“No, he’s doing this to me, alright. He’s going to marry the wicked old witch.”
Manuel quickly looked up, opening both eyes at the word ‘witch’. Although Manuel didn’t absolutely dislike witches, he was acutely aware that his associations with them had thus far proven...unpleasant. He found them incredibly self-serving with a loose grasp on basic morality. They tended to end up on opposite ends of the battle. And they typically had bad hygiene...Manuel hated that almost as much.
Cindy caught Manuel’s curious look. “Okay, so she’s not actually a real witch, you know magic and all that, but she acts like one. Well she does! You have to see her in action to believe it.” She quickly amended. “I can’t believe he’s actually going to do this to me.”
“What makes you certain that this is something that is being ‘done to you’.” Manuel whispered back, closing his eyes and settling deep in to the couch again.
“Because I’m the one getting the wicked stepmother and two ugly stepsisters.” Cindy almost shouted. It was her worst nightmare come true, all she could think about was sabotage, it couldn’t possibly be too late, and Cindy was nothing if not highly creative.
“I see, he is getting a new wife and two more daughters.” Manuel yawned delicately from behind his hand.
“See? It was so perfect before, just me and him. Me and my dad, it works so well. We don’t need anyone else.”
“You mean you don’t need anyone else.”
“Exactly. We have each other.” Cindy dabbed at her huge green eyes.
“That is true you do. And one day, perhaps two or three years from now you will leave your father’s house, presumably for a new husband’s house. And he will be left alone with his pictures and his memories of you and your deceased mother; perhaps the odd visit from you and your new husband to brighten his day from time, to time when you think about it.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I’m not saying anything, I‘m hardly listening to you.”
“Are you trying to tell me that he will be lonely one day if he doesn’t marry the stupid old witch?”
“How on earth would I know? Why on earth would I care?” Manuel rolled his eyes at the dainty blonde, placing his hand on his temple. “I believe this is what humans call a ‘headache’ I think you should go away.”
“So you’re telling me to suck it up? That I am being selfish, and if I really love my dad, I would put his needs before mine?” She questioned again.
“I’m not telling you anything, I couldn’t care less what you do; I merely want you to cease nattering at me and go away.”
Cindy got up slowly. “Thanks.” She murmured with complete sincerity as she opened the door. “I think I understand now, I don’t like it, but I get it. I guess I won’t bother asking you to eat her now. Unless of course you want to...”
She waited for a minute before opening the door and leaving the room, with a sigh of resignation.
The smallest of smiles stole across Manuel’s face.
~~*~~
The black sinister looking castle set high on the Sarrilian mountain range, surrounded by the deepest, darkest moat was home to Maleficent, one of the most powerful rogue fairies ever born. But before you could even glimpse the fabled castle, you had to traverse violent storms, enormous shadow spiders and mind scrambling mists. Maleficent had very few uninvited guests. So when the Queen of Rylak pounded imperiously on her huge black iron door, the famously naughty, and perhaps more than a little evil rogue fairy had a pretty good idea who it was.
Clad in a tight, satiny purple and black sleeveless gown, Maleficent lay across her gold embroidered chaise lounge managing to look incredibly evil, and utterly bored at the same time. Her long, wavy blonde hair gleamed from repeated brushing and her dark purple eyes flashed with recognition as Rosalyn of Rylak strode through the doorway.
“Really Mal? Shadow spiders and memory mists? You don’t think that’s just a touch over-kill?” Rosalyn announced as she seated herself in a chair opposite the rogue fairy.
“I value my privacy Roz.” Maleficent replied with meaning.
“I can only imagine how lonely you must be.” Rosalyn commented with fake concern.
“Not really, I got a dog.” The fairy replied sweetly just as a handsome werewolf entered the room with a tea service for two.
Both women busied themselves with the tea as they plotted their next move.
“So apparently you don’t have everything your little old heart desires yet, seeing as you’ve shown up on my humble doorstep. Magic is hard to craft properly if you aren’t born to it. Oh sweetie, I don’t know what to say.” Maleficent went first.
