of the rocks with white foam. Every so often, we could see straight into valleys that seemed carved right into the island, and twice I saw helicopters darting around the cliffs.

  I could only imagine what they’d look like from above. There were also small stretches of white sand cradled in the embrace of curved cliffs, with no access other than by sea. I found myself wondering if Morgan was taking me to one of those; I’m not much of a lounge-on-the-beach person, but with a setting such as this, I could see myself making an exception. Of course, I soon reminded myself, Morgan might not find sunbathing particularly appealing.

  I could see the island curving back to the east in the distance when Morgan stopped the engine sometime around noon. When I looked at him askance, he indicated the cooler.

  “Would you care to have a picnic on the ocean?”

  Had the ocean been agitated, I wouldn’t have risked it; it’d have felt too much like a game of chicken with my stomach. But the boat barely rocked back and forth, the sun was hiding behind a white cloud so the water wasn’t too bright, and it was warm without being too hot… Everything was perfect.

  Looking back, I can’t help but ask myself if it really was as perfect as I remember it, or if time has buffed up the experience and erased whatever might not have been so pleasant. Either way, that humble sandwich, eaten at the back of the boat with Morgan at my side and with nothing but the sound of the ocean for soundtrack, was one of the most memorable meals of my life.

  When I say we had the sound of the ocean for soundtrack, I should mention that I mean more than water. Several times during the ride so far I had noticed that Morgan was looking over the water around us and into the distance as though looking for something. Just as I was finishing my last bite of food, I finally understood what he’d been looking for when two whales surfaced what couldn’t be more than a hundred yards away from us.

  I watched, entranced, as they played together, jumping out of the water and sending waves to crash against our boat. Morgan said they were humpback whales. One was much bigger than the other; a mother and her young. I don’t know if it was a game or some kind of learning activity. I also don’t know how long I watched, my hand clasped over Morgan’s, shivering every time the whales let out those deep, singing sounds.

  I was aware that he was watching me rather than those majestic creatures, but I couldn’t bear to look away toward him. For however long it lasted, I felt like we were in a whole different world. Was it even possible that only the day before I’d been in cold and dreary New York? That the last time I’d been with Morgan, it had been in the mansion that had become my prison?

  It all felt surreal. As the two whales started to swim away, I couldn’t help myself and burst out laughing. Morgan gave me a surprised look, and was smiling at my good humor when he asked, “What is it?”

  I shook my head, unsure even where to start.

  “Is this what you’ve been doing for the past month?” I asked, spreading my arms on either side of me. “Taking your boat out for long rides, cavorting with sea creatures?”

  Still smiling, he glanced to where the two whales were shrinking spots in the distance and started the engine again.

  “I wouldn’t call it cavorting,” he said, tongue in cheek, “and I don’t usually take the boat unless I have to go get food, but yes, I’ve done this before. It takes more time than driving around the island, but it’s a lot nicer.”

  Granted, I hadn’t spent much time in a car since arriving, but I had to agree with him that this was nice. I remained next to him for a while, keeping an arm around his waist both for balance and because it was good to be so close to him. I couldn’t help but think back on why I had come, and how wrong I’d been.

  “Do they know?” I asked. “Delilah and your maker. I’m thinking again about what they said. About you staying in and flagellating yourself. They were convincing, and I believed them. Do they believe it, too, or were they playing for my benefit?”

  Morgan snorted quietly.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “They certainly wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with lying to you. And if they wanted to know what I was up to, it wouldn’t take them much effort. So my best guess is that, yes, they played you.”

  The ‘again’ remained unvoiced, but I heard it quite clearly. I’m not sure what it said about me that I didn’t care much. As distasteful as the idea was, maybe I was getting used to being a pawn in their hands. Or maybe I didn’t care to examine too closely the gift of being with Morgan again.

  It was another hour or hour and a half before we reached a small beach with some buildings on the side and a long wooden dock. Morgan maneuvered the boat close to the dock, and I stayed out of the way while he secured it. When he helped me onto the dock, I had the strangest feeling that the wood was undulating under me as though roiling under the waves, the same way I’d felt when I’d first been on the boat. By the time we reached the beach, I was walking steadily again and wondering where we were.

