Allure (Caius Volturi)

27

Mental Image

I woke up surrounded by blankets. My cardigan had been shed and I was in leggings and a tank top. It was dim in the room and the sun had gone down already. I was alone in bed, but not in the room. There was slight shuffling and I groggily looked around.

Caius stood in just a peasant shirt and trousers, his favorite ensemble, or so it seemed. His jacket had been shed and placed neatly over a chair in the corner. He was fiddling with something on my vanity. He put whatever it was down and moved to the wardrobe. I remembered putting some of my undergarments in the drawers and hoped that he wouldn't look in there. He didn't, or hadn't just yet. Instead he picked up a hanger and pulled it out. Another cardigan. He put it back and reached on the far side. My eyes got wide when what he pulled out was not a piece of my own clothing, but one of the pieces of lingerie that he had put there all those months ago.

I heard him chuckle a little bit before putting it back.

"You find your own taste amusing?" I asked as I sat up, my lack of a filter so quickly after waking up seemed to not be an awful turn.

"My what?" He turned as if he expected me to be awake. Probably the vampire hearing.

"I was a bit surprised when I found those there in the first place," I said, pulling the covers around me. "Considering the fact that you didn't even want me here. Why on earth would-"

"I didn't put these here. I thought this would all be yours." Caius stood there, looking at me, holding a frilly pink bra and pantie set. The garment seemed to jeer at me and I felt my ears heat up.

"I thought you did!" I said shoving the covers off of my legs and standing up. "Those aren't even my size!"

"I hated the idea of loving anything that could be human, why would I put lingerie in your wardrobe?" Caius looked affronted. "This is by far one of the weirdest things I've seen here and this is my castle. I don't even like lingerie. Not like this anyway.."

He looked down at it almost alarmed and I took it from him shoving it back into the very back of the wardrobe.

"Then who would put it there?" I asked crossing my arms.

"The guard weren't delinquents enough before you got here to do anything like that-" Caius rolled his eyes after a moment. "Aro always did have a knack for getting his hands into things he should stay out of."

"Aro put those there?!" I felt entirely too weird for just waking up.

"Marcus wouldn't meddle like that and neither would anyone else." Caius went into my wardrobe again. He looked through the back to find the pieces there and removed them. I went straight into the bathroom and took out a washcloth, soaking it with cold water before pressing it onto my face.

"Aro put those there?" It was more like a statement and I heard Caius stop in the doorway.

"It does seem like that, yes..." I kept the wash cloth pressed to my mouth, but looked at him over the top.

Seeing Caius in my room, first thing in the morning, was a special kind of feeling. He looked slightly messy, his hair had been fixed a little bit, and his clothes weren't perfectly pressed. The way that he looked at me, leaning against the doorframe, was enough to make my belly flutter.

"How are you feeling? In spite of... your wardrobe.." Caius asked delicately.

I took a moment to actually think about what had happened and sighed as I looked over to the mirror. I pulled my hair to the side and grabbed my hair brush.