By mid afternoon they had moved all little she owned to Castellamare, and all was placed into a room the staff emptied for her. Her new studio. It was situated in the west wing of the castle, having a view to the sea and to

She looked at David who was standing in the open door, swinging himself absentmindedly on his heels, staring into the air. She was wondering what he was thinking of. He was so immersed in his thoughts, lazily stroking one of his four doberman's head that were all around him, as usual when he was at home, that he wasn't aware of her when she came back to the room. An idea came into her mind. She bent down and reached for her scrapbook and soft pencils that were perfect for making a sketch of someone or something in the spur of the moment. She went back to the balcony, and with her small of her back she leaned to the iron rails of the parapet, and with swift movements she began drawing the Duke in front of her. Instinctively, when she was to decide what clothing she wanted to draw, she chose something different than he was wearing. Instead of jeans and tee, she drew a renaissance-style black outfit with a robe. In no time, less than five minutes, the sketch was ready. She was examining it with squinted eyes, and made some small corrections here and there, then stepped to her lover and touched his arm.

He looked up, and sent her one of his heart warming smiles. She pushed the scrapbook under his nose, and looked at him questioningly. The drawing happened to be really good, she had a good hand, and had an artistic way to see things. Dave was amazed by the result, because suddenly he was lost in time and space, and what he saw was himself circa three hundred years ago, when he was „young”, and still lived in

The race of Cain's sons had had to be hard as steel inside. And not for nothing, it was a cruel world. They were called killers, even the tamer ones, because they took the blood of the living, but never, no one asked them how much they suffered themselves, and how they manage, because they didn't fit the pattern of life. He never asked to become a vampire, he was born to be one. His father, his mother and all his ancestors were vampires. Never unnecessarily cruel and evil, they only wanted to survive. Now, only he remained.

He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, coughed a little one and asked Viola on a rusty voice if he could keep the drawing. Viola nodded proudly, she was happy he loved it, but was taken aback from the look in his eyes. Her heart was churning when she felt his palpable desperation. Strangely, it was as if she was seeing his thoughts. She saw a kind of vision, his noble family members dying in terrifying ways, one after the other, until only he remained, alone.

She saw him standing in a dry riverbed dressed in all black and the bleeding evening sun painted an unholy glory around him. He was waiting for something, and to her surprise, she saw herself coming toward him from the opposite direction. She wasn't wearing black, she was covered in crimson rose petals from head to toe. He looked up and swept the petals off from her body, drawing her into a tight embrace. And between their pressed bodies a new spring of blood started to flow, slowly dripping at first then becoming a stream, and then a flow, filling the empty riverbed.

She shook her head, and felt she was awaking as if from a dream. She looked into his green eyes, and felt such an enormous love, she almost slid to the floor from the overwhelming emotions. If she wasn't sure until now, now she knew for sure: she was meant to be with him.

David seemed to understand what was happening inside her and sent her a sad, still reassuring smile that found its way to her soul. Without a word, she just threw her arms around his neck, and started crying silently. He was comforting her, not with words, but with hot kisses. He felt the same. Slowly he fell in love with his future bride.

---

From that evening they shared one bed and one table, lived together. Neither of them was asking questions, they were just studying each other. To Viola's greatest pleasure she felt totally carefree here. Her foes couldn't reach her here. She was protected, she was guarded. Even now, a black head was in her lap and a pair of silky brown eyes was following the way of the piece of cheese stuck onto her fork from the plate till her mouth. He was a born beggar. A damn cute and beautiful beggar.  Asher seemed to be attached to her more and more with every passing day, as Viola never succeeded to resist his pleading eyes, to David's annoyance. He was looking at them, as she was feeding Asher again from hand at the table.

”Honey, you shouldn't do this! For one, he has to learn discipline. For second, the organising principle of a pack is hierarchy that controls their behaviour. And he is situated under you, he only can eat after you. And for third, you slowly kill him with this. Look at the poor guy, he started to look like a

Viola wanted to answer something, but she knew he was right. She sent Asher to his basket, and while silently continued eating her meal, she decided she would go out to run with Asher in the afternoon. She couldn't help it, but she felt as she was Asher's mistress, and she was happy for the strong bond that was created between them. They adored each other. When David was stroking him, Asher sent pitiful, guilty looks toward her, as if he was feeling he was cheating on her. He was just so damn cute!

She did what she promised herself and after an hour she dressed up into an old and painty halter and black shorts for jogging. Viola knew that her lover was working in his library, so she called Asher’s name and after the dog showed up, they went outside. In front of the castle’s old main gate she stopped the dog and knelt down to him.

“Listen, Asher. We are going to run around the island to bring you in form again. I don’t want your Master to be angry or upset. I feel a little guilty, but you know he’s right” she was holding and stroking the clever dog’s head, who just looked at her then licked Viola’s face “Alright, darling, let’s go” she laughed and after doing some warm up exercises she started to run.

