Innocent Blood

Innocent Blood (chapter 19)

Innocent Blood   

    Before I turned to face him, I tried to clear my face of any emotion I felt, lest he read my reaction and know how his presence affected me. To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure myself how he had affected me. When I turned to look at him, the very sight of him there, so close, I had to gasp as if the air had been knocked out of me. Everything about him was so perfect and so perfectly astounding that my eyes darted from feature to feature in a dazzle of confusion. The lights flashed over his hair, turning it from red, like flames to blue like ice water. Even his eyes which were an impossible blue, glinted in the lights, taking on shades as wild and exotic as his original blue. His whole being seemed to be sprinkled in magic.
     His laugh brought back some of my sense and, humiliated at my own foolish staring I abruptly turned to walk away. His strong hand caught my arm and spun me back to face him. "That wasn't very polite", his smile was mocking. I had to take a deep breath to steady my shaky breathing. Pulling courage from somewhere, and pouring as much sarcasm into my voice as possible, I said, "trouble in Paradise?", and looked over to where the woman now stood with a crowd of people. His brow furrowed and I felt smug, until looked to the woman and let out a chuckle. "I do believe I sense a tad of jealousy?", sounding totally conceited and patronising. My face flushed and I knew my cheeks must be bright red. Rather than run away with embarrassment, which I really wanted to do, I smiled and as politely as I could manage said, "excuse me please, I have to...".
"Dance with me?", he interrupted. His request surprised me so much so that I could barley muster my reply of, "I can't dance". His devilish smile made me a bit woozy as he whispered in my ear, "I can".
     I made no attempt to protest or pull away as he led me very chivalrously to the busy dance floor. Several people greeted Aristaios as we passed whilst I held tight to his arm and tried to keep from running off. When we got to the floor he twirled me round and pulled me close to him. His body felt lean and muscled against mine and for just an instant we just stood there looking at each other, me thinking at any moment I could get lost in the ocean of his eyes. Without me noticing he had begun to move us both around the floor, he was right, he could dance. Aristaios guided my every movement so easily that I followed him effortlessly. "I think a few women in here are envious of you, you know". He spoke into my ear, his breath making me shiver, I looked over his shoulder and indeed there were several people watching us, not just women. "Why would they envy me?", I whispered modestly, "they are so beautiful". Although he made no sound, I felt the laughter in his chest and looked up to his face. "Big headed", he said, shaking his head and smiling, "I do admire your confidence, but I was actually referring to the fact that you are courting the kingdom's most eligible bachelor. Almost each one of them have tried", he winked. I waited to see if he was joking, but no, it seemed he really was that arrogant. "Close your mouth please, its really not attractive". A pang of anger shot through me and I planted my feet and let go of him. "Are you really this cocky? Or is that your attempt at humour?", I demanded, wondering why I had obsessed over him. Then he tilted his head and gave me that crooked smile I had envisioned in my head for the past few days. That smile taking away the confidence I had and my cheeks flushed yet again, forcing me to drop my eyes, "you're not even a bachelor". He gently took my chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting my head up to look at him. "Although many women would kill for the title, I never found the one to fill that position. Maybe now I have", he winked. My stomach done a little flip at his flirtation, even if he was mocking me, I found myself smiling spite myself. My body began to lean closer into his, having the urge to kiss his lips, all other thought leaving my mind. Our mouths were so close I could feel his hot breath against my lips when he delicately spun me around and caught the rhythm of the dance once again.
     "Why did you come to my room the other night?", I asked as we moved between the other couples.
"Have you been dreaming about me?", he asked with a smirk.
"You were in my room, I saw you! Then you left. Why?", half alarmed that maybe I had dreamt the encounter. His mouth came so close to my ear that I ever so slightly felt the brush of his lips. "If I stayed I would have hurt you". At those words my body numbed and I stared blankly over his shoulder as the music came to a flowing stop.