“I see how being born a true fairy has made all of your dreams come true.” The Queen purred.
Maleficent’s patronising smile froze on her face. “What exactly do you mean?” She asked in a dead voice.
“Well, it’s been one hundred years, and I see you’re still waiting for your Kingdom.” Rosalyn of Rylak replied smugly as she plucked nonexistent hairs from her cloak. “But I suppose there is something to be said for patience.”
Maleficent pursed her full, glossy lips and narrowed her eyes. “What do you want Rosalyn?” She said not bothering to hide her irritation. “I’m really busy today.”
Rosalyn made a show of looking around the empty room and pasted a false smile on her face. “I can tell.”
“Get to the point Rosalyn, we don’t do social calls.” Maleficent sat up straight on her lounge, tossing her thick blonde hair over her shoulder.
“Snow White still lives, despite all of my attempts.” Rosalyn shook her head in frustration. How she hated admitting to any defeat in front of her predatory peer. The rivalry between them had begun shortly after their Master had lifted Rosalyn from the dirt and despair in Gaston nearly eighteen years ago. But in the end, they had more in common than not, and so they regarded each other as slightly hostile siblings.
“Well now, that is something. Why do you waste so much energy trying to kill a little human girl anyway. Oh, excuse me I forgot. You are human as well.” Maleficent smiled at what she regarded a personal insult.
Rosalyn hardened her dark eyes. “The mirror said-”
Maleficent cut her off with a wave of her hand. “The mirror, the mirror. How cruel of you flaunt the damn mirror in my face. Why our Master gave it to you instead of me I will never understand. You don’t even know how to use it properly! I did try to warn you!” Anger twisted Maleficent’s classically beautiful features.
“Well he did, and I have used it masterfully for years, now the mirror tells me there is no hope as long as Snow White lives.” Rosalyn enunciated every syllable carefully. “Now can you help me or not?”
Maleficent rolled her dark purple eyes and sniffed. “What have you tried? Did you trip her in the woods? Or maybe took her swimming immediately after lunch? Jumped out from the curtain and yelled ‘boo’.” She laughed at her own absurdity.
“I sent my huntsman to cut out her heart; I used the shrinkage enchantment on a corset and Sarrilian exo venom on a comb laced with a darklight curse.”
Exo venom was considered the most deadly poison in all the known realms. Derived from the endangered Sarrilian Exo spider, the venom was nearly impossible to come by. Darklight curses were very hard to evoke, requiring massive amounts of dark energy, but once evoked, they attacked the very spirit of their object. They rarely ever failed.
Maleficent mulled that over for a minute, clearly impressed with the extent Rosalyn had gone to.
“Well well, Snow White must have very powerful friends indeed.” She mused.
“A vampire and a werewolf!” Snapped Rosalyn of Rylak
“I smell the stench of a gypsy witch on this, gads they’re almost as pesky as sea witches.” The fairy placed one hand, damsel in distress style, on her forehead.
“Unless you count Ursula of course.” Both women nodded in agreement. The sea witch in question was delightfully nasty, an
d provided both women with endless amusement.
“That goes without saying dear. Now tell me something, are you still angry because the mirror said she was prettier than you?” Maleficent taunted, grinning wickedly.
“I don’t know, are you still enchanting the Sarrilian Royal Family because they offended you?” Rosalyn countered.
“Touché.” Maleficent smiled. “They were rather rude. Listen, poison won’t do a thing now, not if a gypsy witch used white light. Now think carefully, did the mirror specify ‘dead’, or would ‘dead-like’, simply not living suffice? I have a curse that just might do the trick; come to my workshop I can show you how it works.” She began to slink away.
Rosalyn got up from her chair and followed the malevolent fairy.
“And it’s not just that the mirror said she was fairer you know. There’s more to it.”
“There always is Sweetie, there always is.” Maleficent replied with a laugh.
Chapter 15
Once Cindy had accepted the inevitable, that Caspian Vanholston, her beloved Father was truly marrying the dreaded Madame Morgada, she threw herself in to the wedding plans. There was nothing else she could do.
