14
Like a Princess
The next few days were fairly uneventful. As Larron had promised, my closet had been stocked full of beautiful clothes, shoes and jewelry. I had been provided with a selection of books to keep in my room to keep me entertained, should I wake up during the day, while my captors were still sleeping.
I had been opposed to believing this fairytale story at first, but with each passing day, I found it harder and harder to fight the reality of my situation. Reed had bitten me and he had drank my blood. I had magically made a room full of books fly off the shelves. I had a gorgeous man who thought that I was just going to marry him because Cora said so. Obviously, I was in way over my head.
Thought the daily routine had become easier, I still hadn't forgotten about Lily. I was still having nightmares from time to time and would wake up drenched in sweat, but each morning, or night rather, Derrick took me to eat on the terrace, just as he had that first night. We talked, but only about non important things. He seemed to be so caught up in his work, that he could hardly talk about anything else. It was like talking to a banker every evening. How could someone so young and attractive have the personality of a brick? It just seemed so unlikely, but, he was nice to me and he was making the effort. I had to give him credit for that.
Reed had been missing since the night he had bitten me. I had been too afraid and embarrassed to ask anyone about his absence from the manor, so I had no idea where he had gone. I had caught myself at least a dozen times looking for him as I wandered around the house. Cora had also left right after "Bookmageddon", as I was calling it and had not bothered to say goodbye on her way out. Larron had stayed mostly confined to his office during the evenings. Derrick said he was busy making calls and having meetings with the family and staff members from time to time.
Since I had been given a bit more freedom, I was taking advantage of it. Everyone seemed to think that I was not going to run away now and although my door was still locked during the hours that the sun was up, at night, I could wander around at night. I would go check out random rooms, go out onto the terrace for some air or even go into the media room, which was slowly becoming my favorite get away. It seemed completely out of place in this house. It still had the big glass lamps on the wall, but it also had a big screen tv above the fireplace, gaming stations galore, cd players and all the luxurious furniture that you could imagine to find in a celebrity cribs episode.
Though the manor did not have cable tv that I could watch the news on, I had plenty of dvds to pass the time with and I did that pretty often. In fact, I was sitting on the sofa watching an old black and white movie one night when Larron came to talk to me. I was a bit surprised, since he had been keeping his distance from me lately.
"Blair", he said my name with affection, but quickly turned it off as he took me in and then continued with "I am so pleased that you are finding yourself more comfortable in my home."
"Comfortable is a bit of a stretch", I said in response.
He eyed my feet propped up on the cushion and the giant bowl of popcorn that I had perched precariously on one slightly bent knee. After looking at me for a silent moment, he changed gears and went on with a new conversation.
"I have been working diligently to plan our annual Hallows Ball, Blair and given that you are not yet accustom to our world, you will undoubtedly need a bit of help preparing for it."
'Hallows Ball?" I asked. "You mean like a Halloween Dance?"
He chuckled "Something like that". "This year, we will be using the ball as your coming out party for the rest of our kind. Supernatural beings from every corner of the Earth will be attending and they will want to see you for themselves. I am sure that the rumors of your arrival will have already touched their ears".
"They will want to see me?" I asked in disbelief.
"Well, yes" he said, smiling even broader. "You see, you will not only be a future princess to our kingdom, but your presence in Thorn Manor has awakened thoughts of the Voodoo Bell."
"What's the Voodoo Bell?" I asked confused. I was having way too hard of a time keeping up with Larron. Every time we spoke, he seemed to throw some big bombshell on me. If he keeps it up, I wouldn't be surprised if he told me that I was part turtle next and I was supposed to make myself a shell to live in.
"Something to explain another time." He said, interrupting my thoughts as he rose and headed towards the door. "The ball will be this Saturday evening." he said without looking back at me. "We have much to prepare. Also, the dress maker will have a gown made for you by then", he added.
"Thanks?" I said almost questionably as he closed the door on his way out and making it impossible for me to ask him any of the other thousand questions swirling in my head.
