Almost Lovers (24 page)

In that spark, that anger at watching Robert
killed and the realization that no one would be looking for me, I
heard a shriek. I couldn’t move but I knew who it had been. The
neat eater. I heard footsteps faintly from outside the room coming
toward the door. I felt more than heard the goon that had been
latched on to my neck for the better part of 20 minutes let go and
stumble. Brad, gnawing at my wrist, stopped. I could tell because I
didn’t feel my veins twinge and twang at his constant readjustment
to get a better bite.

My view became obstructed. I could see his
bloody hand clutching at my mangled shoulder and then he fell onto
the drain, the blood slowly pooling around him as he looked up at
me. My face had to hold shock. Had I done this? Had my rage made my
blood go sour? I tried to hold on to my thought of rage but my
shock kept my mind slippery with questions.

He looked as though he couldn’t breathe,
gasping for air. His face tense, he clutched his bloody hands
toward his chest. I watched as droplets of blood streamed from his
eyes and the corner of his already blood smeared mouth. Whatever
had happened wasn’t something I had any control over. I watched in
amazement, gratitude and thankfulness as his face contorted in
pain.

“One drink too many,” said Brad, still at my
wrist.

He sounded far away or as if he were
mumbling but I knew that to just be my current condition. I had no
idea how much blood I had left in my body. But apparently, the neat
eater had been a lush.

Brad squirmed in agony, gasping at the air
and his eyes bulged at me, his face turned an ash color. My
fascination turned to horror as his skin began to glow the color of
hot embers, tiny blazed veins racing across his skin. It lasted
less then a second. His body imploded in a fiery frenzy of flames
and the ash fell to the ground an instant later. Small flakes of
ash piled onto the ground as my blood attempted to run a course
right through it. As a river cutting through a singed mountain, my
blood streaked a path through the ash to the drain.

I closed my eyes not wanting the nightmare
to continue. I heard the door open and frantic shouting but that
was all I heard. I didn’t care. Whatever burst through the door was
of no concern in my world. A world full of vampires and killers,
torture and murder, it wasn’t a place I wanted to exist. I welcomed
the darkness. Only it didn’t stay long. As soon as the darkness
closed in, taking me away from the blood and the shouting, my mind
turned on a light for me. I drifted into a peaceful white light
and, as the saying goes, let the concerns of mere mortals fall
away.

I paced from the marble grand staircase in
the center of the castle where royal court ceremonies were held all
the way to the front door. At first I paced alone in anxious
anticipation but then I began walking the same path to see in the
arriving members.

The castle had become eerily quiet the few
moments after Penelope left. I had watched her carry Prussia right
out the front door. I stayed toward the marble staircase, well away
from the Queen’s chamber and corridor. I checked the front door
every few minutes for arrivals. Penelope had only been gone a few
minutes before the first Lords and Ladies began to arrive. Penelope
had been right about sending the message to everyone when I had.
While it felt like an eternity to me as I waited I knew that the
ones arriving the earliest had probably dropped everything they had
been doing to show up.

As each court member arrived I felt more
relief that there would be one more witness but also more anxious
at what it meant would happen sooner rather than later. It’s not
every day that a non-titled and, until recently, banished Lady
responsible for the death of the previous Chancellor accused the
Queen of abuse of power, demanded the appointment of a fair
Chancellor and, if the mood of the court permitted, the resignation
of the Queen. That kind of agenda would lead any vampire to turn
into a stress-drinker almost instantly.

I continued to pace between the staircase
and the door as I saw in more arrivals. My disappointment had never
been greater than when I saw Sebastian coming toward me as I
returned to the front door. I wanted to avoid him but it wasn’t an
option. He looked beyond angry and he stopped me only twenty feet
from the front door. I could see every guest as they came in and
they could also see and hear me.

“Prussia has been taken,” Sebastian said
with an accusatory tone, “Your friend from the park, where can I
find her?”

It wasn’t really a question and three guards
showed up at his back.
It must have been a serious
situation,
I snorted to myself.

“I have more important things to do than
worry about the Queen’s pet,” I said, pointing a finger toward to
the gathering court.

“Don’t underestimate her importance,” warned
Sebastian, a dangerous glow in his eyes.

“Her importance to the Queen,” I said, “Or
her importance to you?”

“Both,” said Sebastian, “Now tell me where I
can find your friend from the park,”

The only comfort I had in that moment,
realizing that he really had developed feelings for this pesky
human, is the knowledge that she wouldn’t survive the night. It
would take time but I knew now that I wanted Sebastian more than I
had ever cared to admit. And I wanted him back.

“I hope you enjoy your frail human,” I said,
no attempt to conceal my distaste for the entire affair, “Perhaps
when you’ve tired of playing with your food you’ll crawl back and
we’ll talk about what a complete ass you’ve been,”

“We don’t need to talk about our history
together,” said Sebastian, taking a single step towards me, “I’m
fully aware now of what an ass I’ve been following you blindly to
the ends of the earth.”

Sebastian took another step toward me. He
had stepped so close to me that I could lean forward and lay my
head on his chest. I wanted to. I wasn’t sure if it would be a
smart gamble. He’d either attack me or hold me. The way he barked
about getting his charge, Prussia, back I assumed he’d attack me
sooner than hold me. I wished I could let out a deep sigh of defeat
but settled for resting a hand lightly on his chest and looking
into his eyes with as much pout as I could muster. And I got
nothing. Not a single emotion or twitch from him.

“You’ll come around,” I said, as sweetly as
I could get away with given his steady glare. It would take time
but he would, as they all did eventually.

My heart strings plucked a sad tune as he
picked up my hand off his chest as if carrying the plague and flung
it away from him. His gaze held mine the entire time. I didn’t
flinch, didn’t cower, and didn’t give away the hurt I felt at this
slight but powerful gesture.

