Princess of vampires? But I just got married!

(8) Lying... with the best of intentions

“Psst…”

You looked up slightly from your paper. You thought someone had just said something… But you weren’t sure who it was.

“Psst…”

You dropped your pencil onto the desk and lifted your head higher to look around, then felt the small poke into your back. You turned around, feeling a little annoyed, and saw Era holding a pencil and looking embarrassed, so your annoyed look left and you smiled at her, whispering, “Yeah?”

She looked down at her desk immediately, “I- uh… well Eon told me to give you a message…”

“That he hopes the class is more peaceful now that he’s changed classes?” You teased, giving her a small smirk.

She looked at you confused and shook her head, “No… not exactly. He’s having a party tonight, and- well he was wondering if you’d come…”

You frowned, “He’s having a party? You‘re not included in on it?”

She shuffled in her chair nervously, still looking down at her desk, “Well… he told me not to tell anyone about it also being my party… He said less people would come if it was also for me…”

*What a jerk!* you thought angrily, but sad nothing about it, as much as you wanted to explode. Eon obviously wasn’t a great brother if he did all of these things to his sister… “Era, I don’t think Akito would-”

“You have to!” She suddenly grabbed your arm and said a bit too loudly, bringing the teachers attention to you. He gave the both of you a hard look, and motioned for you to turn around in your desk. You did so, but once he had gone back to reading whatever it was he was reading, you turned back around slightly, and saw she really looked distressed. “I mean… I don’t really have any friends coming… they’ll all be Eon’s… I just was hoping you’d come, since you’re really my only friend here…”

It was truly pathetic, the way she looked at you and everything, so much so that you couldn’t say no. You smiled and touched her hand, “Ok, I’ll come. And I think I know just the person to bring with us…”

“A party?! Of course I‘ll go!” Akane screamed over the phone, making your ears ring for a moment. You, having known her for so long, should have known not to hold it so close while saying anything about a party.

“Good,” you said happily into the phone, “But you can’t tell Toshiro…”

“Are you serious? Akane said, concern wavering in her voice though she tried to hide it, “That must mean you’re not telling Akito…”

You bit your lip and shook your head, “There’s no way Akito would let me go out… Which is totally unfair, I might add. I’m not a prisoner… I should be able to do what I want. Besides we won’t be out long, just more like making an appearance so Era doesn’t feel so bad(you had told her everything about Era.)”

Akane was silent on the other side of the phone, a strange occurrence, but she was thinking it over, then finally said, “Well, you know my lips are sealed. When do we leave?”

“Thanks,” you said into the phone, “I’ll be there in an hour or so… I still have one more person to convince.”

“Gotcha!” She answered cheerfully, then the phone clicked.

*Now to convince Andy…* you thought, suddenly getting a very bad feeling in your stomach. Lying to Akito was definitely not on your top list of fun things to do, but you had no choice. You didn’t want to abandon Era to her brother and all of his friends. You could imagine that would be even less fun for her, than it was for you to lie to Akito.

You quickly got dressed in some jeans and a shirt(your choice. Use your imagination…) and made your way to Andy’s room. You knocked softly, and let yourself in before he could answer.

“Thanks for knocking…” Andy said sarcastically to you, as you found him sitting on his bed going through some papers. Then he saw the look on your face and shook his head, “Whatever it is you want me to get involved in forget it…”

“What are you talking about?” You asked nervously, moving from one foot to the other, “I… just was wondering if you’d drive me over to Akane’s house.”

He looked at you hard, knowing there was something going on, but he couldn’t quite tell what it was, “Just to Akane’s? Nothing else? No crazy parties leading us into near death, and Akito eventually killing me anyway?”

Again, you laughed nervously, “Oh, come on, why would I do that to you? Just to Akane’s… I promise.” You gave him your most convincing and cute look, since it had worked before. And apparently it hadn’t lost it’s charm, as he sighed and got up.

“Fine,” he grumbled grabbing a pair of keys from his dresser.

“Alright, now just to let Akito know,” you said cheerfully, and skipped off ahead of him down the hallway to the other side of the house. By the time you got there you were out of breath, and had to lean against the door for a minute while Andy caught up.

Once he was waiting beside the door, you knocked on the door and waited.

“Come in, love,” Akito’s soft voice answered you, and you quickly stepped inside the room. “You look like you’re going somewhere…” he said, before you had said anything.

