Julian's New Acquaintance

Recently, Olivia found herself spending most of her time tending to the flowers in the garden. Thanks to the weather beginning to warm as the seasons started to slip into summer, Olivia felt that the various different flowers and leaves looked especially beautiful and aesthetically pleasing under the golden rays of the sun.

Due to the sheer size of the garden, Olivia wasn't the only person tending to flowers, other servants completing their individual jobs whether that be watering or pruning the bushes.

"What's the name of this flower?" Olivia asked the nearest maid.

The maid paused her watering, looking down at the crouched Olivia on the floor, sweat glistening on her forehead. The sweat didn't make her look rough, contrary to expectations, she looked dainty and delicate. A gentle beauty.

As Olivia hadn't yet heard the maid's reply, she looked up at her from her position.

The maid pursed her lips, "Are you from the countryside? How can you not know what it is?"

Of course, if the maid hadn't been working in the garden for some time, she wouldn't have known the names of the different flowers either. Such was a hobby of nobles and not for the common. But, if there was an opportunity to show off in front of a lowly human, why not?

"Are you going to answer or not?"

"Everyone knows they're called peonies. It's one of the most popular flowers on the market," The maid made an effort to add extra information in order to make herself look even more knowledgeable.

Olivia turned back to look at the flower. Oddly, the sunny and bright looking petals reminded her of Eli. Her hand stretched out to caress the soft and slightly damp petals.

"Don't keep on touching it or it'll ruin," The maid reprimanded, causing Olivia to stop her actions.

"And how long have you been working here?" Olivia asked. The maid didn't look to be older than 25.

The maid felt reluctant to speak to her but nonetheless answered her question, "I've been here for about 6 years."

Olivia stood up from her crouched position, her legs were starting to ache. She picked up the watering can next to her.

Thinking about her answer, Olivia thought that she must've started working at a young age.

"Were you born like that?"

The maid was confused by her question. What was the human asking about now?

"Born like what?"

"Half-vampire."

The maid's scarlet eyes grew wide in shock and then narrowed in disgust, "Of course I was born like this. Who on earth would want to be born as a lowly human," She sneered.

"Oh?" Olivia, on the other hand, looked pleasantly surprised. It was her first encounter with someone born as one compared to having been converted.

Seeing that Olivia was asking her questions, the maid felt that she should ask her own as well, "What about you? Rumour says that you're Master Alexander's personal Giver."

"You all have very imaginative thoughts."

"You're not?" The maid looked at Olivia in doubt.

"I prefer to call myself his assistant," Olivia gave a complacent smile.

The maid went silent for a moment, then gave a loud scoff, "If he wanted an assistant, why would he pick you of all people? No, I don't believe it. You're definitely his Giver."

Olivia heaved a sigh. At this point, she could no longer be bothered to try and persuade her. She knew that even if she tried to deny the claim until she turned blue in the face, the others would not believe her, thinking that she was lying for some reason. So in the end, why bother?

The maid looked at the pitiful figure next to her, her lips twitching.

'Well if I was a human as well as a Giver, I too, would try to cover it up. She must be sad.'

Suddenly, the maid felt that she needed to be a bit nicer towards Olivia. If anything, was it her fault she was born like that?

If Olivia were to hear what the maid was thinking, she would surely kick her away.

In an attempt to cheer her up, the maid complimented, "Don't worry! At least Master Alexander is handsome, you aren't losing out at all."

Olivia stifled a chuckle. She didn't quite know why the maid's attitude towards her had drastically changed, but she felt that she looked rather adorable at the moment.

"Hmm," Olivia gave a hum of approval. If anything, her words were correct. Alexander truly was a very handsome man.

Suddenly, the vampire's face appeared in her mind. His dark crimson eyes, his pink luscious lips, pearly white teeth, and the thick, black silky hair. As her daydream started to become even more detailed, she felt her face turning increasingly hotter. No doubt that, right now, she looked very flushed and pink.

The maid observed her in silence, continuing to look at the young girl's face turn even redder.

Before she could ask whether Olivia felt ill, someone beat her to it, "Miss Olivia, your presence is requested."

Olivia quickly snapped out of her daydreams upon hearing Reginald's voice. She briskly followed after him with her head bowed, not even bidding the bewildered maid a goodbye.

As she was following behind Reginald with her head bowed, she failed to notice what was in front of her, abruptly bumping into a hard chest.

Olivia hissed in pain as she looked up.

Catching sight of who was in front, her previously flushed face started to cool down rapidly.

"Miss…Olivia, was it?" Julian's velvety voice made its way to her ears.

Reginald was in quite the predicament. He didn't want to keep Alexander waiting, but the person was none other than Julian. At the moment, Reginald was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Yes, and you must be Master Julian?" Olivia asked back. Although she felt the man's character was dubious and quite dangerous, she felt the same could be said about the whole family.

Julian's lips quirked up. Her bright eyes stared right back into his dark ones.

What a delightful little thing.

Julian didn't add anything more. Instead, his hand inched towards Olivia's soft cheeks, giving them a light caress.