“Where is she,” he growled.

“I can’t be sure,” I said, trying to look
disinterested in the conversation now. I turned my nose up and
turned my face away from him.

Apparently he hadn’t wanted to play anymore
because no sooner had I turned my nose up than he snapped his
fingers and two guards moved to either side of me. Grabbing me at
the wrist and elbow, the two lifted me ever so slightly up from the
ground. I could do nothing but glare at Sebastian now at the
indignity of the position.

I tried to hide my face but the guests that
were trickling in could see now that the show had begun ahead of
schedule. And not one of them seemed surprised that I turned up to
be the center attraction. My toes skimmed the plush carpet but I
still kept my back as straight as I could once I realized I had an
audience. A small gathering of court members began behind
Sebastian. Sebastian and the circle of guards kept the onlookers at
bay as his gaze continued on me.

“Tell me where she is or I’ll have you
arrested,” said Sebastian.

I tried to think quickly about my options.
It didn’t look like I had many at this point. I had to give him
something. If I gave away her location then I had to warn Penelope,
my Master, before Sebastian got there. She didn’t need to clean up
the mess so long as she got out of there before Sebastian showed
up.

“You can’t arrest every unsuspecting vampire
in the city for sampling the Queen’s favorite pet,” I said loudly,
playing to the small but growing audience.

Every moment I could stall would be crucial
and playing it up for the drama-loving court members didn’t hurt
either. Sebastian looked annoyed at what I was doing. He looked
around at the audience and didn’t miss a beat as his attention
focused back on me, held up in the air with a guard at each
arm.

“There will be no arrests,” he said.

A quiet murmur rippled from the edges of the
small audience all the way to where public court ceremonies were
held. Sebastian tried to play off as though it didn’t concern him
but I saw his shoulders hitch up a few centimeters. He had a
nervous tell in that way.

“A lot of force and show just to retrieve a
lost toy,” I said, trying to get a rise.

Nothing could turn an audience faster than
if you hammed up a good bit of sass for them. I had learned that
lesson a little late in past experiences.

“This will be a full scale sweep,” said
Sebastian, his hands shifting to his hips in a more assertive
stance.

I could tell his patience had already worn
thin. He had never been good at politics. After all, I had had him
wrapped around my finger for years.

“For a human? Taken by only one unsuspecting
vampire?” I asked loudly.

Another ripple of murmurs sounded, much
louder this time. I could see some turning to one another and
whispering. There were some heads shaking and a barely audible
‘blasphemy’ from around the ceremony platform in the back. And I
knew in that moment that I had what I had been looking for. A fully
attentive audience primed for a royal lynching.

But while I celebrated quietly to myself on
the mood of the court so far I misjudged how sharply Sebastian’s
patience had come to taper. He stepped up to me as I dangled above
the carpet supported only by the guards that lifted me at my elbows
and he let his hands curl around my neck. He began to squeeze. What
began as a light grasp on my throat became a crushing steel force
that threatened to break my neck at the slightest twitch or
sneeze.

“Like I said, don’t underestimate her
importance,” whispered Sebastian just loud enough that I could hear
him.

I tried to keep a proud face as the court
gathered around. But as he kept his grip around my throat I could
feel the room closing around me gradually. The light came and went
as though a flicker rolled through the room but I knew there was
nothing wrong with the lights. I tilted my head higher in an
instinctual reaction as though I were drowning and simply needed to
surface from below the water in order to breathe.

I thought I could call his bluff and hold
out to show strength but my eyes gave me away. The desire to
breathe became too strong and I had never expected him to take it
so far for a human. It had been my mistake to assume he was
bluffing. My eyes found his and I searched his face for any mercy,
any love still there for me. And when I found none the hate in my
heart for Prussia blossomed as a spark roars into a wildfire.

I struggled against the grip the guards had
on my arms and began to kick. I tried to kick out at Sebastian but
didn’t manage a single blow. I heard one guard curse as my nails
dug down deep until I felt blood flow from his arm. Only when my
ears were loud with the sound of blood rushing by my ear drums did
Sebastian finally release me. And he didn’t have a shred of
compassion in his eyes for me as I looked at him, panting for every
breath I drew.

“Where is she?” he growled at me with rage
thick in his voice.

I paused to catch a breath, thankful I had
my breath but wondering how far I could take this. At this point, I
wanted to give Penelope every minute I could. But that pause looked
to be all the mercy I had favored from my dear ex. Sebastian’s hand
reached for my throat again. I pulled back as much as the guards’
on me would allow and I sucked in a terrified breath.

“An abandoned warehouse. Three blocks west
of my apartment,” I whispered as quickly as I could get the words
out.

As I heard the words come out of my mouth I
knew that I had fooled no one. I had not one drop of dignity left
and stood in an ocean of real fear. I had no idea how far Sebastian
would have gone. And I wasn’t prepared to find out.

Sebastian made a motion to the guards and
they set me down on the carpet. Knowing I needed to save face as
much as I could, the curious and judgmental eyes ripping me apart
with every passing second, I pulled at the guards’ hold still on my
arms and sent a renewed glare towards Sebastian who began turning
to leave.

“You’re not going to find her there. This is
crazy,” I shouted louder than I had intended.

Sebastian stopped and the room became quiet.
He turned back around to look at me, taking the few short paces to
close the distance, and he was so close I found his breath hot on
my cheek .

“When I find her, and I will find her, you
will have the Queen to answer to,” he said, his words loud and
echoing through the now silently but listening room, “And if I find
her hurt I hope you would make peace with the idea of an eternal
death because no one will be stepping in for you Lydia, certainly
not me,”