Innocent Blood

Innocent Blood (chapter 21)

Innocent Blood

Chapter 21

    As I continued with my drink I wondered through the crowds of dancers. Some girls smiled at me, some didn’t, it was the men that were most friendly. Mostly they smiled, some winked, a couple even tried to get me to dance with them. Amongst the crowd I looked for a familiar face but saw none. At my side a man banged into me just enough to make me stumble and spill some of my marvellous drink. “Sorry about that”, he had an arm around my waist to steady me.
“That’s okay” I told him, rubbing the spilled drink off my hand on my dress.
“Do I owe you a drink?” Before I answered, he examined the remains of my glass, still half a glass left. I shook my head and took a long sip, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand afterward. He took the drink from me, put it on a table, took my hand and started to dance. He was doing silly dance moves to make me laugh, unlike most other couples on the floor, and I tried to imitate his moves which he found funny.
    The songs were all new to me but my nameless dance partner seemed to know them all. A face suddenly appeared in front of me. It took me a moment to recognise it as being Riona from my dinner table. “Hiiii” I sang at her. She wrapped her arms around me and spoke in my ear, “I’m saving you.” she lead me away, making the excuse of, “I need to borrow her.” Once we had got a safe distance, she stopped me. “You’re welcome.”
“What?” I laughed, not getting what I had to thank her for.
“Casanova over there”, nodding the direction we had come, “can’t watch ye become his latest piece of meat now can I?”
“I’m not like that” I giggled.
“That’s my point love. Look, he’s already moved on to another lass.” W both looked and him and sure enough, a slim blond had replaced me, with them both showing a lot of interest in each other. “Well… good riddance to him then.
    “Are you drinkin’?” Riona asked, changing the subject.
“Well if you’re offering, my dear friend, I’ll take another one of those red Zombie things.”
“Eh no I wasn’t offerin’” Actually, I think you’ve had enough, those Zombie cocktails are lethal you know. Besides, are you even legal to drink?” Something she said ,made me laugh, I don’t know what it was but I became so giggly that I began to hiccup. “I just want to have fun” I said dismissively. “let’s dance.” A few people joined us, Alastor being one of them. When our eyes met they held for a moment before he looked away scowling. I remembered his reaction to my rejection, and decided that I didn’t want his dour mood to spoil my fun. The music was loud and my voice seemed tiny as I said to Riona that I was going for a seat, I wasn’t of course, I was just relocating. She didn’t seem to hear me.
    I wondered off. People seemed to be banging into me, almost making me fall over at times. A waiter passed in front of me, carrying a tray of drinks. “Stop!” I called, maybe a little too loud, as several faces turned to me. “You”, I tried to say a little quieter, pointing at him. The smile he gave me was clearly a practiced one, “can I get you something miss?”
“I want a drink please, a…” my eyes focused on his filled tray, “what’s that?”
“Champagne miss. Can I offer you one?” It did look appealing, condensation covered the glasses, little beads of water trickled down as bubbles rose inside the glass. “Can I try one?” Alastor had brought me one earlier, and no I hadn’t like it but this one was appealing to me. The glass touched my lips and the cold fizzy liquid filled my mouth. It didn't taste bad, actually it was quite pleasant. I continued through the crowd, not noticing that I had gotten up to the pool, almost taking a step to far too far and stumbling back. I had bumped back into a table, consequently sending drinks clattering to the floor. I got as much a fright as everyone else, people were jumping out of the way and gasping. Everybody around turned to look at me. I had pissed of quite a number of people. “You just got drink all over me!” Screeched on girl, who held out the bottom of her ruffled skirt. “I'm sorry.”
“Bitch” she said before walking off. Most other people had lost interest in the scene, walking off or turning their backs to me. Two of the waiting staff appeared, quickly clearing up the mess I had made and I kneeled down trying to help them “I'm so sorry. It was an accident” I told them.
“It is quite alright miss. We can get this. Don’t worry.”
