13: Rumour has it
I decided, after breakfast, to go to the library. It was a place that I knew, would be least occupied, considering the nobles were either in their bedrooms- that fact gave me deep chills- in the drawing room, or in the lounge area, along with Liam whom I was trying to avoid.
The library was well hidden in the palace amongst the chambers, the bedrooms and the various event rooms. As such, it took more than a while for me to reach the grand wooden doors. When I opened them, I was surprised to see Xavier sitting at one of the six wooden desks in the middle of the many systematically placed bookshelves forming intricate passageways throughout the white room.
Immediately he looked up at me, right into my eyes which had, during the course of the day begun to return to their golden colour- much to my relief.
"It's the hybrid bitch who tried to kill me. I didn't take you for the library-type. I thought you were just some dog." He said, with a sigh before returning to his book.
I said nothing to him, not sure what to say, and then began nearing his table, curious to see what he was reading.
"Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare." I said, after gazing at the familiar words dancing across the white pages of his book.
Xavier slowly looked up at me, back at the book, and then his gaze returned to my eyes. "You... know the play?"
I nodded, and said, quietly, "William Shakespeare is one of my favourite writers. 'Where shall we three meet again-'"
"'In thunder, lightning or in rain?' The opening lines of Macbeth. It seems you definitely show some sort of intelligence." He then hesitated, allowing his blue-green eyes to flicker from the book to myself, and then stayed silent, as if remembering he hated me.
But I had grown interested in Xavier and this reading fetish he seemed to possess.
"S-so, is it your favourite play of his?"
Xavier looked up at me, was about to answer, but then hesitated once more and proceeded to ignore me, returning his gaze back to the novel. He was clearly a rose. Beautiful, but so damn prickly.
I began walking through the shelves, gently grazing the surface of the vintage covers, and letting out a breath at the gorgeous feeling. I continued this behaviour until I reached a seemingly odd book titled, 'Primus'. What made this book different from the rest, was the fact that the title was in Latin and the book cover was a peculiar shiny black colour, differing from the matte finished books in the shelf. It had been a while since I'd read any Latin, in fact, it had been a while since I'd read at all.
Slowly, I took the book from the shelf, careful not to disturb the others near it. I then took careful, quiet strides towards the desks, sitting myself a fair distance away from Xavier who never once looked up from his book, not even when I accidentally scraped the chairs across the floor.
I was just about to turn over the book cover to the first page when Xavier suddenly spoke.
"Latin? You read Latin?"
I looked up at him, grasping the book in my hands. It was clear that he'd read this one, judging by the fact that he never, not once, took his eyes off of Antony and Cleopatra.
"Mmm, I do" I mumbled, and that was when his eyes met mine, in disbelief.
"So, not only do you read William Shakespeare, but you are able to read in Latin as well. I find that hard to believe. Wolves are all supposed to be quite stupid and savage. There is no way you can read that book."
By this time my annoyance had begun skyrocket immensely, and I could feel the rage beginning to bubble up inside of me. Xavier honestly did know how to ruffle my feathers.
"I can read Latin. And werewolves are not some savage beasts. We are highly educated and quite sophisticated. Maybe if you vampires didn't have your noses so far up your asses, then you would actually see that we're not so different." By the time this left my mouth, I was breathless, and quite frankly, quite disturbed. Another outburst from me, and it was all Xavier's fault. He seemed quite proud of himself and sported on a smile as he stood up and neared my table.
"Mouthy, aren't we? It seems I know just the right buttons to press, and you do too..."
By now he was standing over me, with his blue-green eyes shifting slowly to red. His wavy locks began cloaking his face, giving him a dark and sinister look, and I gulped, very intimidated, and very frightened.
"Show me those eyes." It left his mouth almost in a breathless whisper.
I stared up at him confused, and muttered out, "E-eyes? What eyes?"
He leaned down, with his face practically inches away from mine. "Those eyes I saw when your hands were around my throat. I want to see the fire burn within them, consuming me, dominating me, scathing me."
I honestly could not even begin to comprehend what he was saying. Burn him? Consume him? Dominate him? Scathe him? What exactly did he mean by that?
"I-I'm afraid I don't understand."
He frowned, took my hand in his and chuckled. "Don't get so timid. Don't hide it, that beast within you. I want you to unleash it onto me. I want you... to dominate me... and my body." Slowly he began moving my hands up to his throat and I reveled in the cool feeling of his smooth skin, despite how strange this situation felt. Despite every fiber of my being telling me that this was wrong and dangerous.
"Choke me, Phoenix." He uttered, with his face turning from sinister, to desperate and lusty. That was when I removed my hands from him, stood up and took a few steps away from the clearly unhinged Xavier Chase.
"Are you fucking mad? What the hell is wrong with you!" I yelled, more afraid of the itching part of me that wanted to squeeze at his throat.
But that was all it took to get Xavier to snap out of his lust-filled haze, and immediately he covered it up with a look of anger.
"N-nothing. You fucking didn't hear anything... you b-bitch!"
With that he grabbed one of the chairs, flung it across the room, and then began stomping off, practically fuming. He, however, paused at the doors to the library and took a glance at me, uncertain.
"D-don't go telling anyone what happened here." He muttered.
I nodded slowly, still completely blown away by what had just happened- Xavier Chase had literally asked me to choke him. Was it perhaps possible, that the rumours were true? Could the tough, cold and vicious Xavier Chase actually be... a submissive masochist? And as I thought this, my curiosity began growing and so did my hunger. It was a hunger foreign to me, one after the taste of the forbidden pleasure of that decadent look on Xavier's face when he had asked me to wrap my hands around his throat. And so, I began running after him. Sebastian had told me to stay away from Liam, but he had never said anything about Xavier. Besides, I was far too curious to just leave our little encounter at this, and the burning fire within me was taunting me, driving the quiet version of myself away, allowing the new, darker part of me to take control.
---
It seems Phoenix is more vampire than she anticipated...
I know it may seem that Phoenix is quite... unrealistically naive and gullible, but give her some time, she truly does have a fire burning within her.
This novel also aims to explore the ideals of sexual freedom, so at the moment the relationships are based more on curiousity and newness, but this will definitely change throughout the novel as I begin developing the relationships between my characters, so stick with me!