A Turn of Events

Damien Strandon had outdone himself with this party. The front of the mansion the Strandon’s lived in was aglow with beautiful twinkling lights, the enormous fountain had been lit up and the trees around the front drive were decorated in lights as well. It was like a scene from a fairy tale.

“Oh my,” I breathed as I stepped out of the black Rolls Royce we had come here in. Jackson had left the driver’s seat to open Juliana’s door, he took his hand and stepped from the back seat of the car as well.

“See Lydia, aren’t you glad you came?” Juliana chirped as she came up next to me. I wanted to say it was still too soon to make that judgment call but so far it was a beautiful sight at least.

We approached the front door to the mansion where a man stood waiting, once we were closer I could see he was a vampire slave. His eyes never met ours, I had seen slaves get beat for meeting a human’s gaze. Once again I found myself feeling guilty. “Please allow me to show you to the ballroom,” the vampire spoke in a monotone voice, giving a slow bow as he spoke.

“Go on then,” Juliana said sharply, she did not share my sentiment for the vampires misfortune. We argued constantly about this, she always claims that if the vampires had won they would treat us no better than how we treat them, that it is just the way of things.

The vampire bowed once more and led us through the front room and into another open room which had two sets of grand staircases leading up each side of the room and a large set of doors between them. The doors were open and music, obviously from a live orchestra, trickled out into the room. The vampire led us to the doors and gestured towards the festivities, people were dancing and laughing, drinking champagne and wine from fine crystal glasses. The ballroom was a very grand room with a chandelier handing from the ceiling and elegant stairs leading up to a second area above the ballroom floor where a few of the more high class citizens were.

Juliana giggled happily and grabbed my hand to lead us into the grand ball room, I glanced back to try to catch a glimpse of the vampire slave once more but my eyes settled on another one, Jackson. His stormy grey eyes widened when he realized he was staring into my bright blue eyes. Before I could say anything he had averted his eyes down once more, “I apologize ma’am, it was my mistake.”

I wanted to tell him he didn’t have to apologize, that I was the one who looked at him, but I didn’t get the chance to.

“Jackson, go with the others, I will call you if there is anything that I need,” and with Juliana’s dismissal Jackson was gone, heading over to a group of other slaves near the back wall. Others who were sent off by their owners.

“Juliana!” The voice was deep and masculine but I did not recognize it. We both turned to see a very handsome man approaching us.

“William! I had no idea you would be here,” however her tone said otherwise. He came to a stop in front of us, glancing over at me.

“And you are?” he asked, his tone slightly interested.

I could feel Juliana squeeze my arm, warning me to be nice probably. “Lydia Parker.” was my short reply.

Recognition crossed his features, he must have heard about me from the other men around here. Some took it on as a challenge, but with Juliana standing next to me, beautiful and sweet, his focus switched back to her.

“Would you join me for a dance?” He asked, putting his charm on the brunette next to me.

She sent me a glance and I nodded with a soft smile, “go talk to someone and stop purposely scaring them off,” she whispered in my ear before going off with William. So she caught on to my little antics.

I went over to the refreshments area, there were so many choices, all probably extremely expensive. I decided on a white wine, taking the glass and sipping from it as I surveyed the room. I could feel eyes on me and I turned around, no one was watching me. Still the feeling of being watched pulled at my senses, was I just paranoid or was my behavior being analyzed. So far I was not acting as a girl of my status in her early twenties shoul; instead of being on the sidelines watching with a sour face I was supposed to be laughing and dancing like Juliana. Suddenly I was actually a little scared.

“Lydia?” The voice seemed unsure, it was the deep voice of a man. It took me a moment but I placed the voice with its owner before turning to meet the green eyes of Damien Strandon. My panicked heart was still pumping wildly, my hand rose to my chest, he had surprised me. A chuckle left his lips, his grin reminding me why every woman here probably had their eyes set on him. He was extremely handsome. He had light brown hair and forest green eyes, I had to look up to meet his eyes as he came closer since he was taller than me. He set a hand on my shoulder, his eyebrows raised in slight concern. I must have looked frightened. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he promptly said.

I didn’t like him setting his hand on my shoulder. Looking away from him and shrugging slightly to try to shift his hand off my shoulder I put a small smile on my lips. “Just surprised me is all,” I replied nonchalantly.

