章 29: Narcissist
NOTE: Damien's character is vexing in the beginning, but he's a fun character out of the other male leads I have written so far and his character will grow on you. His character gets better as you progress in the story. And as mentioned, this is a slow burn book.
Tap on the above paragraph number in circle where re-readers have placed their thoughts.
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Penny was looking at Damien, his serious words on the plants that were in front of them where the topic shifted from the weeds to the plants that she had pulled out. There was a certain earnestness in his voice when he spoke about them as if he had planted them himself. Narcissist
This was her punishment but he was sitting next to her though in better condition than her, as her dress not only weighed but also made her feel as if she were being frozen in the time of winter. She looked at his muddy hands which were planting the plant, "Did you get it?" she felt him flick his hand across her forehead, specks of mud falling on her nose, "Stop daydreaming and staring at me. I know I am handsome."
Narcissist man. Penny saw him narrow his eyes as if he had heard her speak. Could he read her mind, she gulped when his eyes didn't leave her face.
"I apologize for the rudeness," she ducked her head while wanting his hand away from her. It was better to have him away from her while keeping a good distance which would avoid any further punishments.
"Why does it feel like your apology is not sincere," he tipped his head. Getting up from his crouched position, he stood straight before looking down at her, "Don't try to play me, little mouse. I can sense when someone lies to me on my face."
"I wouldn't do that," answered Penny, keeping her voice to be docile.
"Look at that hand of yours clutching beside you," he said pointing her hand which was exactly the way it was as he defined it to be, "Passive-aggressive girl. Did you know almost seventy-four percent of the population who are passive-aggressive have the ability to kill people than the ones who are outright aggressive and expressive? Those are the people you should be careful of. It is told that they kill their masters or mistresses out of the anger that is stubbed in," he tapped on the side of his temple.
Was he telling her that she would kill him one day? Maybe she would, thought Penny to herself. For a man who was making her drenched in the rain when she had been sick two days ago, he was expecting the right things.
Damien let out a wide grin which made the girl's heart skip a beat which was out of romantic intentions, "Thinking that I deserve what is going to come in the future?" her eyes widened when he said that, "I should probably kill you here. You will be the right decomposition for the plants, especially the ones you so gruesomely pulled out from the soil," he suggested making her gulp. She staggered slightly from where she was sitting. Was he serious? she saw him step closer.
She fell back, her bottom flat on the ground along with her hands that were on either side back in the muddy ground.
"I didn't mean to offend you, Master Damien," she said hurriedly when he sat back himself on the ground but this time facing her. His eyes lit up light Christmas seeing the fear in her eyes which finally started to surface along with uncertainty.
"Everyone says that, isn't it. Don't worry, little mouse. I will make it very quick," and when his hand came to reach for her, Penny automatically closed her eyes unable to think anymore while preparing herself for the death sentence which Damien was going to put her through, "Not only did you tear the dress but also got me to pull out the weeds with you. Peasant making the master do her work."
"You were educating me, master," her eyes were still closed as she blurted it out, "I will do anything, please."
"The word anything is very vague," she heard him say, "Are you willing to dedicate your life for this master in front of you?"
"Yes!" Penny answered him like an arrow that was drawn on a bow that swished through to cut the wind.
"You will never disobey me? I need full sentences here, dear. My patience isn't that long," he tutted to frighten her further. Penny didn't want to test him as she knew when to stop and draw the line. The glint in his eyes previously was quite evident that he would be more than happy to get rid of her from this world.
Penny didn't hear him respond or ask her any question, the silence deafening her and the surrounding around her. When she felt the heat from his hand radiate on her cheek, she gulped. It was often told that though a vampire had cold blood running in their veins it wasn't the same when it came to pureblooded vampires as their temperature was warm and the opposite to the characteristics of the average low vampires.
