Prey turn Hunter, Hunter turn Prey

Alexander is placing one last shirt in to his bag as Jason enters the room. "You are going some where master."

"I will be staying at the Bevlen Hotel for a few days." Alexander says closing his bag.

"This is a sudden thing. May I ask why you are staying there so close to town?" Jason asks.

"I will be meeting someone there. While I am gone you are to be in charge." Alexander says. "I trust you can handle it."

"Of course I can you can count on me master." Jason says.

"Very good. I will see you in a few days." Alexander says taking his bag and leaves the room. He walks down the stairs and out of the house to Midnight Death whom is waiting for him. Alexander quickly mounts the horse and rides off. Jason watches from Alexander’s window as he rides off. His master is hiding something from him, but what?

I wake up, as the water grows cool. I quickly wash my body and my hair. I get out dry off and dress for bed and crawl in to the soft bed and fall back to sleep with out any problem.

Alexander rides up to the Bevlen Hotel. Derek walks down the stairs as Alexander halts Midnight Death in front of the stairs. "Alexander my friend I am glad you could spend some time here with us."

"Derek it has been a while. Has my guest arrived yet?" Alexander says dismounting and grabbing his bag before the stable boy takes his horse.

"She is right now sleeping in her room." Derek says as he and Alexander walk up the stairs and enter the hotel. "Let me show you to your room then I will take you to her room." Derek says as they start walking up the stairs to the second floor. Derek quickly takes Alexander to his room which looks just like Carlotta's room but more masculine. They walk over to Carlotta's room. Derek opens the door softly and allows Alexander to enter the room. Alexander walks across the room on soft feet to the bed. He watches as Carlotta Victoria slumbers away undisturbed. She had indeed turned in to the great beauty he knew she would become. She looks just like an angel in sleep. She stirs slightly but does not wake up but does give Alexander a glimpse of her throat. She still bares his mark. Alexander smiles he could take her now while she slept and she would be his forever she would not fight him at all but that he will not do. He wants her to be awake when she becomes his bride. He wants her to know exactly what he is doing. He turns around and quietly exits her room. So close to her but yet so far away, he thinks as he leans against the door.

I slowly wake up as the sun is setting in the western sky. The room has taken on a soft golden glow. I sit up; the fact that I slept for so long is unbelievable. Then again when was the last time I got to sleep on a real bed? A soft knock comes to the door. "Yes?" I ask.

The door opens a young woman around 20 enters the room. She is wearing a black dress with a white apron over it. Her blonde hair is pined in to a bun and her blue eyes have a touch of innocence with in them. The type of innocence I had lost so long ago. But also her eyes hold a bit of arrogance something I do not like. "My name is Mary I was told by Mr. Bevlen to help you get ready for dinner tonight."

I slip off of the bed. "Thank you Mary. I would appreciate the help." Two men carrying buckets come in to the room go over to the bathtub and start to dump the buckets in to it. "Oh I was wondering if you could make the water hotter then before."

"That water was quite warm I saw to it." A large African woman says walking in to the room. She is dressed just like the other woman with her black hair pulled in to a bun her brown eyes edge with ice. "I know how you uppity women don’t like hot water."

"I am far from uppity. I can take the pain of hot water it is actually better for my skin because dirt and blood get trapped in my scalp and in my skin." I say before I realized what I had said.

"Let me guess a vampire hunter." The woman says after telling the men to get more hot water.

"Yea." I say. "What is your name?"

"Bertha." She says as the last of the water is dumped in to the tub.

"Carlotta Victoria. You might want to get some more hot water. I was not able to rinse out my hair very well earlier." I say. I turn to Mary as she is standing near the bathtub. "Mary I won’t need your help I would rather Bertha stay and help me." Mary stares at me as if I had gone insane then storms out of the room.

"Why did you do that most you women want only white women helping you?" Bertha says watching Mary leave the room.

"She was uppity and I don’t like people like that. Besides I wanted to show you I am defiantly not an uppity woman." I say walking over to the tub and quickly getting undressed and sink in to the hot water. "Ah now this is what I need. It has been along time since I have had a hot bath let alone a warm one."

"What do you mean?" Bertha says as she comes over to the tub.

"I left Europe 6 months ago. Since the age of 6 I have been training to be what I am. I left the life of luxury behind me along time ago." I say then quickly dunking in to the water. When I come up Bertha quickly starts to wash my hair. She scrubs lightly. "Dirt tends to hid in my hair as well as dried blood. Rubbing lightly will not work. I would suggest you scrub as hard as you can."

"If you say so." Bertha says and starts to scrub harder waiting for her to yell she is scrubbing to hard. But she does not complain. "It has been a while since I have encountered any woman who does not mind when I scrub this hard. These northern women are so delicate, southern women on the other hand might look delicate but really are not."

"Well life has forced me to create a tougher skin to pain." I say enjoying her working my hair.

