It was her intoxicating scent again. A creamy, sensual sandalwood mixed with a crisp, woody note. I could feel the heat of her body to my left. Flipping over, I straddled her once again. This time I made sure to wear sleeping pants. I pinned her hands above her head.

"How did you escape?"

"It wouldn't be easy if I did it on my own. You have guards sitting at every corner of the castle. Your hallways are barely empty. I mean, how does someone sleep with all that walking? Do you people even sleep?"

I narrowed my eyes. Did she break out of a psych ward? She didn't look at all afraid of me when I told her I was the Vampire King. Instead, she continued to sling sexual innuendos my way.

"How did you escape, Ophelia?" I repeated.

Ophelia grinned beneath me. Her ruby hair falling in disarray all around her. She wore an emerald green block-color shift dress that was worn in the 1970s. Her gray-blue eyes had a dark rim around them. Lying beneath me, I could feel every curve of her body.

There was no shifter scent on her. If anything, she looked human—harmless, but there was this weird power radiating off from her. Like she was more powerful than me. It was almost intimidating, and that was why I sent her down to the dungeon.

"What are you?"

She wiggled her eyebrows. "I'll tell you if you let me go."

I released her. She flipped to lay down on her side, propping her head with her palm. Those naughty blue eyes traveled down my body. She didn't even bother hiding the fact that she was admiring my body. I watched her tug in her bottom lip.

"Did anyone ever tell you how sexy you look?" she purred.

I covered her eyes with my hand.

"Answer my question, Ophelia."

"I like it when you say my name."

"I would like it better if you don't get on my nerves," I grounded.

Sighing, she pulled up into a sitting position.

"I told you. My name is Ophelia McQuoid. I am a Highland witch. When I was 100 years old, I was cursed to live in the red crystal. I could only come out every fifty years."

"Why were you put in the crystal? Did you commit a crime?" I questioned.

Ophelia's expression darkened, and she looked away.

"You don't need to know the reason. You just need to know that I'm a witch stuck inside a red crystal."

"How long have you been doing this?" I stopped asking her further. It will be revealed eventually. I don't care how I would get the information.

Her blue eyes flew back to me again.

"A total of 300 years."

I nearly choked on my spit. She looked like her late twenties. She was older than me.

"How old are you?"

"400 years old."

"Fuck," I muttered and shoved a hand through my hair.

"Wow, really? I'm not that old!"

"You're older than me! I'm only 120 years old."

"Oh, so now we are comparing age? Have you looked at yourself? You have wrinkles at the corners of your eyes. I don't give a fuck if you are some fucking sex God."

The fire in her eyes lit up her entire face. She looked ready to shred me into a million pieces. I couldn't stop the chuckle that erupted from me.

"Oh, real funny, Atlas. Keep laughing. I'll cut those lips and brew them for dinner. Better yet, I'll turn you into a toad and keep you as a pet," she growled before getting up from the bed.

"Okay, I apologize for my reaction. You are definitely not old." I moved to sit at the edge of the bed. I watched her move to lean against the castle wall opposite from me. The window and red crystal between us.

"So, you're stuck with the crystal?"

Ophelia nodded her head.

"Damn, I should have talked to Theodore. If I knew buying the crystal came with a living psychopath, I might—"

"Ah, maybe I can resolve both our situations. I remember a minion of yours named Silas. You could hand me over to him."

I laughed then—a genuine laugh. Jesus, I would kill Silas. He'll ask me what he did wrong to deserve this kind of torture. At the same time, it was my fucking red crystal. Why do I need to give it to Silas?

"No, listen to me. It's a good deal. You know it is. Silas can have me. You won't hear from me. I won't even bother you." Ophelia spoke and paced in front of me. The daft woman actually thought I would agree to this.

"Why do you want Silas so bad?"

She shrugged a little too quickly. I didn't trust her.

"You're not going to him. I still don't trust you. You'll stay with me."

In the middle of our argument, her stomach grumbled loudly like a young cub who hadn't fed in days.

"Opps! Do you have anything to eat? It's been fifty years." Her hand rested over her stomach and she smiled at me.

I sighed while rubbing a hand over my face. It was still so early in the morning. Ophelia stopped in front of me. I removed my hand from my face to look up. I found her looking down at me.

"Also, can I shower? It's been so long! I need a hot steaming shower."

"Do you remember who I am?"

"Atlas."

I growled and stood up. "I'm the Vampire King. Most people would be afraid of me."

She blinked with wide eyes.

"What do you want me to do? Cry? Beg for mercy? Because I'll let you know that's not my thing."

