It wasn't long until he came back into the room, holding a thin file in one of his hands. Supposedly the one I was supposed to bring to him last night.

He seemed to have calmed down a bit, but the tension in his shoulders was still visible.

He leaned back against the door as soon as it was closed, his eyes glancing over at me.

"Did you, um... tell Xander about what she did?" I asked.

Nico rubbed a hand down his face in mild frustration as he pushed himself from the door, slowly making his way to his desk.

"No," he began," Taking her back to him and telling him that he could drink from her again was punishment enough."

My eyes trailed back to my drawing, furrowing a little.

I guess that made me feel a little bit better, but I still felt bad for her.

Not that feeling bad for her would do anything about it. Everything that Xander does to her is probably considered perfectly normal to most of the other vampires here.

And yet she gets yelled at for trying to save herself.

I probably would have tried the same thing if I was in the same situation as her.

Nico thew the file down onto his desk, the sound causing me to flinch.

"Khloe, I'm about to give you quite possibly the only rule that I insist you follow so pay attention." He said. Even his voice held tension end even a bit of annoyance.

I felt a wave of uneasiness wash over me as I instinctively sat a bit straighter.

He turned his head partially towards me, enough for one of his stunning eyes to catch mine.

The look on his face held complete seriousness, making me even more nervous.

If this was the only rule he planned on giving me, then I was going to do anything I could to follow it.

"You are not to let anyone except me drink from you," he spoke slowly

I immediately froze after he finished his sentence, my eyes growing wide.

How on earth was I supposed to do that?

"Understand?" He asked

I stayed silent as my mind began to race.

I completely understood but I wasn't entirely sure that I could succeed in following the rule.

Still, I forced myself to nod.

Nico turned to face me, leaning against his desk as one of his brows rose.

"Are you sure? because the look on your face is telling me otherwise."

I quickly turned away, letting my hair cover my face out of partial embarrassment.

"H-How can I keep that from happening?" I asked quietly.

Nico crossed his arms, his head faintly tilting to the side.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

His question seemed to cause an all-out mess to form in my head, causing for even more of a mess as my answer.

"How am I supposed to keep a vampire from doing whatever they want with me? I know that I don't belong to them, but I still couldn't do anything to stop them! Even if I did try to stop them they could still easily overpower me," Panic was quickly beginning to show as my words became quicker," What if they threatened to hurt or kill me? What if they just forced themselves on me? Then what would I do? I want to be a good and obedient pet and follow your rules, but I still can't stop a vampire from feeding from me! Even if I tried to stop it, I think I could get very far before I would just freeze up in fear! What if I-"

Before I even had time to process his movement, Nico was standing right beside me, one of his hands lightly gripping my shoulder.

I didn't keep voicing my panic, now in fear that I wouldn't stop if I did.

"Just don't put yourself in a position that it could happen, and I won't either," His voice was substantially calmer, soothing even."And even if the situation still somehow arises, try to distract them for as long as possible until I find you."

I just stared up at him, letting his words sink in.

Simply put, that was not at all what I expected his response to be.

"Okay?" He asked.

I nodded once more, this time actually meaning it.

Half of me still wondered why he was so persistent on making sure that he had me all to himself.

Xander did say that I had the kind of taste that Nico would want all to himself...

"Good," Nico said, removing his hand from my shoulder, "Now come on, I need to put your thumbprint into the door and get rid of Xander's."

~~~

Nico didn't say much after that conversation. He put my thumbprint into the door, ordered me some breakfast, changed the bandage to my bite mark, and then just returned me to what I was doing before.

Yet again, he was sitting at his desk going through the papers that Xander had given him. His head was laying on one of his hands, fingers buried in his inky hair as he twirled a pen in his other hand.

And despite all the time that had passed, his shoulders still held a bit of tension.

I quickly concluded it to be stress related, linking it to what my father looked like when he would return from his job every day.

It still made me wonder what he did. I know that I could easily just ask him, but I didn't want to interrupt him. Plus, I had a different that had been bugging me ever since this morning, one that I wanted the answer too sooner.

I heard him let out a long, deep sigh, his head lowering closer to the table before he slammed the pen onto it.

Stressed. Most definitely stressed.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't starting to worry about him.

All he ever did was work.

I watched as he stood from the chair stretching his arms over his head before releasing it with another sigh.

"Did you finish?" I asked him as he walked towards his closet.

He paused and looked to me for a moment, seemingly surprised that I had asked the question at all.

"For now, yes," He began as he started undoing the buttons of his vest, " But who knows how long it'll be before Bronwyn decides to give me more." his voice began to sound more annoyed towards the end of his sentence.

I stayed silent, instead opting to watch him shrug the vest from his shoulders and move on to unbuttoning his dress shirt.

I barely noticed the fact that my pencil had completely froze on the paper mid-stroke as I watched him, nor that my lips were slightly parted.

My breath completely stopped in my throat as soon as the shirt was off of him.

My eyes couldn't even decide what to focus on. They started from his bare shoulders and arms and just worked their way down to his waist, studying every muscle and how it moved when he did.

I felt a heat steadily rise on my cheeks, a sensation that I hadn't experienced in many years.

If there was a way to describe perfection, that would be it.

He just stood there for a moment, taking a second to fold up the shirt.

Not that I really minded, I kind of wanted to soak up that image for as long as possible.

I let out a couple quiet coughs, realizing that I hadn't been breathing.

Nico almost immediately turned his head towards me, looking at me questioningly.

"uh... I have a question!" I blurted out.

"Okay?" Nico replied, turning his body towards me.

I froze for a moment.

"I-... uh..."

Apparently focusing on his perfectly structured torso was more important to my mind then forming words.

I quickly forced myself to look back at my sketchbook, practically tearing my eyes away from him.

"Um, h-how did Doe lie to you guys?" I asked, making sure that he could be seen in my peripherals.

He seemed confused by my question.

I took that opportunity to further elaborate, less I start staring at him again.

"Well, she obviously lied to Xander that she wasn't feeling well even after she was, and then she lied to both of you about her having a stomach ache."

Still, he looked confused.

"What?" He asked.

I turned my head to meet his gaze.

Not anything else, just his gaze.

"Cant vampires tell if a human is lying?" I asked.

He thought for a moment, finally understanding what I wanted to have answered.

"Well yea, we can hear abnormalities in their heart rate and read the changes in facial features if we so choose to, but just because we can, doesn't mean that we always do," He started, "I didn't bother to check if Doe was lying because at the time I didn't really care, and I doubt Xander even knows what to look for."

My eyes widened a bit.

That's not how I thought it worked at all.

"Oh." Is all I replied.

"Why? Did you think It was like an alarm that went off in our heads?" He asked.

Kinda...

I looked back at my lap in embarrassment.

"That's what the Pet Master told me," I admitted.

Nico let out a short laugh that sounded more like a scoff before he headed into the closet.

"I wouldn't trust anything your Pet Master told you." He said.

I looked up for a split second before his body disappeared from my view.

I shook my head before any disappointment could show, instead, I just found myself yelling at myself.

He was my Master, I shouldn't have even been looking at him.

I shouldn't even find him attractive, let alone his body!

A pet thinking that her Master was attractive was so wrong, hopeless and wrong.

Vampires were attractive. Its how they were.

Humans were just here for Vampires to use. Its how we are.

Perhaps I need to re-learn what my place here is.