by Anna Santos
It was a silly discussion, but I could talk to her about anything if she wanted me to. It broke my heart to realize how innocent and charming she was. In the wrong hands, she could be manipulated and deceived. In my world, she’d be left shattered and empty. She deserved better. Even if I loved her and would give my life for her, it would be selfish to keep her away from her hopes and dreams.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked her, not sleepy.
“I don’t know. You decide.”
I pondered for a while until I came up with an idea. “Let’s play a game. I tell you the name of an adversary, and you have to find a suitable candidate to beat that adversary,” I proposed. “For example, in a fight against a unicorn—who do you think could win?”
“That’s easy, a dragon!” Aria replied, giggling at her answer. I smirked at her drunk state. She was funny like that. “Besides, they’re both non-existent creatures.”
I threw a cushion at her because of her witty comment. She opened her mouth in disbelief. Showing me her tongue, she hugged the cushion.
“Who said that unicorns weren’t real? I may have a pink one on my farm,” I teased.
“That’s a terrible choice of color! Besides, riding dragons is way cooler than riding unicorns.”
“True.” I had to agree with that. “Okay, so dragon one and unicorn zero.”
“I want a more challenging question,” she said.
“Hmm… In a fight against Peter Pan?”
“Oh, that’s tough! It’s kind of illegal to hit kids. I know. I know. Alice from Wonderland.”
I arched an eyebrow. “How come?”
“She has a rabbit, she can grow up and down, and she can smash Humpty Dumpty into Peter Pan’s head.”
“Isn’t that a bit violent?” I asked, trying to picture the conflict and not finding it appropriate for all audiences.
“Kind of. Let’s not count this one then.”
I agreed to please her. “Okay, an easy one. Who could beat Naruto?”
“Son Goku.”
“Who could win a fight against Wolverine?”
“Superman.” she answered fast.
I increased the difficulty. “And who would win, a vampire or a gargoyle?”
“A gargoyle, of course. But it’s not a valid question because you chose the rivals,” she pointed out.
“Okay, it’s your turn, even if I don’t agree with your answer.”
“Against a horse, who would win?”
“An elephant.”
“Elephants aren’t dangerous creatures!” she informed me.
“Neither is a horse.” I laughed, a bit drunk myself.
“Hmm.” She pouted for a while.
I gazed upon her, feeling warm inside for having her next to me so at ease. The alcohol was helping with that.
I asked another question, “Against a spider? Who would win?”
“Ichigo.” She exclaimed, exultant.
I frowned at her answer. “Who’s that?”
“A Shinigami.”
“You aren’t making any sense,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“It’s a manga character like Naruto. A shinigami is an angel of death who takes souls to the other side and protects the human realm from monsters,” she explained in a snappy voice.
“Very well, Miss Know-It-All, what about in a fight against the Cyber King?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a giant robot controlled by the Cybermen in Doctor Who.”
“Oh, I love Doctor Who! I want a time travel machine like his,” she said in her girly voice, making me laugh at her words and cute drunk face. “But, of course, the answer is the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.”
“Or,” I said, thinking more about the subject, “a Transformer.”
“Which one?” she asked, leaning forward.
“Bumblebee!”
“I love Bumblebee. He’s the funniest!” she shrieked.
I chuckled at her enthusiasm for our quirky game. She was having fun and it was nice to hear her laugh like that.
Aria adopted a solemn face. “Now it’s my turn to ask you a question a bit more appropriate to your age. In a fight against King Kong and the Empire State Building, who would win?”
“Hey, smart pixie angel,” I hissed, pretending to be offended by her witty question. “I’m much older than that,” I added, making her open her mouth in a dramatic awe that was intended to mock me no doubt. “And for your information, it was the planes that made King Kong fall off the building.”
“But the planes crashed, the gorilla died, and the building survived everything,” she pointed out. I had to agree with her. “So building one and big bad gorilla zero.”