     As I got up my legs felt shaky and for a moment my feet seemed to stretch down past floor level before settling into focus. For a moment I stood still then lifted my eyes. My attention seemed to be pulled to an alcove, cut deeper into the wall then the seating booths at the other end of the hall had been. Instead of a table and benches, it appeared to be a plush chill out area, to me it looked like a bed. But that's not what I was looking at, it was what was on top of it. He sat half reclined against the back wall of the alcove. Alone and completely focused on me.
     It was a wonder I noticed him at all, tucked away in there, no one else seemed to notice him there. But how could I not? Those impossible eyes, holding me through the shadows. We watched each other until I flipped him off, anything to draw attention away from my red face. He dropped his heavy, black lashes, veiling his eyes, I had to strain to see his face clearer and he looked as though he was laughing. Laughing at me. I licked my dry lips, for a moment I was annoyed, then I felt my lips curve up and laugh too. Knocking over a table of drinks at a high society party, full of vampires no less, now that was funny. The area around me was clear, people avoiding the spillage I had caused, which left a clear way for me round the pool edge towards him.
     He still had a smile when I reached him and he raised his eyebrows expectantly at me. “Don't laugh” I giggled as I plopped down on the seat.
“I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you. There's a difference.” I turned to look back at him. He wasn't looking at me though, I followed his gaze to the two women in the pool kissing. My eyes bulged, then I noticed that every male in the immediate proximity watched the girls, with huge beaming smiles, some recording them on their phones, some cheering them on. Aristaios was still watching too and I didn't exactly feel jealous, but I was more than a little irritated by it. I sighed loudly and dropped my back down onto the seat, so that I was lying with my feet over the edge. “Well at least I got a laugh out of you, even if it was due to my making a spectacle of myself.” His eyes flicked to me, away from the kissers and I was happy to have his attention back on me. I smiled up to him, having to strain my eyes back to see him, he was still smiling too. “You speak as though I'm dour faced.”
“You are” I snorted, closed my eyes and added more quietly, “when I'm around at least. Its all bitterness and sarcasm.” He didn't answer. I opened my eyes again, he was looking out toward the pool again. I inwardly groaned and flipped onto my stomach, which in turn rolled me closer to him. “You don't like me do you?”
"Well you can't like someone you don't know." Well that's not the reply I wanted. I wanted him to want to know me so that he could like me, yet I had no reason really for wanting this as, I didn't really know him either.
     “Get to know me then” I mumbled not really wanting him to hear.
“That really wouldn’t be good for you.” It was funny how in such a crowded party, with music blaring and people all around us, in this little den it felt like we were the only people here. I was staring at him, still enraptured by his whole appearance, I found myself studying him, searching for some imperfection that would make him seem real. There was none, he was absolutely flawless. “You still haven’t told me why you came to my room” I said as I pulled myself up and slid to the back wall, resting my head against it. I let out a long sigh after his silence. “Can you get me a drink since you're refusing to talk to me” he looked confused by my request. 2My mouth is dry and my feet are sore” I rolled my head over to him and looked up through batted eyelashes, trying to put on my best pleading face. He shook his head with a smile and silently shuffled forward. “Water?” He asked when he stood up, I screwed up my face is distaste, “this is a party. Live dangerously.” Aristaios simply shrugged his shoulders and disappeared.
     A few moments later he passed me a clear, fizzy drink which was sickly sweet. I smiled my thanks to him and drank greedily. When I stopped for breath, I had gulped down over half of it and rifted loudly to my chagrin. “Take it easy Accalia”, he half joked. My heart skipped at that moment and my blood heated. I downed the rest of the glass quickly and left it to the side, scooting closer to Aristaios. “Say that again” I sighed light headed. His face swam in my vision and I put my hands against his cheeks to try still the movement. He flinched and looked confused, “say what?”
