"you dozed off for quite a while there." the familiar, smooth voice drawls as you open your eyes.

your eyes widen, and you take in your surroundings in panic. it takes you a moment, but you calm down after realizing your location has not changed since you fell asleep some hours ago.

you check the big clock on the wall, which reads 5:32, and you know it means AM.

your eyes travel over to the vampire noble, who's got his feet up on the desk, legs crossed. he gives you a toothy grin, seemingly having forgotten about your earlier little argument.

you sit up, stretching your arms behind your head and yawning. you lean back again, your head resting against the cushions as you stare up at the white ceiling, which seems to stare back endlessly.

you sigh deeply, lost in thought. where are your friends right now? are they safe? are they planning to come save you?

to be honest, as much as you want to get out of here and be free, you don't want them to rescue you. you're afraid that the cost of coming to get you may be their lives. you know yuu won't listen to reason, he'll come here all by himself if he has to, and you think that's what's most concerning.

"come over here for a second." crowleys voice snaps you out of your thoughts, your daze cast aside by the sound of the vampire calling you.

you roll your eyes, but rise to your feet nonetheless, dragging yourself over to the noble's desk.

as you approach, crowley takes his feet off the desk, his boots hitting the stone floor with an audible smack. he pulls a glove off of one of his hands, holding it out as you stop in front of him.

"you won't believe me, will you?" he asks, looking up at you as he leans forward in his chair. you tilt your head, opting for silence.

it's crowley's turn to sigh as he places his outstretched hand on your waist, no trace of a smile left on his usually smirking lips. you shake your head. a serious expression adorning your face.

"no way." you state automatically, ignoring the feeling his touch on your hips gave you. you grit your teeth, crossing your arms over your chest once more. "hands off."

usually crowley would smirk at you teasingly, but he didn't. his vacant expression remained.

he didn't move his hand.

your irritated eyes stay fixed on crowley's, who's looking anywhere but at you. you seem to have no choice but to stay where you are and wait for him to either speak, or let you go.

you tap your foot against the floor impatiently, silently hoping that the sound would eventually annoy the vampire, and prompt him to let you go.

"so you don't get it at all?" the noble pipes up after a couple minutes of silence, and you're genuinely surprised to see that he can really think for that long. you laugh internally. you could swear that you've just witnessed history being made.

"nope." you deadpan, watching crowleys eyebrows crease in frustration and perhaps a bit of confusion.

"you don't feel it at all?" his second question catches you a little off guard, but you're quick to recover, shrugging your shoulders lamely.

"i don't know what you expect me to say, bloodsucker. i guess i'm just not into you." your small smirk does nothing to rouse a reaction from the brunette. he merely continues to ponder.

"can you let go?" you're getting tired of standing here, and to your surprise, crowley releases his hold on your waist finally.

"are you hungry again?" he asks, standing up from his seat and looking down at you, his expression returning to that of vacancy. you shrug.

"should i get horn to make something this time? perhaps she'll do better..." crowley ponders aloud, tapping a finger against his chin.

"i don't know if she'd so so well either." you shrug, following behind crowley as he makes to leave the room.

———————

days. i've been stuck here for days, and i haven't even begun to think of a way out of here.

sure, the vampires (aside from crowley) pretty much leave you alone unless provoked to say something. chess and horn don't seem to like having you around, though it doesn't bother you. after all, why would it? you want to be anywhere but here even more than they loathe your presence.

crowley treats you well, which both confuses and irritates you. he brings you a change of clothes and makes sure you shower daily, and he always has chess or horn make you meals. and once he did it himself, though it turned out rather badly. needless to say it ended with you poking fun at the vampire, who barked about making you starve instead. that had annoyed you and you had said you'd rather that than eat his cooking on impulse. he didn't make you starve, and you ate his cooking. sure, you had forced the disgusting meal down your throat, but if you can't stomach bad food, how can you even call yourself a strong soldier?

you're counting the days, and so far it's been six in total since you've been stuck in town hall with these bloodsuckers.

you get irritated with your situation often, and usually you end up throwing a tantrum at crowley, yelling about how fucked up it is to hold someone hostage. there was one time you ripped the nice clock down off of the wall, and hurled it at the vampire with all of your might.

it was unsurprising, but no less infuriating when the vampire caught it easily. he had raised it over his head and laughed when he watched you get defensive, thinking he was going to throw it back. he didn't.

"what do you want?" you whine at the vampire as he stops in front of you for the third time today, saying nothing.

crowley seems to think a moment longer, looking up at the clock on the wall which he had put back up after safely catching the item.

the vampire opens his mouth. he closes it again quickly, spinning around on his heel and walking over to his desk and plopping down into it ungracefully, something you quickly noticed is out of character for him.