“Okay, I have one for you,” I said as she hit my face with her palm in a clumsy attempt to cover my mouth. “What?” I asked, grabbing her hand and holding it for a while.
She didn’t try to pull her hand away. I felt a tiny moment of bliss until she hit me with the cushion. She was evil, waiting until I was defenseless and not expecting her to seek revenge.
“I’m tired. Sleep one, Aria zero,” she complained in a sexy sleepy voice, lying back down on the couch and closing her eyes.
I smiled, letting her give in to sleep. “That’s okay, sweetie. Rest.”
“Tell Mom and Dad that I love them,” she mumbled when I shifted her hair from her face, so I could take her in my arms and put her in my bed. She would be more comfortable there. I could sleep on the couch. I had plenty of other rooms to sleep in, but I would rather sleep where I could wake up and explain to her where she was and where I could listen to her heartbeat.
“They’ve already gone back to their hotel room,” I told her when I laid her down under the covers. I took off her boots and covered her up, so she wouldn’t get cold during the night.
She hugged the comforter against her chest and sighed softly.
“Goodnight, Aria. Sweet dreams,” I whispered, caressing her cheek.
She face-palmed me again.
“Stop being evil to me.” I held her hand to take it off of my face.
She giggled and opened her eyes.
“What?”
“I just realized something,” she whispered, smiling widely.
“What did you realize?” I asked, kissing her fingertips without looking away from her stare.
“You are a nerd,” she whispered in a secretive voice.
I smiled at her words, finding it funny how her eyes glinted with surprise and maybe a bit of shock.
“Maybe I am a bit,” I confessed in the same secretive manner. “Have you anything against that?”
“Oh no, I think that’s awesome,” she mumbled with a dreamy smile that made me lower my face over her and kiss the tip of her nose. She giggled at that, closing her eyes and rolling onto her right side to sleep. “Now leave me alone. I need to sleep,” she grumbled.
She was grumpy when she was sleepy. I could relate to that. I tucked her in and sat on the couch, where she had been, gazing at the ceiling.
Gabby and Sean had already gone to Sean’s bedroom. We’d been downstairs, talking. That is, until I had to distract Aria from the fact that her cousin and Sean were making out on the couch in the living room. She didn’t actually miss them because we’d been talking all night since I’d stopped Gabby from giving her any more alcohol and making her act like any girl her age would act when drunk. She wanted to party, jump, and dance. Things got out of hand, and I had to make some guys back off before she swirled into my arms and asked me to dance with her. How could I say no to her?
A drunk Aria was a funny extroverted. She was also harder to control and keep track of. She had the tendency to run away, chasing imaginary butterflies. The problem was when they were no longer imaginary, and she made them appear, floating around the dance floor—butterflies made of fire. They’d leave her hands and fly around, only to disappear against the ceiling or after landing on my nose. Apparently, it was funny to make butterflies land on my
nose. But the butterflies didn’t burn. They were like small golden holograms that people thought were part of the light show. It was a big hit, and I had to give credit to my pixie angel, it was beautiful. I was calling her that because she was as delicate as a fairy and as beautiful as an angel. Besides, I’d been given the idea during the fight about the angel wings and fairy wings.
It had been fun. Too bad she wasn’t going to remember anything about it the next day. But I definitely would.
Chapter ELEVEN
ARIA
I woke up to a giggling sound with someone jumping on the bed. I automatically sat up, startled and confused by the dark.
“She’s right here beside me. Do you want to talk to her?”
It was Gabby. She sat on the side of the bed, her legs swinging, with my phone in her hand.
“Your parents want to speak to you,” she informed me, showing me the phone, so I could pick it up.
“Hello,” I answered timidly. “Yes, everything is fine. I was just sleeping. No, I don’t know what time is it. I have no idea what time I went to bed.” I answered my dad’s questions, looking at the red wine comforter over my lap. My head was pounding hard, and I had a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, the bed seemed to spin around. “Sure, it would be nice to have lunch in the Louvre and visit the rest of the exhibitions. I don’t know. I can ask him if he wants to join us,” I mumbled. “Okay, I’ll see you and Mom there with Gabby.”
