Dozen portraits

The sun shined as it bloomed through the mountain, today would be a cold day as it was said that it would be a blizzard. Which it did, Nicole woke up from the cold temperature making her shiver. She looked around seeing that the room she was in was unfamiliar and quite luxurious. She would guess that this room was larger than her own considering that she is just a guest.

Draping the blanket off of her she gets up from the bed, she looks down to see she is still wearing the dress from yesterday.

Something felt off last night, trying to remember the details that led her into the room. Nicole gasped realizing that she was in Lord Jasper's room, in a hurry she ran to the door as it opened on its own to find Jasper holding papers in his hand. 

His eyes narrowed at her" Where do you think you're going?"

She gulped"Forgive me lord Jasper I didn't mean to sleep in your bed, I must've been tired from the dancing."

"I carried you to my room so you could sleep better, I have some documents to finish before I let you paint me. I will need a dozen portraits by tomorrow-"

Jasper clenched his chest tightly as his eyes slowly turned black causing him to grunt in pain, she stepped back from him as he reached into his pocket taking a blood pill to control not only his hunger but the corruption that was placed on him. Nicole wanted to make sure he was okay so she offered him a glass of water that she found on the nightstand. He snatched the water from her hand as he drank in quickly.

"Are you alright Lord Jasper?"

Jasper stood up as his eyes changed back to normal not wanting to worry her he cleared his throat.

"I'm fine, I didn't drink any blood for serval weeks. Like I was saying I need the portraits done by tomorrow. Once you get yourself settled meet me in the drawing room, my butler Rowland will take the lead you there"

Nicole nodded at him as a small smile formed on his lips"I'll be heading back to my room to get ready."

she bowed her head and headed out the door Jasper took a step back making sure he gave her enough room to leave. He wondered if a dozen portraits were too much for her, humans tend to get tired easily. The corruption took over him suddenly he was able to control it for a small moment of time, the thought of killing her was too much for him to bear. He wouldn't be able to live with himself knowing he harmed her. Not wanting to put too much thought into the situation he got himself ready from his portrait. 

Once Nicole got dressed wearing only a long brown dress with a red silk scarf on her head and a tattered apron. Rowland opened the door to find that she was ready to paint leading her to the drawing room, she didn't know why she had felt nervous all of a sudden to be the first person to paint the great Lord of Snow was exciting.

Making it into the drawing room she found Lord Jasper in his battle uniform but he had made a few changes to his uniform as it seemed more elegant in style. He even wore black gloves that covered his hands.

Nicole stood in front of the canvas as Jasper stood in a position he felt comfortable in. She sits down making during everything is good and set to go as the apron she had on her body hugs her tightly.

The look of desire filled his eyes as he looked at her. He was like a wolf greedy and ready for his prey, this little lamb that stood before him was going to be his. He just needed to keep her here for a while though it was safe that no one could harm her but him alone. But Jasper didn't want to hurt her but spend more time with her as he would have war with Lilth kingdom soon.

The talk that he had with Noah simply meant something to him as he wouldn't tell Charles his dirty work and on top of that he kept Clarice safe from the councilmen. As vampires and humans were strictly forbidden, when they bear a child it is considered an abomination. Could he see his future with the woman that stood in front of him?

She picked up the brush and she started to mix colors and started to do a rough sketch continuously looking at him as he did nothing but stare at her making her blush. This was an important piece as she would be the first person to ever paint Lord Jasper. She was honored to do so. If only her father Earl could see the progress she had made getting here, she missed him dearly but she knew that crying wasn't going to solve anything.

Once Nicole finished the rough sketch she started to paint. From what she learned from her father every little detail counts even the ones that weren't noticed as well as others.

Though this was just going to be one of many portraits he wanted a dozen she believed that this was some sort of challenge. Nicole smiled at the thought of getting to paint all day as it was her bread and butter, she couldn't live without it. The thought of being able to make a normal living out of her hobby seemed a bit too much.

As time passed Nicole finally finished the painting and Jasper was finally able to move to be able to move his body freely as he stretched slightly making his way to her. She moved out the way for him to see only for Jasper to cross his arms and look closely. She clenched her hands tightly wondering what he was thinking about the painting.

Not saying much of anything he turned his body towards her " That's one down and eleven more to go, I expect it done by Tomorrow."

Nicole bowed her head as he left the room leaving her alone she took the canvas off the easel, putting it on the ground so it could dry properly. Grabbing another blank canvas so she could start painting once more.

The next day came as Jasper walked into the drawing room seeing the canvases laid out one by one. Nicole slept on the small chair as her head was down with the paintbrush still in her hand clenched tightly. She must've been up for the majority of the night working tirelessly to get the paintings done. He would have given her more time if she needed it. 

Jasper kneeled beside her taking the small paintbrush from her hand and gently nudging her to wake up. Nicole opened her eyes to see Jasper beside her, she yawned as she tried to get up only to stumble in the process causing him to catch her. She landed on his leg as he propped her up having his arm around her waist tightly. Feeling embarrassed by her sudden fall, she tried to get up only for him to tighten his grip causing her to look at him. 

What was wrong with him why didn't he let her go but continue to stare at her with no form of expression? Nicole tried her best to move but she didn't budge not one bit. She calmed down as his face got close to hers causing Nicole to close her eyes tightly to feel his hand caressing her cheek softly.

She blushed profusely at his actions " L-Lord Jasper! What are you doing!"

Jasper frowned at her question "I want to be able to continue where we left off the last time, remember I want to know everything about you. For your reward, you'll spend time with me. "

Nicole looked down " Where will we go?" Jasper smirked as he stood up still carrying her and he began to walk out of the room. she was confused as to where they were going. She closed her eyes suddenly feeling a gust of wind, Jasper stopped at the entrance of the manner as he set her down. His butler rapidly approached him grabbing his coat from the rack and handing it to his master.

Jasper puts the coat on Nicole causing the butler to slightly widen his eyes from his master gesture. The coat was huge due to her small frame causing her to look rather small. Nicole was worried as to where he was taking her, he said nothing at all. This was strictly forbidden a human and a vampire shouldn't mingle together. He took her inside the carriage as they began to ride away from the manor, going down the long dirt path as it was nothing but endless trees that passed by.

After a while they had made it to their destination she looked out the window to see that they were at the same market she and Clarice had gone to.

Not wanting to waste any time, Jasper opened the carriage door and grabbed her hand pulling her. As they began to walk removing his hand from hers people started to point and mock her for simply being beside him. They kept walking until he suddenly stopped in front of a merchant who made and sold jewelry. 

"Pick something from here and I shall get it for you"

Nicole looked up at Jasper with a puzzled expression he wanted to buy her jewelry.