Vexing

She caught the faintest hint of a smile in his voice and began blushing furiously. She couldn't shake the sudden feeling that he could read exactly what was going through her head. It was ridiculous to think that he could actually read her mind, but then again maybe not so very.

A couple of months ago she didn't think vampires existed outside of books about sparkly good looking guys with brooding hearts. She was past the point of being able to write things off as overly imaginative or flat-out lunacy.

Juri had no reason to believe that Marino couldn't read what she was thinking and the idea of it pissed her off and gave her goosebumps all over at the same time. Never in her life had her feelings for someone been so completely split down the middle.

There was one thing she knew for sure, and this would have been true had Marino been human instead of something else. She didn't care about being summoned. She didn't care for that experience at all.

"I'm coming," she mumbled, hoping he wouldn't hear her even as she slowly descended the stairs.

It had been four days since she and Marino had hooked up. Not that she was counting or anything. During the passing of those interminable days and nights, she and Marino hadn't seen each other at all.

Not even a glimpse in passing down one of his mansion's insanely long hallways. She didn't even want to get started on how large a home had to be for that to be possible, assuming Marino hadn't been out doing whatever it was that vampires living under the sea did.

Still, not that she was mooning around waiting to run into him or anything as juvenile as that, but it didn't do anything for her mental state.

Every time she shut her eyes she was back on the top of her duvet; his fingers digging into the flesh of her hopelessly bucking hips. Marino's face was buried between her legs. His strong, strange body hovering over hers and taking her over completely.

He was in her dreams, both waking and dreaming, and his absence only made them more potent. And wasn't that part of why she was pissed off? Why was she really pissed? Because part of her was pleased to hear his voice again.

It was the same part of her that would tingled everywhere, the part of her that didn't care whether she was with him of her own volition or not. It made her feel like a stranger to herself and totally out of control so that by the time she found him in his large, fancy dining room her face was full of sullen, dark mood.

"Is that really necessary?" She asked, her arms folded tightly over her chest.

She was wearing a dress she would never have been caught dead in when she was a topper, which was how she was coming to think of herself in her past life whether she liked it or not. It looked like a costume from a Victorian period movie and although she was sure it was expensive it was also impossible for her to get used to.

The only thing working in her favor was the absence of hoop skirts or corsets. Had Marino asked her to do either of those things there would very likely have been mutiny. Juri's hair was in sharp contrast to the rest of her silly ensemble, piled up on top of her head in a messy bun.

If her hair elastic snapped, something she had expected every day given her current conditions, God help her. There wasn't a shot in hell of her being able to put her hair up like the women in those movies.

She wouldn't have the first idea where to start. Juri glanced at Marino and wondered again how much of her thoughts he was picking up; the expression on his face didn't exactly make him look satisfied.

At the very least he wasn't pleased with her imperfect appearance. That was what she suspected, at any rate, and she felt a renewed surge of anger that did her body good. These days the refueling of her anger was like taking her vitamins; necessary for her optimum continuation.

"Is that necessary, Juri? Your refusal to use more than pronouns is quite vexing. Have you been told that before?" He asked, his head cocked to one side questioningly.

Her eyes got big, and she studied his face closely, trying to determine if he was joking. He had to be joking; there wasn't any other logical explanation. When she saw that he was totally serious, she started to laugh.

His face darkened further, which in turn only made her laugh harder. He obviously didn't like being laughed at, which shouldn't have surprised her in the least. A certain kind of man couldn't handle that kind of thing, and she didn't need to know Marino well to know that he was of that disposition.

"I'm sorry," she gasped, giggling so hard now that her stomach actually ached, "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be rude."

"What is it that you find so amusing, Juri?" He asked coldly.