  A man came out of the closest building, and although he was smiling, there was something about him that spoke of stern authority. He went on to say it was illegal to approach the botanical garden by sea, and we needed to enter by land through the general public admission, but already Morgan was holding his hand out to him and introducing himself. The man’s expression changed immediately. He was surprised, but he clearly recognized Morgan’s name. Rather than escorting us back to the boat, he welcomed us and asked if we wanted a guide. Morgan declined, thanked him, and led me by the hand straight into heaven.

  “Did you just use compulsion?” I couldn’t keep from asking, startled at how quickly the man’s demeanor had changed.

  “No compulsion needed,” he said wryly. “Not when I’ve been making very generous donations to the place for years.”

  I had more questions, but all of it ceased to matter when I started to take in our surroundings.

  It was like being back in the sun room, only a hundred, a thousand times better. In the sun room, as beautiful as it was, I’d never been able to totally forget that the glass walls and roof were only a few yards away. It had even added to the magical aspect of the space, creating a bubble of paradise in the New York sky. There was no bubble here. There was no ceiling, no end to paradise.

  “I thought the sun room was amazing,” I said, speaking in a hushed tone usually reserved for museums and places of worship. “But this is…”

  I didn’t even know how to finish. It didn’t seem to matter, however. Judging from his smile, Morgan knew exactly what I meant.

  We walked around the gardens for close to two hours, occasionally catching sight of other visitors, but for the most part it felt like we were alone in the world. Small placards named the trees and plants around us, but I didn’t really pay them much mind. I knew I wasn’t going to remember what this strange tree or that beautiful orchid were called, but I hoped I’d remember what it had felt like to lean in close and smell a heady scent, or to gently brush my fingers against the rough bark of a large tree, or to see the sky reflected in a pond, bright blue above and below, and green everywhere in between—a thousand different shades of green, and just as many other colors to boot, each flower like another note in a symphony of beauty.

  I gorged myself on beauty, and was glad I didn’t have a camera with me so I could look at it all with my eyes rather than through a tiny lens.

  When we’d circled all the way back to the
dock, my heart felt full to bursting with emotions I didn’t know how to express. I kissed Morgan’s cheek after we’d climbed back into the boat, and I think he understood it was a thank you.

  We made our way back, first westward, then to the north, and we crossed paths with a couple of boats full of tourists who waved at us. We also saw more whales and even dolphins, although not as close as we had earlier. We were near the marina when the sun started to sink down toward the ocean, and Morgan stopped the boat so we could watch the sunset.

  “What are you thinking?” Morgan asked, holding me close with an arm wrapped around my waist.

  “That this must be paradise,” I said softly. “Or a dream. And that waking up or leaving is going to be really hard.”

  “Leaving?” He looked at me with an odd intensity all of a sudden. “Why are you thinking about leaving? You just arrived.”

  I shook my head and smiled.

  “I can’t spend the rest of my life here. It’d be easy to forget that, but I can’t.”

  His expression didn’t change. He really didn’t understand.

  “Why not? What stops you?”

  It sounded like an invitation to stay with him forever. I didn’t ask him if that was what he meant. I didn’t answer his question, either.

  Only one thing stopped me from staying there with him forever. There or anywhere else, really; I’d have been just as happy in New York as long as we were together. I loved him, but he’d never said he loved me in return.

  I could have a relationship with someone who didn’t love me as much as I loved them. I’d done it before, actually. My first relationship in New York was like that. He was a great guy; he just wasn’t as interested in me as I was in him. I knew that, and it was all right. For a while, it was. That kind of relationship can work for a little bit, but I don’t recommend it. In the end, something always has to give. Either the less-invested person grows weary of how much is asked of them, or their counterpart realizes things aren’t going to change the way they hoped.

  I could stay with Morgan and hope he’d love me some day… but what if he never did? I couldn’t spend a whole life like that. I deserved better.