His hand moved from my bare shoulder and down my arm, “I didn’t think you would come, yet here you are, stunning as ever.”

It was no secret Damien had eyes for me; it had been like this for awhile now. Men like Damien wanted a challenge, sure he could get any woman in this room, but he couldn’t get me. It frustrated me, if I gave in he would see it as a victory, if I continued to fight his advances he would continue to think of me as a challenge. There was no winning with the man.

“I could not miss such an important event, especially since I was unable to attend last years,” I said, my tone slightly more polite than it had been with William. Even though Damien was a reckless playboy, he was still powerful, piss him off and you were guaranteed a terrible life. He had done it before, he never admitted to it but it was obvious in the way he held himself that he considered himself invincible. The only reason my refusals did not upset him to that point was because he still considered it a game of cat and mouse and that seemed to be his favorite game.

Damien chuckled, he was not ignorant and he could tell I was leaving something out. He took a step closer to me, reaching up to tuck a strand of my hair back into place. His sudden closeness surprised me; he was never this forward right away. It could possibly be that me being here alone made him think I was interested in him. “Would you like to dance?” His question was followed by him letting go of my arm and holding his out for me to take so he could lead me onto the dance floor.

My first reaction was to say no; to any other man I would have said it without a second thought. But Damien was different, letting him think I was playing hard to get was one thing, blatantly rejecting him would upset him. So instead of telling him how much I did not want to dance with him I slipped my hand onto his arm and let him take me onto the smooth marble of the dance floor. The red chiffon of my dress fluttered around my legs as he twirled me into his arms, a move that would have made any other woman swoon for him right there. His feet began to move and I followed suit. My one hand was held in his out to our side and the other rested on his shoulder while his other hand was on my lower back, his thumb brushing against the skin of my back where the dress left it exposed. I kept my blue eyes focused on his left shoulder, not wanting to make eye contact right now, not when we were so close. It seemed Damien had different plans, his hand on my back pulled me closer to him, I looked up to avoid my chin bumping into his shoulder and his gaze caught mine. A grin spread over his lips, “did I mention how lovely you look?” His voice was charming as he spoke, gracefully leading me as we danced. I was reminded once more why every woman wanted him.

“Yes, you did,” I said with a small smile, attempting to not be rude.

My short reply did nothing to wipe the grin off his face, he wouldn’t be giving up.

“Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems that you’ve been ignoring me?” he prompted in a tone that suggested he was teasing me, raising an eyebrow as he look down at me, our faces much too close for my own comfort.

“My life has gotten busy lately,” I said with a small shrug, that was a complete lie. I did not have a job because it was not my role in society to have one, I had finished my schooling, I had few friends – well, I had Juliana – and I was not known for busying myself with different hobbies like other women. The only thing I really took the time to do was paint or read, and that I did because I loved the feeling of escaping from my day to day life, whether it was through a story or a beautiful landscape of mountains or oceans I would never probably see.

Damien gave me a look that said he didn’t believe me, but the lie only seemed to fuel his interest, without trying I was painting a mystery for him. How was I supposed to make his interest in me disappear? Punch him? He would probably think of it as flirting, or he would have his father send me to jail. “I see you still have no slave, such a peculiar thing for a woman living alone,” his comment seemed innocent enough, he was trying to make conversation.

“It’s been hectic moving in, I just haven’t had the time to pick one,” I said, sighing softly as if the whole ordeal was just too tiring. No one but Juliana knew of my disdain for vampire slaves.

“I would love to come with you to chose one, my family has privilege to the most obedient of them, I can get you whichever one you want” he said, obviously thinking it would impress me.

“That is very kind of you,” I said politely, putting a smile on my lips.

“Of course, only if you agree to let me take you on a date this Friday?” I silently cursed Juliana for making me come, I had no excuse for being busy on Friday, Juliana would be out of town from Thursday to Sunday with her parents so I couldn’t say I had plans with her, if I said no he would take it personally to a degree. I could try answering ominously, but he would just take it as a yes regardless, thinking I was just playing hard to get.

“What time?” I said, raising an eyebrow, I couldn’t bring myself to say yes out right so those were the words that slipped from my lips.

