Stella opened the door to her father's office, Mr. Godwin was sitting at his desk. He looked up from his computer when he heard the door open. Stella walked into the office and up to her father's desk.
"I have come to a conclusion." Stella said, crossing her arms.
"And that would be?" Mr. Godwin asked.
"If you will not hire Samael to keep me safe, I will hire him myself." Stella said, looking her father in his eyes.
"That is what you are going to do?" Mr. Godwin asked in response.
"Yes, that is what I am going to do" Stella said, as she turned and walked out of the office. After leaving the office she went back to her room and turned on her computer. She sat at her desk and started to write up the contract.
She spent the rest of the day writing up the contract for Samael. It was fair and gave him good benefits for working for her. She was confident in the contract, But had made two alternative contacts just in case. Now the only problem was going to be finding him in the city.
Stella pushed herself away from her desk and leaned back in her chair, swiveling it from side to side as she thought. He probably has not gone too far. But there are a lot of alleyways he could have been in. She was thinking long and hard about the best way to find him in the city. As she thought, a maid entered the room and set down her dinner on the desk.
"Thank you." Stella said, after the maid had set down her food.
"Not a problem. Please enjoy your meal, Miss." The maid said before leaving the room.
When the door closed Stella saw the brown coat, It reminded her of how safe she felt when he was around. She looked at the coat, almost studying its details. As time passed a memory entered her mind. She had seen this coat before! She remembered seeing it as she ran from the mercenaries.
Stella had jumped up from her chair without realizing it and was standing in front of the coat. She had a starting point to start looking for him. It was not the most accurate location to start a search but it was better than nothing. As she was thinking she had taken the coat off the hanger and laid onto her bed holding the coat.
Before she realized it she was fast asleep still holding the coat tightly. She slept soundly through the whole night, only having a dream about the conversation between herself and Samael. Stella woke up when the maid had entered her room to set down her breakfast.
"Thanks," Stella said softly as she sat up and stretched.
"It is no trouble, Miss." The maid said as she placed the breakfast on Stella's side table. As she finished her stretch the maid walked out of the room and closed the door.
Stella got up from her bed and walked into the bathroom. She turned the shower on and started to wait for the water to heat up. With the room filling with steam Stella looked around and saw that she had not yet let go of Samael's coat. Realizing she has been holding it the whole time her face turns bright red from embarrassment. She placed the coat on the counter and got into the shower.
Now more awake and out of the shower Stella sits back at her desk and prints out the contracts for Samael. With the documents printed she brings her breakfast over to her desk and starts to eat. It is a simple scramble of eggs, sausage, sweet peppers, and potatoes with toast on the side. She takes her time finishing her food just before the last paper is printed.
With all the papers in hand and Samael's coat neatly folded over her arm, she leaves her room making her way to the front room. The front room was a large room that could accommodate ten to twenty people comfortably. It had two sitting arrangements flanking the main doors and a grand chandelier just in front of the bifurcated staircase. Stella made her way down the stairs and walked to the front door before she was stopped by one of the guards.
"Young Miss, If you are going to be leaving the house I must insist that I go with you." The guard said.
"That is not a problem." Stella said with a smile, as she opened up the front doors. The front part of the had a long U-shaped driveway that was surrounded on both sides by beautiful flowers and plants. Stella stood just outside of the doorway, giving the guard enough space to get out and close the door behind them. The guard closes the door and walks closer to the road before pulling out a small device.
"What would you like to take today?" He said, turning to look at her.
"Let's take the Silver SUV." Stella said, as she adjusted the papers and tried not to drop the coat. After hearing her selection the guard swiped his finger on the device for a moment. Shortly after using the device the ground in front of the house opened up and a large silver SUV raised up from the ground with the engine already running. The guard walked over to the back door and opened it waiting for Stella to get in first.
"Thank you." Stella said as she got into the vehicle and buckled her seat belt.
"Where are you heading, Young Miss?" The guard said as he got into the driver seat of the vehicle.
"This is the address." Stella said as she entered the address into the GPS of the vehicle. The guard did not question the location and just started to drive. The drive was quiet, Stella was looking at things on her phone. After parking the vehicle the guard opened the door so Stella could get out of the vehicle.
It was the same street that she was attacked on. The blood was already cleaned and damage repaired, but her memory of the event was still clear. She walked over to the alleyway that she had run down during the attack. It was unchanged, she could remember every footstep that she made in this place.
She started to walk fast the closer she got to the location she first saw Samael sitting on the ground. Stella turned the corner and looked down the alleyway, But there was no one sitting on the ground, it was another empty alleyway. She was not surprised but part of her was hoping he would have been there.
Even with him not being there Stella did not give up and spent most of the day walking the alleyways looking for him. It was already fast approaching dinner time and the guard with her would force her to go back home. She did not want to leave without finding anything out but her time was running out and she needed to eat something.
"Miss, It is getting late, we should head back." The guard said almost as if he read her mind.
"Ok, let's get back to the vehicle." Stella said letting her disappointment be known in her tone and actions. She went from eagerly moving about to moving at an average speed. The contract she had been holding close to her chest was now rolled up and held like an old notebook.
The walk back seemed like it took forever, each step to her felt like a step backwards. Removing all the progress she had made. Removing the hope that she had. The thoughts of what if father is right. What if he already left. What if she could never see him again. The thoughts circulated in her mind and she began to tear up. By the time she reached the exit of the alleyway she had tears already streaming down her face.
