But before he could leave, Mark felt a hand grab his arm, he looked down and saw it was Rose.

The vampire had taken hold of his arm without getting up from her chair, her eyes fixed on him and an expression that had nothing to do with the calm tone she had used throughout the entire meeting.

"Master... could you stay for a moment?" Rose said quietly. "There’s something important I need to tell you."

"Huh, of course," Mark replied, sitting back down in his chair. "What is it?"

Rose didn’t respond right away.

Instead she looked at him for a couple of seconds with an expression that was hard to read, as if she were organizing in her head what she wanted to say before speaking.

"...There’s an important matter I need to discuss with you," she finally said.

The tone of her voice made Mark uneasy.

It wasn’t the tone Rose normally used, the usual confidence and sarcasm weren’t there, and in their place was something strange he couldn’t quite identify.

"Did something bad happen?" he asked with a hint of concern. "Something with the kingdom? With any of the others?"

"No..." Rose replied, gently shaking her head.

"Then?"

"It’s... something that has to do with me."

"With you?" he asked, frowning. "Did something happen to you?"

Rose lowered her gaze to her own hands resting on her lap.

"I hadn’t told you before because I was looking for the right way to bring it up," she said in a tone that had become more uncertain than usual. "But having gotten to this point, I think it’s better you know once and for all."

Mark watched her with concern.

This didn’t fit Rose’s personality at all.

Of all his subordinates, she was the most direct, the one who always said things without beating around the bush and rarely hesitated when speaking.

So seeing her measure her words and avoid his eyes was strangely unsettling.

"What’s going on, Rose?" he asked seriously.

Rose took one breath and raised her gaze.

"As you already know, I’m a vampire," she began.

"Yeah..."

"And although technically I’m undead like the others, my body is different from theirs," Rose explained. "Ely, Alice, Aria, and Yuki have bodies that function like any other undead. They don’t need to eat, they don’t need to drink, they don’t need anything to sustain themselves."

"Mhm..."

"But my body is different," Rose admitted, playing with a strand of her hair. "It’s much more similar to a human’s than to an undead’s."

"I’m not following..." Mark admitted, keeping his eyes on her.

Rose stayed quiet for a moment, and in the end let out a sigh, as if she had already made a decision.

"The point I’m trying to get to is that I... need to drink blood," she said bluntly. "Your blood."

Mark went blank for a second.

"...My blood?" he repeated, incredulous.

"Yes."

Rose got up from her chair and sat on his lap, pressing herself lightly against his body with an expression of embarrassment Mark had never seen on her before.

"I’ve gone a long time without doing it," she continued quietly. "And in my current situation I can no longer afford to keep holding out any longer."

"And why didn’t you tell me before?" he asked, confused. "If you had said something I would have gotten you all the blood you needed."

"It’s just that I don’t want to drink anyone else’s blood anymore..." she admitted, shaking her head slightly. "Only yours."

Mark blinked, incredulous.

"Why exactly mine?"

Rose raised her head and looked him directly in the eyes.

"Because I love you..." she replied without hesitating. "And since I first tasted your blood, I can’t imagine drinking anyone else’s."

"..."

The sincerity in Rose’s voice was so evident it was impossible to doubt her words.

It wasn’t until after a few moments of silence that Mark raised a hand, placed it on Rose’s back, and drew her a little closer to him in an embrace.

"...I’m sorry for making such a selfish request, Master."

"It’s fine," Mark replied with a half smile. "After all, it’s not like I’m going to die from a few drops of blood. And if it makes you feel better that it be mine, then so be it."

Rose looked at him for a couple more seconds with an expression that mixed relief with something resembling gratitude.

Then Mark settled more comfortably in the chair and opened his arms toward her.

"But we’d better do this quickly," he said, glancing at the pile of books and scrolls on the table. "Or we’re going to fall behind on everything we have to get done today."

"...You’re right, Master," she said, settling on his lap. "And I’m fairly certain that from now on we’re only going to have more and more things to worry about."

Mark let out a small laugh.

"You’re probably right," he said, tilting his head slightly to one side to expose his neck and shoulder. "Things never get easier, only more complicated."

Rose moved a little closer until Mark could feel her breath brushing against his neck.

"Thank you, Master," she murmured next to his ear in a barely audible voice. "For everything..."

And before he could say anything more, her fangs sank into Mark’s shoulder with an almost desperate intensity, as if she had been suppressing that impulse for far too long.

Mark felt a sharp sting at first, but the sensation changed almost immediately as Rose began to drink.

It wasn’t exactly pain.

It was more of a heavy feeling that spread from his shoulder out through the rest of his body, accompanied by a mild dizziness that grew slowly with every passing second.

Mark kept his arms around Rose’s back while she drank, feeling the room beginning to spin very slowly and his eyelids growing slightly heavier than normal.

’Wow, she really was hungry...’ he thought, his head growing lighter and lighter.

Rose drank for a while longer, clinging to him with her hands gripping his shoulders, until she finally pulled away.

She drew back from Mark’s shoulder with her mouth open and a thin trail of blood sliding from the corner of her lips down to her chin.

Then she straightened up on his lap and looked down at him with her red eyes gleaming with an intensity he hadn’t seen from her before.

"I love you," she said in a breathless voice, blood still sliding down her chin.

But before Mark could respond, Rose closed the distance between them and kissed him.

It was an intense, desperate kiss. Rose held her Master’s face in both hands as if afraid he might disappear at any moment, while the faint metallic taste of blood lingered on her lips.

Mark, still dizzy and with his body heavy, simply let himself go.

"I love you too..."