Almost Lovers (15 page)

"Do you know my friend Felecia?" asked
Victoria.

"No," I said, "Mother had mentioned her
years ago but..." I trailed off, avoiding any memory of my mother.
Her loss was still close to my heart.

Victoria nodded understanding that I didn’t
want to go on about my mother, her daughter. The loss must have
left a wound for her as well.

"Felecia and I have been friends longer than
I've been on this planet," said Victoria.

"I don't understand," I said, "She’s not
from this planet?"

"Not important," said Victoria, "The point
is - she's an old friend. And someone has been killing off her
bloodline."

That sent one of my eyebrows up in
interest.

"Someone's killing off an entire line of
ancient vampires?" I asked, more to hear the words out loud than to
have her repeat herself.

"Yes," said Victoria, "The last time I spoke
to her had been about this girl. She had asked me to relocate her
here soon after the girl was born."

"Why go through so much trouble for a
human?" I asked, puzzled.

"I thought, as you thought of me, that she
had just adopted a sort of pet," said Victoria, "And old friends do
what old friends can for old friends. I obliged and kept her close
but at a distance,"

"Until now," I said, "You think she has to
do with vampires being killed?"

"I'm not sure," said Victoria, "A few months
ago I got a letter from Felecia. It said Prussia had the answers.
It was the last letter I received."

"You think she was kidnapped?" I asked.

"I think she was murdered," said Victoria,
"But why, I’m unsure. And that's why I need Prussia safe. I need
answers,"

"What of the vampire that came to attack
Prussia when I was..." I trailed off again. I didn't really want to
remind the Queen about Lydia and a trained killer coming after
Prussia.

"We tortured him for weeks. He didn’t give
up much," said the Queen, "He had come to kidnap Prussia. He must
have thought that if we knew he had not intended to kill her that
it would mean an end to his torture,"

"And did it?" I asked.

Victoria pursed her lips and folded her
hands on the desk. She didn't have to say anything. Queen Victoria
had never been known for mercy. Torture, on the other hand, in the
time of the Chancellor at least - had been her legacy. Strictly
followed laws and strictly administered punishments.

"Where does this leave me with Prussia?" I
asked, “Where are you going with the entire consultant thing? You
can’t honestly think that she could consult in court and not
realize that she’s surrounded by vampires. And you can’t expect a
room full of closet slave owners to curtsy and bow to a human you
parade as royalty…”

Victoria pursed her lips again and I
regretted the way I had said it. Apparently, she thought her word
as Queen meant she could order anything and have it followed
without question, without mutiny.

“If we’re going to parade her around our
court of, what did you call them? Closet slave owners? Then we are
going to need more than my orders not to harm her. I am still
looking into legalities but I hoped that consultant would at least
keep her safe in the house,” said Victoria.

“I want to know what kind of legal wizardry
you’re going to do to keep the hamburger safe,” I said, laughing a
little.

“Prussia is a sweet girl,” said Victoria,
looking at me harshly, “You should be nicer to her. You’re supposed
to at least care about her wellbeing,”

“I am very nice to her. She’s a very nice hamburger,” I said. I had
a nagging thought in the back of my head – the thought that perhaps
I was starting to grow fonder of her than I had intended.

Victoria gave me a stern look and I smiled.
She didn’t seem to like my teasing.

“Whether you think of her as food or not,”
said Victoria, “No biting and do not, for heaven’s sake, turn her
under any circumstances.”

“Hadn’t given it a single thought,” I said,
surprised that Victoria would think I would want that kind of
responsibility at all, “I mean about the turning, of course,”

“Sebastian, this is serious,” said Victoria,
“Until I know what we’re dealing with, we have to…preserve her the
way she is,”

I nodded. Clearly not getting any laughs out
of my teasing and jokes this evening I quit trying.

“I promise not to eat the nice
cheeseburger,” I said, one last jab.

Victoria gave me a disapproving and annoyed
look. She waved her hand to tell me I could go and I did just that.
I went to close the door behind me but stopped. The Queen waved
another hand, signaling me to leave the door open but not bothering
to look up at me from the texts she read and notated.

“Expecting someone?” I asked.

“Nobody,” murmured the Queen, “and yes,”

I ran into nobody as I was passing through
the end of the hall, nearly to the entry way and out the doors. It
would figure that I would run into the exact nobody the Queen had
mentioned. She walked with her usual saunter, her over pronounced
and over practiced stride that had her hips and even her hair
bounce gently with ever step. She had mesmerized me in my youth.
Even now, her walk still held an element of hypnosis to them. But I
restrained as the memory of her betrayals kept stacking up.

She didn’t seem as surprised to see me. I
tried to look unchanged and uncaring. But I had a weakness still. I
felt it. Faint, but it was still there.

"After centuries, you're leaving me for a
human?" asked Lydia. She threw a pout my way. I knew immediately
what she was doing. She wanted to make amends and put it all behind
us. She always used that pout to get her way. She wanted us
together.

Or she was messing with me, trying to get me
to say I would always choose her over a human. And most of the time
it would have been true. But she didn't know what I knew. It was
enough to protect Prussia over Lydia's vanity and pride. Besides,
what was Lydia to me if I couldn't trust her with my life? She
isn't even back in the court and tosses me under the bus in pursuit
of power and a position.

"You left me first," I said, "I was just up
front about it,"

“I would
never
leave you, definitely
not for a human. How could you ever choose a human?” She asked, her
eyes watery and sad. She took my hand and placed it on her cheek,
“Over me?”