Olivia soon felt a shiver. The gentle caress reminded her of the same way Glenn used to touch her cheeks. She wanted to pull away but his aura started leaking out, specifically targeting her, causing her to stay rooted in place.

Before long, his hand snaked down towards her neck, his fingers lightly skimming over the main artery. He could feel it pulsate under the pads of his fingertips, creating a wonderful tune. A tune that had promptly woken up his thirst, yet he did not act on his thoughts, merely gliding over the beating pulse.

Olivia felt her body turn increasingly rigid, her breath coming out in jagged intervals. Julian's aura became even more pressuring as the seconds ticked by. Her eyes flitted over to where Reginald stood, only to find that there was no longer any sight of him. As his aura continued to weigh down on her, her vision started to fade to black, the same way it did when Alexander first used his aura on her.

Just as Olivia felt the situation becoming hopeless, she felt an arm pull her away from Julian's hands.

Soon, her vision gradually returned as her breathing went back to its normal pace. She turned around to see who's hand had saved her, only to find that her back was firmly against Alexander's broad chest. Her uneasiness from the situation finally settled down upon seeing a familiar face.

Alexander looked at the petite body in front of him. His eyes roamed around her face just in time to see her expression of relief from his timely arrival.

"I was just wondering where my Giver disappeared to, only to find that it was the fault of my dear brother. How should you compensate me for wasting my time?" Alexander looked up at Julian.

Olivia widened her eyes at him but seeing that it was not the right moment to speak, she decided to keep quiet for the time being.

"I was just acquainting myself with her. That's not such a crime is it?" Julian playfully replied, his smile widening as he caught Olivia's frown.

'He looked about a few seconds away from lopping my head off. How on earth is that acquainting himself with me?' Olivia thought.

Alexander caught on to Olivia's changing expressions, "Now that you've done so, I hope you don't concern yourself with my affairs again."

"Oh? Going somewhere?" Julian had long noted Alexander draped in his coat.

Alexander did not reply back to him, walking across the hall and out of the front door. Olivia hurried after him, not wanting to stay a minute further with Julian.

His touches unfortunately reminded her of Glenn, opening a plethora of unpleasant memories.

"Do I need to remind you to be more wary?" Alexander pursed his lips, staring at the girl sitting opposite him in the carriage.

"It's not like I'll die," Olivia muttered. The sentence started to sound like a catchphrase at this rate.

For the first time, Olivia heard Alexander chuckle. The sound was low and melodious, causing her to look up and gaze at him, "All the more. Just because you can't die you think they'll stop at that? I presume you already know what a life of torture entails," Alexander gave her a stern reminder.

Indeed, it was true. So what if she couldn't die? She already knows what it feels like to be made to beg for death and not be granted it.

After a few beats of silence, Olivia was reminded of his earlier statement, "Why did you say that?"

Alexander looked back at her, his crimson eyes boring into hers, "Do you think it's normal for a pureblood to have a human assistant?"

Hearing his words, Olivia was reminded of the words the maid had said.

["If he wanted an assistant, why would he pick you of all people?"]

"Under the pretense of a Giver, they won't suspect much else," Alexander added on.

Olivia didn't know which 'they' he was referring to. Either the De Vere's or everyone.

Suddenly, her attention was drawn outside the window where she heard a person on a raised platform, speak to an audience below.

"…We cannot co-exist with these blood of vermin! If vampire's exist then human's cannot live in peace!..."

The medium-sized audience roared in agreement with the middle-aged speaker.

Because the carriage had paused due to traffic up ahead, they were just in time to hear the on-going speech.

Olivia looked over at Alexander to gauge his reaction, only to see the vampire look amused at the words being said.

The middle-aged speaker paused for a breather. For the last few minutes he felt an intense gaze upon his person so his beady eyes roamed around, finally landing on a particular carriage not too far away.

Inside sat a young girl with a fresh face and rosy cheeks. She seemed to be of young age as he caught her looking in his direction. The speaker was about to offer a smile at the young girl, when his eyes flitted over to the other person in the carriage. The speakers eyes narrowed. Even from this distance he could see those retched and inhumane dark, blood coloured pupils.

Alexander had also been observing the speaker, seeing that the man finally caught sight of him, Alexander licked his fangs provocatively.

Instead of shying away, the man held his head up higher, his eyes showing clear disgust towards the vampire.

Having enough of staring at such a nauseating creature, the speaker moved his eyesight back to the young girl, now confused and angry as to why she would be in such proximity with him.

Olivia had already watched the small interaction between the two men and found it thoroughly amusing. Looking back at the speaker, she could tell that he was confused as to why a human would willingly stay with a vampire but her expression did not change in order to give an explanation. She felt such a thing was a waste of time and frankly, she couldn't care less about what he thought.

Soon, the carriage started moving again. Only now did Olivia notice that this was not a route she was familiar with.

"Where are we going?"

Alexander had long closed his eyes after his little show with the speaker and so he answered Olivia without looking, "Shopping."