“My name. I like the way you say it” I looked into his eyes and had the sudden urge to cry. I hadn't meant to say that. Around him I didn't seem to be able to hold back my words, and the alcohol probably didn't help me either. He looked disappointed, I bit my lip and looked down, sliding my hands from his face. “Accalia” he drew the word out, a teasing whisper, my name had never sounded so sensual. The tiny hairs on my arms stood on end as I looked back up at him and all thoughts of tears instantly vanished, only to be replaced with something hot and demanding. His eyes bore into me, calling for me. The faintest of smiles touched his lips and I found myself entranced with those lips. They were moving closer to me, the only thing in focus until I felt Aristaios' hand against my back. It was what gave me the will to look from his lips to his eyes and then I realised those perfect lips, hadn't been coming to me, I was going to them. I was positioned so that I was on my knees, my stomach pressed up against his arm. One hand was crossed over his chest, on his shoulder, the other holding onto a fist full of his sleeve. How had I moved myself so, without even noticing. What was wrong with me? There was nothing left to think about but those lips.
     A shot of adrenalin shot through me as I pulled myself further into him, whilst somewhere in the back of my mind I was playing with fire. I couldn't help it, my body paid no attention to my mind and my lips touched his. He was still and rigid in my arms and I moved back, horrified by what I had just done. I had never ever done anything like that before. My first and only experience with kissing a boy had been more or less forced upon me, okay maybe 'forced' is a slight exaggeration. His face was impassive and I pulled back slowly, ready to go find a whole to crawl into when the strangest thing happened. His hand on my back pulled back, only slightly, but enough to let me know his invitation. Without a second thought I moved back to him. My lips touched his again and I pushed myself further into him, wanting him as close as he could possibly get. I felt his lips slightly part and he was kissing me back! Heat flushed through my whole body and then... it was over. I opened my eyes to see Aristaios with his eyes down and what was that loo on his face? Shock? Regret? Disgust? Whatever it was I didn't want to see it. I wanted to take back what I had done, but he had already moved away from me. “I should go” he said, only to leave me sitting there alone.
     The tears dripped down my face, smearing my make up no doubt. It was ridiculous I know, how could Aristaios have such an affect on me? It was more than a physical attraction, when I was around him I felt as though I was being pulled there. My eyes always found him in a crowd, my body reacted to him in ways I've never know. Now after what had just happened I felt a irrational sense of loss. I sat on the seat trying to blot out the tears with my finger before they wrecked my face. My head felt as though it was being pushed inwards from both sides. I pushed my hands against my temples, that seemed to work. I slid over to the end of the seat, right in front of me a woman had just finished slipping off her bra and plunged into the pool. Her antics didn't seem anything out of the ordinary to the others, maybe I was just prudish though because her behaviour appalled me. I got shakily to my feet and wobbled there for a moment before falling back to the seat. My head spun and the walls at my sides seemed to be pounding. I wanted to just lay down and go to sleep but the thought of Aristaios being mad at me had me slipping off my shoes. Had I been as ignorant as Alastor had been to me earlier? Assuming that he had felt the same way for me as I did him?
     I pulled myself up once more, using the wall for support. Once my balance had been established, I let go and took a few unsteady steps. My vision was blurred at the edges, which made it a lot harder to find Aristaios, people seemed to merge into their surroundings until they were directly in front of me. There was really no way for me to know where he had gone, the dim lighting wasn't helping either, but my legs were steering me towards a door that I hadn't noticed before. It was across from the DJ box, where the hall split the pool end from the main part. There was no sign on the door, really it could lead anywhere. I pushed it open and stepped in. The room was much like the one I had discovered upstairs before the party. Where that had been extremely tradition in decor, this was chicly modern. It consisted of the same lay out, two love seat-sized sofas against one wall, facing three large cubicles. The walls were the same smooth stone as outside the room, this one was more dimly lit than the one upstairs. A girl sat on one of the sofas alone, she watched me walk in and smiled but then quickly looked away from me. “Did you see a man come in here?” I asked as I walked to check myself in the mirror between the two sofas. Apart from my missing shoes I still looked fine, my hair had flattened a little and my make up was a little streaked from the tears. I turned back to the girl, who hadn't answered me, she nodded her chin to the only closed cubicle.
     The door was as innocent as any but I got a clenching feeling down in the pit of my stomach when I looked at it. It was the same feeling I got the first time I was taken to Marius' dinner party. A foreboding feeling, an instinctual warning not to open the door, but of course who ever trusts their instincts? I looked back at the girl who had a 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing?' look on her face. I gulped and pushed the door open.