“Can’t actually live on love as some would
have us believe,” I said, drawing my hand away.

“Are you saying she’s just food to you?”
asked Lydia, her face lighting up.

“No,” I said, realizing exactly how I was
going to get back at Lydia but unsure if I could go through with
it, “I think she’s very sweet, charming and…nice,” I left off the
hamburger part.

Her face twisted with the rage I knew always
bubbled at the surface.

“You can’t be serious,” said Lydia, her
hands on her hips now and her eyes narrowed, “Victoria would never
approve,”

I had her upset. I had found the button to
push. I didn’t know if it meant she loved me or if she just didn’t
like sharing but she was angry. And it made me smile. I think
seeing me smile at her anger made her even angrier.

“The Queen…,” I tried to think of the best
way to get maximum impact out of my words, “…picked her out for
me,”

“Didn’t the Queen ever tell you not to play
with your food?” Lydia asked, “Just because she brought you lunch
doesn’t mean you name it and take it to birthday parties!”

I had gotten her mad but not nearly as angry
as I knew she could get. If I wanted to really twist the knife I
knew the one thing that I could say. It had been the thing that had
angered her the most. It had always been the cause of so many of
our fights. And I didn’t know if I could do it.

“She’s so much more than lunch,” I whispered
into Lydia’s angry, flush face.

“You’re making it up,” said Lydia, “You’re
just trying to make me jealous,”

She tried to look hurt for a moment but as
long as I kept my face straight I could see that fake emotion
flickering and finally fail. Lydia had never been good at faking
emotion when angry. Anger always overrode all of her other
emotions. Always.

“I think I might even love her,” I said,
lying to her now just to get a rise.

Her eyes went wide. I could tell that we had
almost reached epic proportions of anger. If I pushed it a little
bit more there would be no turning back. My revenge would be
complete but I would be saying goodbye to her for possibly
forever.

“Take it back,” she said in a hushed voice,
anger so great it made her whisper, “You could never love that
doormat over me,”

“I happen to agree with the Queen,” I said
in a lulled whispered, only loud enough for her ears to hear,
“Prussia would make a much more agreeable wife…than you ever could
have,”

I think if I wanted to I could have picked
her up at the shoulders and moved her like a statue. That’s how
rigid with anger she was. I laughed and that’s what did it. I saw
her hand come hard and fast, her claws out and she gave me one
solid slap across the face. The blood streaked down the scratch
marks she left on my face and made it to my chin by the time the
wounds healed.

“I don’t want to see you,” said Lydia, “ever
again. And I hope you know what you’re doing. I’m a force…,” she
sucked in a staggered breath that almost seemed like crying, “as an
enemy.”

She stormed off down to where the Queen
still worked into the night. I thought I could hear the echoes of
tears hit the plush carpet and the sound of footsteps turn into
running. At least she was in a place that loved to roll around in
the misery and drama of others. The court would welcome her with
open arms. The only thing missing was a door being slammed. Perhaps
Charlie had followed her through the house.

I hadn't said anything to Sebastian in days.
I had avoided him at all costs, imagining different ways to tell
him off. I settled for simply ignoring him. I had already agreed to
the job Victoria had offered so I couldn't bail. And I needed the
money now that I had no job. But that didn't mean that I needed to
talk to or see Sebastian.

Most of the time, when I saw him, I simply
glared at him and kept walking. Today was no different. I saw him
in passing in the halls of the castle, as I came to call Victoria’s
beautiful family home, most days but I kept my lips pressed
together and pretended never to see him.

The first week of this I had been very
hostile. I couldn't have talked to him if I had wanted to. The
second week I had calmed down but I still wasn't ready to confront
him. And while I still felt furious now on the third week of
ignoring him and not talking to him, I did sympathize.

I had trusted him. I had thought that he had
been genuinely interested in me. And it turned out he had been
lying since day one. Just like me. The realization had been heavy
when it hit. He had been doing the exact same thing I had been
doing - maybe.

I didn't really know because I didn't give
him a chance to explain. Heck, I didn't even tell him why I was mad
at him. I just stopped talking and taking his calls altogether. At
least he had been calm and given me a chance to explain. After a
few weeks of reflection, I came to realize that I wasn't as perfect
and blameless as I made myself out to be.

But it didn't stop me from being angry at
him. The hurt still felt real and the wound fresh. And of all
people, to find that he had dated Lydia...it had cut even deeper. I
imagine he must have realized it would have been painful knowledge.
I wanted to think he had kept it from me for that reason and not
some other motivating factor.

I had to hope. I wiggled the house key in
the front door of Victoria’s home and found Charlie, the doorman,
opening it from the other side. He smiled at me and gave a gracious
bow.

"Lady Prussia," he said.

"Oh you don't have to do that," I said,
"There is no one to see. I feel so silly with all this
formality,"

He smiled at me and opened the door wide,
standing tall to let me enter.

"If anyone besides the Q-" he coughed, "Lady
Victoria herself that deserves a lady's entrance; it is you,
Madame,"

I liked that Charlie was so playful. I
enjoyed his chipper attitude in greeting a morning filled with the
doldrums of work.

"Well, I will simply take that as a
compliment and stop bothering you then," I said, trying my best at
what I thought of as a curtsy.

If I had curtsied incorrectly Charlie didn't
laugh. He just kept his amused smile and wished me a well morning.
Mornings starting out with whimsy had a nice feeling to them. I
could get used to this kind of work. I wandered down the hall
toward the office Victoria had set aside for me. It was a bit dingy
and needed some sprucing up but it was close conveniently close to
Victoria's own office.