Almost Lovers Page 8

  The Master started laughing.

  "That's like telling a dog not to lick itself," the Master continued to laugh.

  I didn't find the comparison funny.

  "Thanks for that," I said.

  "I don't mean it as an insult but you are a creature of habit and… untamed emotions," said the Master, "It's one of the things I value in you. You’re predictably unpredictable,"

  I leaned against a headstone and scratched at the stone, sharpening my finger nail.

  "Still don't appreciate the comparison," I said.

  "Well, appreciate this," the Master said, patience lost in her voice causing me to straighten up and listen, "Victoria may not have any interest in this human whatsoever outside of using her to get to you,"

  "To get to me?" I asked, "That makes no sense. She's getting ready to lift my banishment,"

  The Master nodded her head, smiling.

  "Simple mind," said the Master, "Can you fuck up if you're living in the shadows outside of the court?"

  I could see the events stitching together now. The Queen had already used Prussia to drive a wedge between me and Sebastian once. It was clear once the Master pointed it out.

  "No," I said, "and I wouldn't voluntarily come out of hiding in the event that Victoria decided she wanted me dead one night,"

  The Master nodded her head, two steps ahead as usual.

  "I suggest you play nice with this human. She sounds like bait," said the Master, "And while Victoria is not legally able to kill you over a human, she would probably ask forgiveness not permission from the court. Tread carefully,"

  "Damn," I said, "I wanted to have some fun with her,"

  "You need to look into more indirect ways of getting to her so that Victoria doesn't have any way to pin it back on you," said the Master, "Now that you're finally back in the court, we don't want to take two steps back. We need to move forward as quick as possible,"

  "I don't think Sebastian is an asset anymore," I said, "I tried to get him to disobey Victoria's order…my hold isn't as strong as I had thought,"

  "There still might be something there, keep working on him," said the Master, "Remember, we need you on the inside generating rumors and breeding discontent. We need to break down the loyalty to the Queen. At this point it just needs a little bit of a push and we'll be primed for the new power to take over,"

  "I understand," I said, "It's not going to be easy, even in the middle of a court full of skeptics. We’re talking treason here,"

  The Master placed a hand on my arm and looked into my eyes. I could see her conviction, feel it tingle on my skin. We were going to succeed. The Master would make sure it happened.

  "Then you need to take situations like this human and use it to discredit the Queen," she said to me, "You are a masterful twister of truths and weaver of lies. Blur the lines. That will be crucial in our cause and richly rewarded when the court is ....restructured,"

  I knelt before the Master in the cold.

  "Long live the Master, fall must the Queen," I said.

  The Master began walking toward her parked car but stopped and turned back to me, still knelt but watching after her.

  "Lydia," she called, "A thought occurred to me. Maybe Sebastian would be a suitable prize when everything is all said and done? Every Princess needs a handsome guard to watch over her..."

  I thought a moment, the grass damp and soaking through my pant leg at the knee. I had known Sebastian for a long time. And as long as I had known Sebastian he had always been 'the Prince' to me, the means to an end which was a place in the Royal Family.

  "I'm not sure I would want him," I called back to her, “If I already have a title, he's pretty but useless,"

  I could hear the distant laughter of the Master as she left. She knew that even if I wanted him, Royal family members are always killed off immediately. There can't be a return to the throne if the entire family is dead.

  Now I had to figure out how to use Prussia against Victoria to draw her out in the court. My first order of business would be establishing my connections in the court again. My confirmation back into the Royal Court couldn't come soon enough. I had a great deal of work to do. And before the Queen died the eternal death she would know it had been me. And she had been her own undoing. The Queen must fall.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN - Lydia

  Light threatened to peak over the horizon with barely any warning signs. Early morning, the only time Sebastian had for me – for us. We had over hunted our favorite park and had moved into the suburbs. It wasn’t bad. No one asks questions in the suburbs. And everyone had a wonderfully false sense of security. This would be the perfect time to lull Sebastian into that same sense of security.

  "What's with the human," I asked, "I thought the Queen had just used her to bait us,"

  "Some of us took it," said Sebastian.

  He glared at me then. I needed to warm him up to me - maybe it was the chilly air. He could be a grumpy morning hunter. I ignored his little jab and waved a hand at him.

  "It's all a game with her," I said, "It always is. She's losing her damn mind anyway. Who gives a human around the clock surveillance, anyway?"

