“So, Juliet,” he said, finally paying attention to her. “I’m a little confused. What are you doing here?” He leaned over and began lighting the candles by the tub.  

“You act like you’re not happy to see me,” she pouted.

The candlelight made the droplets of water on his white cheek glisten and reflected the fire in his eyes. “I’m starving,” he said simply. Then he took a pomegranate out of the bowl and began peeling it.

Juliet climbed off the bed and approached the tub. She was a little apprehensive at first, but Seth said he wasn’t going to get naked and sure enough when she perched herself on the lip of the tub, she saw he was still wearing a pair of dark-colored briefs.

“What was that screaming outside?” she asked slowly.

Seth didn’t even pause as he answered smoothly. “My brother is cooking. I think he accidentally cut himself.”

“That didn’t sound like him. It sounded like a woman.”

Seth laughed and popped a few of the red kernels in his mouth. “I can’t help it if that’s what he sounds like.”

“Then why are we locked in here if all he’s doing is cooking?” she demanded.

“We are not locked in here, little girl.  You are locked in here,” he corrected as he tossed a bit of the peel over the edge of the tub. “What are you doing here, anyway? Isn’t coming here advanced magic, even for you?”

“What are you talking about?”

He shook his head wearily. “You’re not afraid of me, are you? Afraid of what I could do to you?”

“Not really,” she said slowly.

“Well, you should be,” he answered, his head hanging at an angle. “You’ve caught me at a very bad time. I’m starving.”

Juliet shivered. “But you said that you weren’t a vampire. You were worried the vampire would hurt me. You would never hurt me.”

He put a hand to his forehead and said bitterly, “Wouldn’t I?”

“You’re not a vampire,” she repeated.

Seth threw his head back and stared at the beautiful ceiling. His voice sounded like truck tires on gravel when he said his next words, “That doesn’t mean I don’t drink blood.”

Juliet pursed her lips together to stop herself from yelping. She sat very still on the edge of the tub and didn’t speak. Was he telling the truth?

“The problem is that Chas is cooking right now, and I have to wait for him to finish.” He dropped the uneaten pomegranate by the side of the tub and continued, “These won’t satisfy me when I’m like this. You shouldn’t have come. This room isn’t for you. If I could stay away from you, I would. I would leave you in the lurch so fast if I could find the one I’m really meant for. Why do I even bother masquerading as a human? It’s pointless. If I could, I would throw you out on the street right now with the stiffest warning you’ve ever had. You should stay away from me.”

“What about last night?” she whispered.

“What about it?”

“Don’t you love me? Even if it’s just a little bit?” she asked, putting her thumb and index finger an inch apart.

He squinted like thinking was painful for him. Then he swallowed. “I don’t know if I would call what I feel for you love. Sometimes it feels like you’re just a gorgeous distraction trying to keep me from my real goal.”

“What’s your real goal?”

He sighed. “To break my curse. When I met you, I realized on sight I should have nothing to do with you and I tried to keep you out of my life, but then you said if I left you would go back to Rylan. My hands were tied. That felt like the worst thing I had ever heard. You were going back to him? I couldn’t stand it. I still can’t stand it, because that’s the truth, isn’t it? If I leave, you’ll end up with him. You won’t quit your Occult’s Addict thing, will you?”  

“No,” she said gravely.

“And that’s why I’m here. You can’t go to him to be trampled and put down. You have to be free. I don’t understand it. It seems the weirdest thing in the world that being with me would be the thing to set you free.”

“I don’t like the way this conversation is going. Are you trying to escalate our relationship by biting me, or are you trying to offend me so badly that I’ll break up with you?” she asked, her voice caustic.

“Do you want me to bite you?” he asked quizzically.

She blushed and deferred answering, “I want you to feel strongly about me. I want you to feel as passionate about me as I feel about you. You mentioned that you were meant for someone else earlier. Far be it for me to keep you from your destiny, but I don’t want to be your second choice. If that’s how it is, then I don’t want you to touch me.”

“Even though just one of my kisses sends you into such ecstasy that you can’t keep conscious?”

