Mark

Thereafter, Olivia did indeed come over to clock in her favour.

After breakfast, Olivia followed Alexander all the way upstairs to his room before taking a seat on one of the chaise longue chairs. Recently, the pair had seemed to drop all pretences around each other. In particular, Olivia no longer felt awkward around Alexander and so, began to act however she liked around him. Alexander, whether he was aware or not, wasn't as stoic as he usually appeared and often pushed to say a few more words when speaking to her.

"I want to leave."

Alexander's hands that were buttoning his collar, paused. He slowly turned around to face the seated Olivia, his eyes darkened a notch.

"Leave?" His voice was rather low as he asked.

Nonetheless, Olivia calmly replied, "I want to leave whenever I wish to."

Alexander started buttoning his collar once again. He neither looked back at Olivia nor did he give an answer. Once he had finished, he took his time to walk over and sit opposite her. His long fingers slowly tapping against the arm chair.

Watching him like this, Olivia soon became impatient, "You can't expect me to be cooped up in here, can you? I'm not a hostage nor your prisoner."

"Indeed, you're not," Alexander retorted but had yet to say anything more.

Olivia gazed at him for a while. This same person that she had been with for the last few months. In fact, this was not something that she had suddenly thought of. Olivia merely took some time to adjust to her new situation before she planned to ask. Truthfully, she was more inclined to inform him before doing whatever she wanted, but on account that he did indeed provide both food and shelter, she felt that it would be shameless to not ask first.

"Where are you going?"

Olivia schooled her expression and shifted her gaze away, "I have some things I need to do."

"Hmm."

Silence dawned in the room. The only sound left was the taps from Alexander's fingertips hitting the wooden armchair.

Olivia's eyebrows creased slightly as she turned around to look back at him again. She drew in a deep breath before giving him a smile.

"State your conditions."

Alexander's fingers paused mid-air before he rest them against the armchair. His lips curled up.

"Dear, you really learn well."

Olivia ignored his empty compliments as she stared at him blankly. She knew it would come to this, but she didn't come unprepared. Unperturbed, she waited for him to continue on.

"Very well, I'll allow your request, but I'll need to do something first."

Olivia nodded her head, "What do you need?"

Alexander beckoned her over, "Come over here."

Olivia, confused, stood up from her seat and walked a few steps before standing in front of him.

"Come closer."

Olivia didn't move from her spot. She looked at him before asking slowly, "Why? What do you need?"

Alexander ignored her hesitation and grabbed her arm, making the poor girl sit on his lap. Olivia was both bewildered and shocked with his action, but she didn't want to show her weakness in this game of negotiation. She calmly sorted out her feelings before taking a deep breath.

"What are you doing?"

Alexander, on the hand, was distracted by the soft body in his arms. Although, for what he wanted to do, he didn't need to put her in such a position, but something had compelled him to follow through with his actions. A fragrant scent wafted through his nose once she was close. The soft tickles from the strands of her hair caused his face to tingle.

His hands held the side of her arms firmly, "If you want the freedom of leaving, you have to allow me to mark you."

"What? Mark me?" Olivia asked confused. She did her best to forget about the rather embarrassing position she sat in, and opted to focus on the conversation at hand.

Alexander gave her a deep smile, his eyes glinting a brighter red, "Hmm, once I mark you there will be no issue in allowing you to leave."

Olivia creased her eyebrows and warily asked, "How will you do it?"

The pureblood looked at her furrowed brows and her wide brown eyes that were staring back at him. His hand rose to tuck the stray hairs behind her ears before unbuttoning the first two buttons on her collar slowly.

Olivia began to quickly understand where this was going and swiftly caught his working hand.

"Do you have to?"

Alexander looked deep into her cautious and careful eyes before giving a small smile, "Of course. There is no other way."

She looked deep into those crimson pupils as if searching for something within, but soon let go of his hand with a sigh. Instead, she pulled down the collar of her dress herself, to make it more accessible.

The room was very quiet. Once the black collar was pulled away, a thin and long neck came into view. Alexander couldn't help but run his fingers around her neck causing Olivia's breath to hitch.

Under the pads of his fingertips, Alexander could feel her pulsating artery as it pumped blood around her body. Not only that, he could hear the loud beats of her heart as if they were right next to his ear, creating a sort of delightful symphony. The assault of various sensations caused his mind to fall into a mess.

As he inched closer, Olivia could not help but hold her breath. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up straight while her forearms had long formed a line of goose bumps.

Soon, she felt a small prick from the side of her neck. She knew that, right now, he was most likely 'marking her'. One thing that did confuse her however, was that she didn't feel the slightest pain. Instead, a few moments later, another feeling arose. All of a sudden, Olivia's body began to relax and subsequently, melt right into Alexander's arms. Her body felt as if a huge amount of weight had been taken off and she was now amidst the clouds.

Although she felt confused as to what was happening, she neither felt panicked nor afraid. Rather, she was the most calm she had ever been. Soon, Olivia's eyes slightly misted over as her cheeks flushed a deep red under the lights.

Once Alexander was done, he gently removed his white fangs, licking the surface of the two new wounds as they slowly closed up. As his tongue cleaned up the left over blood, he could feel the body in his arms shiver slightly, before he finally emerged from the crook of her neck.

But once he looked down at her, he paused. Leaning against his chest, Olivia looked up at him slightly dazed. His crimson eyes roamed over her flushed and supple cheeks.

"How do you feel?" He asked quietly.

Olivia breathed in slightly to clear up her mind but did not make an attempt to move, "I feel…good."

The pair sat in silence, indulging in the quiet.

After a while, Olivia spoke up. Her voice extremely velvety and smooth, "Are you finished?"

Alexander nodded his head in confirmation, "Do you feel any different?"

Olivia stilled, looking over her body and feeling for anything different before she found a new addition. She suddenly felt a faint and foreign feeling. It felt like an extremely thin line pointing towards Alexander yet it was invisible and couldn't be described in words.

"What… is this?"

"This is my mark, I can feel where you are at any time," Alexander patiently replied in a low voice.

Olivia was surprised. She didn't think vampires were capable of such things.

"When are you leaving?" Alexander queried. He didn't really know what he was doing at the moment, except he felt the urging need to keep her within his embrace for a little while longer.

Olivia had of course, felt the slight tightening of his arms around her body but did not comment.

"Ivan is going into town tomorrow and I plan to join him."

"Ivan? The boy from the stables?" Alexander narrowed his eyes as he recalled the red haired half vampire.

Olivia nodded her head against his chest. At the moment, she did not dare delve in to her thoughts, solely focusing all her attention to the conversation at hand.

"Are you close?"

Olivia's gaze shifted slightly.

"Are you friends?" Alexander continued to probe.

"Friends… perhaps."

Alexander felt a shift within her once he touched on the topic of friends. His eyes couldn't help but darken a few shades.

The atmosphere soon turned gloomy.

Olivia finally stood up. She didn't feel like speaking about such a depressing topic. She calmed her rampaging thoughts before conjuring up her shield: a smile.

"I assume you have no problem with me leaving tomorrow?"

Alexander did not reply and only looked up at her from his seat. Due to his boring and intense stare, Olivia could no longer handle standing in front of him.

"Very well. I'll take my leave now."

She swiftly left his room, making sure to quietly close the door behind her, before making her way back to her own sanctuary.

Once she was back in her room, she paced around for a while before walking over to her drawer. Inside, she took out a small piece of paper, a few messy words jotted on top.

She carefully looked at the words written down, comparing them to what she had in her memory, before carefully folding it up and placing it back to where it was.

Once she was sure it was safe, she took a deep breath to calm her thoughts.