point, I was flying blind. Any information would take me one step closer to where I wanted to go.
The sun was starting to set by the time I got back to the vineyard, where I saw Rog sitting on the terrace as I approached.
"Have a nice day?" he asked once I was climbing the front steps.
"Productive," I answered, feeling a smile on my face.
"What has you smiling and chipper?" he asked, coming into the house behind me.
"I spoke with the council today," I answered, dropping down into the sofa and pulling my laptop out of my backpack. "They said that they would find a way to dissolve the contract, let me go home. For a price, I guess, but anything's better than just waiting around here for you to plan your dream wedding."
I expected him to be angry. To yell. In the end, the silence was even more deafening than any shouting could be. I looked up from my seat as I was pulling my blog up, and he wasn't there.
The door into the kitchen slammed shut, and I grinned, looking back at my computer.
Chapter 11
candiestkane.blogspot.com
Short update for today. Sorry I've been AWOL lately, but things have been crazy out here in Transylvania.
Anyways, the long and the short of it is that it looks like things are going to be wrapping up and I'll be heading back to New York soon. Things should be going back to normal. Looking for a job, keeping up with the regular posting schedule, that kind of normal.
Thanks for reading guys. All the hugs for every single one of you.
The Candiest Kane around.
Rog left some dinner out for me. He was angry enough that he didn't give it to me himself, and he certainly didn't leave me any of his precious wine to pair with it.
White rice and what looked like homemade chili with a nice salad had been left out, portions for one.
"I don't get why you're angry," I said aloud, thinking that he was somewhere in the house and could probably hear me. "You had to know that I wasn't just going to sit around and go along with this plan of yours to get me into a marriage with you. This whole situation is your fault, so you can't blame me for getting myself out of it."
I took a bite of the chili, raising my eyebrows. The place two blocks down from my apartment no longer served the best chili I'd ever tasted.
"I mean, the food is doing a good job of tempting me to stay," I continued, serving everything that was set out for me onto a plate and taking a few more bites. "The kiss too, but I'm still not there yet."
"Do you talk to yourself all the time?"
I spun around, almost dropping the plate in my hand.
A woman was standing across the room from me. Her skin was almost translucent, and she was painfully thin, looking like she was three years beyond the last hamburger and fries. Her hair was a dark brown, and her eyes looked black.
Still, I wasn't going to let her appearance give me any kind of illusions. A vampire could move across a room faster than I could blink and could break my neck easier than I could break a toothpick, although some vampires were known to savor a slow kill.
"Usually, yeah," I answered, nodding slowly. "Best way to... have a... you know, have an intelligent conversation."
The vampire tilted her head. "That sounds rehearsed. Would you like to try it again?"
"Nope, I'm good. Did..." I paused to clear the dryness from my throat. "Did you guys come up with a price for me to pay, or are you still mulling over it?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I mean that the dusty quartet doesn't look like they come to a consensuses quickly."
"We already knew what we wanted from you before you left the room." The vampire stood almost impossibly still, watching me with her black eyes. "It was just better to let you come to terms with our decision before telling you about it."
"Well, name your price." I took another bite from my food. "I mean, I don't have much money, but it would probably be enough to keep the lights on in that shack of yours for another hundred years."
Her lips quirked up. "You are bold, talking back to a vampire like that. We have no need for money. That house has been there since before you were born—"
"Sure looks like it."
"—And it will be