The Vampire's Mistress Ch. 01

Chapter 1: The Job

Note: Welcome to my new story! This one is a slow start off. Next chapters will be filled with more sexy content, I promise. But for now it's more of a slow build :)

————

Ariana Russo was in trouble. Financial trouble.

It seemed to be an issue she had since birth. Although this time it was exacerbated by the cost of paying for university and university related times, textbooks, travel, food...

The list was exhausting.

This was something she had to remind herself of constantly when she wondered about the wisdom of working for a vampire. The business was legit. But...well... she had heard so many rumours about her boss since she had started working for him and none of it sounded good.

His name was Sebastian Marche, and he was a businessman, CEO and philanthropist.

According to her closest friend, Mae, Sebastian owned a plethora of clubs, bars and restaurants across the entire city. He was apparently also a notorious flirt and what one would refer to as a modeliser - apparently he only ever dated stick insects on the front page of Vogue.

Which she hardly cared about - that kind of information may have been titillating to Mae, but it didn't matter because Ariana needed good money and a stable job to pay for her degree.

It had been a particularly cold winter morning when she had seen the advertisement for part-time work as a cleaner for the Marche Apartment Complex. It had included leave, great pay and even free accommodation. Ariana knew this could be a great opportunity and couldn't possibly pass it up - especially with such great perks. To her delight she passed the interview process and was offered the job almost immediately.

The Marche Apartment Complex was wonderful; the building was 20 floors of gorgeous up-market apartments. It had included rooms for the staff, an in-house kitchen and catering, a gymnasium, a library and pool area.

Despite the scandalous Sebastian Marche, she had never run into him since starting at the Complex weeks prior and had very much actually enjoyed working there.

For one thing the pay was excellent, for another she no longer needed to pay for accommodation and to make matters better she was able to arrange her work shifts to fit in with university.

It also didn't hurt that her boss, Mrs Holloway, was one amazing cook and possibly the kindest lady she had every worked with. In the few short weeks since starting work, Mrs Holloway - affectionately known by all staff as Mrs H - had practically adopted her. Which was nice, since Ariana's own mother didn't really want much to do with her, and never had.

Of course, fate was to intervene, as it always did. Ariana almost felt it in her bones that it was only so long that her good luck would stay around.

Ariana was correct in that assessment, that gut feeling, because three weeks into her work on one seemingly innocuous Tuesday evening, she met Sebastien Marche and her life changed forever.

————

It was a seemingly innocuous Tuesday evening. Ariana was in the staff kitchen, stacking the shelves and putting the week's groceries away. She saw two of the other staff girls giggling, peeking out the kitchen door. She wondered what was entertaining the girls.

Mary, one of the other part-time cleaners turned to Ariana and waved her over, whispering.

"Come and check him out, Ari. A rare chance to see the big boss," Mary whispered.

She didn't know why - Ariana had never been one for distractions or gossip or giggling with girls, but she found herself peeking out of the kitchen door. She knew it had been a bad idea - she really should have just focused on her job.

You're not being payed to gawk at your boss, Ariana.

A lump formed in her throat, watching the vampire walk across the hallway. She was mesmerised, unable to look away.

So this was Sebastian Marche.

Her eyes unable to focus on anything but him. The man had an air of authority and importance about him, and seemed to move down the hallway seamlessly, his strides, easy and confident. Like he owned the place, which Ariana supposed, he did.

Ariana shook herself, remembering she needed to stay out of his way and just do her job. No need to cause any unnecessary issues. She stepped back from the doorway, remembering she was supposed to be invisible.

"What do you think? Not bad looking, right?" Mary laughed, closing the door and turning to Ariana.

Not bad looking? Was she kidding? He was...gorgeous. It wasn't like he was total perfection, but he was arresting and captivating, good looking enough that she knew it wasn't the money he'd be attracting all those models with.

Ariana simply shrugged and smiled at Mary's comment, unwilling to tell the girl just how 'not bad looking' she thought he was.

It would do her no good to even contemplate such things, because for one thing, Sebastian Marche was her boss and to make matters more terrifying he was a master vampire, someone who had immense influence, power and money - she had no business spying on him or contemplating anything about him.