I wanted to hit my head against the castle wall.

"Go and shower," I growled and pointed to the door next to the fireplace.

"Okay." She slipped past me and skipped to the bathroom door.

I waited for the shower to turn on. It took a while, but I heard her satisfied sigh while the water ran. I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the red crystal. I think I got more than what I paid for.

A witch stuck inside the crystal. This got to be some kind of dark magic or something. I wondered what she did to receive this kind of punishment. Historically, witches and wizards were mentioned in multiple textbooks. There were great witches and wizards that made history and there were those who earned themselves a horrible reputation. There were wars that involved magic.

Over the years, the number slowly decreased to where it was rare to even find yourself a witch or wizard. The few of them that were left broke out of their coven and became loners and travelers. Took random jobs to survive.

When the bathroom door opened again, I got up from my seat and stood up. Turning around, I was extremely shocked to see her standing there wearing nothing but a towel. Her ruby hair damped from the shower.

"I need something to wear."

I teared my eyes away from her and walked to my armoire. Opening it, I pulled out a plain grey t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

"Wear this for now," I told her.

"Thanks." She dropped her towel, and I nearly dropped the clothes in my hands. Fuck, she was crazy.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed.

She took the clothes from me. "What? It's not like you have never seen a woman naked before. I'm sure you had your fair share since you've been living for 120 years."

Ophelia McQuoid was going to kill me.

"I know what you are doing. You're trying to seduce me and it isn't working, witch."

She burst out laughing, halfway pulling on my t-shirt. She was laughing so hard she couldn't even pull my shirt down over her head. Growling, I yanked the damn shirt down. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh, wow, baby, you are hilarious. I think I'm liking your company. The last owner that had me, he drove me nuts. I turned him into a toad multiple times."

Ophelia McQuoid has a Goddess-slash-fuckable body. I would be lying if I didn't say I had a hard on and then she laughed at me. I couldn't figure out if I wanted to squeeze her neck and end her life or fuck her until I am satisfied. One thing I was learning about her was that she was confident and unafraid.

She pulled on my shorts and it slipped right back down to her ankle.

"Hm..." She pulled it back to her waist.

I sighed before grabbing my shirt and pulling her close. I lifted the hem and fixed the ties on the shorts so that it would fit snugly around her waist.

"Thank you. Now, food." I glared at her and she added, "-please."

I turned and walked out the door. She followed closely behind me. There were a few guards still walking in the hallway. They turned to look at us—at Ophelia, curiously. She waved at all the male guards. I swear I was going to kill this woman before tonight.

I grabbed her arm and brought her to my side.

"Ow! I could walk on my own."

"You're distracted, and it's delaying our walk to the kitchen."

"Is it my fault that all the men in this castle look like supermodels? Have you seen how beautiful they all look?"

"I don't like men."

Ophelia clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Shame. About a century ago, I had an owner who was gay, but afraid to reveal his sexual preference. So, he would hire specific male escorts- "

"Ophelia," I warned under my breath.

She sighed. "Alright, grumpy. Get me some food. You are such a sour company. I might just turn you into a toad after all."

I rolled my eyes as we entered the kitchen area. It was still an outdated kitchen. I did minor changes to keep the things running still, but I liked the historical structure of it. I've lived in this castle all my life.

However, it has been months since we stepped foot in a normal kitchen. We feed on blood. Until Ophelia, there wasn't really a need for food. Spiderwebs covered every crook and cranny of the kitchen. Dust all over the counters. Ophelia's gaze swept all over the kitchen. She looked horrified.

"This is worse than sleeping in a coma-like state for fifty years. At least I wasn't starving. Living with you will kill me," Ophelia cried out in horror.

"We don't eat human food," I muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed at the state of the kitchen.

"I'm going to starve to death, unless I turn one of your minions into a roast chicken..."

I glared at her, and she broke into a cheeky smile.

"I'll have Silas go grab you something in town for you."

"Oh! Can I go with him?" Her blue eyes brightened mischievously.

"I thought you said you can't go anywhere far?"

"I mean, I could move away from it but not too far or too long, but that's besides the point-"

"No," I denied. Spinning on my feet, I walked back out of the kitchen.

"Ok fine, but how often do vampires feed? Can you feed on anything?" Ophelia chased after me.

"Usually on human blood, but we can feed on animal blood too," I responded without turning around.

Ophelia gasped behind me. "I'm not safe around you bloodsuckers."

I smirked because it was funny how she had just realized that now, but my smirked was immediately wiped off by her next response.

"If you feed on me, it better be during sex!"

I'm so done with her.