His grin was much too triumphant and I fought the desire to say something that would wipe it clean from his handsome features. “I’ll pick you up at seven,” he said smoothly, his voice confident. As the song came to an end I thought I would be free to leave Damien’s embrace, as I went to take a step back he let me but his hand remained on my back, keeping me trapped against his side. “Why don’t you join me up there, much better company,” he was already leading me up to the loft area where the higher ups in society were chatting and laughing. I gently slipped from his grasp, bringing a small smile to my lips as I looked up at him. If I played my cards right I could get away from him.

“I actually had to go to the powder room for a moment,” I said, trying to sound more apologetic than hopeful.

He just grinned, confident that he had me and obviously seeing no harm in letting me go for the moment. “Of course,” he glanced up for a moment,” Jeremiah,” he called out, his words no louder than how he spoke to me yet the vampire in question was at his side in a moment. “Please escort Lydia to the bathroom,” he said, his voice full of authority.

“Yes sir,” Jeremiah responded, bowing his head slightly before turning to me. “This way ma’am,” he said, leading me through the crowd and out of the ballroom. The silence bothered me more than it should have. Jeremiah moved without a noise until he stopped in front of a door down a side hall and gestured at it, “we are here, would you like me to wait to escort you back?” he asked, his eyes remaining on the ground.

“No, I should be fine, thank you Jeremiah,” I said politely, it seemed as if the vampire had to resist the urge to look up at me in surprise. People were not typically so polite. I stepped forward to open the door but my heel caught on the chiffon of my dress and I realized too late I was going to fall. Yet it was not the cold marble of the floor that I met, but the hard chest of Jeremiah. He had stepped forward and caught me around my upper arms, his hands like steel shackles. I looked up into his eyes and an overwhelming surge of vertigo came over me, making my legs weak so that Jeremiah was now supporting all of my weight. I felt emotions, ones that were not mine, anger, confusion, surprise. I was feeling what Jeremiah was feeling.

“You’re her, I thought it was a myth,” he said, his words so quiet I barely caught them. He stared at me in wonder for a moment before I felt another presence; I quickly stood straight, pulling away from Jeremiah in case it was Damien. If he thought Jeremiah had hurt me he would punish the vampire harshly.

It was not Damien.

I turned to face the bright red eyes of another vampire. This one was no slave. The slaves all had dull burgundy eyes, due to a substituted diet of artificial blood. This one fed from humans, a lot. I stumbled back, running into Jeremiah.

“Wonderful job Jeremiah, you caught us a wonderful specimen,” the vampire said, his voice sending shivers of fear down my spine.

“Alexandru, I do not think this is a good plan, I have a good life here, and she is not a normal human-” he was cut off by the stronger vampire, Alexandru.

“She is human, just like the other pests, and tonight we will finally have the last piece we need to regain our power.”

“But-”

“No, I will not falter in this plan, everything is set,” Alexandru advanced on Jeremiah, bringing him closer to me as well. I tried to run, I tore around but before I could take a second step a bone crushing grip on my arm kept me from getting anywhere. Alexandru pulled me closer to him, gripping my hair in his other hand and baring my neck. My heart was racing, I felt like it would explode. “She is just like any other human, pitiful and weak, and they think they can rule us,” a harsh laugh left his mouth at his words. He brought me closer, smelling my throat. Without a second thought I opened my mouth to scream, trying to pull out of his grip, before any sound could leave my lips his hand had wrapped around my neck so tightly I could barely inhale. “She has no compassion for us, do not let them fool you, they are just creatures who wish to treat us like mere dogs.”

I was going to die, probably the only person in this city against vampire slavery and yet I was going to die at the hands of one. The irony did not escape me even in this moment. I clawed at his hand to let me go, he did so, letting me crumple to the ground in a coughing fit. “That damned Elijah, where is he,” the red-eyed vampire growled.

“Patience is a virtue Alexandru, but I suppose a vampire as young as you would not know of such a discipline.” The voice was cool and confident, like velvet on the skin. Still clutching my sore throat I looked over to the new vampire and my eyes widened. He seemed to give off an air of power and confidence; it was hard to believe that Alexandru seemed to be the one calling the shots.