I turned the phone off and leaned back on the bed, craving the comfort of sleep where nothing was hurting my head and the bed was not a carousel.
“What did they want?” Gabby asked, leaning over me.
“It seems that we were supposed to be at the Louvre at midday, but we didn’t show up,” I announced, feeling unwell. “They’re having lunch under the pyramid and want us to join them, so we can finish the tour. They also said to invite Philippe and Sean. If you want to call them, be my guest. I just want the bed to stop turning.”
“You can ask him yourself. He’s right here next to you,” Gabby said with a grin.
My eyes snapped open, and I saw the ceiling. Moving my head to the right, I assessed the unfamiliar place I found myself in. Philippe was in the corner of the bedroom. For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating. It was confusing. He looked like he’d just woken up and hadn’t had time to get dressed and wash his face. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Come to think of it, I was also fully dressed under the covers. I could feel my jeans and my bra tightening uncomfortably. What the hell happened last night?
“Where are we?” I asked.
“My place,” Philippe answered, walking towards me. “Do you remember what happened last night?”
I shook my head and narrowed my eyes to try to remember. We’d gone to the Louvre, then to his restaurant. Afterward, we played some snooker and Gabby wanted to go to a nightclub. It was one of Philippe’s nightclubs. Dad and Mom were excited to see it, so we all agreed to go and stay for a while. We got in as Philippe’s VIP guests. It was fun; there were a lot of people dancing and drinking. A lot of noise, too. I’d texted Cedric, telling him I was going out with my family and cousin. But I didn’t remember how I ended up at Philippe’s place or in his bed.
“Damn it! Cedric must be worried sick about me,” I said out loud.
“There was a guy calling you this morning. He was so incessant that I answered the phone,” Gabby shared with an innocent face.
My heart stopped after listening to her words. “What did you tell him?”
“I got your back, don’t worry. I told him that I was your cousin and you were with me but sleeping. We’d had a few drinks and you’d crashed at my place.”
I widened my eyes. Summing up, she had lied to him. I didn’t know if I should be happy or cry. I didn’t like lying. But it seemed to be a common thing to do lately.
“Oh, loosen up! We had fun last night. You’re really funny after a few drinks. And you should thank Philippe. He had to be your babysitter for the night. You were acting crazy.” She prolonged the y at the end of the adjective. I could have died right then. Instead, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to hide under the comforter.
“Oh, my head is killing me,” I complained, trying to ignore Philippe. Then I realized something disconcerting. I was sleeping in Philippe’s comfy bed. I inwardly cursed in frustration.
“I can find you an aspirin,” Philippe said with a sweet and concerned voice.
I sighed deeply and opened my eyes. Gabby was next to me in her pajamas, staring at me with her big green eyes in expectation.
Philippe, his lips pursed, was on the other side of the bed, his hands in his pockets, his big brown eyes also staring at me. I was the center of attention.
“Do you have strong black coffee instead?” I asked Philippe, a bit ashamed but relieved by the fact that I was fully dressed and he was safely outside the bed.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, disappearing in super speed mode.
“You two were extremely friendly last night,” Gabby said, leaning closer to speak in my ear. “I think he has a thing for you. I’m actually pretty sure about it. When you came upstairs to the bedroom, I thought that, well, you were going to do it.”
“Do what?” I asked, horrified by her words.
“You were pretty wasted. He had to take care of you and stop you from falling and…you kind of forced him to dance with you.”
“I did?”
“It was cute. You make a cute couple. Even if you say you have a boyfriend. But Philippe is a catch. He’s hot and rich and–”
“Stop talking please,” I demanded. Everything was moving around and her words were making me feel extremely bad about what I had done under the influence of alcohol. Cedric wouldn’t like one bit that I had been friendly with the bad vampire jerk.
