Almost Lovers

by Cassidy Raindance

  Sure enough the bottle said "Halo" with a crest of lions and the word "VECNY" below it.

  "It's such a tiny little bottle," I said, "I love little things but I've never seen a bottle this small."

  "Perfume," he said, "I thought it would compliment you perfectly,"

  "It smells divine," I mumbled.

  "Allow me," said Sebastian.

  He took the small bottle and dabbed a few drops on his large fingers. He pressed his fingers against my pulse points. He started at my wrists, standing close to me. His touch worked up into the inside crease of my elbow, then up to my neck where he rubbed the scent at my jumping pulse.

  The trail of fragrance rose up between the two of us as his hand caressed my throat. But my brain fought back the chemistry as I realized with every stroke that we were standing in the hall and if Robert saw us I would have no explanation. If Lydia saw us, Robert would hear the worst possible version and I would lose him forever. I looked away from his mesmerizing gaze and looked down as best I could with the little room there was between the two of us.

  "Have I done something wrong?" he asked. He took a step away from me then, genuine concern on his face, "I just thought...the way you looked at me, I thought,"

  "I'm stunned," I said, smiling and letting a laugh out, "You are amazing, handsome, kind...I'm in awe,"

  He smiled and it was his turn to look away with rose colored cheeks.

  "I supposed we should go if we want to arrive in a timely manner," he said, offering his arm.

  His demeanor was all gentile and perfect behavior. I smiled and closed the apartment door. I took his arm and smiled at him. We both looked down the hall and prepared to go. That split second that we were both looking at Lydia's door I wanted so much for her to open it and see us, see me, with another man. Just so she could run and tell Robert and give him a taste of his own medicine.

  But with each step closer to her apartment, and the elevator, it became clear she wouldn't be opening the door. I had to settle for the satisfaction that Robert would find the roses when he got home. That thought put a smile on my face all the way to the party. Petty as it was, I was excited for Robert to do the chasing for once.

  CHAPTER FOUR - Sebastian

  "You brought a human to a family gathering?" Lydia pointed her finger and stabbed it into my pressed shirt and tie over and over. I had never thought I would have to hold her at bay with the Queen nearby.

  "Lydia, what are you doing here?" I grabbed her arm and tried to hurry her toward the nearest exit, the front door.

  "Oh no, you're not brushing me off just like that," said Lydia, wiggling her arm away from me, "How dare you? How dare you parade a human in my absence, in front of everyone?"

  Her voice carried even when she was calm and it wouldn't be long until Prussia saw Lydia and her fit. Not ideal, that's for sure. I had to get her out of there.

  "You can't be here, Lydia," I said, "Lower your voice," I urged her.

  "I can go where ever I want and do what I damn well please," she practically spit the words in my face, "Perhaps I need to teach this girl a thing or two about the order of things,"

  Lydia tried to push past me to where the other guests and Prussia were mingling completely unaware. I renewed my grip on her elbow as delicately but as forcefully as I could.

  "No," I said, whipping her around to face me and grabbing both of her arms. I pulled her face close to mine, "You can't go wherever you damn well please, not in this castle, not anywhere near this castle. They will kill you…for good this time. And I'll never see you again. How could you come here over something so stupid?"

  "She wouldn't," said Lydia. Her eyes looked like cat eyes but much more menacing as they followed me.

  "You know she would," I said, "And if you go after Prussia, you'll seal your fate. And you know she'll have me be the one to seal it,"

  I tried to let the gravity of my words sink in. Her eyes looked back at me for a moment, the sadness and a bit of confusion flooding them. I watched as she fought the emotion sweeping across her face. She settled back on anger and fought against my grip.

  "You would let her, you would," she yelled at me, "She can't, banished or not, not for a human. Humans are fair game and you and she both knows it,"

  "It wouldn't even matter that she banished you," I said, "And you know that she would make me...Please, just go."

  She yanked away from me and slapped me across the face. It was hard. She had a lot of experience. My face stung but I didn’t move, didn’t flinch. I met the anger in her eyes with my even gaze, not reacting, not wanting to incite her to do more. I only placed a hand on my cheek after she turned away from me. Charles opened the door in time for her to storm out.

  I always ached to see her leave, even when she was causing my world to fall apart. She didn’t seem to understand. She was the motivator of most of her pain. She was the driving force. And this time she was putting us both in grave danger.

  After a second or two Charles closed the door again and slid the deadbolt into place. I sent an eyebrow up to Charles and our eyes met. It was unlike him to lock a door.