"what? something you're perhaps too shy to tell me?" you tease, putting the book you had been reading down and standing to follow him over to his desk. you stand between the vampire and his desk, leaning against the dark wood table.

it's quiet for a minute before he responds, offering you a small smile. "not shy. i just don't want the response i know i'll get."

you snort, placing your hands on the desk and leaning back a little further to be more comfortable. "sounds shy to me, eh?"

crowley scoffs, rolling his eyes. he rises to his feet quickly, his small smile growing into a mischievous smirk. "why? is there something you're hoping i could be shy about?"

it's your turn to scoff now, cause you won't back down. "certainly not, i think you're the one dreaming."

crowley's smirk stays, playing on his lips easily. he leans forward, holding eye contact with you as he leans in, pausing when your noses are so close to touching.

"i take it you're curious?" he questions, tilting his head a little bit to the side.

you puff out your cheeks, but offer the vampire a subtle smile. "it's kinda my fatal flaw." you shrug, gripping the edge of the table as crowley's nose brushes yours lightly.

"i was going to make you an offer." he says quietly, his voice nearly a whisper as he speaks. his warm breath ghosts across your lips, causing goosebumps to erupt on the surface of your skin. "what if i said i don't want you to sleep on the couch anymore."

you freeze momentarily, his words unexpected and catching you completely off guard. you chuckle after a moment. "i see, you want more than you bargained for? because i have no issues sleeping on the couch."

you're still uncomfortable with the prospect of being this close to a vampire, the kind you hate most in the world. yet you've come to realize that now sometimes the only way crowley will finish a conversation with you is if you let him get this close. it's not that he ever really touches you, when you're this close, but he seems to enjoy the lack of space between you.

"i didn't bargain for anything, i just took what i wanted." the noble argues, his grin spreading across his lips once more. his hands are placed on either side of yours, and you're starting to realize that this close proximity is lasting a little longer than usual. mostly crowley gets close, allows a few words to be exchanged, and backs up at least a little, but he doesn't seem to be going for that type of thing today.

"come?" crowley questions, his vibrant scarlet eyes piercing through you as he stares. you seem to lose your voice, and swallow roughly, hoping your discomfort isn't apparent. you shrug to mask such an emotion, and are relieved when crowley seems satisfied with that response and pulls away finally.

silently, the vampire takes hold of your arm, pulling you along behind him as he walks to the door, opening it and leading you down hallways to the stair case.

crowley leads you up the stairs until you reach the top floor. you take turns down two more hallways before you stop at a big door, which crowley opens without thought.

the room looks like all the others, except there's no desk, and the sofa in the corner is black instead of white. not to mention, the queen sized bed against the far wall, which is covered with black and red sheets. there are two matching bedside tables on either side, taking up only a little bit of space. there is also a dark, wooden bookshelf beside the door which holds many books of differente sizes and colors.

you nod slowly, admiring now, the deep red carpet on the floor before you. you step further into the room beside crowley, who's eyeing you curiously as you look around.

"nice, very nice." you comment with a lazy shrug, turning to face the vampire who's been holding you captive for nearly a week. "now, can i go back downstairs?"

crowley appears amused, and he shakes his head no. you grumble incoherently under your breath, your chosen words unpleasant. though you were expecting that response it's not any less discomforting. you remind yourself that you'll get out of here soon, and instead of starting an argument, make your way towards the bookshelf. your gaze skims over the spines oc each book, looking for interesting read.

finally one catches your attention, and you carefully pull it out from between the two it was sandwiched between. you read through the summary on the back, and stride over to the black couch. you will not go anywhere near the very aesthetic, gothic looking bed.

"i'm a little disappointed." crowley admits, finally moving away from the doorway where he's been watching you from. he takes several long strides forward to reach you at the couch, where you've already started the first page of your new read. the prologue is already fascinating, and you decide to pretend that you're already much more engrossed in the story than you really are. you ignore crowley's comment.

"i can honestly say, i had assumed you'd go for the bed." this admitted assumption catches your attention for real, and you quirk a brow in nonchalant response to his comment. you still hold your focused eyes on the word you had been reading, but they no longer move left to right and back again.

"well, i had expected you to want to prove that you're in afraid, and you won't let someone like me intimidate you so easily." though you think his explanation is a little sideways, you catch the gist of his statement. you shrug, intent on keeping up your nonchalant charade.

though you look rather focused on your book, your eyes are only skimming the words now as unwarranted questions creep into your mind.

crowley has spent every night taking short naps in his stupid spinning chair, and the rest spent going over more paperwork or reading books, and sometimes he just stares at you, as if trying to figure out if you're really asleep. though, you know this because half the time you're not really asleep. did crowley bring you upstairs because he wants you to sleep properly as he said, or because he wants to sleep in his own bed for once?

you know this question isn't going to help you in your mission to escape, but your mind repeats it anyway, irritating you as you attempt to focus on your book for real.

crowley too takes a book off of the shelf, and instead of sitting across the room from you, he opts instead to sit directly beside you, a little closer than you could ever be comfortable with.

though your brain begins screaming in irritation, you remain composed outwardly, turning a page calmly as you read through the intriguing book in your hands.