Chapter 226 Rainy midnight

Music Recommendation: Florida Rain Storm- Mother Nature Sound FX

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Rain poured on Meadow and its other neighbouring towns. Though the sounds of the thunder and the lightning striking from the sky didn’t often worry Eve, today was different. Lady Aubrey and Eugene weren’t home, and she was all alone in the quiet house.

Thirty minutes had passed since Eve stepped out of the bathing room, where she had taken her own time inside the bathtub using the bath salts.

Picking up a novel from the small shelf of her room, she sat on the bed. She had burned enough candles to keep the room bright. But every once in a while, the flames of the candles shook and shivered against the cold air that slipped through the cracks of the windows of her room.

Even though Eve was reading the novel, she couldn’t stop the thoughts of Vincent. She sighed in slight frustration. Raising her head from the book, she muttered to herself,

“I should probably get some sleep than think about a vampire, who has no interest in anyone.”

But it wasn’t like she was keen on pursuing him. She said, “Sure, he is an attractive man and is charming with his words on rare occasions, but that doesn’t have to mean I have feelings for him.”

Eve bent her upper body to place her face on her knees, which she had drawn closer. Why did her heart have to beat for the vampire, who clearly told her he was not someone she should choose? She knew that, to heed his words. The slight hint of warning from him before she had climbed the carriage didn’t go unnoticed by her.

“It is all his faults! Neither would he have told me those things, and neither would I be feeling confused,” Eve continued muttering to herself. She closed the book in her hand and placed it on the side table.

Sliding into the blanket in a comfortable position, Eve stared at the ceiling as she listened to the rainwater pitter-patter against the window and the thunderous clouds growling. When she heard one of the windows loudly hit against the wall of the house, she jumped and picked up the candle stand to see which window it was left unlocked. Because she had made sure to lock every window and doors of the house.

Eve looked around the room before stepping out of her room and descending the stairs. Entering Lady Aubrey’s room, she noticed the window open and now continued to hit itself against the wall.

Placing the candle stand on the side, she put her hand outside, reaching the window’s edge, and pulled it backwards. Locking the window, she wiped her wet hand against her dress skirt and picked up the candle stand.

When Eve turned away from the window and started the walk out of Lady Aubrey’s room, lightning struck again. But with the lightning came a silhouette that had been standing in front of the window since the window had been left open.

Eve climbed two stairs when she heard the main door knock. The knock was loud and clear against the sound of rain. It was the middle of the night for anyone to visit. She wondered if Eugene must have returned, but it wasn’t possible as it was too soon.

Walking to the main door, Eve questioned, “Who is it?”

KNOCK! KNOCK!

“If it isn’t urgent, you can come tomorrow morning,” Eve said loud enough for whoever stood on the other side of the door to hear her.

But with the heavy rain pouring that didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon, Eve’s kind heart couldn’t help but question if someone needed help.

When Eve opened the door, the candlelight fell on the person standing at the doorstep, her eyes widened and her face paled.

Was she dreaming again? For a moment, she couldn’t help but worry about what she saw and what her mind wanted her to see.

“What are you doing here?” Eve asked Vincent, who pointed his gun in the direction of her head.

“Thought I would reenact your dream. Was it close?” Vincent pulled his gun away from Eve and put it away.

“You have a bad sense of humour,” Eve released her breath that she didn’t know she had been holding until now. Here she was, trying to push him out of her mind, and the vampire had decided to show up at her doorstep.

“It is called a dark sense of humour,” Vincent grinned.

Vincent was drenched because of the rain. His clothes were wet, and so was his silver hair, dripping with rainwater. It was his shirt that distracted her, that stuck to him like a second skin to reveal his taut muscles and ridges in his body.

If it wasn’t for the fact that he was drenched and she couldn’t find his carriage at the front of her house, she would have closed the door on this ghost who was haunting her thoughts.

Eve’s eyes fell on the water dripping down on the ground. He said,

“My carriage broke and I decided to take a walk.”

Out of politeness and for what he had done for her, Eve stepped away from the door and asked him, “Do you need a towel?”

If Vincent was here, surely he didn’t mean to leave just to point the gun at her. But one could never predict when it came to him.

Instead of stepping inside the house, Vincent tilted his head and remarked, “Inviting a man inside the house when no one is home. How atrocious, Ms. Barlow.”

Eve clutched tighter on the candle stand in her hand and was ready to push the door close. But before the door could move an inch, Vincent placed his hand on the wooden door and stepped inside. He said, “I never said I don’t want to come in. Are you always this quick to react?”

“I told you I was going to sleep. Was there a reason why you decided to drop by here to see me in the middle of the night?”

Eve’s eyes shifted from Vincent’s shoes to look up at his eyes, which held the same amount of light and intensity as the flames in the candles. Her eyes caught a bruise on the corner of his eyes, and she wondered what had happened for him to receive it.

As the door hadn’t been closed, a gust of wind blew right into the house, blowing the candles out and turning the place around them dark.

“Give me a moment. I will get the fireplace started,” Eve moved her hand in the dark, touching the furniture, while Vincent closed the door and locked it.

Knowing Vincent was under the same roof as her, alone in the house, Eve turned flustered. As she had planned to spend her night in her room, she hadn’t started the fireplace in the living room. When her hand touched the matchbox at the mantle place, it fell to the ground. Sitting down, she looked for it with her hands touching the ground.

At the same time, Eve noticed a spark turning into a flame in front of her and saw Vincent holding the matchbox in his hand. Both of them were sitting on their heels in front of the fireplace. He stretched his hand that held the burning matchstick to the fireplace. Soon, the room turned bright.

They stood up, staring at each other. Eve breathed, “I will go get that towel.”