According to Cindy’s philosophy, there had to be an upside to even the most disastrous events, although admittedly she had to search rather hard in this particular case. Cindy was the kind of person who could not live in despair for long, so it was inevitable that she would pull herself together, rally her sagging spirits and throw herself in to something as exciting as wedding plans.
Of course The Madame had some serious reservations about allowing the capricious Cinderella to plan her fabulous wedding; but Cindy was more than ready for her.
Cindy had leaned across the table, locking eyes with the Madame Morgada and quietly informed her that if she left the planning of the wedding in Cindy’s more than capable hands, that she, Cindy, would personally guarantee that Prince Leonardo Charming would be in attendance. Now that was an easy promise to make, since she already knew that the prince had accepted Snow’s request that he be her ‘plus one’. Cindy was still a very good negotiator, she typically got her way, and she usually knew which cards to play and when.
The Madame, envisioning a double page spread in the next issue of “The Lonstasian Eye” readily agreed.
Suddenly Snow and Rapunzel found themselves completely overwhelmed with all of the errands they were roped in to running for the tyrannical Cindy, who was determined to make this wedding the ‘Event of the Year’.
Cindy, the pint sized dictator, was never seen without her clipboard in hand and one of the girls scurrying along beside her. If Snow or Rapunzel were indisposed for whatever reason, she would simply recruit Mercury; he had come to cringe every time she focused her big green eyes on him. Leo, fortunately for him, was spared since he spent much of his time attending to matters at the Holiday Palace, although he could be found dining at the Rutherford cottage with Snow, Doc and the gang, two out of three nights. Usually he sat on the sofa and discussed politics or medicine with the Doctor after dinner, but often he sat out under the stars on the porch swing with Snow; they discussed everything, and shared many laughs finding they had much in common.
And of course, like clockwork, minutes after the sun had fled, Manuel would come striding up the lane.The cottage was full to capacity most evenings. Not that anyone ever had the urge to do anything more adventurous than sit around the table, or perhaps out on the porch; Cindy ran them all ragged.
Rapunzel fit in to the Rutherford household quite well. Uncle Doc and his six brothers doted on her endlessly, and she flourished under the care. Between voraciously book reading, practicing sword fighting with Mercury in her off time and Manuel’s evening visits, Rapunzel was happier than she had ever expected to be.
Cindy, finding Manuel alone on the porch swing one evening, plopped herself down next to him, sprawling out in exhaustion.
“We need to discuss the wedding.” She informed him, calmly taking out her clipboard and pen.
“Why ever for?” He asked. “I have no intention of aiding you in this.” Leaning back on the swing he stretched out his legs and gazed up at the beautiful evening sky.
“Well you’re Rapunzel’s ‘plus one’ aren’t you? We need to discuss when you will be arriving...if you have any dinner preference...or not...do you even eat people food? Important things.” She explained in exasperation.
“What is a ‘plus one’?” He asked, without bothering to look at her.
She made a frustrated noise. “A date, you know, like ‘Rapunzel plus one’...you would be the ‘plus one’.”
“Would it not be simpler to say ‘Rapunzel and Manuel’?” He asked as he ran his fingers through his soft and shiny black hair still gazing up at the stars, liking the sound of that, ‘Rapunzel and Manuel’...’Manuel and Rapunzel’.
“Well yeah...no...but that’s not how it’s done. We say ‘plus one’. She brings who she wants. They would be the ‘plus one’.” Cindy dropped her head in to her hands in exhaustion. “Why are you being difficult? Please say you have a suit...I mean a nice one.” She moaned.
He simply stared at her.
“Well of course she’s bringing you, you big dopehead. And I meant that about the suit. You need to look good standing next to her. There is going to be pictures...do you show up in pictures?”
“Do I have to attend?” He painfully asked in a hopeless sounding voice.
“Yes! I have the seating for the reception all planned out! If you mess this up I will kill you!” She wailed.
“You could try little human.” He whispered mockingly. “You could try.”
