I found the Queen in the Chancellor’s office. It seemed to be her favorite place to be lately. It looked as though she were clearing it out of important documents.
"Let me get this straight," said Victoria, looking over a stack of legal texts and documents to see me, "You used her lie against her to blackmail her into dating you and then managed to get her to work here even though now she probably hates you?"
I hated that Victoria found this all so amusing. It made me feel as if I were in a reality television drama just for the sake of relaying gossip and not because it had real meaning to our lives. I sat in that dusty chair from across Victoria and tried to think of the best way I could describe the entire drama unfolding around the simple yet somewhat adorable Prussia.
I swiped at the dirt on me and the chair I sat in. I tried to see it from that perspective for a moment, the perspective of Prussia surrounded by blackmail and dating drama. I had an eerie feeling that Victoria would think I wasn’t taking this job seriously if I agreed with her. But the day had been long and I was tired.
"Yes, I think that sums it up," I said.
I nodded to myself and rubbed my index finger and thumb together, feeling the texture and thickness of years of dirt from the chair crumble under my touch. I waited for Victoria to tell me I needed to take things more seriously, something I had heard her repeat numerous times over the decades.
"Well done!" said Victoria, "I have to say that was a masterful handle on the situation! So long as you don't lose Prussia, of course. Groveling may be in order,"
I was surprised that of all things she would choose to praise me over, it would be over petty drama and manipulation of her pet.
"It had crossed my mind," I said, "I'm not looking forward to it,"
Or it could just be the thought of me groveling to someone other than Lydia made her happy. To be honest, it would be a strange and welcome change. After what Lydia did to my car, I wasn’t just avoiding her anymore. I was thinking of the best way to extract revenge myself. Perhaps Prussia would team up with me if she hadn’t figured out how to best pour salt in Lydia’s wounds to get her away from Robert. I could always kill him in the end, if he became that much of a pest. But I would have to start with groveling to regain Prussia’s attention.
"Ah, but you're used to it," said Victoria, waving her hand dismissively.
“I can’t believe you told her about my past with Lydia,” I said, shaking my head, “It complicates things. I’ve lost my ace up the sleeve and now I have to find another way to steal her away from Robert, the man that doesn’t love her or even want her.”
"She still wants this human back, this Robert?" asked Victoria, her eyes lighting up with the drama that unfolded.
"Yes," I said, not wanting to actually dwell on it all and not thrilled that she was so resistant to my charms, "He's a real piece of work. I have no idea what she sees in him,"
"How are you going to handle him?" asked Victoria, "Do you want me to take care of it?"
"No," I said, "I had it contained until you started meddling. But I think he's still got enough rope to hang himself with at the moment,"
"A suicide then?" asked Victoria.
In my mind I judged her for a moment. She cared immensely that we didn’t keep humans as slaves but what was a little murder framed as suicide?
"That's not what I mean at all," I said, "He's completely entangled with Lydia,"
"I couldn't ask for a better situation," said Victoria, "This is so good I might even overlook all the body's you've left trailing behind you as you've gone on your illegal little hunts all through Lydia's banishment and plastered them all over the Twitter,"
I couldn't think of anything to say. She knew. She knew about all of it.
"It's just called Twitter," I mumbled, "Not 'the Twitter'...you knew?" I asked, correcting her without thinking. She waved another dismissive hand at me.
"Did you honestly think I didn't?" she asked, "But this takes the cake, this makes it all worth it, well done!"
I hadn't seen her so pleased in almost three hundred years, almost my entire life.
"Even though, she probably won't even talk to me now?" I asked, "It's hard to make up with a girl when she won't respond,"
"Just use the blackmail," said Victoria.
"I don't think that will work," I said, "I think that ship has sailed. Anything I could have gotten her to do before through that venue would not happen now,"
"It would piss her off," said Victoria.
"Yes..." not really understanding how that was a good thing.
