... Err... what?
Did he just agree without further complications to leave me alone to wash? One eyebrow raised, Rafaella watched Tarquin as he walked away through the tunnel, his strides certain and fair. She could not make sense of him. Had she been wrong then, was he not one of those men who exclusively wanted power?
She blinked and then turned around to face the source. Rafaella stepped onto the flattened boulder, the same one Tarquin had just been standing on, and undressed completely. She sat herself on the boulder and first washed her clothes in the clear water. Squeezing them out thoroughly, Rafaella spread them out on a different boulder after which she lowered herself in the water. It was cool, but she was used to that.
Rafaella walked straight to the small waterfall, where she went under and soaked herself and her hair completely with the clattering liquid. Closing her eyes, she let her breath escape her lips and her body relaxed completely. She needed to clear her head and organize her thoughts.
Allright. Last night I followed a vampire into his domicile, after which he made me lost in his labyrinth and subsequently seduced me, which I did not mind, oddly. So I slept with a vampire who probably doesn't even care how I feel about it, because he surely doesn't find it a big deal, sleeping with a woman, after all these years he must have been alive.
Rafaella's eyes shot open again and she lowered her arms when she realised that she did care. No no no no no no no, not gonna happen, Raf! Put him out of your mind! she said to herself. Her experiences with men were not positive, in fact, most were quite negative, and now she would allow herself to be influenced by one? That was not going to happen. Rafaella straightened her back and stepped out of the water again, a determined look on her face. She was leaving, and there was no way Tarquin was going to stop her. She squeezed the water out of her hair as much as possible until it stopped dripping. Well, at least for the moment.
Rafaella looked at her clothes. They were still very wet, she couldn't quite put them on and leave in them. In nature, that would have been a different story, but here... no. She recalled what Tarquin had said. If you need anything, just let me know. A smile appeared on her face. She did need something. Quickly, she put on her underwear and her wet blouse and walked back through the tunnel, her feet bare. A beautiful sound reached her ears, a sound she had never heard before. It was musical, fluent, and rhythmical. Rafaella pushed through the 'door' and followed the sound, entering a room she hadn't noticed before. There she found Tarquin, his back turned to her, sitting behind what looked like a large wardrobe with black and white buttons on them. Surely that wasn't making the noise? But as his fingers pressed the buttons the music went on, and Rafaella caught herself holding her breath. It was beautiful.
So there she stood, in the doorway, her hair sticking to her face and her blouse creating a small pool of water on the floor. She didn't even notice. Rafaella let her head rest against the doorframe, the music flowing through the room, filling up her mind completely and temporarily taking away the sorrows that had taken over her thoughts. She just stood there. Listening.