"What are you doing?" Eve asked Vincent, taken aback by his carefree gesture, she asked him.
"Your words sounded as if you were waiting for me to praise you and tell you how proud I am, which I am," Vincent offered her a charming smile, and before she could swat his hand away from her head, he had already pulled it to his side.
Eve gave him a small glare and said, "We should get back to digging the grave rather than chit chat."
"Would you prefer to dig the grave all by yourself?" Inquired Vincent, and the tip of Eve's shovel hit the ground, which was still in her hand. He stepped closer to her and asked, "You didn't think I was a kind person, did you?"
Eve looked back at him and said, "I didn't."
"That's good," Vincent's eyes roamed on her face before settling on her eyes, "How about we make this digging interesting. I will take more than half the area and you can take the rest to dig. Whoever loses, does what the victorious wants," his eyes sparkled.
"I think we already know who is going to win and lose here," retorted Eve. She wondered what was cooking in the vampire's crazy mind.
"I told you I would be fair in dividing the space you and I need to dig. Doesn't the idea of being able to fulfil one wish or demand intrigue you even a little?" Vincent questioned her.
Eve wanted to finish digging the grave and bury the dead vampiress, but Vincent pausing every now and then to talk wasn't helping. She nodded, "Okay. Let us decide the space."
A wide smile appeared on Vincent and he said, "Let us."
After deciding how much space each of them was going to dig, both Vincent and Eve quickly started to dig. Eve used all her might, with the faintest hope that she would dig her side of the grave faster. When two hours passed, Vincent was done digging his side, while she still had a bit left on her side.
"You are slower than I thought," Vincent commented and Eve sighed.
Her arms had started to ache, and she huffed for air, "You have the advantage of being a vampire."
He replied, "Strength is what is in your mind, little girl. Not what you think. Looks like you will need to fulfil one of my demands now."
Sweat trickled down Eve's neck, making her hiss in pain. The salty water touched the wound on her neck, and it was nothing less to her soul jumping out of her body.
[Music Recommendation: Quietly Yours- Birdy]
Vincent pulled out the fresh handkerchief from his trouser pocket that he had picked from the mansion. He spread it around Eve's neck, knotting the ends at the front. He murmured,
"Such a child."
The hot and cold actions from Vincent was turning Eve confused, and she whispered, "Thanks." It was hard to glare at him anymore, because of the rare glimpses of his kindness that she witnessed.
When her eyes fell on his side of the grave, she noticed it was wide, while her side was narrow. They hadn't dug a rectangular grave. She said,
"I think you dug more than what was required."
"Is that so?" Vincent questioned, turning to look at his side, and he said, "I think it is the perfect size that had to be dug."
When Eve finished digging the remaining part of the ground to level what Vincent had dug, she had turned exhausted. She was sweating and her arms hurt from the labour. She said,
"We can finally bury her now."
Finally, Lady Camille's dead body would be resting under the ground, and no one would know that she had killed the vampiress. At least for now, and hopefully never, thought Eve to herself.
"Not yet," said Vincent when she was about to climb out of the grave.
Eve frowned and asked, "Do we need to dig more?"
Vincent shook his head once, and said, "You haven't completed my demand."
"Can't it wait until we bury her?" asked Eve, "If it is blood, you can tak--"
Vincent surprised her with his words, "Lie down with me."
Wind blew across the forest, where leaves rustled against each other and for a moment, everything went still and quiet. Not knowing if she heard it right, Eve asked,
"Lie down?"
"Mhm. Here in the grave," Vincent stated, before lying flat in the dug ground with his hand behind his head.
Eve wasn't sure how to feel about sleeping in the grave dug for someone. But at the same time, this was the easiest thing Vincent had demanded from her, even the strangest. She turned and looked at the dead body on the ground and then at the coachman, who stood a little away from them, while continuing to keep an eye if someone walked upon them or the dead body.
Noticing Vincent waiting for her, Eve hesitantly sat down before laying next to the pureblooded vampire. For a few seconds, she lay there still, staring at the starry sky. She asked him,
"Do you sleep in every person's grave before burying them in it?"
A smile bloomed on Vincent's lips, "What do you think?"
"I don't think my mind can fathom the thoughts that run in your mind," she replied and cautiously turned her head to look at him, noticing he was looking at the night sky.
"We have to make sure the dead can sleep comfortably, isn't it?" Vincent said it in such seriousness that for a moment, Eve believed he did sleep in every person's grave. He turned to look at her, meeting her blue eyes filled with questions.
Every day I find you stranger than the day before, Eve whispered it in her mind.
"Do you feel better?" Vincent asked her.
And kinder at times like these, she added.
Eve stared into Vincent's eyes, which didn't seem as cold as they often did. Thanks to him, she wasn't anymore in distress with the death on her hand, and her chest didn't feel as heavy as it did a few hours ago.