     Around us couples stopped dancing, some faced the front towards the stage, whilst others went back to take a seat. Aristaios took a small step back, releasing me from his arms, taking my hand gently in his and planting a fast yet delicate kiss there. "It has truly has been a pleasure, Miss Pariter", and disappeared into the crowd somewhere before I made an annoyed "humph" sound then facing the front with the others. Asteria had came up beside me so quietly that I never knew she was there until she took my hand. "Come", she mouthed silently to me and I followed her without question as she led me out of the hall. When we reached the door I glanced over my shoulder back to the stage in time to see Alastor and Achlys step up together along with an older man. The door closed behind us and Asteria let go of my hand but continued her walk down the hall. The hallway was quiet and she spoke in hushed tones, as if afraid the walls were listening. "That's the boring part, only vampires witness the Last Blood Rite".
     She took me to a room near to the party hall, a cosy little room that had two upholstered sofas and an elegant coffee table in the centre. Along the back wall a large bow fronted fish tank stood proudly. The room felt to me like a high class waiting room. "I was informed that you were looking for me this morning?". I took a seat on one of the sofas expecting Asteria to do the same but she remained standing, hovering near the door. "Yes I was, well its just that... You said I could come to you...", I trailed off, not really wanting to recount the dream again. "And I meant it Accalia, you need someone to talk to here. People see me as a sort of councillor", she smiled at me kindly.
"I had a dream about Marius and I know you might think nothing of it but it just felt so real. I did ask Achlys, but she didn't know what to make of it... And said to ask you".
     At that point Asteria did sit, across from me, leaning slightly forward. "Tell me". And once more, I began the retelling of my dream. Asteria stopped me a couple of times to ask questions, "how did you feel physically during the during the dream?", "what happened when you woke?" and "do you believe it was anything more than just a dream?". Although I knew how impossible it would be, the feeling inside was tugging at me, telling me there was more to it. “I think it could have been a premonition or something?”, I admitted. She nodded her head as she stood up slowly, “possibly. Excuse me a moment”. she opened the door and turned back with a smile, “I’ll be right back”, she assured.
    I used the opportunity of her absence to slip off my shoes, they had been rubbing at the back of my ankle and the skin felt raw. The only thing in the room of interest to me was the large fish tank, I used to have two gold fish when I was younger, but when they died I was so upset and didn’t want to replace them with new ones that my dad offered to get me. I could laugh about that now. I stepped right over to the tank to get a proper look inside, and saw lots of little fish swimming around, in all different shape, size and colours, some swimming in shoaling. The only noise was a gentle hum, coming from it and my eyes followed fish around, almost mesmerized by them. Outside the door I heard a voice, I though I heard my name, and went over to it, not taking particular care to stay quiet. When I reached the door, hand on knob, I paused. It was a conversation between a man and a woman, a whispered conversation. I thought about going back to my seat and not to eves drop, but the words “dream walker”, stopped me and I strained to hear more. The only words I thought I could decipher in the hushed discourse were “would know if he could dream walk”. I pulled open the door.
    Standing just yards from the door I saw Asteria, who’s head snapped up to me and a fair haired man that I had saw only once before. Flavius, Marius’s brother. I looked between the two, Flavius had his head down and Asteria was walking to me. “Accalia”, she began.
“What’s going on?”, I interrupted. Flavius went to take a step forward, opened his mouth to speak but Asteria held up a hand to him, “no Flavius, Accalia, he brings us news on Marius”. Again I looked between them both. Asteria put an arm around my shoulders to guide me back into the room and I heard Flavius follow behind.
    Still with an arm around me, Asteria walked to the sofa and sat down at my side. Flavius sat on the opposite sofa, eyes flitting between Asteria and myself then to the floor, like he felt awkward just being here. “Marius has disappeared, this you know, Flavius is helping in the search”. Asteria spoke but my eyes never left Marius, “you told them I was there didn’t you?”. His mouth parted, like he was going to answer then closed and I turned to Asteria. “That’s how you knew about me”, just realising. Asteria smiled, nodding slightly, “yes, Flavius told us that his brother was hiding a young woman. So we had to get you here and be sure it was you”. Flavius watched Asteria and more than anything I wanted to know, “why did you do it?”, speaking directly to him. He met my eyes and his face so resembled Marius in that instant that I had to blink twice. “It was wrong”, he said simply, “and his secrecy over you worried me”.
