Niu had put a pillow over her head and closed her eyes. She would be hitting her head off the wall of her room right now if that didn't mean attracting attention. Aulus hadn't come in to feed in over a week. Oh sure he came to see her, but he never stayed long anymore. And she realized she missed him. Missing the guy who actually listened to her and treated her like she had brains and opinions wasn't such a surprise, but when that same guy only thinks of you like a piece of interesting food was. And now she had to deal with the fact he might be bored. It wouldn't be so bad if that didn't mean that she'd most likely be killed. Every single slave she arrived with was gone. They either got too weak or got boring. She was the one who had stayed here the longest.

"I am an idiot." She muttered in her native language.

“And what happened now?” A voice speaking in her native language reached her ears. Niu removed the pillow from her face and got up. Sergius was at the door, a tray in his hand.

“Oh, hi.” Niu blinked. “You don’t usually bring the food.”

"Eh, Aulus told me to check up on you, so I thought two birds, one stone." Sergius put the tray down and sat next to Niu. Niu was always surprised at how easy it was to get along with him. It must have something to do with the fact he was younger than any other vampire here, and that they treated him just a little better than a human. And all because they didn't know who his sire was. He never thought of her as a lower being.

“Come on, speak. Or will I have to guess?” Sergius nudged her, smiling.

"You think you can?" Niu sat up, intrigued. She didn't really want to verbalize her feelings right now, and maybe if Sergius guessed wrong, she could pretend that he guessed right.

"Hmmm…" Sergius put his hand under his chin. "Well, Aulus hasn't been feeding on you for the past few weeks, and we all know the dangers of that. Now that might be why you are scared, but it doesn't explain why you think you are an idiot." Sergius's eyes sparkled, and he smirked.

Niu was cursing in her head. She didn’t know how he found out, but she didn’t want to hear it. She got up.

“Aha! I’m right!” Sergius got up to follow her. “You like —”

Niu turned around and clasped a hand over Sergius’s mouth. He grinned. Niu started wondering how a vampire this young could control his fangs so well. She had only seen them when he was actively drinking blood, usually from a cup.

Sergius removed Niu’s hand. “You like him.”

Niu pursed her lips. “And that’s why I’m an idiot.” She started pacing. “Here I am, about to get murdered, and all I can think is that I’ll probably get my neck broken by the only person I actually like in this place!”

Sergius grabbed at his chest theatrically. “Ouch. What am I, leftovers for the dog? You have wounded me so with your words.”

“Oh come on, you know you’re my best friend in this place.” Niu laughed.

"Well, if you're laughing it can't be that bad." Sergius clasped both hands on Niu's shoulders. "If anyone can deal with what's coming, whatever that is, it's you." He shrugged. "And hey, I spend a lot of time with the guy, maybe I can poke a bit, and if he does plan on killing you, I can smuggle you out in a laundry basket or something." Sergius gave Niu an encouraging smile and went to do his job.

Niu hoped he was right.