Ariana turned back to focus on her job, letting the two girls continue their chatter and got on with storing the fruits and vegetables, packing away the groceries.

————

Ariana was gratefully almost finished with her shift, which was exhausting. She'd been studying all day, working all night. She glanced at her phone; thankfully time to clock off. She had class starting at 8.00am, so she'd at least get around 5 hours sleep.

She put away the remaining bags and came down the hallway, searching for Mrs Holloway to clock off her shift.

She rounded the corner and found Mrs Holloway deep in conversation with him. Three weeks of never even once seeing her boss around, and now she'd come across him twice in one day. Ridiculous.

They paused for a moment, realising they were having a personal conversation. About something definitely private, as they seemed to be speaking in hushed tones that she could just make out.

"She smashed everything and -"

Ariana turned back around, feeling like she had just intruded. But Mrs Holloway had spider senses, and called out to her just as Ariana had ducked back around the corner.

"Ariana," Mrs Holloway's voice called down the hallway. Ariana peered back around, and came down the hallway, walking, eyes looking everywhere but the man next to her manager.

She remembered, it was rude to look a vampire in the eyes. Best to keep her eyes on Mrs Holloway.

"Yes, Mrs Holloway?"

"This is one of the new girls, Ariana," Mrs Holloway spoke to the vampire who turned to her, "Ariana this is Mr Marche, your very generous boss."

Ariana looked up the vampire, unsure of why she felt compelled to. But as soon as her eyes met his, she felt an intense weirdness overcome her.

For a moment they simply both stared at each other. His face was like perfect carved marble; the most handsome features she'd ever seen on a man. She could have kept staring at him all day. She realised his eyes were startling, an odd feature on what looked to be a human face. They were a glowing pool of deep grey and the more Ariana stared at them, the more she felt like she was going to be sucked in.

"Thank you for the job, sir," she felt herself say, and turned back to look at Mrs Holloway, feeling safer keeping her eyes on the older woman. She was proud of herself for being able to utter a normal sentence and not making a fool of herself.

"You're studying at the University, aren't you?" His deep, soft voice asked. She felt herself pull back towards him, his voice like a caress against her scalp.

"Yes, An arts major in linguistics and history." She tried to smile in an unassuming way. Her eyes drifted back to focus on the face of her boss, who seemed to be looking at her intently. Again his eyes seemed intense, be-spelling, like a stormy ocean, greys and blues swirling dangerously in their depths.

"I have quite an extensive library, it is at your disposal."

"Oh!" she remembered she was supposed to be normal and having a conversation, "Thank you, that would be amazing." She flushed, wondering when she'd get a chance to get in there. She'd known about the library ever since she'd gotten the job, but had never dared venture inside. She felt herself itch to go and explore.

"If you have a moment, I can show you where it is?" he offered.

Ariana was taken aback, "Thank you, but I'm sure you're busy. Maybe Mrs Holloway can show me later?"

Mrs Holloway smiled, "Absolutely."

"It's no bother." The vampire replied, "I was just heading there myself."

Ariana looked to Mrs Holloway for a sign, the woman just stood there smiling at her. Nothing but vacant politeness. She looked for any sort of disapproval but found none.

Professional or not, Ariana was not going to pass up the opportunity to access a library. University text books were expensive and if there was even the slightest chance there were any books in that library that would assist her, she was going to take it.

"Okay," she nodded, "That would be wonderful,"

"I'll handle Sabine from here, Mrs Holloway," Sebastian said curtly, "Thank you for your assistance earlier. Ariana, come with me this way."

He placed a guiding hand on her back and guided her with him down the hallway. She tried to ignore the little tremors of electricity which seemed to pulse from where his hand touched her skin. He was surprisingly warm where he touched her, and Ariana wondered if that meant he'd fed tonight. Ariana knew from science in school that Vampires were typically cool to the touch.

His hand came off as they continued down the hallway, and Ariana felt startled at the loss of contact.

"Linguistics and History, Ariana," he said softly, continuing their conversation from before. "That sounds heavy."