    "So where is he now?" I asked him. But it was Asteria that answered me, "we don't know yet, but Flavius told us to check the house in which you were kept, he had already fled".
"But they got the woman", Flavius added and Asteria shot him a glance that looked like he shouldn't have mentioned that.
"What woman?", and paused, "Kate?". Flavius nodded and Asteria turned her whole body to face me, "just as a precaution, we need to know what part she had in the situation. But right now I want to talk about this dream you had?".
"Oh?".
"I need to know", her eyes stealing a glance at Flavius as he looked to the floor, "have you ever had one like it before?". I thought for a moment, considering what she meant, "like thinking it was real or thinking it is going to happen?".
"Feeling it was real and waking from it the way you did". I shook my head. Flavius straightened up, "I told you he, would have had to be doing it for years to get that strong".
"Maybe", I cut in, "when I was younger, I used to have dreams". Both watched me intently. "Ever since I can remember, I had dreams about a man. They felt so real that in the morning I would tell my parents there had been a man in my room. My mum just used to say sometimes we think we are awake when we are really dreaming. I never knew who the man was until I saw him at school one night. It was Marius". The dreams I had had as a child had become normal to me so I hadn't thought to mention them. Now I could make the connection but didn't know what it meant. "What does it mean?". They were looking at each other, like they were having a conversation without words that I couldn't get in on. Flavius let out a long breath and Asteria turned back to me.
     "Accalia did you know that some vampires have special abilities?". I pursed my lips and shook my head. "Well its not very common and they vary wildly, for example, Thalia has the power of persuasion", she said with a smile, "some can penetrate into dreams. We call them Dream Walkers".
"So Marius is one of those dreams, Dream Walkers?".
"I believe so. That ability is rarely heard of and...".
"We should have known about it", Flavius spoke almost to himself. I had almost forgot he was even there until that point. When he looked up his cloud-grey eyes had became more of a blue shade and I could see the sorrow in his face. He stood, slowly, looking like a man defeated. He leaned over the coffee table to take my hand, I offered it and he shook it firmly between his two. "I am truly sorry. Please accept my apologies". I said nothing then he let go of my hand and bowed his head respectfully to Asteria, "your Highness, I should leave the matters with you". Ever so slightly she nodded once.
    The door closed behind him and Asteria put a hand on my lap, “don’t worry about him, he is feeling the guilt of his brother’s actions. He didn’t think it possible that his brother could Dream Walk without his being aware of it”. she cleared her throat, “and of course, he is feeling the loss of his brother now. They are the only two Ambrose family left”. Right then I felt so sorrow stricken for Flavius, how he probably lost the only person close to him so that I could be found. I could relate to that kind of grief. I jumped up from the sofa, “I cant let him go when he feels like that”.
    I ran down the hall, still in bare feet. The party was still going on in the hall and I could hear the lively music and laughter inside the doors. Flavius was headed round the corner, that would have taken him to the door leading outside. “Hold on!”, he immediately halted and spun round. I closed the gap between us quickly, and saw that tears had trickled down his face. He wiped them quickly. “I don’t blame you. For anything”, I told him. He tried to smile as he cupped my cheek, “you are a pulchritudinous young woman.”. I raised my eyebrow, not knowing what the word meant, “I didn’t see the signs when I should have. My only brother, gone mad, and I didn’t even notice”, tears spilled out again. “Please punish me in his place”. I looked at him stunned. “I… I don’t..”, I stammered, really not knowing what I was supposed to say. He fell to his knees and clasped my hand, sobbing “My brother”. the click of a door sounded and Flavius tried to stop his sobs, looked me in the eye, his eyes blue and darkening in shade, “there is more to this than they will allow you to know”.