Eztli woke her up sometime around midnight. She ascertained this by checking her phone, which he handed to her as soon as her eyes fluttered open.
"You have some messages you might like to reply to," he said, thus directing her gaze to the little device in his hand, instead of him. While she sat up and began answering text messages and emails, reassuring everyone that she was perfectly fine, he moved off and pulled apart the curtains surrounding her bed. The room was completely dark, and it stayed dark when he glided over to the single, tall window and opened its heavy timber shutters, revealing a stunning view of the city lights outside.
"Wow," she said, on lifting her gaze and noticing it for the first time. "I didn't realise your bedroom was so high up."
He spun around and remarked wryly, "This is not my bedroom, fräulein. It is just one of the guest bedrooms, like I explained during our tour yesterday. Do you not recall this?"
Embarrassed, she dropped her gaze onto her lap and muttered an apology of sorts.
"Yes, Eztli. I'm sorry. I don't know why I assumed..." She trailed off, unsure of herself, and so did not see him smile. Indeed, since waking up, she had not gotten a good look at his face at all, nor did she have any desire to. Looking at him scared her, plain and simple. As she thought this, she heard him sigh. A split second later, the lights came on, bathing the room in a pleasant, orange glow from a dozen separate lamps along its walls.
"Look at me, Angela," he ordered, his deep voice soft yet full of authority. Angela loved his voice and his accent, both, especially when he stood as close to her as he was now. If only she could look past his appearance, like he had suggested. With this thought foremost in her mind, she did as he said and looked up at him - and then, she screamed.
"Who the hell are you?"
It was, she would later think to herself, an incredibly stupid question to ask, but at the time it seemed perfectly reasonable, because she did not recognize the man standing before her as her host. And because she did not recognize him, she drew away from him in fear.
Even though he was easily the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.
He was so handsome, in fact, it hurt her to look at him. He had the kind of features that most movie producers dream of, with a tall forehead, pronounced cheekbones, strong masculine jawline, large yet perfectly shaped nose, full lips, raven-black hair spilling down to his shoulders, and the most striking blue-grey eyes. As if this was not enough, he was also tall and obviously muscular, underneath the stunning grey suit that he wore. A three-piece suit that looked vaguely familiar to her, somehow, but that she could not pay much attention to, next to that face, those eyes. Those eyes!
"You know who I am," Eztli said, in his deep, incredibly sexy voice. "Frankly, I don't know why you look so surprised."
Angela recognized that voice, if nothing else, but she still had trouble believing what her brain was telling her.
"E-eztli?" she stammered, watching in disbelief as he nodded.
"The one and only," he replied, giving her a seductive smile that would have set her heart racing, if she were still human. Being forever changed, with a heart that beat painfully slowly, she merely stopped breathing, while the blush slowly crept over her face. He let her drink in the sight of him for a full minute, before leaning down and taking her hand.
"Come," he said, the smile still playing on his face, "it's time I introduced you to some people."
Smitten as she was with Eztli's new look, Angela struggled to focus on anything but him, and the idea of having to converse with other people seemed daunting and unnecessary.
"People? What people?" she queried, while letting him pull her out of bed and across the room. His hand was a lot warmer than hers, she noted in passing, as well as large and very much male - in contrast to how thin and cold it was when she first met him.
"Vampires need people to survive," he replied, without breaking stride. That was another thing different about him, she realised. He actually walked and let his feet touch the ground, though he still moved incredibly gracefully, like a dancer. Angela felt very plain walking next to him, despite the beautiful red dress she was wearing. Preoccupied with these thoughts, she almost failed to register his words. Once she did, however, she dug her heels in at once.
"Wait, wait," she cried, tugging on him to try and slow him down. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
He paused briefly and turned to her with a sigh.
"You need to feed, Angela," he said, simply. "The sooner, the better."
Angela wanted to argue, but just then her stomach growled. Embarrassed, she looked away and he took it as a signal to keep moving. She could not resist him, by words or by actions. He was too strong for her, stronger than he was yesterday, and he pulled her along swiftly, almost making her break into a jog a few times. In this way, they descended the big wrought iron staircase and crossed the open space of the ground floor, arriving at last at another door that she remembered from the tour of the day before. He had called it 'the entertainment room,' which she thought meant, a room for watching movies or perhaps listening to music.