“Watch it Elijah, I was put in charge of this mission, not you.” The vampire Elijah didn’t seem to be bothered by this. He stopped in front of me.

“Who is this girl?” Elijah asked, kneeling down in front of me.

“I think her name is Lydia Parker, Damien is very fond of her,” Jeremiah said.

“Watch her; Jeremiah come with me,” Alexandru said, pointing at me when he spoke to Elijah. He nodded without looking away from me, his expression becoming contemplative.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” I pleaded softly, I was still sitting on the floor, the red of my dressed pooled around me. The vampire’s eyes searched through mine, his were red, however they were not the bright red of his companion. They did not send chills of fear through my body. In them I saw intelligence and wisdom; just by his eyes I could tell he was a very old vampire. His eyebrows furrowed and his expression went from curious to confused. He leaned forward, his hand stretching out to touch my forehead.

What happened next caused both of us to gasp. He suddenly disappeared, I was looking at flashes of images – fighting, death, blood – the images flew by too fast for me to focus. The stream of images disappeared suddenly, Elijah was no longer kneeling in front of me, he was standing a good ten feet away, holding his hand that had touched my forehead close to him. I was breathing heavy once more, my hand touched my forehead, the place where he had touched me felt like it had been shocked. It was like what had happened with Jeremiah except ten times more than that.

“You’re a seer,” he whispered, staring in astonishment at me. “Those images, tonight will be the cause of that,” he was muttering to himself. Had he been able to make sense of the images?

“What are you talking about?” I demanded, trying to stand, the sense of vertigo came over me again and I slumped back to the floor once more.

He sent a glance towards me and was suddenly in front of me, his speed surprising me. As he reached out to me I cringed, expecting to be hurt. He paused, “I will not let any harm come to you,” he said, his voice full of conviction. Once more he held his hand out for me to take and after a moment I did, with ease he pulled me up.

“Elijah, it is time,” Alexandru seemed to have come out of nowhere.

“Aleaxandru, tonight will not work, you will fail-”

“Elijah, I am quite sick of your pessimism, do you want to stay under the control of humans? We need to make a stand and kill their leader as they have killed ours.”

“She is a seer, Alexandru, and the images I saw in her mind depict a brief future for us tonight.”

Alexandru was staring at me, his eyes wide before they narrowed and he began to advance towards me. “She must be killed then, if the humans knew of her power they could use it against us, use her to see our movements.”

“You are not seeing reason!” Elijah said sternly, power coating his voice.

“Why do you always defend the humans Elijah, do you enjoy hiding from them?”

“No, but I do not see reason in senseless killing.”

“And you don’t think she would kill you if she had the chance?”

“She wouldn’t.” The silence that followed that statement was thick. The two vampires stared at each other intently.

In a flash of movement too quick for me to catch Alexandru attacked Elijah. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the way and caught Alexandru in mid air, throwing him into the wall of the hallway. His eyes flashed to mine, “run,” he said urgently.

He did not have to tell me twice, I took off back down the hall, lifting my dress so I would not trip on the chiffon. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but I couldn’t stay in the empty halls, I had to get back to the ballroom and into a crowd. I ran into the ballroom, people stared but I didn’t care.

“Lydia!” It was Juliana, I stopped when I was in front of her.

“We have to leave, something bad is about to happen,” I rushed out, pulling on her hand.

“What are you talking about Lydia?” She said, confusion in her voice as she pulled her hand out of my grasp.

“Lydia, are you alright?” I looked away from my only friend to Damien, his face composed into a look of concern. Screams sounded from the entrance to the ball room and the crowd parted as Alexandru came stalking in. I felt my body freeze as I realized his eyes were locked on me.

“Hello again dear.”

I tried to run again but his hand wrapped around my throat and pulled me back towards him so that my back was pressed against his chest. Damien advanced towards us and Alexandru’s finger tightened. “Don’t come any closer boy.”

“You can’t kill his father on your own,” I said under my breath.

“Oh, that’s not my plan anymore, I’ve decided it would be nice to have a pet seer,” his breath was cold on my neck as his whispered his words in my ear.

“I don’t even know what that is,” I insisted.