She then felt him place his hand on her cheek making her eyes snap open to look straight into his. Penny didn't know what he was doing. This man was confusing her to no end and the remaining energy she had had was spent out on fright where she could hardly fathom what he wanted from her. But it didn't take her long to come to the end of the line where she knew he was only using her for his own amusement and to kill time from his immortal.
The back of his fingers grazed on her cheek, turning them more muddy. The smile on his lips had toned down considerably and so did the light in his eyes which looked calmer than the times she had come across. There was a certain warmth where she heard him ask,
"Aren't you feeling cold?"
"What?" she hadn't got it in the first second. Of course, she was feeling cold. She was freezing in this weather!
But her thought went back to the way he was looking at her when he asked her the question.
With his hand still on her cheeks, Penny found it hard to open her mouth to speak. Like a butterfly that was going to fly away at the slightest movement. When he did move his hand away, his persona looking different than before, she replied to his question, "Cold," and he nodded his head.
"Did you learn your punishment or shall I leave you to pull more of the weeds?" he asked her, his face changing back to the expression which looked mischievous. Gone was that calmer look which was replaced by his usual expression, "Word, little mouse. Master is being nice, you should learn how to respect," Penny blinked back.
"I have learned from my errors, Master Damien. Please forgive me. I won't repeat again," she bowed her head to hear him hum. She was not only wet but also hungry. All she wanted right now was to eat something warm which she doubted she would get as she had been given food that had cooled down but what was she expecting? She was not even a maid but reduced to a liberal woman walking in the alley to a slave or a pet which was no less to an animal.
But weren't pets loved by their masters?
Penny looked up at him, her eyes meeting his that looked pitch black as his back faced the side of light. That wasn't what she was meaning to think, thought Penny when she imagined herself to be petted by this night creature. Shaking her head as if to rid the thoughts she finally stood up.
"Let's get back inside. Go from behind through the kitchen. We wouldn't want you dirting the halls of the mansion now, would we?" he asked her before he started to walk away from her and then to stop. Turning to look at her over his shoulder he said, "Penelope."
Penny who had started to walk paused her footsteps suddenly at the mention of her full name by Damien, "Don't follow people in this mansion with an empty head. You will be dead meat to the wolves we have before you even know it," he smiled at her and she swallowed, finally seeing him get inside the mansion through the entrance of the double doors, she walked around the mansion to finally reach the other side where the servants walked inside.
Most of the servants and house workers were not allowed to step inside or out except for the butler of the mansion. It was a basic etiquette one had to learn while working for any of the elite human or pureblood vampire's houses. The servants quarter of the Quinn was placed in a separate underground dungeon-like place to let them know that they were beneath the master and mistress' of the house.
But what Penny didn't understand was why Damien had decided to keep her in his own room? The day she had been sick, the man wasn't around the room or mansion due to which they didn't exactly share a room but what about today? If she were of the lowest of the low beings that came in the whole hierarchy, wasn't she supposed to be living in the servants quarters?
Was this how slaves were treated? unsure of it, she stepped inside the mansion through the kitchen where she caught sight of maids who were either cooking, cleaning, or chopping vegetables in the side. Falcon was nowhere to be seen but there were four maids who were all young girls.
"Look at that, it is the master's pet animal," she heard one of the maids point out at her. Penny not being subtle with her own actions turned to the maid to see who had spoken about her. It was a brown hair girl of average weight and size, her hair braided around to move past like a headband on her head, "I heard he spent a thousand gold coins on her. Can you believe it?" Penny didn't know if the maid was blind that she couldn't see that she could hear her quite well.
"She looks nothing special. Look at her clothes," the girl next to her sighed, giving Penny an overall look where she was drenched and covered in mud. She looked nothing less to a cat that was thrown into the water, "Why didn't he add her as one of the maids here, we would have less work too," she smirked, "She looks overpriced."
The first one who had spoken nodded her head, "Right. We were brought for three hundred gold coins but this one is really odd. Oh did she just glare?" the maid snickered, "Maybe master Damien is yet to try her out. He hasn't asked any of us for blood for two days. Once she's drained, the value will come down before she's put up here with us."