"Get her really mad and she'll talk. It might start with some screaming," said Victoria, shrugging, "But if you can deal with Lydia...I doubt Prussia will throw that level of crazy at you. You'll be fine, smooth things over,"
I couldn’t argue with her logic so I just nodded, mind wandering in thought. I waited patiently for her to bring up another topic. I knew she had called this meeting wanting to talk about Prussia but I had other things on my mind too. I had been trying to wait for the right time and it didn’t seem like it was every going to come. The words always stuck in my throat.
“Anything else?” she asked.
She must have sensed my hesitance to leave now that I didn’t seem to have anything else to say on Prussia. I decided to just clear the air and get it out there. The worst thing that could happen is…she could kill me. I tried to shake that thought out of my head and just spit out what I wanted to ask.
"Victoria, are we going to talk about how we're human or are you just going to let that bombshell hang over us?" I asked.
She made some random scratches on a piece of paper and then looked up at me, smiling. She must have been prepared for me to ask because she didn’t skip a beat.
"What would you like to know?" asked Victoria, "Three questions. Go."
I was caught off guard with that. Only three questions? I had hoped for a lengthy discussion. But at least I’m getting some answers as opposed to none. I tried to think of my top three questions and drew a blank for a second. She wasn’t going to wait forever I realized as her smile started to fade and her eyes wandered back to the dusty documents as I tried to come up with questions. I tried to think of the first questions that came to mind and blurt them out.
"Why didn't you say anything before and when were you going to tell us?" I asked first, "What are we?" I asked with a huff because I knew she would probably give a generic answer and my final question I struggled with asking. I wanted to ask a good one.
"What makes you think Prussia is so special?" I blurted out, realizing I could have phrased it a little better.
Victoria didn't look up from the documents she was going over. She made a few scratches on another document with her pen and then began speaking as she wrote.
"Because all hell would've broken loose,” she said, looking at me with her smile again, “We are humans infected with a virus over generations that has been passed down or infected others as we've fed, and honestly I hadn't ever intended to tell anyone. I've kept this secret for more than eighty thousand years. I'm good at keeping secrets."
She looked at me then, looking very much like someone's grandmother the way she peered over her reading glasses. I had no way to know if she actually needed those reading glasses. I wasn't about to waste a question on her spectacles.
"You only answered two questions," I pointed out.
"You asked four, I answered three. Two questions were very similar is all," she said, going back to her document, "In time, I hope to have answers enough myself to fill you in. I need more time,"
“You can’t tell me anything else?” I asked, “Anything that might be important? To help me protect her?”
I baited her with the one thing that mattered – Prussia’s safety.
Victoria looked up from her work again, papers still in hand, and this time she nibbled at the corner of her lip. She did that when deciding if she could trust someone with information she thought important. It was her most te
lling sign and I had picked it up right away when I first came to court.
She set down the papers and took off her glasses. She looked at me then and I knew I had her complete attention. All of her focus was on me and whatever she had decided she wanted to share with me.
"Do you know my friend Felecia?" asked Victoria.
"No," I said, "Mother had mentioned her years ago but..." I trailed off, not wanting any memory of my mother resurfacing. It was too painful. 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, "on 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. I sat forward.
"Someone's killing off an entire line of ancient Vampyrs?" I asked, more to hear the words out loud to really believe them than to ask her to 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 Vampyrs being killed?"
"I'm not sure," said Victoria, "A few months ago I got a letter from Felecia. It said all the answers were in Prussia. 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 Vampyr 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 followed verdicts and 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 Vampyrs. 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 at the memory of my car and her betrayals that keep stacking up.
She didn’t seem as surprised to see me. I tried to look unchanged, uncaring, uncompromised. 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 and I knew immediately that she wanted to make amends and put it all behind us. She wanted us together, of course.
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 little I knew and it was enough to protect Prussia over Lydia's vanity and pride. Besides, what was she to me if I couldn't trust her with my life anymore? 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 placing 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 of the ramifications, 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 would always be bubbling 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 her, “…picked her out for me,”
“Didn’t the Queen ever tell you not to play with your food?” she asked, “Just because she brought you lunch home 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 with her fear and anger. I could tell that we had almost reached epic proportions. If I turned it a little bit more there would be no turning back. My revenge would be complete but I would be saying goodbye to her possibly forever.
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