“Oh…” you looked down at your clothes, trying your hardest not to be nervous. You’d never really lied to Akito like this before… It was just wrong. “Well, I was hoping you would allow me to go and see Akane for a little while. It has been a bit since she’s come over here…”

He looked up from a paper he had been writing on, and gave you the same hard look Andy had given you, only about a hundred times worse, “Toshiro knows you’re coming?”

You nodded, unable to say anything else. Akane was lying to Toshiro too, after all. Just one lie on top of another…

Akito stared at you for awhile, the shrugged, “Alright. I trust Toshiro will look after you. You may go.”

It was ridiculous even having to ask Akito to go somewhere, even if it was lying. But you smiled and nodded, stepping back and outside the door.

“Love?”

Your heart dropped as you heard Akito call you back in, but he just looked up at you lovingly, and motioned for you o come closer to him. You did, and stood and wrapped his arms around you, gently kissing your forehead, “You didn’t think you’d leave without a kiss did you?”

“Oh…” you sighed in relief, and kissed his cheek back, “Of course not.”

He held you tightly, then released you and kissed you gently on the lips, “Be careful… I’ll be waiting for your return.”

“Yes…” you bit your bottom lip and left his side quickly, before you completely revealed the entire plan to him as you were tempted to do. “Andy will be coming with me!” You called back into the room, and pulled Andy behind you, giving him a split second to wave goodbye to Akito.

“Sometimes that girl is nothing but trouble…” Akito sighed, and went to your room to get dressed. He knew something was up…

“Alright,” Andy said once the two of you had gotten on the road, “Tell me what’s going on.”

You’d have to eventually, so now was as good a time as any, “Ok… We’re going to a party.”

Andy instantly slammed on the breaks, nearly sending you flying out the front window.

“I knew something was up…” he sighed, and shook his head, “We’re going back.”

“No!” You grabbed the wheel from him, and blocked him from driving any more, “Listen… You know Era? The shy girl we met at lunch the other day? Well her brother, who’s a real jerk I might add, is having this big party, and no one’s going to be there for her. So… I’m going.”

“You’re insane…” Andy laughed, “Do you know Akito at all? He’s going to murder me for even being involved with this, even though you tricked me. Now how will you feel having my death on your conscience?”

“I think I’m willing to sacrifice it,” you sot back at him, and sat back crossing your arms over your chest. “I’m the Princess of Vampires. I should be able to make my own choices. Please? Just… this one last thing. Then I’ll never ask for anything from you, ever again, we can even drop out of school if you want, just this last thing. You know I wouldn‘t let Akito do anything, this will be all my fault if he finds out.”

Andy looked out of his window, trying to avoid your eyes, but he knew they were there, staring him down, those eyes that no one in the world could deny anything to, no matter how hard they tried. He groaned and turned the car back on, and mumbled once again, “Fine…”

You smiled, “Thanks,” and enjoyed the rest of the peaceful ride to Akane’s.

“Ok…” you said to Andy when he pulled into the drive, “I’ll go get her… you stay and keep the car on. If we have to run, then we go for it…”

“Ok seriously, are you insane?” He asked, putting a hand to your head. “Toshiro is a vampire… brother to the prince, and also soon to be king, and also not to mention your husband, Akito. You want me to run AWAY from them, should anything go wrong?”

You looked up thoughtfully, then laughed, “I guess that does sound rather silly… Just wait here while I get her. Can you do that?”

He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest, and you got out of the car and walked quickly up to the house and rang the doorbell. But when it opened Toshiro was standing there.

“Good evening,” He smiled, giving you, yet another, hard look. *Sheesh what’s with all the looks? Do I look that suspicious or something?* You thought, but smiled to him, “I’m here to get Akane.”

“Yes…” he said softly, and turned to where Akane was standing.

She was way too obvious in her suspiciousness, but Toshiro said nothing until she was out the door, then like his brother called at you, “Is Akito busy tonight? I thought maybe I would ride back with you, and chat with him for awhile.”

You froze in mid-step and nearly fell on your face, before recovering and answering, “Akito is… very busy. So busy he hardly even noticed me coming here,” you laughed lightly.

He stared at you, then stared at Akane who ducked behind you, away from his gaze, then went back inside.

“Come on,” you pulled Akane towards the car then followed her into the back seat.

You and Akane both sighed in relief, “That was rough…”

“You’re telling me…” she said back to you, and settled back into her seat. “I think he knows…”

“Did you tell him?” you more so groaned than actually asked her.

She looked panicked, “No, but… I just have the feeling he knows!”

“If you didn’t say anything then he doesn’t know,” you assured her, although you had the same feeling about Akito. But you pushed it to the edge of your mind, “We have to do this. For Era…”