Bloodrose

by Cassidy Raindance

  He had caught me completely off guard. He must be completely crazy! Nobody says these sorts of things. How could he blackmailing me for what I did? As if I didn't feel guilty enough, he wanted me to pay some sort of penance and date him?

  "You are absolutely insane," I said, "Who thinks this way?"

  "I don't know," he said, "Who uses the man who saved her life to cheat on her boyfriend and make him jealous?"

  He said it so casually, so calmly as if he knew I wouldn't argue it. I snapped my mouth shut and crossed my arms. I never thought I would be so angry by the time this whole thing was said and done.

  "I'm just saying I think you owe it to me to at least spend time with me," he said, "You know, time with me and not thinking about Robert and plotting how to use me to make him jealous. I just want a fair chance,"

  He looked at me then as if what he proposed was completely rational. Yes, it was underhanded but so was what I had done. Still, I’m dating Robert or at least had been. I relaxed my arms some when this little bit hit full realization - Robert and I were not actually, technically, at this very moment dating. I had seen the way he had left with Lydia. And I had been lying to myself if I thought that just magically happened over night.

  Had it simply been a convenience? Had my plan backfired because Robert, too, was an opportunist? I looked Sebastian over and tried to think of what my mother, in heaven since the day I was born, would say if I had known her. I had nothing but a sigh and my imagination. If spending time with Sebastian was the way I could make up for how I had wronged him then it wasn’t so much to ask.

  "I'm not sleeping with you," I said, laying out the law as Sebastian's eyebrow went up to show his amusement, "And we're not dating we're just..."

  I tried to think of a way to describe this arrangement without making it sound like we were dating.

  "We're just seeing each other," said Sebastian, a big grin spread across his face.

  That wasn't going to work either, that sounded just as much like dating as saying we were dating.

  "No," I said, shaking my head at his attempt at being sneaky, "We're friends,"

  "Oh come on now," he said, turning up the charm and giving me a wink, "We're more than friends,"

  "Just friends, or nothing at all," I said.

  I crossed my arms and tried to look like a tough negotiator. My biggest negotiations had been paper or plastic for a good while so this was unfamiliar ground.

  "Fine," he said, "Friends...for now,"

  "Fine," I said, echoing him.

  I felt worse than before. I kind of felt owned. I mean, this is what blackmail is, emotional blackmail over matters of the heart, isn’t it? And the realization that Robert and I were not officially together anymore stung.

  It hurt me and made my anger rise up. I sipped my cold coffee as I watched Sebastian sit there like he had won something, statuesque and victorious. He looked completely pleased with himself. I on the other hand felt like I was in deeper than I had bargained for. How in the world would I be able to get Robert back? And get rid of Lydia all while spending time with Sebastian, without explaining my petty motives to Robert as to why I continued spending time with Sebastian to begin with. I hadn't thought this one out. Not in the least.

  By the time we were done with our cold coffee he had some place to be and I had to get home and wash off all the shame. I had to figure out how to get rid of Lydia for one. I wasn’t going to be able to get Robert back if he had a shiny toy to play with. Besides, I wouldn't mind seeing her with her toy taken away from her as well.

  Figuring out how exactly to get rid of Lydia would be the hard part. I looked over at Sebastian as he threw away our cups and offered an arm for me to hold as we walked back to my apartment building. Maybe I would have a harder time convincing Sebastian that there were better fish in the sea for him. Though he was handsome, if I ever wanted to get Robert back I couldn't see Sebastian anymore. But for now we had a deal, even if it centered on blackmailing an emotional mess of regret, shame, and denial.

  Sebastian promised to call and I promised I would, even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to, answer. He placed a gentle kiss on my hand, then he left and I scrubbed it for fifteen minutes in the shower. Because for a moment, I didn't mind.

  Chapter 9

  This day wasn’t going the way I wanted. I had postponed as long as I possibly could. I had sent a team to track down Lydia after she escaped from my car trunk and literally walked right up to me to rub it in my face. I had to send a team to track her and wait until that idiot Robert had been distracted. It only took about four hours for them to find her and returned her to my trunk. If she was smart, Lydia would have run for her life. I had no idea what the Queen would do to her now.

  I pulled the car into the drive and decided I might as well use the front door. Prussia was hung up on Robert, Victoria on Prussia and here I’m getting ready to present Lydia on a silver platter to the Queen. I wanted to let her go. I still had the urge. I could hear her pounding on the inside of the trunk lid. I couldn't trust her to sit in the car with me. I loved her but I wasn't an idiot. I saw the look in her eyes before I knocked her out. She would have torn me to shreds if not kill me to get to Prussia. It made no sense to me why she hated Prussia so much. One second she's playing nice and toying with Prussia's loser boyfriend, Robert, and the next she's gone bat shit crazy trying to end her.

