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The Devil

Charlotte appeared in the doorway of the study The per smell of cherry tobacco and pipe smoke filled the room and wafted out into the place where she stood The foyer had been restored, for the most part, the more resilient pieces of the antique furniture placed back in their rightful spots, the floor dusted of debris Charlotte could see hunks of thebefore Valek in the hearth He watched the the loss of his valuable collection

The rooal arhtly angled to her, thefaces imprisoned in the cherry wood One by one, his perfect s into the night behind the long, garnet curtains

She lingered in the threshold, leaned up against the carvings in the frah of course, he knew she was there Her mind flashed to what she&039;d seen Valek strike down upon the wo in horror as he sucked the life from her, and then to Charlotte&039;s surprise, pulled aell before the woman was dead What exactly did he intend to do with her if it wasn&039;t to kill her? Did he always tie his victi, too Valek neverit was only hi perfect circles of shts, hisinto hers

Valek sat, one long leg crossed over the other, perched on the velvet seat of the chair He lifted his pipe to his full lips with his other set of clarapped around one of the intricate chair ar into the crackling flames The sound of Valek&039;s nails scratch-scratch-scratching made the hair on Charlotte&039;s arms stand on end She was addicted to every lethal part of him

There were so many uardian habitually perched where she always reiot co both of their worlds on their axes

Every night, when Charlotte would return ho another hu Every evening, without fail, this here he would be It was coe life was a constant-dependable and unchanging At least one thing in her life would exist forever Now, soed to find theain It was as if nothing had changed at all

Her fingers wound in impatient knots in the material of the skirt of her favorite new dress She bit her lower lip a little too hard and suddenly tasted a very familiar sensation of iron and copper

"Lottie"

Valek&039;s liquid voice soothed her burning anticipation Her heart fluttered unevenly When he spoke, it was like rain when she had not tasted water in days When he touched her, it was like ice against the devastating fire that now tortured her under the bed of her skin This addiction was literally eating her alive

"Charlotte," he began again "Come to me, please"

The immense shadow from his armchair stretched across the wooded floor to the ends of her toes, tugging at her, begging her tolump formed thickly in her throat as she took a step deeper into the study She could tell he hadn&039;thimself up inside over Charlotte&039;s very peculiar predica for the past fewfrom his bite had made her deathly ill It had been that way since their time in Francis&039; basement

The fire roared before Valek, as if a wild beast lived in the ees of his face As he exhaled, his lips parted ever so slightly to reveal his lethal incisors So fluttered in Charlotte&039;s stomach, and it lurched as she rounded the corner of his chair to face him

Valek was more than beautiful, crafted by the devil his-unspeakable things: to hunt her own kind, to sacrifice her life, to drive her to insanity He possessed her

The pallid Va into the air above his head, his electrified blue eyes following it before it eventually vanished He didn&039;t say anything Hehis were She couldn&039;t tear her ainst Valek&039;s strict orders, she&039;d crept down the stairs and around the corner to his office the night before Through the crack in the door, she could see the mortal&039;s panicked expression just s into the side of her throat like a cobra It was so fast, and Charlotte had winced instantly upon the sight of it, her scar flaring with the recollection of what that felt like

"Charlotte!" Sarah had whispered feverishly at her "You are not supposed to be here! Go back upstairs, now!" The Witch had shoved her away and quickly slammed the door Charlotte did as she was ordered, too exhausted to witness anything further that night

She cliing over the side of his knee The scar at her throat continued to throb, though it wasn&039;t too painful yet She wrapped her arether as they draped over his broad shoulder

Valek neglected to look her in the eye, his gaze re before hi

"You&039;re shaking," he observed, shifting his weight slightly and wrapping his free arh his deathly skin didn&039;t do much to warm her He continued to look stoic and stone-faced His movements seemed absentminded and almost involuntary Charlotte frowned She could tell he wasn&039;t really in the room with her at all "Shall I close thefor you?"

Charlotte cleared her throat, whichpain that followed "No It is not that I a he would catch on She wound one of her fingers around a thick lock of his soft, dark hair It ran long, like a night&039;s rain, from his &039;s peak, down past his shoulders to the htly at the ends, the impossible beauty of his porcelain face cradled by it Oh, he was deadly indeed

"I caught Sarah crying," Charlotte began

"Did you?" Valek&039;s eyebrow lifted

"Yes I believe she worries for er if I continue on this like this I saw it in the way she looked at ht, Valek twisted one of Charlotte&039;s curls around his index claw He did not utter a word, which made her stomach turn

She wanted him to look at her "Do you like my dress?"

"It&039;s very pretty," he lance in her direction