I sat the bowl of popcorn on the floor and pulled my legs up tighter to my chest and covered myself with the warm blanket. The room had suddenly become a bit cold. I let my head fall down and rest on my knees and rested it there. I was getting a headache. "Ughhh" I groaned.
-----------------------
Saturday arrived faster than I had expected and I woke to find the entire house in a frenzy. Staff members were hanging flowers and garland from the banisters. Candles were literally everywhere, taking up every flat surface the eye could see. The smell of cooking food drifted up the stairs and floated down the halls and under the cracks in the door. It filled the entire manor with scents of baked goods and I almost envisioned myself floating down the stairs, Bugs Bunny style, toward the delicious nourishment.
As promised, the dress maker had provided me with a dress, which was delivered to me just after dark that evening. Also with the dress came three young women, who I was told were in charge of getting me ready for the party.
It took only an hour for them to completely transform me. They had covered my face with makeup first thing. Their hands were darting back and forth in front of my eyes so fast that I could barely keep track of what was being done to me. At their instructions, I blinked, opened and closed my eyes as they poked at them. When they applied lipstick, I was told to pucker, keep my lips apart, put my lips together and so on. Honestly, it was hard to keep up. They had finally been able to yank my hair into submission with only a bit of horrible pain on my part. I could tell that they felt accomplished as they all stood back, looking quite pleased with themselves.
Next, they youngest girl, who couldn't be more than 17, pulled the gown Larron has sent me out of the garment bag. I was expecting something hideous or uncomfortable, but what I was looking at took my breath away. Layers of flowing emerald fabric cascaded from the hanger to the floor. The color alone was so beautiful, that I felt my eyes sting with tears as I took it all in.
The bodice had a sweetheart neckline line, which would look great with my curves, and tiny diamonds, emeralds and black gems that I didn't recognize gleamed from the edges in the light. The bottom of the dress belled out in small fluttering waves, all the way to the floor.
The kind girls helped me into the dress and got my high heeled shoes on my feet before allowing me to look in the mirror. When I was finally was allowed to seek out my reflection in the glass, I almost didn't recognize myself. I looked tall and skinny. Much skinnier than I had when I arrived. My long dark hair was styled to flow down my back in large waves. A piece from the front had been pinned above my ear on one side with an emerald and silver comb. My eyes had been lined in black that stretched out into a cat-eye style. The smoky grey and black eyeshadow made my natural brown irises pop out from my pale skin. My lips were painted a pale mauve color and looked plump. The clear gloss gave them a pleasant shine. I was beautiful and my brain could hardly process it. My dark hair and makeup looked amazing with the color of the dress and for a moment, I felt like a princess. Ignoring the girl's eyes on me, I began to twirl in the mirror, admiring the changes they had made. A large smile spread across my face without my permission and I didn't stop starring at my reflection until the sound of the door clicking brought me back into the present. The girls had gone and my stomach began tying itself into nervous knots. Heck yeah, I was nervous. I had every right to be.
15
The Hallows Ball
Somewhere around 8pm, a knock sounded at my door and I jumped up off the bed and dashed over to open it. On the other side was a well -dressed man in a black tuxedo. His dark hair had been slicked back on the sides and disappeared under an elaborate black mask.
"Hello, Derrick." I said in greeting. "You look nice".
"And you look beautiful" he said in return, giving me a little bow.
I felt my cheeks flush at his words and I found myself unable to say anything back.
He chuckled a bit and held out his hands, offering me a flat black box.
"What's this?" I asked, reaching forward and opening it before he had time to answer.
I gasped. Inside the box was a beautiful silver mask. The edges were laced up into tiny swirls that looked like vines. The material sparkled in the light like diamonds and showed a barely there design in the fabric that looked like roses.
"It's beautiful", I said lifting it up to admire it.
"Not as beautiful as you", Derrick said, moving around to help me put it on. He tossed the box aside with no regard for where it landed. By the time I heard it thump on the floor, his skilled hands were tying my mask securely in place. He was so fast, I barely had time to register he had moved when he was suddenly standing next to me again.