"You got it wrong," Penny stopped her footsteps, turning to look at the maid who was yapping to her heart's content.
"What?"
"The pet even speaks," another maid commented.
"I said, you got it wrong. You deaf girl," Penny replied back, turning the kitchen suddenly hostile, "I was bought for five thousand gold coins," she raised her hand, spreading out her fingers to emphasize her point. The maids in the kitchen looked shocked.
"You're lying. No slave has been bought for a value that high," the maid narrowed her eyes.
"I must have been special. After all. Even if I was bought for a thousand it only shows how cheap you were," smiled Penny to see the maid look mad.
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章 30: Servants quarters
The butler was walking around the mansion completing his errands while trying to avoid the possible wrath of his master, Damien Quinn as he had failed to follow the orders. When he reached the kitchen he heard the maids were speaking quite loudly which they never did as they were always tuned to hushed whispers. The butler couldn't help himself from his eyes widening at the word of five thousand gold coins.
He had heard that this girl was bought for a thousand by the maids themselves who had, in turn, heard it from the coachman who had been there in the market to pick master Damien. But five thousand? Was this girl worth so much? Was she made of gold herself?! asked Falcon to himself before taking a look at the girl who was the dirtiest among everyone in the room. The shock on the servant's faces reflected on his own before he composed and stepped inside the kitchen resuming the role of his being the butler of the mansion.
"Dirting the floor where the food is prepared," he said, gaining the girl's attention.
Penny bowed her head, ready to leave the kitchen so that she could make her way back to the room when the butler stopped her, "Where do you think you are going like that?"
Penny raised her hand to indicate where she was going to see a frown on his face, "Do you want your neck ripped apart? Go to the servant's quarters and take a bath there. Now."
But didn't Damien tell her to come from behind? "But he said-"
"You don't have the permission to step inside the kitchen either looking this unsightly. Until you don't wash don't step back inside," the butler was strict with the duties not being partial to anyone and only following his duties.
"Master Damien asked me to-"
"Do you want me to report you for disobedience in this household?" Falcon asked, his bright eyes trained on hers.
"How come she isn't getting punished. Don't tell me she gets special treatment," Penny could hear the maid behind her whisper to the one next to her and she finally gave up seeing the butler not budge. Going back outside the mansion from where she got in, she walked towards the servant's quarters which was rather dark and quiet as most of the servants were in the mansion right now.
The walls were made of grey stones with scarce light making her watch her footsteps.
Penny shivered in the cold. The dungeons were apparently much colder than outside where even her rubbing her hands against her arms didn't help. When the light ended, she wasn't sure if this was the servant's quarters. Did she get it right or had she entered a place where she wasn't supposed to be? But then knowing there was no other place where she had caught sight of she walked in the dark until she bumped into someone, a gasp escaping from her lips.
"Who is there?" asked Penny, startled to hear a chuckle from someone which was manly.
"I should ask you that," came the voice of the man, "Don't you know, the Quinn's don't take intruders. Run while you still have time before someone notices you lurking here."
"I am not an intruder. Why is there no light?" she asked as she felt blind not knowing the path from here, feeling the walls.
"There was one here but the oil must have extinguished by itself. Where are you?" she heard him ask before his hand touched her.
"What are you doing, mister?!" she asked, moving away.
"Mister? Lady, I am taking you out of here and what do you mean you aren't an intruder? Clearly, you aren't a guest or you wouldn't have walked in here nor are you a servant else I would have recognized you," he said.
"I am a new servant," she introduced herself quickly. Not wanting to reveal that she was a slave which she felt ashamed of she decided to stick with being a servant for now.
"The butler didn't mention anything about it."
"Because I am new. Could you lead me to the baths?"
"Sure, give me your hand," he said but Penny was insistent on not giving it to him.
