Haunted House 12: The House That Eats People

[aldersprig]

First: A story featuring a male keeper and a female Kept.
Previous: Be Our Guest

🌳🏚🌳

The back stairs took up half of the space between the dining room and the kitchen.  “There’s also the grand stairs in front, but those are not safe to walk on. This place has an excess of staircases - not that there’s anything wrong with that,” he added hastily, as the stairs seemed to creak and shift under their feet.  “This isn’t the full tour, not by far, but it’s enough for the time being, I think. You’ve had a long day, after all.” He brushed his hand over her sleeve. “Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight, Mélanie?”

She looked at his face.  “What happens if I say no?”

“If you say no, then you sleep in your own bedroom, and both of us have slightly cold and lonely beds.” His smile took of the slight sting of his words.  “That is to say, nothing bad happens. I’d rather you be honest with me and take your time about coming to my bed then do it just because you think I want you there.”

read on…

Comments

[clare_dragonfly]

Aww. I'm surprised she agreed to sleep in his bed so quickly! I mean, in the original fairy tale she refuses to marry the Beast for ages ;) But of course, there's the Bond to consider.

I do love the house.

[aldersprig]

Other than the song joke, it’s not based on the Beauty and the Beast tales? But she is trying to accommodate him.

[clare_dragonfly]

The house in the middle of nowhere that scares people and does chores for the people who live there is not a deliberate Beauty and the Beast reference? I'd actually forgotten that the last installment had the song reference!

[aldersprig]

Nope! If anything, I was thinking of an episode of The Librarians

[sauergeek]

I still wonder what Jasper thinks he's holding back. Or what he's expecting Mélanie to trip on. So far he's been exemplary given the circumstance. At this point, it feels like more him than her who's waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[aldersprig]

Well, when you’ve had a number of bad experiences with past… relationships....