  I tried to keep my eyes on the prize while we chatted; we had been following a couple for about ten minutes on their little jog through suburbia hell. I got to wear my favorite kind of uniform for a hunt so it wasn’t all bad. I loved the way my ass looked in spandex jogging pants and it was the perfect opportunity to give Sebastian the all-around view as well.

  "If you're fishing for a way to get close to Prussia I'm going to give you another jolt on your head for being stupid," said Sebastian.

  "Touchy, touchy," I teased. I stuck my tongue out at him and rolled my eyes, "It's a human. I don't see what all the fuss is about,"

  "I don't either, to be honest," said Sebastian.

  He gave me a straight forward look. He was as easy to read as a comic strip. He didn't have a clue. Not at all.

  "What do you think, then?" I asked "Best guess,"

  "I think if we keep talking about this we're both going to end up on the wrong end of a sharp wooden object," said Sebastian.

  My breathing hadn't picked up at all. Being banished had been made me a proficient hunter and that constant practice gave me an advantage - considering there was no free lunch for those out of favor with the Queen. I had had no choice but to hunt and it had kept me in shape.

  But I could hear Sebastian’s breathing taxing him. He hadn't suffered through banishment with me. He just visited. Being royalty had perks. Never thought sleeping with the Prince, heir to the throne, would land me banished from the Royal Court instead of taking a leaping step up in the ranks. Royal society could be such a bitch. Who would have thought?

  "She can't read minds, Sebastian," I said, kidding him.

  He gave me a serious look.

  "Can she?" I felt a rock in my stomach.

  If she could read minds I would be dead already. Not just from the insults I regularly rattled off in my head but all the ways I had planned and attempted to kill her, at least three times in the last 100 years.

  His kidding grin finally broke across his face and I breathed out in relief, not realizing I had been holding my breath.

  "That's so messed up," I said, giving his arm a light slap.

  "They're on to us," said Sebastian, letting his pace slow.

  We were rounding yet another corner in the labyrinth of cookie-cutter homes and neat lawns. The first ribbons of light streaked over the horizon.

  "Why are you slowing down?" I asked, seeing that the couple had looked back several times now and were running faster, "Let's chow down,"

  I picked up the pace and began sprinting toward the couple. We had an unspoken agreement, Sebastian and I. He took the men and I took the women whenever we were doing a kill together the women were always prone to be runners - my favorite kind of food, fast food.

  By the time I reached the woman only a few seconds had passed. Being a vampire meant ce
rtain advantages. Heightened senses meant we could run faster and it wasn't fair so we always gave them a head start...well, almost always.

  She stood in a fighting stance but her face was all terror.

  "Stay back!" she yelled at me.

  Her skin glistened and I could smell the adrenaline coming out of her pores. It was thick enough that I could taste it in the air. I licked my lips to savor the flavor. Sebastian never savored his hunt.

  He was a greedy feeder but didn't like the raunchy smell of fear that rolled off of them. He'd sooner kill them than put up with the antics if he was in a foul mood, like today.

  "Now what?" I asked the terrified woman.

  She hadn't expected a question but least of all she hadn’t expected to see fangs. She took a step back followed by another. The man next to her brought his fist up into the air in a threatening manner.

  "You have enough to worry about," said Sebastian, jogging up and stopping next to me.

  The man looked concerned, as he should.

  "We don't want any trouble," said the man, his voice was not at all confident.

  I never saw that look in willing feedings. The most exhilarating part was watching each new realization pass over my food's face before I ate it. My food was terrified of me and I was drunk on that knowledge.

  "I want some trouble," I said, "I mean, I’m dressed for a jog and here we are. We're all ready to go and now you just need…a nudge…of motivation to get this party started!"

  I took an exaggerated step toward the woman and laughed as with each step she copied me, only backwards. The woman looked around her. There wasn't a soul in sight.

  "No one is coming to save you..." I whispered, "You're going to have to run for it."

  I smiled at her. The points of my fangs dripping with hunger and the desire to sink into her. I laughed when she took a step and backed right into the street lamp. She moved oblivious to anything and everything around her, simply reacting.

  It was a dance of the ages - the hunt, the primal roles of hunter and prey. The street lamp light clicked off, an automatic feature of the polished suburb with the manicured lawns and identical trimmed trees. If the sprinklers had gone off at that moment it would have been picturesque.

