The Vampire Lord

Chapter 19. Town Shops

It was early in the morning, and the sun had just begun blooming as golden petals stretched across the blue sky. Olivia was rushing down the castle stairs, trembling with excitement as she reached closer towards the main hall. It had been two days since The Lord's departure, and the girl had just been told of the news that a letter had arrived from him to her. The girl hated waking up early, and she would usually eat breakfast before anything else, but this was important.

Once she reached the bottom of the staircase, there stood a maid near the castle entrance with an envelope in her hands. The thought that he had taken the time out of his day to write to her, made her feel giddy with happiness.

"For you Miss Bennett, from The Lord." The young maid smiled as she bowed her head.

The girl gave a quick thank you as she was handed the letter. The envelope was sealed with wax, and although it had travelled a long way there was no mark or dent in the fine paper.

The maid fled the hall as Olivia began opening it. Inside the envelope was a letter, it was the first time she had ever seen Lord Nathaniel's handwriting. His writing was in cursive, each letter precise and consistent within size and spacing. It was beautiful and elegant, just like him, she thought to herself with a smile.

Dear Olivia,

I hope you're doing well, I am not sure when you will receive this letter but as promised I will return in about a week. I hope everything is alright in the castle, and I promise when I return I shall bring you a gift to make it up to you.

Sincerely, Nathaniel

Olivia felt herself blush as she read his letter, imagining his deep voice saying each word. It wasn't much, but she had read it over and over again until she could probably recite it by heart. Without a second to hesitate, she rushed to her room and grabbed ink and paper to write a letter back to him. Once she had gotten everything she needed, she sat herself down at her desk.

She sat there for a while holding the quill in her hand as she thought of what to write. Once she had finished contemplating she leaned towards the her desk and began writing away.

Dear Lord Nathaniel,

She immediately crossed out her first line. It was more of a personal letter than formal, so it would be fine if she wrote to him by his first name.

Dear Nathaniel,

I am doing alright and I hope that you are safe and well. Everything has been fine at the castle and nothing much has happened. About the gift you mentioned, the only gift I want is for your safe return. I hope when you come back we can hopefully spend more time together.

Love, Olivia

Love. Her heart began to pound in her chest at the word. She had always signed off letters with "love", it didn't necessarily have to be romantic. She thought about crossing it out for a second but then decided to simply leave it as it was.

"Writing love letters I see?" Olivia gasped recognising the voice to be Louis.

Turning in her seat, she placed her hand on her chest as he stood behind her.

"Couldn't you have knocked before entering?" Olivia furrowed. She had forgotten to close the door, and he had entered without her hearing him.

"I did not mean to scare you, you humans just have terrible hearing." He teased to see her narrow her eyes at his words. "I just came to check in."

"Well, I was in the middle of sending off my letter."

Curious, he leaned forward and began reading what she wrote. She glanced away from her table with her lips pressed together, fiddling with her hands nervously.