Gabby pouted at my request.
“You know he’s a vampire, don’t you?” I asked, curious because he had just super-sped in front of her, and she hadn’t even blinked.
“Yes and Sean is, too. Sean is cool. As for Philippe, he used to act like a jerk, but he’s being a bit friendlier these days.”
“Do you know what happened to me?”
“When?”
“When I disappeared.”
She nodded. “You fell in the river and some dude saved you. Now, you’re living with him and you don’t want anyone to know about it,” she summed up.
It was not as simple as that, but I could work with that.
“When did they tell you?” I probed further.
“When we were in the restaurant at the opera. I was pretty upset, and Sean had to tell me the truth. He also told me that he had enthralled me. It’s a thing that vampires do to make us forget or overlook some things.”
“Then you have to understand that Philippe and I aren’t going to have a thing and that he isn’t my type. Besides, I have a boyfriend.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “Keep telling yourself that.”
I rolled my eyes at her smart-alecky comment.
She smirked at me. “My words wouldn’t bother you so much if you didn’t feel something for him.”
“Aren’t you afraid that they might do something evil to you, that Sean might hurt you?”
“We love each other,” she said. “He would never hurt me. He treats me better than many of my previous human boyfriends. Besides, being bitten can be sexy.”
I gave up on trying to talk some sense into her. Plus, Sean actually kissed the ground she walked on, so I had nothing to worry about. He was so whipped that it was painful to watch sometimes. Yes, I’d found out what “whipped” meant.
Sighing, I said, “Fine. Now, why did you have my phone?”
“You left it in my purse. And I had to use it to call my dad. Mine was low on battery. I hope you don’t mind.”
“That’s cool. Now we have to get dressed and go meet my parents at the Louvre. But the thing is… I don’t have any clothes to change into.”
“Don’t worry abo
ut it. I have plenty of new clothes in Sean’s room. I can’t take them home because my parents would find them odd, but I bet there’s something there for you to wear.”
I nodded, noticing that Philippe was at the door with a cup in his hand. I wondered how long he’d been there listening to the conversation.
Gabby looked back, following my gaze. “Oh, Phil, can we use your bathroom to take a bath and get dressed? Sean is still sleeping like a baby, and I don’t want to disturb him.”
“Sure, make yourselves at home. Here’s your coffee, Aria,” he said, moving closer and giving me the cup.
I followed his movements and looked at his face when he handed me the cup. “Mom and Dad also invited you to come. They’re waiting for us under the pyramid,” I mumbled, unsure why I was telling him. I was suddenly feeling extremely shy. “Yesterday, you said you would come,” I reminded him. I could have almost bitten my tongue for wanting him to go back with me there. In my defense, it was cool to have him around to explain the historical facts and answer my questions.
His eyes seemed to light up at my words, and he lost his gloomy expression. Then, his brows drew together. “I can’t stay under the pyramid. There’s too much direct sunlight and it’ll burn me.”
“Oh right!” I remembered that detail. He had just shown me the galleries that were away from direct sunlight before. He‘d navigated around the beams of light that peeked in through the windows.
“You can join us in the cave. I’m sure Aria would love if you showed her the Egyptian Collection. She wouldn’t shut up about it last night at the club. She didn’t even want to sleep because of it.”
I snapped my head towards Gabby, flustered by her words. Couldn’t she be less obvious about the fact that she was trying to hook me up with Philippe?
Noticing my glare, she asked, “What? It’s always fun to have a guide telling us about the things we’re seeing. We had lots of fun yesterday.”
“Yes, it was fun,” I agreed but regretted it immediately when Philippe smiled. I didn’t want him to know that I’d enjoyed his company. I sighed and sulked for a bit. He probably knew it already because I’d let my guard down. Still, that didn’t mean we were friends or anything else for that matter.
