Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 111252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Plus, he needed to ensure Xiang was comfortable. He was a guest, after all.
Well, technically, he was a prisoner, and likely to become a victim, regardless of whether Kai wished it. If these were going to be Xiang’s last nights, Kai could at the very least make them as comfortable as possible.
With a bit of magic, he appeared inside the treasure room at a point far from where he sensed Xiang. He lingered in the shadows cast by a tall fake palm tree, searching for where Xiang was. What greeted him stopped his heart. He hadn’t spotted the vampire yet, but a long, low moan echoed through the room.
Was the vampire injured?
Was he starving already without blood?
Another moan came as Kai was about to leap from his hiding place. Only this time, it was a single word.
“Bored.”
Kai stopped and his eyes rolled up into his skull.
“Bored. Soooooooo boooooorred,” Xiang whined.
Clearly, his guest required some form of entertainment despite existing in a treasure room filled with beautiful things to occupy him. The vampire was probably like all the humans with their television obsession and those plastic gaming systems that flashed and made noises to assault the senses.
Kai briefly thought about leaving before Xiang could notice him but changed his mind and slipped out of his hiding spot with a sigh. He crossed the room, weaving through the collection of furniture and other random items as he followed the pathetic sounds coming from Xiang.
He located the vampire sprawled across the canopied bed, his head hanging off the foot, his hair poofing out to form a black halo around him. His eyes were closed and his lips were parted as he cried out again, “Bored. I’m so bored in here.”
“I don’t understand this boredom you complain about,” Kai grumbled.
The vampire yelped and attempted to right himself, but his wild flailing only caused him to tumble headfirst off the end of the bed and onto the floor. Luckily, there just happened to be a small pile of fringed pillows at the end of the bed, so he suffered no injury, though Kai suspected it wouldn’t have been the first time Xiang had fallen on his head.
“Kai!” Xiang greeted when he was sitting right-side up. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in days!”
“It’s been ten hours.”
Xiang threw up his hands. “No clocks. No windows. I’m trapped in a single room. I can’t tell how much time has passed. Can’t you get the dragon to let you bring in one tiny clock?”
He considered reminding the vampire that it didn’t matter how much time passed. It wouldn’t change his imprisonment. But he held in those words because Xiang had reminded him of the one thing he enjoyed from their visits—the vampire had no idea he was the dragon who’d captured him. Xiang believed he was a servant or another prisoner of the dragon.
It meant Xiang felt no fear of him. He wasn’t trying to fight him.
Xiang was still attempting to escape, though. Only, he promised to take Kai along with him. Well, human Kai, at least.
Of course, all that would evaporate the second Xiang realized Kai was his captor rather than a fellow prisoner. But for now, he was determined to enjoy Xiang’s confusion. Even if it wasn’t real, it was the first time in all of his long existence that someone at least pretended to care about him, and it was a very interesting experience. It made him want to do things for the vampire. Little things.
Like acquire the very best clock in all the world for him.
Not because Xiang needed or even deserved the best clock. It was just that the clock would rest within his treasure hoard, and nothing entered his hoard that wasn’t the best.
“Where have you been? What do you do all day? Does that dragon have another hoard that he forces you to clean?”
“No.” He turned and walked away from the bedchamber. He sat on a high-back chair with thick velvet cushions. It had once been the throne for a king before he got his claws on it. The king had been a wicked man and hadn’t deserved to sit on such a finely crafted chair.
As he expected, Xiang left the bedroom area and followed him. Today, he wore a pair of navy slacks and a thick, soft, cream-colored sweater that brought out the dark sparkle in his eyes. The first day, Xiang had refused to change out of his own wet, dirty clothes.
But now he was in clothes that Kai had worn himself in the past when he’d gone out as a human. Clothes he’d selected personally. An unexpected warmth rose in his chest as he watched Xiang in his new attire. He needed to gain more garments that would fit Xiang in a variety of colors. It was critical that he know what would look best on him.