“Don’t play dumb,” he threatened, but suddenly his grip was gone and a wild snarl left his lips as he was thrown into the crowd, hitting the stone wall of the ballroom with so much force that the stone cracked and he fell to the floor and stayed immobile. Elijah stood crouched in front of me, a low growl rumbling in his chest. Why was he protecting me?

Just in time security rushed in, they shot at Alexandru with some sort of dart but the vampire was much too quick and was gone in the blink of an eye.

“Get this monster!” Damien shouted, pointing at Elijah.

Without thinking I stood in front of him, blocking him from the security guards. Elijah’s menacing growl stopped. Everything stopped. No one was speaking, everyone was staring at me.

“Lydia, why are you protecting that monster? He must be put to death,” Damien said, gesturing at Elijah behind me.

“He protected me from that other vampire,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. I had no idea what I was doing but I knew things did not look good for the vampire who had – for some reason – saved my life. I would not let him be sentenced to death. “He is mine,” I said, trying to sound as confident as I could. I stood straight, taking a step back to be standing next to Elijah but just slightly in front of him. Elijah seemed to catch on and stood erect, folding his hands in front of him and bowing his head slightly.

“I apologize madam, for using my powers, I thought only of your safety,” his tone was so different, I had to look over at him to make sure it was still the same vampire.

“When did you get a slave?” Damien said, confusion coloring his tone completely.

Elijah sent me a curious look, obviously surprised that I had not had a slave already, he looked back down when he realized he was staring at me.

“Just recently, on a whim, I did not want anyone to know because I wanted it to be a surprise,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“He will have to be punished for the use of his powers, you must not let a transgression like that go without punishment,” Damien lectured.

I nodded, “of course, I will take care of that later,” I said, taking a step forward. Although I was the picture of confidence, the whole ordeal seemed to sink in just then and I reached out to Elijah to keep from falling but Damien stepped in and held me up.

“You must be in shock, I will take you home,” Damien said, brushing my hair out of my eyes, I gently waved him off. People were beginning to talk once more, slowly the music started back up. “ I am deeply sorry for what happened tonight, this just shows why we cannot let the vampires be free, they want nothing more than to kill us,” Damien continued as people began to dance. Like nothing had ever happened.

“You can’t miss your own party Damien, I’m just a little light headed,” I said, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

“I thought you had come here with Juliana? How do you plan to drive home” Damien questioned.

“Pardon me sir, but I have brought her car,” Elijah said politely.

“I became sick when I went to the bathroom so I called him,” I added.

Damien still looked suspicious but he nodded, “you seem to have been able to find yourself a good slave all on your own,” he mused, staring at Elijah. “I will see you at seven o’clock Friday,” he promised, grinning at me. I quickly smiled back. “Feel better,” he added as I turned to leave the ball room, Elijah in tow.

I did not realize I had been holding my breath until we were outside the front doors of the mansion. I had to pause to compose myself. Looking over at Elijah who was staring at me curiously I began to panic once more. I was alone with a vampire who was no slave at all; his eyes held an untamed glint, one that dared you to challenge him. And yet he had let me call him my slave, and still stood next to me now.

“Why did you protect me?” I asked quietly.

Elijah sighed deeply, looking around us. “I can’t explain here.” Was all he said before resting his hand on my lower back and leading me out to where the cars were parked. He stopped at a sleek Lamborghini, black as the night. Vampires did not own cars, how had he gotten one? He stood with the passenger door open but I did not get in. I was scared.

“Please Lydia, I told you earlier I meant you no harm, I give you my word that I am not lying,” his eyes stayed locked on mine as he spoke, a sound I did not hear brought his attention away from me for a moment, “ we are not safe out here.”

“But why me? Vampires hate humans,” I said, trying to understand.

“You are no ordinary human,” was all he said, “now get in the car before I have to fight off another vampire.”

I had never had a vampire speak to me in such a way, but the look he gave me stopped me from snapping back at him. I got into the car and he shut the door behind me, with speed so fast I could not follow him he was in the driver’s seat starting the car. “If you would direct me to where you live I would appreciate it,” he said, obviously trying to be polite once more.

“Why?” The question seemed dumb even to me, but I did not take it back.

“Because I am taking you home,” he said.

“And then what?” He started the car as I spoke, putting it into gear and heading back down the drive way.

He looked over at me, flashing a grin, “I’m yours, remember madam?”