Page 109 of Vampires of Eden: Oliver
“It’s nice to see you,” I tell him honestly as I sit in the plush armchair opposite him. A low coffee table occupies the space between us and a healthy fire burns in the hearth. It makes the sitting room glow with auburn light.
After he arranged for our blood to be medically bagged, Alexander stopped coming to the cottage. It’s a lengthy drive from his home estate in Central, and he doesn’t have any real reason to come out here unless it’s for a bag exchange or drop. We still talk a few times a week, though. Our relationship is probably better than it’s ever been.
“You too,” he says. “I have good news.” He shifts, reaching into the large square of his coat pocket. When he pulls his hand back out, he’s holding a small bundle of documents. He leans, handing the packet to me from across the table. The motion creates a gleam of light and the two golden bands on his right hand sparkle.
I marvel at the documents as I reach. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Your birth certificate and passport,” Alexander says, sitting back against the armchair. “The viscount sends his regards.”
Blinking, astounded, I shift my focus from the documents up to Alexander’s face. “You met with the viscount?”
“Yes, and it was obvious that he was the one who convinced Lord Blakeley to yield to my proposed arrangement. That hard-ass barely spoke to me during the meeting—no more niceties. Only his ridiculous demands.” Alexander rolls his eyes.
Ridiculous demands? This gives me pause. “What exactly did you have to agree to in order to get these things?”
He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. What matters is that you have them now, right? You can finally leave Eden if you want. It’s what you’ve been dreaming of.”
He’s right. This is definitely what I want, but… something in his smile seems off. Maybe forced? I often remember Leoni telling me that Alexander puts on a good show to make everyone comfortable. A quality of his that I always perceived as fake and self-serving. I never thought he might be acting that way for other people’s approval or benefit.
“Are you okay?” I ask somewhat abruptly.
He pauses, blinking his molten eyes in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, are you really okay with everything? With the arrangement between you and Lord Blakeley, with doing all this for me.”
“Of course I am. I would do anything for you, Ollie. Anything. It’s just how it is.” Still grinning, he takes a visible breath, then runs his fingers through the top of his hair, mussing the perfect swoop of it, and those rings catch the light once more. “So, what’s your plan? Will you… Are you going to see Aries straightaway?”
He’s tried to ask me about this nonchalantly, but it doesn’t quite land. I shake my head. “No. I want to take some time for myself—to challenge myself in a new way. Maybe get a job somewhere? I’ve been looking into proper photography programs at universities across Europe. I don’t know yet.”
It’s strange. When I was secluded and pressed underneath Lord Blakeley’s thumb, I had all these whims about what I would do and where I would go if I were a liberated vampire.
Now that Alexander has literally handed me my freedom, it’s like there are too many options—and logistically, how do I choose the right one? More importantly, how do I avoid ending up shriveled and starving in an alley somewhere because I no longer have a steady feeding source?
Alexander folds his arms and casts his gaze toward the flickering fire. “I don’t think you need to go to school. You’re already pretty damn good at photography. You’ve read a ton of books on it, and you obviously have an eye for angles based on your social media account—plus you have the photos from Evanshire that were used in multiple international news outlets.”
“Do you think that actually counts for something?” I ask.
“I do,” Alexander confirms. “At least three wire media services circulated those photos. That’s no small feat. I think you need professional experience and connections. Something like an internship? The pay wouldn’t be great and you’d have to figure out your own housing, but would you be okay with something like that?”
“Would I be okay? Are you serious? That would be phenomenal. Like learning underneath a true professional in the field—on actual assignments?”
“Maybe?” Alexander says, grinning. “We have connections with a European fashion magazine, and I also have a friend that’s a freelance photographer. She mostly does nature and landscape stuff. I can talk to her first and see what she says?”
The thought of working with a professional photographer sends a new kind of thrill up my spine. Holy shit I am excited.
“You keep doing all of these things for me, but there’s literally no way that I can repay you. I don’t have anything, but—”
“You don’t need to repay me, Ollie,” Alexander says sternly. “Just… let me do these things for you, alright? It makes me happy to help you, so let me have that at least. Please?”
Alexander’s imploring eyes are glassy in the firelight. The air is warm but soft as it hovers between us.
It’s amazing. What happened to the teasing, arrogant and flippant vampire that I was engaged to? The one who called me a nerd, a horse and a cold fish. Where has all that silly teasing and bravado gone?
Lately, the lens with which I view the world has widened. I was suffocating when I was living in the castle. I couldn’t breathe, and the lack of air was my primary focus. My existence was that of a caged animal with a singular thought ringing in my mind—over and over again, every day, like an emergency alarm.
I don’t want this. I need to get out.
At the cottage, though, I can finally breathe. Now that my mind and body are no longer in crisis, I’m able to scrutinize my environment and the people in it more thoughtfully. Sitting here and looking at Alexander, I notice that his aura feels dimmer compared with what he usually projects. As if he’s quietly curled up inside of himself.