“You’re an egomaniac in disguise, aren’t you? And yeah, even though.”

A few moments passed and neither of them said anything.

Finally, Seth found his voice and asked, “Would you go to Rylan if I left?” 

“It’s this feeling I have,” she said, sounding wistful. “I just know he will be there for me no matter what happens.”

“What a curious feeling! But the way you tell it, that dependability does not sound accompanied by love.” He sat very still and seemed to be thinking it over. “No,” he said at last. “I can’t give you to him.”

Juliet leaned toward Seth and looked him in the eye. “Do you love me? Do you think there’s a way for you to give up on the one you’re meant for and just be satisfied with me?”

Seth’s lips curled as though he were in pain. “I wish I could.”

She got up from the tub. “Then I won’t stay. I’ve read too many books and seen too many dramas for that kind of a line to work on me. I won’t be led on by half promises. If there’s someone else or some other type of girl you feel you must pursue, then I will politely bow out. I promise not to go to Rylan right away, or at least, not out of loneliness. So, that should satisfy you. You need not fear that I’ll do something stupid because you were unkind to me. There. Is that all you need so you can do whatever you want with a clean conscience?”

He glared at her. “So, you can just put your feelings for me aside?”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t be lonely. I didn’t say I wouldn’t be desperate. I said that I wouldn’t do anything stupid because you rejected me. That’s all. That doesn’t change how much I want you in my life. I want you so bad. You have no idea how much I’m dying to unlock the secrets of your world. For starters, why am I locked in here?” she almost yelled, rattling the doorknob. “Are you and your brother cannibals? Is Chas killing some innocent girl out there and I have to be locked in here so that I can’t be a witness? Why did you walk in here, immediately strip and get in the tub? Why was it filled with water to start with? Shouldn’t you leave it drained? There are so many questions I can hardly count. Who is Chas' daughter and why does she know me? Why do you have a picture of that woman, Raidne, in your living room? The woman Chas told me was a murderer? I want to know everything.”

“You’re putting yourself in a precarious position even being here, Juliet. But I can answer a few of those questions. First, neither my brother nor I are killers. Do you believe me?”

She nodded, feeling brave and dying to hear every last word that dripped from his superb lips. She was even proud of herself for bullying a few answers out of him.

“The scream from before was probably nothing more than one of Chas' lovers. Some of them are quite vocal. Don’t let it bother you.”

“Why didn’t you say so before?”

“I didn’t like to freak you out. You seem so pure. Who knew you were imagining that he was hacking some girl to bits on the countertop? That’s the reason the rooms are soundproof. He doesn’t want to traumatize the more innocent members of his household and in an offbeat way that includes me.” At this point, Seth actually laughed, and with his laughter, the mood in the room lightened considerably. He got out of the tub, took a towel out of the wardrobe, and started drying himself, starting with his face. “I think the only other question I don’t mind answering is about Chas' daughter. Yes, you know her. It’s Nixie. Bet you never would have guessed that she’s my niece.”

“No,” Juliet started, aghast.

“Well, she is. She’s been my friend for many years.”

“And you won’t answer my questions about the tub?”

“That’s because they are ridiculous. Everyone has baths,” he said simply, as he motioned for Juliet to turn around. “Go ahead. I need to put dry clothes on.”

“I’m done,” he said after a decent interval.

Juliet turned. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, putting on a pair of black socks. He was wearing what looked like a dark turtleneck sweater and a pair of dark slacks. Exact colors couldn’t be defined in the hollow of his room.

“Oh,” she said, suddenly remembering Chas' warning. “What’s fan service?”

Seth started. “Where did you hear that?”

“Chas. He said that if I wanted to have a happy future, then I had to leave you alone. Then he said something about how you weren’t very good at fan service. What was he talking about?”

Seth shook his head in disgust. “I’m not answering that.”

“Really? That’s too bad. Maybe I could ask Chas instead. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind explaining.”

“I’m sure he would. The fact that he said ‘fan service’ instead of speaking bluntly means that he doesn’t want to talk about it if you don’t already understand it.”  