"My god you were not kidding when you told me your hair traps blood and dirt." She says as the suds start becoming a dark pink.

"That would have shocked Mary to much. I have gone for days with out bathing because I am not near a water source and then I can not get everything off of me." I say as she stops scrubbing. I quickly grab the sponge and the soap. I soap up the sponge and stand up. I quickly start scrubbing off my body taking at least one layer of dead skin. Bertha grabs the other sponge and does the same thing for my back. I lie back in to the water and come up with soap all around me.

"Now I know why you told me to get more water." Bertha says as I stand up so she can finish rinsing me off. She is finally finished I step out to wrap up in a towel and then wrap up my hair.

"Can you open the window please?" I ask as I walk over to the vanity table. Bertha walks over to the window and opens it a bit. "Actually I was hopping you would open it as far as you can."

"It is a cool night you will catch your death." Bertha says opening the window all of the way.

"The night air will slowly cool down my skin." I say as I look in to the mirror. My face is pink from the heat of the water and from my scrubbing it. Bertha quickly starts to rub my hair dry. She stops to grab a dry towel my hair looks like a wild mass of sparkling ruby’s when the light catches it just right. The light flashes on my eyes, my eyes use to hold a spark of innocence, now they hold the horrors I have seen and done. Bertha quickly finishes drying my hair and she slowly starts to brush it out. "You don’t have to do that slowly. I told you I could take pain very well."

"I am not brushing slowly because I am worried I am going to cause you pain. I am doing it because this is how it is suppose to be done the right way." She says as she continues. Soon the wild mass is tamed and looks soft and touchable. She then takes and starts to style it, she pulls it up in to an up sweep leaving it open so that some hair trails down.

"Thank you." I say as I look at my hair smiling. "It has been so long since I have worn my hair up. I forgot what I look like."

"It is no problem." She says going to one of the wardrobes as I quickly inspect the makeup on the vanity. I quickly choose a light pink blush and start to apply it.

"Would you like a high neck to cover that bite mark?" Bertha asks. My heart skips a beat as I look at my neck then at the choker on the vanity table. A ten-year-old memory comes back hitting me hard. "Hey are you alright?" Bertha rushes over.

I quickly shake my head and clear it. "I am sorry. It is just that no one other then the man who trained me has ever seen those marks."

"It is alright." She says as I go to grab the choker. "Don’t put that on, it will stick out very badly. I am sure there is a gown with a high neck."

"Thanks." I say as she returns to the wardrobe as I start to put on some light green eye shadow then mauve lip coloring.

"There isn’t a high necked gown in here. They are all low cut." Bertha says. My mind quickly races.

I turn towards her. "The man who asked me here ordered those gown, right?" I ask confused.

"Yes." She says pulling out a satin gown. My mind quickly works Andrew would never get me a gown with a low neck. She puts the gown down on the bed and then comes over to the vanity and starts rummaging through the drawers. "Here we go. This should work." She pulls out a large green ribbon. She wraps it around my neck and pins it in place with a small pin. "There no one will see it."

"Thanks." I say.

She looks at the vanity and picks up a small vile of perfume. "This one." She says pulling the stopper and placing a dab on either side of my neck then on both of my inner elbows and my wrists. The scent of wild flowers drifts up to my nose. "Now lets get you dressed." She pulls me up and I drop the towel. She helps me with the under garments and the corset. The top of the dress is form fitting the skirt is straight on the sides the back is ruffled satin, which is long enough to be a small train.

"My god I am about to fall out of this gown." I say referring to my bosom as I look in to the mirror.

"Well unfortunately that is the fashion." Bertha says standing behind me.

"I forgot what I look like in a dress. It has been a while." I say.

"Oh don’t forget the shoes." She says going back in to the wardrobe to pull out a pair of green satin slippers. I slip them on, a perfect fit.

"Well this is it. Thank you for your help." I say turning to Bertha, the satin making a soft swishing sound.

"It was no problem. I thought I was back in the south again. I did not mind it down there. The family I worked for was good to me." She says.

"I am going to talk to Mr. Bevlen about having you help me till I leave." I say.

"I would enjoy that." She says as we start for the door. We walk out of the room. "I will show you where the dining room is." She says as we start down the stairs. We reach the bottom and turn to the left and enter a large room. "Have a good evening."

"Thank you." I say as she walks over.

"Ms. Morise I was beginning to get worried that you would not come down." Derrick says walking over.

"Please call me Carlotta Mr. Bevlen." I say as he reaches me.

"Then call me Derrick. Please come your friend is here and anxious to see you." He says offering me his arm. We slowly make our way around the dinning room. Many heads turn towards us. "What do you think of our little hotel here?"

"It is very nice. The room is great." I say looking at Derrick.

"I am very glad, I picked it with you in mind." A voice I would rather forget says.

~TBC Please Review~