Part of a Contract, or part of something more?

Ryland rested his elbow on the arm of his chair and his chin in his hand.

When she had managed to get rid of the makeup smeared across her face, Aliceabella re-entered the room, looking a lot more rosey cheeked.

Ryland glanced at her. "For tonight you may stay in here but after that we will find you another place since you belong to us at the moment."

Aliceabella paused. "I belong to you?" She frowned.

"In a way. Not me though. You belong to the clan," Ryland furrowed his brow in thought. "Alucard may wish to make a more formal settlement in which case we would have no right to keep you."

Aliceabella folded her hands in her lap. "Right..." She whispered. "Or maybe he'll just bugger off back to Romania where he belongs." She gumbled under her breath.

Ryland chuckled again and shook his head.

Aliceabella smiled softly and sat down on the edge of the bed, suddenly frowning. "Why did you bite my shoulder anyway?"

"A test to see how you would react." Ryland chuckled. "It was... interesting."

Aliceabella shrugged and shifted her weight a little. "Like I said, I wasn't expecting it."

Ryland looked amused, "What were you expecting?"

Aliceabella blushed. "Don't know to be honest." She lied,shuffling in embaressed.

Ryland raised an eyebrow and got up to walk to where he kept some assorted files that needed immediate attention.

Aliceabella grabbed her bag off the floor and began rummeging through it, looking for something to sleep in. She felt herself freeze as she saw her old 'lead' shoving it into the bottom of the bag with a whimper.

Ryland sorted through the files until he found the one he wanted and returned to his chair.

Aliceabella smiled as she found her nighty, frowning as she saw it needed a wash. She scoweld, remembering that she'd ment to go get everything washed before, well before she'd gone to the Meagan for the first time.

Ryland reached for a pen as he examined a map and made a few corrections on it.

Shoving her bag back onto the floor Aliceabella turned to look at Ryland. She tilted her head, watching him silently.

Ryland's eyes grew dark as he went over his plans. The addition of Damien Alucard was like a thorn in his side. He might even have to call on some allies in the Eastern United States.

Aliceabella frowned at the change of his expression and leant forwards to rest her weight on her hands. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Ryland looked up at Aliceabella and his expression became a little gloomier at this reminder of Alucard. The American vampires weren't going to give in to Damien without a fight since it was in their nature to value their independence. That was why there was no king of America, only regionally allied clans.

Aliceabella frowned and slipped off the bed, walking towards him. "What is it?" She asked, folding her hands in her lap. "Anything I can do to help?"

Ryland pulled some of the emotion from his face and tapped his fingertips together. "You need rest." He admonished himself for becoming so complacent with his duties. Just because there was never much of a threat to this clan before didn't mean there would never be one.

Aliceabella frowned. "I didn't ask if I needed rest or not, I asked what was wrong." She smiled, trying to seem reassuring.

Ryland smiled slightly. "We're at war. There's nothing you can do."