“Maybe you should just kill me...I’m so tired.” She moaned, letting the clipboard fall beside her.
He leaned in towards her...considering. She looked up quickly.
“Geez Manuel, it was a figure of speech! I didn’t mean it.”
“Oh.” He replied before looking back up at the stars. “Well that was rude.”
Sighing she settled back down on the swing and gazed up at the stars with him. It was a really beautiful night.
~~*~~
The Big Day finally arrived and not a moment too soon if you asked the girls and Mercury. The ceremony went off without a hitch, right down to the last dove and butterfly. Snow had to admit, all of the hard work that had gone in to the wedding certainly showed. It was breathtaking, if she ever decided to get married; she just might have to leave the entire planning process in Cindy’s apparently capable hands. Even the Madame seemed impressed, and the dress that Cindy designed for her was simply perfect right down to the shoes.
In fact, most of Cindy’s creations were perfect that day. They all sat together with Uncle Doc and his brothers during the ceremony. It went perfect as well, although to completely honest, Cindy had hoped fiercely that someone, anyone would show up at that last moment and find a ‘reason that they should not be joined’. She stared at the flower draped door wistfully, but in the end nothing happened and she supposed that she should be happy for her father. But if the truth be told, The Madame’s beaming smile when pronounced ‘Mrs. Caspian Vanholston’ made her stomach curdle.
~~*~~
The ceremony was held during the bright afternoon, and for obvious reasons, Manuel wasn’t in attendance. A fact that did not bother him in the least. But the reception, that was to be held at sundown...and Rapunzel had made arrangements to meet him just outside the doors.
And so she waited. And she waited. Typically the vampire was punctual to a fault, she wondered what on earth could have detained him. Rapunzel looked around one last time for before moving towards the door with her invitation. The sun had set more than thirty minutes ago and still she did not see Manuel, most of the guests had already been seated in the hall; she wondered how long was customary to wait.
Although Manuel arrived at the cottage every night at sundown and spent a good portion of every evening with her, this would be their first official ‘date’
. She was suddenly very nervous.
She smoothed the skirt of her long violet gown, self consciously adjusting the spaghetti straps; she had never worn anything this form fitting or...bare. The night breeze tickled her bare shoulders and played with her masses of silvery blonde waves, as she stood in the shadows waiting for her Manuel. She hoped she looked alright, she’d been far too afraid to look in the mirror herself, deciding to take Cindy and Snow’s word for it instead; now she wished she had.
Maybe she looked funny.
Maybe he wasn’t coming.
Maybe. He wasn’t. Coming.
She straightened her back, took a deep breath and walked over to the admitter, handing him her invitation; everyone was already seated in the hall. Everyone would be looking at her when she walked in...alone. She decided to walk in with her head held high anyway. This was a new Rapunzel, not the scared and timid Rapunzel that had spent her life locked away in a cold, stone tower. No, and never again.
“Miss Rapunzel Goethal.” He read aloud, smiling appreciatively at the tall blonde, beauty.
She nodded.
“Plus one.” A softly melodic voice announced beside her. Quickly she glanced up over her shoulder, and there he stood; his long glossy black hair flowing down his back, looking utterly elegant in an exceptionally well tailored suit. Only a vampire could manage to look so incredibly beautiful, and so incredibly male all at the same time.
Taking her arm in his, he escorted her in to the lavishly decorated hall.
They made an incredibly striking couple.
~~*~~
Mercury looked up as Red walked in to the room. Her navy blue satin gown matching exactly the same colour as her eyes; his heart stopped. He knew that Cindy had promised to seat her at the same table, but he wasn’t prepared for the level of excitement that would cause for him. He watched as she scanned the room, finally asking a cocktail waiter where table 10, his table, was. He waited, his heart started up again, pounding out a ferocious beat as she made her way over to the table.
Be cool. Be cool.
“Lady Red”. He greeted her , standing up politely as she approached the table. “I believe this is your seat.” He indicated the empty chair to his right.
Evermore: The Rylakian Heir Page 28