"Shall we?" he asked offering his arm to me.
"I guess we must" I replied taking it and following him out of the room and toward the festivities.
We descended the main stairs with all the grandeur that one would expect of a future king and queen. At the bottom of the stairs, all eyes turned to look at us as we moved down each step slowly and headed to the ball room. Everywhere I looked, there were men and women in extravagant clothes. Dresses that were all colors of the rainbow circled the dance floor as couples moved in and out with extraordinary chorography and perfect timing.
The room itself was mesmerizing. The house had truly transformed. A giant chandelier full of candles twinkled from the ceiling in the middle of the dance room. Burgundy sheers were now draped over the alcoves in the walls. Vine and flower adornments were pinned to the thin curtains every so often for extra effect. Even the marble floor stood out. It had been polished so well, that the shine glistened and shadowed the candle light with each movement of the people standing on it.
The entire ballroom was round and as soon as you came into the main door, a staircase curved up and around the room. Eventually, it came out onto a balcony on the far side that overlooked everything. I noticed the king was sitting up there. He was perched atop a large golden throne with servants at either side prepared to serve him food and wine. At least, I hoped that was wine. There were many women waiting in a nearby line to say hello to him. They were hoping to gain enough favor from him that he would honor them with a dance.
Derrick was doing his best to explain everything to me as we walked through the crowds. To be honest, I only heard every couple sentences, partly because of the noise around us and partly because of how overwhelmed I was feeling. He smiled sweetly at me as he watched my eyes grow round with excitement.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked me when we were close to the twirling partners circling the floor.
"I have to left feet." I said, looking down at my giant heels. "I'd fall on my face".
"You will be fine. I'll lead you" he replied.
So, I let him take my hand and pull me onto the dance floor. Surprisingly, he was right. Derrick was such a skilled dancer that he glided around the room effortlessly. Lucky for me, he used his inhuman strength to lift me up off my feet and lead me around the floor in such a way that even a terrible dancer like me looked like I knew what I was doing. I found myself laughing and giggling as we twirled around and dodged between others giving us curious glances.
Once or twice while we were spinning, I noticed a man with shaggy blonde hair at the corner of the room. He was watching us as we glided by. Despite the dark tuxedo and mask, I would have recognized that messy hair and those green eyes anywhere. It was Reed, no mistaking it.
I tried to continue my good spirits with Derrick, but I found myself trying to get better views of Reed each time we went around the floor. He was standing alone, drinking something out of a wine glass that look suspiciously dark and thick. His eyes never left me.
When the song finally ended and I pulled away from Derrick's grip under the guise that I needed to catch my breath. Really, I wanted an excuse to get to Reed and ask him about the other night. I turned back to the corner to see what he was doing now, but to my surprise, the corner was empty. I scanned the room, but saw no trace of the shaggy blonde hair. I had to talk to him about that night in the library. He was the only one who saw what happened and I NEEDED to know.
My frantic thoughts were interrupted suddenly when Derrick took me by the arm and pulled me to the side of the room and out of the way of the other dancers. I was lucky that I didn't get crushed, standing there like I was. He smiled at me and asked me if I wanted something to drink. I gave him a face that said "Ew, gross" thinking of the blood that was probably in every one of these cups floating around. He laughed out loud at my expression.
"I meant a glass of water or maybe some wine to take the edge off of tonight" he informed me.
"Wine would be nice. Thank you", I said with a weak smile.
"Ok. Stay here and I will be right back", he said, leaving me with a nod as he sped off to find my beverage.
I took the time alone to continue scanning the room and working my way around the groups of people, but still no sign of my elusive voyeur. When I noticed that it was taking Derrick an unusually long time to come back, I looked over at the bar in search of him. That is when I saw him in animated conversation with a tall, leggy blonde. She was wearing a dress that had a slit up to the tippy top of her thigh and a neckline down to her navel.