It was a good opportunity for her as well to sink into her thoughts. They were running in her head like her body did, which followed a tiny path along the grassy shoreline with the happy dog on her side. It seemed that the duke was running on the same way when his time allowed himself this activity. She was surprised how easily she got used to her new life. That vision she’d seen on the balcony was still whirling in her mind. Why did she see those pictures? What was the meaning of them? Was she the perfect woman for the Duke? Was David waiting for her? And why was there that much blood? She didn’t ask him about it, but from his books she knew he was the last member of his old and rich family. Everyone died around him and she didn’t know how he was able to bear it without going insane… but if she examined her own life, she realized that she was in the very same situation. Her parents and uncle died like her whole noble family and she was alone, never knowing the glory and pomp of her family… always searching for a job, living on the streets, then by her kind uncle who taught her how to draw and paint so she could go out to Venice’s squares and bridges to earn a little money for food and water. That’s why living here is a big change in her life. Tasting the delicious food, sleeping between silk, wearing clothes of the finest materials… and loving a mysterious duke… all of this was like a fairytale to her.

But she knew instinctively that it wasn’t a fairytale. She was in the gate of another world, this was something she sensed well. Like the grey clouds above her on the late afternoon sky, she felt the darkness of another word slowly surrounding her. Strangely she wasn’t afraid, although she suspected that David was the source of it, the gate which drew her closer and closer with every day. There was a big secret hidden from her – for the time being.

Maybe this was the cause why she asked David to teach her. One day after she moved in to the castle, and to David’s room, he found her in the rich library, reading an old book about alchemy. Dave asked if she was interested in it and she nodded. From that day on she had theoretical lessons from the subject. She felt he was a bit hesitant her asking him when she can start to practice this art for real. He said that without enough knowledge it’d be dangerous playing with the materials, first she must acquire the basics from the books. She understood it and dived into this kind of science.

Viola turned to the left when the path started to go up and checked the time. They were running with Asher for an hour now. She completely lost her sense of time, but she didn’t mind it. It was a good feeling as the cool wind hit her sweaty face, her ponytail was moving to the rhythm of her steps and the clear salty air touched her lungs. She didn’t know that a dark pair of eyes was following her from a high window. The duke watched her immersed into his own thoughts. Soon it’ll be time for him to ask Viola about teaching some self-defense. He wanted her to know how to protect herself if something happens and he’s not around or can’t help her. He realized with a sad smile that he couldn’t bear the thought Viola getting hurt and not just because of her own enemies, but of his as well…

When she finally arrived back to the castle, Damian was already waiting for her in the door with a silver tray in his hands and offered a bottle of mineral water for his mistress. She gladly accepted it and drank with slow gulps, while Asher sat next to her and brushed his head to her thigh.

“Thank you, Damian” she smiled at the old valet and turned to the dog stroking his head “Come on boy, you must drink too. Let’s go up and search for the others, huh?”

“My lady, if you want to take a bath, it is waiting for you in the master bedroom’s bathroom as the Duke ordered.”

“Oh… thank you again. It’ll be great” she nodded and gave him another sweet smile. Viola saw how happy he was behind the modest expression on his face. While she climbed the steps her thoughts wandered again… She noticed how happy the servants were when she thanked them for their services. Or they were happy because of a young lady’s presence? She wondered how long it could have been since they had a guest or such a company in the castle as herself. Did David bring women here in the past? Well… probably, but this was another question she wanted to ask someday.

Asher disappeared around a corner, but she didn’t worry. Presumably he found the others, because as she stepped into the main bedroom, the other dogs weren’t there. She walked into the bathroom and smiled as she saw the steaming water in the filled tub. She slowly undressed and put her wet clothes onto the edge of the washbasin then she let her hair fall down to her shoulders. She let her gaze wander on her naked body - she still had a few bruises from the police raid and Ignatius Scaligeri’s “kind” hospitality. She stroked her side where the bodyguard pushed the barrel of his gun between her ribs then sighed.

“I hope one day you’ll pay for this, Ignatius…” then she turned around trying to clear her thoughts and sank into the lavender-scented water with a satisfied little moan. She dived under the water completely then came up and rested her head on a white towel with closed eyes as she enjoyed the hot water relaxing her muscles.

After a while she felt that someone was watching her and she was right. As she opened her eyes there was David standing in the door with the shadow of a smile in the corner of his lips. She let her eyes wander on his familiar figure and felt as her lips curved into a smile as well. Suddenly it hit her how attractive this man was with that dark presence radiating from the inside. He seemed dangerous because of this, but his kind nature and simple clothes eased this impression. She loved this duality and she couldn’t stop herself but held out a hand for him. He stepped in without a word walking to her like a graceful cat and knelt down next to the tube to kiss her hot and wet hand. Afterwards she let him kiss her on the lips. He looked at her again and they were just examining each others’ face.