"No. You can keep speaking so that I follow your voice or you bring a lantern in here," Penny had been schemed enough for this month and didn't want to keep the tab building where she was being manipulated by strangers or her relatives.
"For a servant, you sure have high standards," the man stated, nonetheless he said, "Stay where you are while I go bring the lantern. The last thing I need is an injured woman here."
For a few seconds, Penny was back to be surrounded by silence and she waited until she saw a light approaching her. A man who came walking towards her. He wore similar clothes to what the other servants wore which were pale brown in color. Hair that looked brown in color along with matching eyes.
As his eyes fell on her, she heard him ask, "What happened to you?"
Instead, she asked, "Can you take me to the bath?" It wasn't that Penny was eager and looking forward to seeing Damien but with his order of coming around the mansion, she wasn't sure if he was going to wait for her but then why would he wait for her? Asked Penny to herself before coming upon the answer. To torture her. Yes, that would be the only reason. Her body trembled as a shiver of cold ran through her entire body.
"Did you fall down in the mud?" the man asked, his eyes that were slightly slant glancing at her with a humorous smile as if he were enjoying her situation.
Penny didn't answer and instead decided to stay quiet and after feeling awkward herself, she answered him, "I did fall down."
"The mud here is much slippery due to the contained water that takes time to go. Be careful with your footsteps," he advised before stopping, "Here it is."
Penny came to stand in front of another little passage that had a sheet of cloth-covered which looked to be like a curtain. Seeing the man wait for her to go on, she took a deep breath before going in there to see a small pond which was connected right behind to the mansion yard for the servants.
Hoping no one would come in at this hour of time, she wondered what to wear if she wears to change. Was she going to come out with the same potato sack of her dress that was square in shape? She wondered if she should go back but whom would she ask clothes for? After a lot of debate, a woman came from the same passage to hand her the gunny clothes, "The butler asked me to give you this."
"Thank you," she bowed her head very thankful. Penny realized she was one of the women who was previously in the kitchen with the other three maids who hadn't spoken a word before nor did she now, not more than what she was asked to.
Seeing the maid leave, she covered the curtain properly that was thin while still internally praying there would be no one to barge in as it seemed like an open bath for the servants which made her wonder if it was also used by not only women but also men. With it being the time of night, Penny consoled herself with the thought that no one would be here right now and removed her dress before getting in the ice-cold water.
Her body only shivered further when she immersed her naked self in it, washing as fast as she could, she wore the dried dress which was handed out by the other maid to change into it. There was nothing she could dry her wet hair and came out of the servant's quarters, her hair dripping wet at the ends. She caught sight of two guards who were stationed where they weren't here when she was getting in as if they were present here for her sake. Was Damien keeping an eye to make sure that she didn't give a slip from here? Penny couldn't help but wonder to herself. Truth was that she hadn't even thought about it with the maid and her banter. Getting back inside the mansion this time in a clean state, Penny saw the butler give her a look before she went up to Damien's room.
Her already cool feet touched the cold marble one step after another and thankfully she didn't have to meet any other family members on her way. Going to his door, she raised her hand ready to knock on it but instead of knocking her hand stayed mid-air wondering what to do with her having to spend the night with him from now.
Two minutes passed before the door opened with Damien looking at her, "Are you planning to sleep on the floor? You are most welcome to sleep out here, that's how most of the pets are treated," she heard him say. Not giving her an opportunity, he said, "Get in," he waited for her to step inside and when she did the door was closed. The lock on the door left the sound of a click which made her heart jump.
"What took you so much time? It should hardly take five minutes to clean yourself," Damien started to walk around his room while Penny stood at the corner looking at him. He had changed his own clothes and his inky black hair looked stuck to each other as he had taken a head bath himself. He took a towel, to go to bed and sit down.
Penny didn't know what he was doing until he looked at her, "Sit here, little mouse. We need to dry your hair or you might catch a cold."
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