The Demon’s Bride

Ian smiled at her embarrassment, the stutter she gave was too sweet for him that he would be unable to ignore. He savor her expression and her actions she made under his right eyes. Raising his hand, he touched her chin and with only a soft single move to lift her chin, Elise moved her chin up, her blue eyes of her was glassy that almost make him want to take her somewhere deep in a soundless place.

"You still have to resume cleaning the gallery puppy and don't forget to take the painting." Elise who almost forget that she was tasked to clean the gallery gave him a quick nod and he left her chin.

Seeing Master Ian walking away, Elise who was hugging the canvas touched the place where she felt Master Ian had touched her. Her chin that he touch felt hot. Before Ian completely left the room, he held the door knob and spoke to her, "The punishment still stand, Elise." and the door was closed.

Elise turned her face to the canvas, finding a better light, she opened the fabric and stared at the revealing painting. Her eyes looked at it for a few seconds before she turned her face away, her cheeks were flushed redder as time passes.

Once Elise had cleaned the room, she came to place Ian's portraits in the place where it had been placed before. Taking the portrait to her hand, Elise turned the canvas when her eyes looked down at the date when the portrait was created. It was painted ten years ago. But Master Ian's face was unchanging. He was still devilishly handsome and charming with an air of mysterious surrounding him.

Elise had wondered about this, Ian have always looked the same since the first time she met him nine years ago. But little information was kept about who he was. Elise continued to take the pictures, finding that the date decreases in each painting as she dove to the painting. Ten years turn to twenty when it turn to a hundred which was the oldest one but doesn't seem like the first one.

Elise felt her heart thudded when realization sink to her mind. Master Ian was over a hundred years old? Elise had read many stories regarding mythical beings and how they aged longer than humans. Some times twenty or ten years but it was her first time to know someone over a hundred year old. Not to mention it was Master Ian. Do everyone know this? She asked herself because she had never heard anyone speaking of it.

She stared at the picture, finding that the oldest portrait of Master Ian leaning on a curtain was undoubtedly handsome but now she felt a sense of solitude stayed at him. His eyes that looked mysterious and mischievous now felt distant with the gaze he had.

Elise was still absorbing the facts and the conclusions she had been making in her mind with the hints Ian had dropped to her subtly. The talk about the immortal being that leads to a life filled with loneliness repeated over her ears.

'What do you think I am?'

His question resonated in her mind, as if trying to pull her in with the curiosity which work as Elise was curious but at the same time, she wondered is she was ready to hear it. Because from what she could tell when the time came if she asked him whether he was the immortal being they had been talking, she would also be pulling his past. The past which make him who he was now.

Elise pulled her apron, the cleanest part of the fabric she could find and brought it over the glass that kept the painting save to wipe the dust that clouded at it, making it clearer. As she stared at the picture, Elise wondered if Master Ian had lead a normal life like no others? He often spoke in a way that make him omniscient and she believes he knows everything. Knowledge was something one would accumulated by time and maybe Ian had accumulated his knowledge and wise decision over time. But all beings not even one exception all study from mistakes of their pasts. Do Master Ian also have mistakes?

Many question surfaced to her mind and to know the answer to all her questions it would take time. She wish to know more about his story, to walk closer to the place he was which felt surrounded by darkness. As stories would come, Elise had faith that Ian would tell her everything when the time comes.

By the time night came, in the same gallery Elise had cleaned this morning, Ian sat down on his seat, the red couch with an oil lamp placed on the round desk beside him. There he stared at the portrait of himself which was placed on the corner of the room. After Elise had cleaned the place, his sweet girl placed the painting in orders by the date and years, notifying him that she had realized who he was.

From behind Maroon the red-headed butler who was tilting the teapot to fill the cup, moved from behind and settled the cup on the desk beside him.

"She cleaned the portrait and didn't forget to put me in orders and the right position." chuckled Ian, his finger taking the teacup and tilted it to his lips, taking sips in his barely opened lips. "Such a very sweet girl."

Maroon who stood beside him in his poise and straight back, looked at his Master's expression which was filled with delight at the mention of Elise, the human girl. "Did you enjoy your time with her, milord?"

Ian ran his finger to the holder of the cup, "Very much. Every time I'm with her, I feel emotions I've never felt before. It's hard to come into term or put a word to the feelings I stumbled upon, but finding new emotions are quite amusing." And watching Elise was never boring, he could see how his desire grows as time passes. Nurturing Elise with knowledge, he also partake to shape her into the person she was going to be in the future; and the thought that he affected her and molded her was exciting on its own way.