  The door to the front of the house opened. It was shaded and I couldn't really see in. Apparently, I was expected. That or Charlie wanted me to get out of the car so it wasn't in the way. The sun was higher, past noon now. My coffee date with Prussia had taken longer than I expected. I couldn't miss my date with Prussia. I had to choose. So I had left Lydia locked in the trunk and that’s when she had escaped. She wasn't happy at being put back in there. I could hear her seething anger in each swear word she shouted from the trunk. I put my sunglasses on and got out of the car, taking a few quick steps to the trunk. Lydia banged on the lid from inside the trunk again.

  "Let me out of here you fucking bastard," she screamed.

  As far as screams go, I had never heard her angrier. Great, I would get clawed again. Just what I needed. I banged on the lid hard a few times.

  "Shut your mouth or I'll let you rot in there," I told her.

  She was quiet for a moment. I was stalling, trying to think of a way to get Lydia to behave half way decently so that the Queen would spare her, show her some mercy. Maybe she would just send her to ground for a decade or two. That was a harsh punishment and no one would think it too lenient. Even for disobeying the Queen. And they say after the first couple years it's not so bad. It's just the first few years that could drive you absolutely mad.

  "Let me out of here right now and I won't tell the Queen that you got in the way of me killing Prussia!" she yelled at me in a calmer voice but still angry.

  I couldn't help myself. I let out a bellow of a laugh. Here she’s trying to pull a con on me, a lie that could end me. I thought back to her look, those dead-set determined eyes that were prepared to go through me to get to Prussia. I laid a hand on the trunk lid. If I had planned to let her go I would have before I got to the house. Hell, I wouldn’t have sent a team to find her after she got away. But it was as plain as ever that Lydia, if she ever cared for me, wasn't as in love with me as I was with her. My heart ached. I still wanted her to live. I wanted to fix her, to make her better, to just convince her to behave so we could be together. But not at the expense of dying too.

  "If you try to run, I'll kill you," I said, loud enough for her to hear but not too loud. I meant it. I think she believed me.

  "Okay, it's your eternal funeral," she said with a hint of sadness.

  I opened the trunk and she tried to punch me. I caught her wrist and twisted it around her, hugging her close to me so that she couldn't struggle.

  "I mean it," I said close to her ear.

  We were both breathing heavy. It wasn't exertion. It was adrenaline.

  "I know," s
he said, her hair wiping into my face for a moment.

  The breeze brushed her hair away again and I could see that as bold as she had been the other night at the party here, she wasn't happy to be here now. She didn't want to be here at all. A party in full swing has more witnesses. It's no fun to cause a scene when there is no audience. And it's not a warm thought when you're about to die without witnesses.

  "Take me," she said, "or don't,"

  A master of manipulation, I knew what she meant. She taunted me with the power she knew she had over me, that dangerous knowledge that she could flip like a switch - I loved her completely.

  "Yes, Lady Lydia," I said.

  She bit her lip then. I think using her old title hurt her for a moment and also made it real. We were about to enter our world, the world very few knew of and if anything, we were formal and final. There would be no appeal.

  I kept my hand wrapped around her wrist without a bit of leeway and guided her out of the trunk. I pulled her up the steps of the house and dragged her through the entry and many hallways that crisscrossed.

  When we made it to the Queen's chambers, her bedroom suit with office, I was surprised to find that Lydia put up less of a struggle and even seemed unafraid.

  "I warned you," said Lydia to me as I knocked on the Queen's door, "I loved you," she whispered.

  My heart sank in that moment and a moment of pity was all I could feel for her. She clung to her lies all the way to the gates of hell. I couldn't blame her. Self preservation was a strong urge, even for a Vampyr. But why didn’t she run when she had the chance?

  "As did I," I said, "in both respects,"

  I set my jaw and listened for Victoria's beckoning into her chambers. I heard some muffled sounds from the room and went to open the door when the door opened on its own. One of the Royal Guard had opened the door. There was another of the Queen's Royal Guard stationed on the other side of the door. It seemed that they were guarding her from the inside of the room. That was new.

  "Come in," called Victoria, her voice calm and commanding as usual.

  I swallowed hard, not prepared for what I knew would come next. And what I didn't expect at all happened. Lydia yanked her wrist from me. And I let her. We shared a glance in that moment. I desperately wanted her to run, her death more real now than ever before. With other guards there it wouldn't just fall on me. I could deny that I was the one that let her escape though there would still be some shame on my name. But she would be alive. Her eyes were defiant to the end and furious. She rubbed her wrist for a split second and I felt a small part of me whither up as she walked past me, right into the Queen's chambers with her head held high. She walked straight into the den of the monster, our monster, as if she belonged. I wanted to scream at her to run. But I kept silent.

  "Lydia dear," said the Queen, "What news do you bring me?"

  The Queen smiled at her and that made me extremely nervous. Things were not as they seemed. Something was up. Something was not as it should be. The Queen was political but she had no reason to be political or polite with Lydia, never had. She had openly disliked her and I being together. Something was changed.