"Well, damn" I thought to myself and continued to stand there watching their flirtation from afar. I was pretty sure that was the biggest smile I had ever seen on Derrick's face and I felt a pang of jealousy.
Really, I don't know what I was complaining about. It's not like Derrick was my boyfriend or anything. He would just be my future husband, if these crazy people had anything to do with it.
I was just letting my thoughts trail off from the leggy blonde at the bar to how much I wished Lily could have been here when someone grabbed my arm hard. It threw me off balance and I barely was able to recover as my attacker began dragging me along. I turned to see that my new escort was Rachel. She was talking to me a mile a minute. She was speaking so fast about the dance and how her boyfriend was bound to propose to her tonight, that I almost missed the entire conversation. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and I was forced to stop at her side. She pointed her hand at a tall, admittedly gorgeous, man on the other side of the room.
"Is he a vampire too?" I asked her, assuming this was the destined fiancé.
"Well, of course!" she laughed out and flicked her hand at me in dismissal. We've been together for 85 years. I'm certain this is it. "EEK! I am so excited!"
"85 years?" I mouthed to myself, trying to let it sink in. This girl couldn't be more than 23, no way. She could pass for 21 any day.
"Rachel" I said, "How old are you?"
"Old enough" she replied with wink and a hint of a smile.
I was just about to ask her how old "old enough" was when she spotted two other girls that she knew and took off in their direction squealing. She left me completely abandoned, but I didn't mind. I was still trying to determine how old she would have to be to have been in a relationship for 85 years.
Once I came out of my shock coma, I glanced back to see Derrick still google eyed and deeply into his conversation with the blonde. I rolled my eyes and continued to scan the room. All the other familiar faces seemed busy, talking and dancing to well-dressed guests. I sighed and walked out the large glass doors that lead to the terrace. I needed to get some fresh air.
I was lucky. The night was crisp and clean. There were significantly less people out here than were crammed inside the manor, so it just seemed like a nice, calm area to relax a bit.
I looked around and saw a few couples scattered here and there. Each were either holding hands, kissing or whispering to each other. They seemed completely oblivious to my sudden appearance. I walked straight across the large stones that made up the walkway and went down the small set of steps that led to the rose garden. I had seen it from one of the windows already, but had never had the opportunity to see it up close.
Taking care to stay far away from the shadows of the forest, I crept down the little dirt path to admire the flowers. Despite it being night and fully dark, the roses were in full bloom. Dark red blossoms popped out from their green leave beds and glowed in the moon light. I leaned over to sniff one and almost jumped out of my skin when I leaned back and caught a silhouette in my peripherals. Reed was standing silently beside of me, watching me.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" he said nodding at the flowers.
"Yes, gorgeous." I answered in a shaky breath. He had taken his mask off, so I did the same. I pulled at the little ribbon until I felt the knot slip and the band loosened.
"They have a spell on them you know?" he continued still talking about the roses.
I tried to hide my astonishment. "A spell? What kind of spell?" I swear, I was like a kid in a candy shop.
He smiled. "Well, they say that when the witches cursed the damned into darkness, vampires" he clarified for me. "They could not take away all hope of forgiveness, or else we would never change our ways. They didn't want us to continue feeding on them, so they left a reminder. They cursed all the roses in the kingdom. Now, they will forever bloom at night, so we can see them and be motivated to change. That is, until the prophecies are fulfilled and the vampires can once again step out into the light".
"So, does that mean that the witches are responsible for vampires only being able to come out at night?" I asked him.
"Yes." He said simply. "It was punishment for us draining so many of them."
"Why did you kill so many?" I questioned.
"Ah, that was before my time". He said. "I am only 226 years old, though my body stopped aging at 23. They killed the witches though, because they thought that drinking their blood would let our kind absorb their powers, but it didn't. All we managed to do was get ourselves cursed. You ancestor, Isobel, was the Voodoo Priestess that conducted the ritual and damned us."