  "No door slamming," said Charles, "Sir," he bowed in a small way and took a few steps back to his post near the door. I could understand. It was a rule of the Queen’s and the entire reason that Charles was standing there. The Queen had no tolerance for the slamming of doors. Charles would lose an ear if Lydia managed it. And she would have if he hadn’t opened and closed the door for her.

  I pressed the bridge of my nose with my forefinger and thumb. A crisis or two averted. If Lydia was bold enough to set foot on forbidden ground with an entire party in full swing, perhaps Lydia wasn't ready to come back to court. Perhaps this entire thing was a mistake. But I was in it now and there was no way to back out. I would reap what I had sown; the Queen would make sure of that.

  "Lover's spat?" asked a sweet, old voice.

  Charles bowed his head very low to the Queen, Victoria, and the Queen nodded her head in his direction allowing him to straighten his posture once more.

  "I had no idea-," I started.

  "Of course not," said the Queen, "It’s astonishing that she didn't even think to lower her voice. It’s almost like she was calling to me," the Queen smiled at me.

  I knelt on the hard marble of the entry. My fist bunched up as my knuckles touched the marble, kneeling in the lowest form I could.

  "My Queen, if you wish for me to bring her back so that justice..." I couldn't even finish the sentence, "I will do as you command me, my Queen,"

  She paused, the beads on her gown swayed almost silently.

  "I'm tempted," said Victoria.

  I tried to be as silent as I could. I knew that even the slightest offense, the wrong expression or a hasty word could lead in not only Lydia's eternity being ended but my own just for allowing her to disrespect the Queen, and in her own castle at that.

  "But I believe Prussia would miss you," said Victoria, "I think she's looking for you even now."

  I looked up at the Queen and followed her gaze, out into the main living space in the castle. There Prussia was, her body perfectly poised and framed in the dress I had selected on a whim for her. She embodied it perfectly, gave the dress life, as she stepped into the archway leading into the entry.

  As discreetly as I could, I ripped a button off of my shirt and pretended to pick it up as I stood from my kneeling position. It was always lively when a human was at a vampire gathering. Usually it meant a chase to follow but in this case it meant hiding in our own court, or modern palace of sorts.

  "A button," I said, a smile spread across my face as I held up the small white button to show her as evidence, "they are always getting snagged on this or that,"

  Victoria patted my arm as she walked by to greet Prussia. We had to keep up appearances of course. I had done well is what the Queen had meant with the little pat. I had done as a good dog should.

  "I'm so pleased you came to my birthday after all," said Victoria, "suc
h a delight,"

  Prussia smiled and looked down toward the marble floor, her cheeks flushing with pink.

  "I'm so thrilled, really," said Prussia, "What a shock when I realized that your grandson is the one that saved me the other night. And it’s a wonderful party so far. It's such a treat. I've never been to a party that qualifies as a social event,"

  "It is a small world, isn’t it? And just wait until the holidays," said Victoria, "We always have the best flowers, my favorite part, of course,"

  "Of course," said Prussia.

  Prussia was still smiling and the blood hadn’t left her cheeks yet. She was just a simple human and yet there was something that drew me toward her. There was something about the way she smiled, the way she moved, that was magnetic. It could have been the way the dress hugged her, her perfect form, but I knew better. I had known my share of women and this was different. It was subtle and I didn’t know what it was but I could sense it...

  "Sebastian?" asked Victoria.

  Victoria and Prussia were both looking at me now. I must have missed something. How awkward. I must have been staring.

  "So sorry, what's that? What did I miss?" I asked.

  "Prussia was just saying that she didn't think she would be able to make the holiday party coming up and I told her that you would certainly want her to attend." said Victoria, amused that I was caught in a moment of being smitten, I'm sure.

  "Absolutely, I must insist," I said, understanding fully that Victoria was using me to get Prussia to commit to something, anything, before the night was over,

  "Grand-mama throws the most spectacular parties. I've heard it called a once in a lifetime experience before," I smiled with every drop of charm I could muster.

  I managed not to laugh as I had glazed over the part where most humans that attended our holiday events really did experience something once in a lifetime, meaning their death of course.

  "It always proves memorable," said Victoria, giving me a sidelong look that said I was pushing it.

  "Well I don't know how I could possibly say no to something that’s once in a lifetime," said Prussia, completely unaware of the danger holiday parties would really present for her, "I would love to see what all the fuss is about,"

  Everyone smiled in polite smiles and for a moment, I thought we were completely in the clear. And I was wrong as soon as the thought crossed my mind.

  "So, how do you know Lydia?" Prussia asked.