"Is everything ok Stella?" Samael asked, He was standing near the exit to the alleyway. Stella looked over at him the second she heard his voice. Samael had on a black trench coat with a hood that helped cover his face.
"Where were you?" Stella asked, trying her best to hold back her tears.
"I have been here in the alleyways. Why did you come looking for me?" Samael asked bluntly.
"O yes, I came for two things. First here is your coat." Stella said, holding her hand out to give him back the coat.
"And the other thing?" Samael asked, as he took back the coat.
"Well I would like you to come work for me as my personal bodyguard." Stella said, getting the contracts ready so he could look over them.
"I am sorry. But I cannot accept your offer. If that is all you should leave, this is not a safe place at night." Samael said as he leaned against the gate of the closed storefront.
"I have been looking for you all day and you won't even hear me out? Please Samael let me just talk to you about this." Stella said getting closer to him.
"Stella, Leave it." Samael said, as he turned away and started to walk down the street.
"No, I will not leave it. And this is fine, we can talk as we walk." Stella said, doing a slight jog to get next to Samael.
"If you wish to follow, be my guest." Samael said as he put his hands into the pockets of his trench coat.
"I have the contract here if you want to take a look at it. I drafted it up myself and it is favorable for you." Stella said holding the contract out.
"I am not interested in a contract." Samael said, as he kept walking.
"I have three different drafts. You don't want to look at any of them?" Stella said as she tried to hand the other contacts to him.
"Stella. Written contacts are meaningless to me." Samael said when he glanced over to the documents.
"But I worked hard on them. They are the first official contracts I have ever made." Stella said as she stopped trying to hand the contracts to him.
"I am sorry you put so much work into them. But as I said, a written contract does not mean much to me. They are just paper." Samael said as he stopped in front of a store that was still open.
"If you don't want a written contract, how about a verbal contract?" Stella said as she followed him into the store.
"Please leave it. I do not like contracts." Samael said as he approached the counter of the store.
"Why are you so against contracts, Samael?" Stella asked, but her question was ignored because Samael was ordering.
"Two number four specials." Samael said, to the worker as he set some money down on the counter.
"Samael, Please don't ignore me." Stella said as she followed him to the table he sat down at.
"I am not ignoring you. I think you are just not listening to me." Samael said, as he pulled a chair out for Stella.
"Really? It feels like you are, and thanks." Stella said as she sat down in the chair and Samael pushed it in for her.
"I see no point in contracts. It is just how I was trained." Samael said, taking a seat across from Stella.
"Interesting. So if you don't like contracts how can I get you to be my bodyguard?" Stella asked, feeling like she is out of options.
"That is not something I can tell you." Samael said as a man walked out and set down two sandwiches.
"You don't make this easy." Stella said, putting her head against the table.
"Here. Eat something." Samael said as he slid one of the sandwiches over to her.
"O. Thanks." Stella said look at the sandwich in front of her. She finally looks around the store. It was a small corner store with a deli inside. There were three sets of tables and chairs in front of the deli count, out of the way from the rest of the store. The whole store had a matching color pallet of black and white.
"Miss. I do not think it is a wise decision to eat the food from here." The guard said speaking up for the first time since Samael and Stella had started talking. He had been falling and keeping an eye on Samael.
"It is ok. Samael would not do anything to hurt me." Stella said as she moved the sandwich closer to herself.
"Miss, I must insist on this. We should have returned to the residents already and we can not trust this man." The guard said. As he moved closer to them.
"Why are you being this way?" Stella said, standing up to confront the guard.
"Miss Stella, this man has done nothing but brush aside your efforts to recruit him. He has even been so disrespectful to you when you have been nothing but kind to him." The guard said.
"You are out of line! Go back to the manor!" Stella said in a demanding tone.
"I can't leave without you." The guard said as he grabbed Stella's wrist.
"Stand down. You were given an order, so follow it." Samael said standing up.
"I am keeping the Young Miss safe from a mad man like yourself." The guard said, watching as Samael walked around the table and next to Stella.
"Another word of advice, Pick your fights better." Samael said as he gripped the man's forearm and started to squeeze Forcing the guard to let go of Stella..
"Let go of," The guard said but was cut off as he had to scream out in pain. Samael's grip had broken his arm, and he had continued to squeeze it.
"Samael let him go." Stella said after the guard had screamed.
"Not a problem." Samael said as he released his grip and let the man fall to the ground.
"Go to the hospital to get that looked at. I will be fine." Stella said as she helped the man to his feet.
"Be careful Miss." The guard said, having to force the words out due to the pain. The guard left the shop holding his arm as he walked out of the building. Stella and Samael returned to their seats. Samael continued eating his sandwich, but Stella was a little lost in thought.
She was thinking about how to get Samael to be her guard. She felt safe around him and he never tried to force her to do anything. She also felt that he did not have any ulterior motives. He also always listened to her. That thought stuck with her for a moment, and sprung an idea.
"Samael?" Stella said, breaking the silence.
"Yes Stella?" Samael responded immediately.
"You always follow orders don't you?" Stella asked, not looking away from the table.
"Orders are orders." Samael said.
"Samael. I order you to guard my life and look out for my well being. Never betray my trust in you and keep me safe from all threats." Stella ordered in a commanding voice, as she looked up at Samael.