airyannadahlia

 In Adornia, Serena had nearly fully acclimated to her new home. She had relaxed considerably round Lachlan, though not enough to sleep with him. But every day, her resolve wavered a little more, until it was just about hanging by a frayed dollar store sewing thread. Here was a good-looking man who lavished attention on her and, in his own way, practically begged her to try him out. He was funny, lighthearted, loved his human pets no matter how they acted around him, and, though he had an obvious and ill-fated crush on King Romain, seemed to handle it pretty well, a lot better than Serena had handled her feelings for Trent, at any rate.

 Every time Lachlan mentioned that Romain had a girlfriend, Serena did a double-take. It wasn't that she was careless about remembering these things, it was just... She still didn't think Romain acted very much like someone who had a girlfriend. He seemed cold, focused, like he wouldn't let anything derail his goals, not even the love of a woman. It was an admirable quality, although Serena did feel a bit sorry for this mysterious girlfriend. Who in the hell could put up with a guy like that? She must have the patience of a saint.

 Serena had started hanging out with the blood slaves on her off time. She found them fascinating. They seemed to love their vampires and love being fed on; that was easy to relate to. But they also seemed to be perfectly fine with a ratio of 85 humans per vampire, and Serena couldn't imagine sharing her vampire with even one other human, let alone dozens! She felt mildly guilty that Lachlan might be spending less time with his humans because of his own fascination with her. She thought spending time with them might mitigate any feelings of neglect they might have.

 The main reason she didn't let Lachlan touch her was... she missed Xander too much. Giving into the temptation to touch another vampire, however platonically, would either send her over the edge and into his arms, or send her into a tailspin of despair and longing. Lachlan was very much a walking, talking work of art. Not quite as appealing as Lucifer--

 She tried not to think about her husband at all. Sure, he could be a little ditzy, but he was as much of a nymphomaniac as Serena was. If he hadn't noticed Serena was gone by now, that could only mean that he'd already moved on. And there had been that new girl eyeing him up before Serena had left....

 No. Even so, she wouldn't take it out on Xander by breaking her promise to him.

 But then, come to think of it, what the hell had Xander been using for substance? Had she been replaced by both her men by now?

 She closed her eyes in a long blink and, when she opened them, she was staring hollowly through the group of humans whom she'd almost come to see as friends. Even Saydee, who clearly didn't like her. Serena had compassion for her, which was a strange feeling since she got nothing out of it, nothing in return.