  She was still smiling but something told me she wasn't exactly pleased.

  "You, also, know Lydia?" asked Victoria, "I swear, it is a small world."

  It sounded like pure amusement coming from Victoria only wrapped in an 'I told you so' and sealed with a 'that girl is nothing but trouble'. I tried to keep my smile on as best I could. The fact that Prussia recognized Lydia, even knowing her name, made me think Lydia had been planning to hunt her. If I hadn’t been there Lydia would have had opportunity to kill Prussia in the park without a single person to help her.

  "Well," I started, not sure where I was going to go with this, "Actually, it's a funny story. Lydia and-"

  "Lydia has been a family employee for some time now," said Victoria, "Really, Sebastian, there is nothing funny about that,"

  And just like that, the Queen smoothed over ruffled feathers and left me catching up. I just stood there poised to fabricate an incredible lie but with that simple explanation Prussia seemed completely satisfied and Victoria began to give her a tour of the house. Every boring detail wrapped in lies upon lies upon lies all founded on truth but still wrapped in layers of lies.

  CHAPTER FIVE - Prussia

  The drive back to my apartment was longer than I had remembered on the way to the party. I wished I had a watch so I knew what time it was. I looked over at Sebastian in the leather driver's seat, his wrist was on his other arm and I couldn't get a clear look at the watch face. It was black. Not as if I could have read it in the dark of the car anyway.

  I sat back into the luxurious seat and let it cradle my tired body. I hadn't danced at all but I had spent plenty of time standing and walking around as Victoria, or Grand-mama as she liked to be called, gave me the longest house tour of my life. Granted, it was all gorgeous. It was just a really long time to be standing in heels.

  I looked out the window and tried to see where the moon was. Maybe there was something to the whole 'telling time with the moon' idea.

  "It's almost 3 in the morning," said Sebastian.

  Mind reader. I looked at him, surprised he had known what I was thinking.

  "You didn't move hardly at all as I've been driving, saying even less, so I noticed when you tried to look at my watch," he was calm, matter-of-fact, "and then I noticed you looked for the moon. Nobody really looks for the moon when they stare out a car after a date,"

  His eyes met mine then and I remembered again how we met. The dark of the park, the danger of it all, the shadows he seemed to just appear out of.

  "Except that you told me about the moon and the whole telling time thing," I said.

  "I was kidding," he said, shifting the car into a different gear, the foreign sports car speeding a little faster and hugging close to the road, "I have no idea if that's really 'a thing' as you call it,"

  His smile was big, genuine. I felt a little foolish but I still smiled back at him. He turned his attention back to the road and I turned my attention back to the car window and what we were passing.

  "Does this mean you didn't have a nice time?" he asked.

  I looked back at Sebastian and our eyes met for a moment but he wouldn’t hold my gaze. I didn't blame him. He suspected that I didn't enjoy myself. This was supposed to be a date after all, as far as he knew.

  Every minute seemed slower than the last. I wanted to be home, wanted to see Robert's face, wanted to know if my plan would work. I didn't want to just be the girl cheating on her boyfriend. I felt guilty, guiltier than I realized I would. I felt guilty because I had actually had a really good time.

  "I had a good time," I said, looking over his features.

  Strong features, with something mysterious about him and he had a touch of emotion. Just a touch of softness around his serious set jaw and his strong, captivating eyes. He looked at me and this time I was the one that had to look away.

  "I wish you had had a great time," he said quietly.

  I watched as the trees went past even slower. I looked at the speedometer then and realized we had slowed considerably compared to how fast we had been going only ten minutes ago.

  "We're going so slowly" I said.

  He caught my eyes this time and I thought I caught a look of sadness for a brief moment. Whatever I thought I had seen was quick to pass over his face, like a cloud in front of the moon. There one second and then gone.

  "Because we're here," he said.

  I looked back out the window and he was right. We were parked in front of my apartment building. Perhaps the minutes hadn't passed slower, perhaps I was just too consumed in what I was about to find out. I wasn't prepared. I was suddenly nervous to find out how Robert would take my game. I wasn't one for games. Maybe he would be angry. Would he throw himself at Sebastian? I felt bad enough using Sebastian in this way, as nice as he was, but if Sebastian got hurt on top of it I wouldn't ever forgive myself.

  I was genuinely worried now. Sebastian had gotten out of the car and had come around to open my car door. There he stood, tall, handsome, polite, and I was walking him towards something he had no idea about and probably wanted no part in.

  "We could always go somewhere else," he said, somewhat joking but a hint of seriousness, "If you think we're back too early," his voice was very soft but serious now.