  "You're...you're vampires," she said.

  She looked at her hands, shaking. Her adrenaline had put her in fight or flight mode and she hadn't fled. But her adrenaline wasn't letting her body follow directions either. She had tremors running through every limb. Like a shaking baby without laughs or cries.

  "I'm glad you got her," said Sebastian, taking equal steps toward his breakfast, "She's probably got an awful spray tan after-taste,"

  "I don't mind it," I said, shrugging.

  I lied, of course. Spray tans tasted horrible. It tasted as if I had woken up with a furry tongue and bad breath. You just couldn't get it off and it was gross. I tried looking for a spot to indicate maybe she wore a swimsuit when she tanned.

  "You leave us alone," the girl yelled at me, "Right now! Or you're going to be toast in a few seconds! Now, just run along and we won't ever tell anyone about this..." her voice shaking.

  “You sounded confident up until the end," said Sebastian, "The end part kind of gave you away,"

  Sebastian made a grab for his meal and his breakfast leapt backwards with a bound. His meal was a lot livelier than mine. Maybe I had short changed myself on breakfast.

  "You're going to be sorry," said the woman, "The sun will be up any second and you're going to be dust,"

  This time she managed to sound angry, with just a dash of confidence. Good. I wanted her heart to be beating as fast as it could. I wanted her to be the most terrified she had ever been in her entire short life.

  "We're not going to burst into flames," I said as I took calm steps toward her, "Movies lie...we're just like you. Only ...better,"

  Tears started to stream down her cheeks. The realization that she was going to die, that’s what I wanted to see.

  "But you're," she was whimpering, "You're vampires," her words barely a whisper.

  "Like she said," said Sebastian, "We're just like you,"

  And Sebastian latched onto his breakfast and took him to the ground in a matter of seconds. Blood spurted towards the woman and streaked her hair, droplets splattered across her face. She shrieked in horror. She shifted her focus from Sebastian’s bent form over the man he drank to watching me, watching her, waiting.

  "Someone save us!" she used the whole of her body to scream as she knelt down to the ground, despair in her voice.

  Disappointed, I grabbed her by the hair and twisted her head to one side. She had blood already all over her but that wasn't what disappointed me. It disappointed me that she didn't run. She sat down and waited to die. She didn't even try to save her own life. And that was what separated the weak species from the strong species. We could have walked up, dropped our fangs and just drank without a struggle from these two. At least Sebastian's breakfast flailed. Mine barely whimpered.

  When we had finished draining them Sebastian helped me pose the bodies as if they were jogging. Like a cherry on a cake, Sebastian produced one of Victoria’s bloodroses and tossed it next to the woman. Of course, we had to pose them lying down and hope our artistic intentions were understood. I snapped a picture and pushed it to Twitter using her phone and tagged it #shared along with #bloodrose and #breakfast. When I looked over at Sebastian I found him watching me, just watching.

  "I don't know how much longer I can do this," he said.

  I had known Sebastian a long time. He had been an easy mark, screaming for someone to break rules with, to defy the Queen and live in danger and adventure. In all that time I had never seen him look at me the way looked at that precise moment.

  "You love this game," I said, ignoring the explosion of retweets and comments on the post.

  "I'm not talking about the game," he said, "I'm talking about us,"

  I dropped the phone next to the girl and stepped around the pool of blood slowly spreading across the pristine sidewalk. I reached my arms out to him, to hold him, and he stepped away.

  "You're just upset," I said, "The Queen put us in a situation we are not used to and we never talked about-"

  "What we planned to do if she wanted us to kill each other?" he asked, "Funny how that topic never came up. I didn't think we would need to discuss it. I thought we were on the same page,"

  "I know you're upset but I don't think this is the time or the place," I said.

  I looked around at the houses with their shades still drawn and sprinklers poised to automate yet another aspect of their perfect lives. People wouldn't approach us, standing next to bleeding bodies in the middle of this little neighborhood, but photos could be taken and calls could be made. And the authorities would be on their way soon.

  "You were going to kill me," said Sebastian.

  The words stung hearing them come from his lips. As much as he had been intended as a stepping stone into Royal greatness, I had grown fond of him.

  "I would have tried to just maim you," I said, lying through my teeth, "You would have made it,"

  "The Queen would have killed me and you know it," he said, "I wouldn't have lasted until the morning. She had the guards posted outside, ready, waiting,"