Chapter 13

Burris held off the Elders from finding trouble for me, as he had promised, and showed extra indulgence, and for a few days afterwards the villa was treated with a good deal of respect.
Of course, this could also be due to the fact that my rank was raised and I was no longer the lowest vampire, also I got the identity of being the Countess, and I gained all of Phillips' powers.
I can probably see why all these people are so hungry for power. It represented everything, status, position and a way of being alive.
Burris did save me a lot of trouble, and I thought to thank him.
In the bedroom, Burris stood by the window with his back to me. I couldn't help but fix my gaze on his tall and slender back.
"Chris, your blood is starting to taste delicious." Burris' voice suddenly rang in my ears, and it felt close.
Startled, I sat up from the couch and asked at Burris's back, "Burris, did you just say something against my ear?"
"Hmm?" Burris turned his head and looked at me suspiciously.
"I just... thought I heard your voice, and it was very close." I said hesitantly, which sounded a little creepy.
Burris froze for a moment, then broke into a smile, walked towards me, and said, "Congratulations! Chris, you've got a new ability."
"What?" I felt a little incredulous.
"Tell me, what did you hear?" Burris asked, leaning close to me.
I lowered my eyes, hesitated, and said, "You said...my blood was beginning to taste delicious."
"Oh, I'm sorry, that's so rude." Burris narrowed his eyes with a smile.
"Is this a mind-reading ability? I can use it on anyone?" I was still in a bit of disbelief.
"Yes, feel free to use it on people of lower rank." Burris said.
"Why can I hear your thoughts?" I looked at him in disbelief.
"That's because I just lost my concentration and you snuck up on me." He joked.
"That's a nice ability." I said with a smile.
Hesitating for a moment, I inclined my head, showing my snowy white neck to Burris.
I took a deep breath and said to him, "Come on, as a thank you, I'll let you suck my blood, but don't suck me dry."
Burris looked at me and smiled teasingly, "Really? Chris, I'm not going to be polite to you, no one can resist food brought to their mouth."
"If you delay any longer, I'm going to take back my words." I frowned.
Burris tenderly cupped my cheek and buried his head in the crook of my neck. Then, I felt a brief tingle.
He seemed to be in a good mood, and I felt no pain, even as I could feel the tingle brought on by the blood crossing my veins, a sensation similar to the brain's secretion of dopamine.
I wouldn't mind letting him suck a few more times if he was that gentle every time.
After a while, I felt a little dizzy. Burris finally left my neck, and I saw his lips stained even redder with blood, like a rose blooming in the dark night.
He looked at me with a gentle yet focused gaze and asked in a genuine tone, "Chris, can I kiss you?"
"Yes, you can." I answered in my heart.
While in fact, I was almost about to say yes, but the moment he got close to me, I suddenly remembered Tyrone.
"I'm sorry, I can't promise you that." I pushed him away, sheepishly averting my eyes.
"Why? Chris, you're my fiancée." Burris asked in disbelief, his tone sounding a little disappointed.
"I'm not going to be your fiancée, in fact, I have a lover and I can't betray him." I looked bravely straight at him and was honest.
If he could understand me, we could probably be friends.
"Oh, no, Burris, calm down." I had a bit of a headache.
After I said that, Burris looked at me with an icy stare, then his eyes began to flicker.
"Sorry guys, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but it's my gift." Vicky's voice suddenly rang out.
The next second, she appeared in our bedroom.
"My poor Prince, to have been rejected." She continued, walking over to Burris.
Vicky was just rude. How could she eavesdrop on us?
I looked at her with a mischievous look in my eyes and spoke in a raw tone, "Miss Vicky, this is Burris s and mine room, please leave."
"No, this is my bedroom." Burris said coldly.
Burris' words made me embarrassed and a little uncomfortable. I swallowed, like I had a rock stuck in my throat.
"You may have misunderstood me, can we talk in private?" I requested, looking at Burris.
"The Lord Prince has asked you to leave his room." Vicky said with her neck held high, and I wanted to snap it.
"Oh! Are you glaring at me, Countess Chris!" Vicky shrieked, her burgundy eyes darkening. I felt a wave of pressure hit me.
Damn it! She's a Marquis, which was a higher rank than me.
"That's enough!" Burris said in a hushed voice, "Vicky, you leave too, I want to rest in peace."
The pressure on my body immediately disappeared. Vicky's red eyes flashed for a split second, and with a stern look at me, she turned and left the bedroom.
"Chris, your room is downstairs, let's go."
When I didn't leave yet, Burris spoke up again to remind me. He rubbed his brow, looking a little tired.
I had to leave his room for a while, but it was a little hard on my heart.
Burris's POV.
After shooing away Chris and Vicky, I immediately swept away from my hands in exasperation. A grumpiness I'd never felt before rose up inside me, along with an even stranger sourness.
I didn t know why I just gave birth to the idea of kissing Chris, but when Chris told me that she could read minds, my heart started going out of whack.
I was surprisingly a little shy when I learned that she had heard my thoughts. That emotion turned to joy again as she voluntarily exposed her long and white neck to me.
Chris's blood seemed to be more attractive to me.
My lips were pressed against Chris's neck. I hadn't noticed before, but now I suddenly felt that Chris's skin was delicate and tender, like freshly steamed eggs.
Her blood didn't seem to satisfy me anymore either, and I was more than eager to kiss her lips, which were glistening with water and looked red and soft.
I just wanted to kiss her, which shouldn't have been awkward for Chris, who was supposed to be my fiancée, but she refused my request.
What hit me even harder was that Chris said she had a lover.
While it didn't look like Chris was lying, I froze in place and the emotion that followed was a shock of anger I'd never felt before.
I wanted to find her lover immediately and tore that man to pieces!
But I was a Prince, I couldn t get angry at being denied a kiss by a lady, at least not in front of my subjects like that, it's too ungentlemanly.
I could only drive both of them away.
After smashing some things, it's like I still had a fire hiding inside me, my heart felt like it's been locked inside an oven.
Fire was the most hated thing in the Bloods, and I had to find a way to douse it.
I took a bottle strongest spirit, a vodka with a whooping 95% abv from the liquor cabinet. After just one sip my tongue went numb, and then my heart seemed to ignite.
Instead of dousing the fire, the wine made it burn brighter and burned away my confinement.
It was a very painful feeling and I couldn't resist taking a few more sips of wine.
Why did Chris reject my kiss? My brain thought in confusion.
Maybe Chris was just afraid of me? Maybe Chris didn t have a lover at all and was just afraid that I d drain her on her wedding day and was using that excuse to trick me.
But not necessarily, Chris just had a serious look on her face.
I pondered bitterly.
With that in mind, I left my room.
I should ask Chris myself.
Chris's POV.
Walking downstairs, I ran into Vicky again. she was like a ghost that I couldn't get rid of, and she had left no any good impression on me at all.
She seemed to be waiting there for me on purpose, and before I could say anything, she was dragging me away from the villa.
Vicky took me out to the garden.
Under the moonlight was a large field of black roses, with so many vines that they tangled together and even climbed the fence and reached out.
"Marchioness Vicky, are you trying to invite me here to enjoy the flowers?" I looked at her warily.
Vicky's eyes were still blood-red and looked eerie in the moonlight.