Juliet fumed. She loved this situation and hated it. Here she was, locked in a room with the object of her desire, and yet he was taking the teasing too far. She hated being left out of a joke because he thought her to be too ‘innocent’. No one wanted to traumatize her by telling her the truth, and it happened to her all the time.  

“So, basically,” he drawled, leaning back on the bed. “You’re considering dumping me because of the person I’m waiting for?”

“It sounds like a waste of time if you’re just going to leave me for her.”

“My whole life is a waste of time.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I read your poem. You sound very bleak.”

“What poem?” he asked, sitting up and leaning his elbow on his knee.

“The one you had open on your computer. The one you wrote about your three dreams.”

“Dreams,” Seth repeated, looking beyond her like he was in a trance.

“Will you tell me more about them?” she asked, moving to sit beside him. Maybe she still had a chance to win him over if she was patient and understanding.

“You shouldn’t have snooped,” he said, still staring at the same place on the wall. “And you shouldn’t be sitting this close to me. I’m hungry.”

Juliet’s skin turned cold. “Would you really bite me?”

He turned his face away from her and plugged his nose.

“I don’t believe you’d actually bite me,” she said, not entirely sure if that was what she believed or not.

“Don’t provoke me. I was lying about only you being locked in here. I can’t get out either. We have to wait for Chas to open the door.”

“What else have you been lying about?” 

One of his eyebrows twitched. “I can’t stand this. Please, go sit over there, or better still, take off your clothes and get in the tub.”

“What?” Juliet exclaimed.

“You don’t understand,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “With you in my room, I can smell you so much better than anywhere else. There are no distractions. When I’m in your room, I can pretend that what I smell is your fabric softener. When we’re out in public, I smell everything but you. The tub is still full of water and my scent. Either get in or... I really will bite you.”

Juliet stared, completely unsure how she should react. Was he simply trying to get her to take her clothes off?

“This isn’t a joke. I wish it were. Get in. You’ll be much safer.”

“No,” she whispered.  

“You’re a stupid girl, Juliet,” Seth cursed. Then he clenched his teeth and before she knew it she was slammed directly into the middle of his bed with her head on the pillows. His knee was between her legs and his hands balled into fists on either side of her head. “You should listen to me when I warn you, but if this is how it has to be, then so be it.”

He bent his head down and kissed Juliet on the lips. She was nervous, but she pushed her tongue between Seth’s lips and tried to search his mouth for his fangs. Maybe she had imagined his long, sharp teeth. She had to confirm it one more time. But she felt little more than the wetness of his mouth before she disappeared into one of her visions.

There was a warm, wet wind blowing across her face and the sweaty breadth of her chest. She was kneeling on the stones of a tower balcony. It looked out onto the sea and the starry night sky. Her hands and lips were drenched in blood and red, swollen tears streamed from her eyes freely. Dizzy, her mind was spinning and her senses whirling as though she couldn’t understand what had just happened.

Seth lay dead in front of her, his blood splashed and staining the dark stones of the balcony. He was practically hacked to bits in front of her. He was missing fingers and one of his eyes had been gouged out. There was an arrow through his shoulder and two knives protruding from his abdomen.

He had fought desperately to protect her, his twin double-edged swords lay still and wet with blood beside him, but the violence was over. It was quiet and Juliet could hear the faint chirping of birds.

Her lip trembled and the anger that stormed in her system could not be contained. That bastard! Nothing could stop her now. No one could take Seth away from her. Damn him! Damn everyone!

She wrenched one of the knives from Seth’s stomach free and more blood gushed in the process. Bending down, she kissed the bloody gash.  

“I love you so much,” she whined, her voice broken. “You can’t die like this. I’ll give you a different ending.”

With that, she took the knife and put it to her own throat, slitting it with such violence that she managed to drag the blade all the way to the other side.

The last thing Juliet heard was a howl. A man was screaming himself hoarse. What had she done to herself?

Juliet couldn’t stand it, even though her consciousness was returning to Seth’s bed, the vicious pain uncoiling in her stomach was something she couldn’t handle. It was something she had never been able to handle.  

She kissed Seth harder and accepted oblivion with pleasure.