  Lydia went straight up to the Queen and knelt in respect, head bent. I followed and stood behind Lydia, as composed as I could, to play my part as the jailer. The fact that my captive came so willing had me baffled.

  "I failed my Queen," said Lydia gravely, "Sebastian prevented me from carrying out your order,"

  "I see," said the Queen, “You failed to execute my order?"

  I couldn't believe my ears. I couldn't believe what I had just heard.

  "You ordered what?" I asked, "You-"

  "Silence!" said the Queen.

  Her hand was swift, it came inches within my face, palm flat and facing me as if to forcibly silence me without actually touching me.

  Lydia bent her head lower. I knelt beside her as quickly as I could. The Queen really had lost her mind. If this was true, she had ordered me to protect Prussia and ordered Lydia to kill Prussia, giving me explicit orders to kill anyone that made an attempt on Prussia. The Queen had set us up to kill one another.

  I could feel the haughty 'I told you so' rolling off of Lydia in my direction in waves. I could see the slightest smirk on her face as she bent looking at her toes. I let my eyes drift sideways toward her and glared. She enjoyed this, not even caring that the Queen didn’t care that we could have killed each other. She only cared that she was right and I was wrong.

  "Prussia is alive?" the Queen asked.

  "Yes," Lydia and I said at the same time.

  "Yes," said someone behind Lydia and I.

  I tried to see who it was behind us and caught a glimpse of a Royal uniform. It was one of the stealth operatives for the Royal Guard.

  "Was there any indication to Prussia that her life was in danger or that either of them was there?" asked the Queen.

  "No, your Majesty," said the Royal Guard, "We staked out the building as instructed and waited,"

  He went on to report the series of events as he had apparently seen them. I hadn't noticed him at all, let alone more than one operative. The Queen hadn't trusted me to protect Prussia. Though apparently it was a test. It makes sense; the life of a human to the Vampyr is the same as cattle are to the humans.

  "Anything else of concern?" asked the Queen as the Royal Guard wrapped up the ordeal.

  He paused and I thought for certain he would mention that they were the same team that I had called to recover Lydia after she had escaped. They were my team. It made it cut deeper that she had used my own team against me. I wanted to know which guard it was but I was bound in my spot. Movement would have drawn unwanted attention and asking a guard to lie to the Queen could get me, and others, killed. I held my breath …and waited. What felt like an eternity must have only been a few seconds but it shredded my insides. This was a giant mess and I was smack dab in the middle of it.

  "We did neutralize an additional threat that had tried to breach the perimeter during the altercation between Prince Sebastian and Lady Lydia." said the Royal Guard.

  "And additional threat?" I asked.

  I hadn't caught that either. I had been too busy dealing with Lydia. Though I would have if I hadn't been fending off Lydia. That is what Lydia was good at though, causing complications though it was put in motion by the Queen this time. She had manipulated us both masterfully.

  "A Vampyr from a coven in Brazil," said the Royal Guard, "We have identifying information that was found on him though it wasn't much we were able to I.D. him,"

  "I'll want a full report on my desk by this evening," said the Queen.

  The Royal Guard operative bowed and took his leave, the other guards closing the door behind him. She waved to the two guards at their posts and they both removed themselves to the hallway. We were alone, the three of us. I breathed out. Relief that my greatest mistake had been left out overwhelmed me. He would not let me forget, if I could keep my head – literally.

  "Lydia," said the Queen, "Rise."

  Lydia stood up and I continued to kneel with my face pointed at the floor. I had been confused before but now I was just angry. I was angry at the Queen for what she had done to Lydia and I. It was unforgivable. No matter if she thought we were a poor match or not. She couldn't just pit us against each other on a whim to have us fight to the death and certainly not over a human.

  "Shall I finish my mission, my Queen?" asked Lydia as she stood tall, ready to please.

  "No," said the Queen, "You played your part, Lydia and for that you will have what you were promised. You are no longer banished, you will be given a title, and you will be reinstated as a functioning part of the Royal Court."

  "Thank you, my Queen," said Lydia, bowing her head in gratitude, "You are kind and merciful,"

  "You will stay away from Prussia," said the Queen.

  "My Queen?" said Lydia.

  "My original order still stands. You will not harm Prussia or make any attempts on her life. S
he is off limits. To disobey my order will not be banishment this time," said the Queen, standing closely to Lydia, "It will be the eternal death,"

  Lydia was quiet. I could hear the slow opening and closing of her mouth as if she wanted to say something.

  "Sebastian, rise," said the Queen.

  I stood up, not pleased at all with what had happened literally over night.

  "Your orders still stand," said the Queen, "Should Lydia attack Prussia or attempt to harm her you will give her the eternal death upon my order as Queen,"

  I bowed my head, looking sideways at Lydia so that she could see that I intended to take my orders as seriously as she had hers this past night. She closed her mouth and looked like she might cry.