"Yeah?" I said, intrigued. "So", I started and then paused before continuing. "This is all real, isn't it?" I asked him.
"What's real? Vampires, witches?" He asked.
"Yes", I answered running my hand in the water of a little garden fountain. "You are a real life vampire, aren't you? I didn't dream all this" I said motioning around at our surroundings.
"No, princess. I'm the thing that goes bump in the night." He said with a smirk. "I'm 100% real", he said, taking my hand and placing it on his chest as if to prove that he was solid. And boy, was he. His chest was like pressing my fingers against a rock. A really strong, smooth, muscled up rock.
I was just about to ask him more about the witches when Derrick came flying up the path at lightning speed. I turned to say hello to him, but before I could open my mouth all the way, he stepped past me and pushed Reed, who was remarkable unaffected by this assault. I barely saw his body tilt slightly. His feet and balance never wavered.
"You get away from her!" said Derrick, his voice barely a hiss.
"I am enlightening your date on the history of our rose garden, brother." Reed shot back smoothly.
"Something that you could have been doing... if you weren't so occupied with that Henson girl." He added, nodding back toward the house.
Derrick did not turn red, like an angry human man would have done, but he had enough venom in his voice that it was obvious that he was quickly losing his temper.
"I know you bit her, you ass! After you were specifically told not to. You bit her and you woke up her powers early". He said, poking his finger at Reed, who merely looked down his nose at the gesture.
"Father was expecting her to have her powers anyway" Reed said, voice unchanged.
If I hadn't known better, I'd think that Reed was enjoying toying with his brother.
"That is not the point, Reed! Can you not keep yourself in check at all? You shouldn't have brought her here in the first place!" Derrick was all but shouting now. His voice rising every time he began a new sentence.
"Rather I had let them kill her, brother?" Reed asked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at his brother.
Before my eyes could follow the movement, Derrick had lunged forward and was lifting Reed up, hands around his neck. I squeaked in alarm, but froze trying to decide what to do next. Luckily, Reed was much faster and stronger than his older brother and had turned the tables in a blink of the eye.
Now, they were fighting without reserve. Their teeth were bared at each other and their eyes were glowing a dull red. It was intense and I was trying to decide what to do when I suddenly felt the air around me getting very hot. My skin was getting warm, almost like a sunburn and a bead of sweat escaped down the back of my neck and into the back of my dress. Apparently, the two boys began to notice too, because they stopped fighting all at once and turned to look at me, mouths agape.
"What?" I asked, really starting to sweat now.
Derrick walked around me and I turned to follow his movement. The fountain that had been trickling a bit of water down to the roses just a moment ago, was now on fire. No, it wasn't on fire, the water had become fire. Flames now licked up the stone fountain as a river of fire trailed down to the ground, scorching the bottom petals of the plants near by.
"Did I do that?" I asked in horror, unable to take my eyes off the scene.
Derrick looked at me and nodded. "I think so" he said a bit slowly.
"Oh, geez!" I said in anguish. "Don't let it ruin the garden". I began to stomp on the flames, trying to put them out before they took over the flowers nearby.
The next thing I knew, a wave of water splashed through the air and doused the flames with a loud hiss. A moment later, water once again began to flow through the little nozzle and cascaded down the fountain like nothing had happened. Derrick and I turned to see Reed, bucket in hand, looking smug at his work. Without a word, he turned, put the bucket back on the ground and took off at vampire speed, leaving us alone.
I had hoped that the anger from before have died down with the excitement, but when I went to speak to Derrick, I could see how tense his face still was. He was quiet, looking at the fountain and barely shaking his head in disbelief.
"Blair", he said, voice suddenly hard. "Stay away from my brother. That is an order. Do you understand?" At this last part, he turned his glaring eyes on me. They burned through me with their hate.
"Y-yes, I understand" I replied with a stutter.
He nodded to himself and then turned, walking back to the house. Alone in the garden with the smell of smoke still lingering in the air, I began to cry.