"No, not particularly. Just sometimes difficult. I'm completing a unit on ancient languages at the moment which is proving a bit difficult. There are only limited books available for study, so I am certainly keen to see what I can find in your library."

The vampire nodded, "And what are you hoping to do after this degree?"

"I'm not sure," she shrugged, "I still have two years left to complete it. I was thinking of perhaps going into a PHD in languages, or working in providing translation services. It will depend on how my grades go."

They stood before wooden double doors and he pushed them open to reveal the largest library she'd ever seen in someone's home. Shelves upon shelves of books, a scattering of couches and desks. It was something out of a dream.

Her face must've been hilarious, because when she turned to the vampire, he was staring at her smiling, he looked like a wanted to laugh at her. The grin had a devastating effect on her stomach, which seemed to be doing somersaults.

"This is crazy," she whispered, "how do you have this here?"

"I have amassed a few books over the years." He replied, watching her as she tentatively stepped around the shelves.

"Just a few, right," she deadpanned, looking up at the tall shelves. She could feel his eyes on her as she peered at some of the books. "And I can read them?"

"Sure, you can borrow as many as you like."

"Borrow - as in take them out of here?" Ariana turned around fixing him with a wide-eyed stare. That seemed to amuse him, she could have sworn his mouth twitched upwards.

"Of course - you have a room here, so I'm sure they won't go too far." Sebastian shrugged, "And, if I'm in desperate need for Plutarch or Herodotus or some other dreadful piece of antique literature I'm sure I'll know where to find them."

"Sure," she smiled, pulling out a volume of Tacitus, "You never know when you're going to have a historical emergency,"

"I'll tell you one thing I won't be searching for in case of emergency."

"And what is that?" she pushed the volume back into the shelf and moved on to inspect another one.

"Livy," he replied disdainfully.

"No!" she gasped, "Really? But he wrote a monumental history on Rome, and-"

"And it's terribly boring, and in my humble opinion, poorly written." He interrupted, "I'd rather read the bible." The vampire finished off. She wanted to laugh at the idea of it.

Sebastian seemed easy to talk to, which surprised Ariana, and definitely should have been a warning sign. Except she was never good with warning signs.

"That is devastating news," she couldn't stop a smile from blooming across her face, "But not a complete surprise since you have an awful lot of Herodotus on this shelf. With this much Herodotus it does rather make one wonder about your taste in historical literature."

"I have excellent taste in everything."

Ariana didn't even doubt that for a moment, when you had as much money as he seemed to, he could afford to have the best taste in everything.

"Of course," Ariana bit her lip, trying to stop herself from throwing herself at the books.

The moment turned to silence which seemed to stretch between them. His face had lost all humour and now he was just staring intently at her. Ariana should have felt embarrassed, his eyes seemed to bore holes into her being, but all she could feel was a little buzzing shoot through her stomach in anticipation.

"Thank you for your generosity," Ariana said breaking the silence and remembering this was her boss, and she had no right to keep taking up time from him when he was clearly insanely busy. "But I think I've taken up enough time from you today. I'm sure you have business to attend to."

"Unfortunately yes." He nodded, "It was a pleasure to meet you Ariana. And please don't be shy, make yourself at home, come to this library whenever you want."

She nodded and helped herself out of the library, quickly walking back to her room.

As soon as she shut the door, she almost wanted to collapse in relief. Her body seemed so on edge around him, and she wasn't sure why. Ariana reminded herself to keep caution around the man.

Ariana looked at her watch, it read 3.05am. had she really been with him a whole hour? Only 4 hours of sleep till she had to get up, and weirdly she didn't even feel tired.

————

It was blissfully the weekend! No university and no assignments needed doing for once. She was working only only one night shift on Sunday night too, meaning a glorious sleep in on Sunday morning which she was definitely looking forward to.

On her first day of freedom, Ariana decided to go out to the markets and catch up with some friends. She searched in the cupboard for the perfect outfit for the lovely warm sunny day. She pulled out a pale blue cotton dress which she adored. She put it on and twirled around girlishly, watching the skirt balloon out around her and laughed.

