Chapter 33: an unexpected visitor

Hours had passed since Eliot had left and Zoe had been dreaming about her childhood, strangely the ones which she didn't remember. She wondered if it was because she was far too young to remember. Just when she was about to turn to place her back against the bed, she hissed in pain. Her back hurt which made it difficult for her to move around and her bending down previously had not been a good idea.

Zoe was sure the wound which Eliot had previously wrapped and tended to had not opened up wider again as it burned beneath the dress that she wore.

She waited for Eliot that night but he was late. Late enough where Zoe finally fell asleep with her side on the bed.

When morning arrived, the first thing she did was to look for Eliot's presence in the room but he was not there. Did he come and go? No, it didn't seem like it, thought Zoe to herself. If he would have arrived she would have woken up at the slightest noise.

She waited for him from the morning that had arrived which moved from an hour to another that it was noon and before she knew it, the day had approached night. During the absence of Eliot, it was Williams who brought her food to the room without her having to go down and ask. But now that the butler was not present, he had been given the task to take care of the twins. The house had been extremely busy while being quiet.

As time passed, her stomach started to make sound and Zoe started to grow hungry. She had hoped for Eliot to return but now that he hadn't with a day which was almost gone, she wondered if she should go down to the kitchen to feed herself.

With a soft sigh escaping from her lips, her thoughts went back to what happened yesterday.

It wasn't just the mark but there was something else that weighed on Zoe's mind which hadn't crossed her mind. It was the cat in her dreams who had appeared at the mansion. Bone chilling. Seeing the cat jump on the ground, she had only wanted to find out about her mother but it was when the cat talked she noticed something very dark that was hovering behind it.

It wasn't a shadow but smoke that exuded darkness which made her remember the demon which had given her eyes, the woman who called herself a deity worshiped by evil men, who made deceitful contracts with them in order to exchange for their souls. It wasn't the first time that she had experienced it.

'She said she would come for me, to take back what was rightfully hers… my soul'

'Where was Master Eliot?'

She had thought that he would return in a few hours but those hours appeared to have elongated.

It made her wonder about what was taking so long. Did he stumble upon a huge pile of work and decided to return at the time of noon? After all, Master Eliot is a vampire and I shouldn't be thinking about him, thought Zoe to herself. It was possible but with her master's ability, he should have returned back unless he had other urgent matters to attend to. With much time that had passed Zoe found herself thinking about Eliot non-stop and there was an unsettled feeling in her chest that she kept trying to push away, but it kept coming back 'Master….'

When the time passed by, Zoe stood up from the bed and decided that it was time to go get her some food. Every servant was provided with food so she should be able to ask for food by one of the servant's right? Looking towards the wall where the clock sat on, she realized it was late. Late enough that the family members of the Vincent might have finished having their dinner by now and so would the servants which was even better, she said to herself.

Padding her bare feet across the room, she opened the door and stepped outside the room to see the lights that were dimly lit. The candle lights flickered as she moved past them, causing a small breeze when she walked by them.

Her steps were careful even though there was no one in sight. Remembering there might be maids standing near the foot of the stairs, she suddenly paused to blink her eyes to see there was no one there.

Walking further down to reach the end of it, she made her way towards the kitchen and on her way there, she found that it was empty. It was as if everyone had gone to bed early and the maids and the other servants had disappeared to their quarters quickly to avoid the ill fate of punishment.

Reaching the kitchen, Zoe went to look at what was available so that she could take some bites before heading back to the room. The lantern that was placed in the kitchen was running low with less light. As she rummaged through the vessels, opening them one after another, she finally found the pot that had chicken in it. The smell alone had her mouth-watering.

Picking up a small bowl in one hand and the other holding the ladle, she was ready to add the food when she heard an unfamiliar voice,

"Look at what we have here. Stealing food in the middle of the night when the rest goes to sleep," there was an evil smirk on her face as she stood there with her hands crossed against her chest like she had hit pure gold.

"Whose voice is that?" turning around swiftly Zoe caught the eyes of a completely different person she hadn't seen before, it was a vampire, she had crimson red eyes, her lips looked glossy, long lashes, perfect nose, blond hair, if it wasn't for the existence of vampires Zoe would have confused her with being a goddess.

Zoe liked that she looked pretty, but Zoe hated the fact that she was evilly glaring at her complete innocent features. "What is your name slave" the lady said disgusted as she towered over Zoe's small frame "my name... is Zoe" "what a stupid name that fits an ugly and dirty looking slave like you…, well Zoe you listen carefully, I'm not going to repeat myself a second time.. my name is Natasha and I HATE YOU!" the lady spat angrily at Zoe's face, the lady continued "your name already tells me that you're that bitch that Eliot purchased from that dirty place, but I'm here to replace you as Eliot's comfort, the only difference is that you'll be the on doing all the cleaning and serving… and you'll start by doing the laundry" 'Gosh this lady talks too much' Zoe thought as Natasha roughly pulled Zoe by the arm, leading her to the laundry section, Natasha paused as she threw a large pile of dirty clothes on Zoe's face "my clothes are in there so wash them properly rat, oh and when you're done the dishes are there to" she said as she turned and rushed off..

Hours had passed and Zoe hands started to hurt with the amount of clothes she had to wash "if Eliot was here I wouldn't have to do so much work".

When Zoe had finished with the clothes she advanced to the dishes, but before she could start washing them, two masculine hands softly grabbed her feminine waist and pulled her back towards him

*GASP*

Zoe froze in fear, but got composed when she heard a familiar voice "you look exhausted, you need to rest your hands" he said softly as his lips grazed the side of her neck, it was Eliot "master what are you doin-" before Zoe could complete her sentence Eliot was now in front of her.

He had a serious look on his face and it was very frightening. Master Eliot was angry and Zoe new something was wrong.

His green eyes peered into her soul, he looked like as if he was ready to kill someone, but soon it melted, it melted like fire on wax, his anger had melted into worry.

Zoe couldn't understand that Eliot was worried about her, but the only thing she could understand was that a vampire who was her master stood really close to her face not but an inch away from hers.

Zoe's heart was rapidly beating in her chest, and a tingling sensation swirled in her heart, she tried to dismiss feeling but it wouldn't go away