Ariana had never had many luxuries in life, but she adored dresses, and when she had one the sweet little blue number at a vintage shop she couldn't help herself.

She grabbed some shoes and her bag and headed out down the hallways and to the elevator. She made her way to the exit to be greeted by two of the day guards. Living in such a place, she'd never get used to.

"Where are you off to Miss Russo," Bone, one of the guards asked, "Out to enjoy the lovely day, perhaps?"

"Exactly right," she smiled at the kind guard, holding the door open for her, "off to the markets to see some friends and then we'll see where the day takes me." She shrugged

The guard nodded and smiled. Ariana practically floated out of there, received to finally have a day for herself.

————

The day had gone quickly. Ariana had caught up with Mae, done a bit of shopping and just generally had a wonderful day in the sun. Mae had been practically bouncing in excitement today, delighted to share the news that she'd been dating someone. And in exchange, for once Ariana had her own news - she'd met the elusive Sebastian Marche.

Mae had practically frothed at the information, asking question upon question, digging for all and every detail. Ariana had been only happy to supply the information, glad to have something interesting to share for once.

When nighttime had finally come, Ariana found herself heading back to the complex, nodding to the night guards as she stepped in. She walked into the elevator and pressed up for the staff floor, wanting to pop by and find Mrs Holloway before heading to her bedroom for a quiet night in.

She had stopped by a bakery before heading home to grab a few pastries for the older woman. She figured she owed the kind lady something in exchange for all her support since she'd started working with her.

The elevator began to rise and stopped at the first floor. The doors opened to reveal Sebastian with a woman next to him. She was striking, like a model, tall and thin.

It must've been Sabine, the mistress. Ariana had heard a lot about her since starting her job; she was so beautiful. Ariana took a step back from the door to allow them plenty of space to enter.

"Good evening," Ariana said, keeping her eyes lowered. The model ignored her, but stepped in, followed by Sebastian.

"Good evening, Ariana," Sebastian spoke, smooth voice slipping along her skin and sliding down her stomach. She felt herself shiver at the sensation. How did he do that?

She could feel his eyes on her, and she made the mistake of looking up. The look he gave her was smouldering. She swallowed, feeling a lump choking her throat.

Maybe she was mistaken, but there was heat in his gaze - surely it wasn't meant for her. But then why was he staring at her? maybe she had misread it, maybe he was annoyed. Either way the model didn't seem to notice, eyes glued to the screen of her phone as the elevator doors shut.

"How was your day?" Sebastian asked, "I understand you had the day off? You're not working tonight are you?"

What, did he keep tabs on all his staff and their shifts?

He was still looking at her with his intense gaze, eyes grazing over her body, sweeping over the dress. She could feel her breasts come to life under the scrutiny, little buds poking against her bra. She was grateful he couldn't see the reaction, last thing she needed was the be humiliated in front of her boss.

Why did he have to go and look at her like that?

"I did," Ariana nodded, praying that the elevator doors would open soon. Why was the ride taking so long? "I don't have work, but I was going to swing by the kitchens, I bought some treats for Mrs Holloway, I was just going to drop them off." Ariana smiled. The model's head seemed to snap up at the mention of the matron's name.

"I don't think Mrs Holloway needs any more treats," Sabine said sarcastically. She seemed like she was seeing Ariana for the first time. The model's sharp gaze turned to Ariana's form, her eyes narrowing, "Who are you?"

Ariana was surprised at the question and flushed at the beautiful woman's sudden interest. The woman's gaze swept over her form, and Ariana wondered if something was wrong with her dress?

"Ariana is one of the new staff members in the building." Sebastian replied for her.

Sabine's head seemed to twitch between him, giving them both long looks. Which was definitely strange, Ariana mused. Actually, scratch that, the entire situation was strange.

"Nice to meet you, Ariana," Sabine said, although she didn't seem at all pleased to see her, "You're one of the better looking maids we've hired," she said, assessing her. She didn't seem too thrilled or particularly pleased, "I know these things, because I'm going to be a model," she finished imperiously.

"Oh, I thought you already were."

That seemed to please her to no end, "Well, I've booked a few jobs," Sabine preened, "You may have seen me in some ads."