A Turn of Events

A day had passed since Elijah had had saved me from the vampire Alexandru and told me what I really was – a seer. A very long day. He did not mention teaching me how to be a true seer at all, it was as if our argument had not happened, I had woken up the morning after to find him sitting in my living room, idly flipping through the pages of one of the books from the vast bookshelf there. A polite good morning was all he said until he asked if I would like him to cook lunch, obviously deeming my pitiful attempt at breakfast too much to handle seeing again. After that Juliana had come to visit and question me within an inch of my life. She knew I was not being completely honest but was smart enough to know that the less she knew the better it would be for me and her. With a promise that sounded more like a warning she had told me she would be visiting once she came back from her trip in three days.

Today I hoped he would still be as silent, I had the uneasy feeling that I had not heard the last of this seer business. I shuffled out of bed and brushed through my long blonde locks before going downstairs without changing out of my pajamas. The first thing I noticed was Elijah in the kitchen, making something that smelled delicious. He was wearing a simple white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up with very dark blue slacks that almost looked black. The fabric of both items looked expensive and fit very well. While Julianna had been here yesterday he had gone out and come back with clothes without any of us noticing, which was good because I had nothing that he could have worn. His dark hair looked so effortless yet perfect; it had a slight curl to the ends that I had not noticed yesterday. He turned as I made it to the bottom step, I stood frozen for a moment, realizing that I had been caught staring. His eyes were even more distracting, a dark crimson that pulled you in with hints of mystery and danger. Those dangerous eyes watched me curiously as I stood there staring at him. Embarrassment made me quickly turn away from him and tuck my hair behind my ears, “good morning,” I murmured.

“Good morning, I made you breakfast, I couldn’t bear to let you attempt to cook again,” he said, somehow managing to mix kindness with rudeness.

“I managed without your fancy meals for quite some time thank you,” I snapped, crossing my arms and frowning at him.

“I would hardly say that eggs with pepper and mushrooms is fancy Lydia,” he said, one side of his lips picking up in a grin. He put the eggs onto a plate and set it on the kitchen island along with a glass of water and a fork.

“Thank you,” I said grudgingly as I sat down and began eating. It tasted amazing as always, I could definitely put up with him making fun of my cooking if he kept this up. As I ate he went into the living room, grabbed a book and sat down. The house was much darker than it usually would have been at this hour. Mostly because I had taken dark sheets from my linen closet yesterday and hung them behind the ornate ones that were already up, they kept the house relatively dark. Elijah had been in the guest room while I did this, where I had already hung a dark sheet over the window. He had protested to me going to the trouble of doing this but I just told him to be quiet and go in the guest room. It had surprised me that he listened. When I had finished and called him down he did not even look at the curtains, just stared at me with this considerate look on his face and said thank you in a way that I knew was sincere. It made me feel awkward and I had made an excuse to go up to my room.

My cell phone rang and I hurried to answer it, aware of Elijah’s observant eyes following me. When I found my phone I answered it without checking who it was. “Hello?” I said, thinking it was Julianna.

“Goodmorning Lydia, how are you?” I fought the urge to hang up, it was Damien. My pained expression must have worried Elijah since he set his book down and began to walk towards me with a worried look on his features. I shook my head and waved him off, making him more confused.

“Damien, I’m doing fine, and yourself?” I said, trying to be polite. Elijah’s observant eyes followed my pacing which made it even harder for me to focus on what Damien said. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?” I asked, throwing Elijah a dirty look when he chuckled.

“Jut reminding you that I will be picking you up tonight at seven, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine, I’ll see you tonight then,” I said, forcing some enthusiasm into my voice. As I spoke Elijah leaned against the kitchen cupboards, a grin forming on his lips. For some reason his grin made me worried.

“You will, wear something elegant,” he said before wishing me a good day and saying goodbye. I barely registered what he said.

“Why are you staring at me?” I snapped as I hung up my phone and put it back in my purse.

“You have a date with Damien Strandon tonight?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Well, yes I suppose I do,” I said with a sigh, “why do you ask.” My tone was obviously suspicious and his eyes widened in mock innocence.

“Nothing, just wondering,” he said with a grin, returning to his spot on the couch with his book. I checked the time and noticed that it was ten o’clock. With Julianna gone I would usually just spend the day painting or reading; however, Elijah made it hard to pretend he was not there. Not that he was doing anything more than reading a book on the couch, it was just that his presence seemed to affect me like a quiet buzz of electricity. I had a feeling it had something to do with his power reacting with mine. “Is something wrong Lydia?” His eyes caught mine with a look that said he felt exactly what I felt.

“Nothing at all,” I said curtly before going up the stairs to the second floor, I walked past my room to another. In this room I had my painting supplies and a small couch. It was bright and open, the sunshine surprising me after being down stairs. I had a blank canvas set up by the window, ready to be painted on. I would paint until it was time to go on my…date. I would not let Elijah’s presence keep me on edge.

The process of putting together the paints and brushes I needed calmed me, my mind was focused on what I wanted to paint not on the vampire downstairs. I opened the curtains of the large windows in the room and stared outside for a moment. The city buildings were beautiful but they were not what I wished I could look out on. I went back to my canvas and set my paints out and began with a sure stroke of my brush across the canvas. As I painted my mind wandered every now and then, thoughts about Elijah seemed to be the biggest thing consuming my mind. The way he had asked about Damien worried me, he had been so silent about me learning how to use my power, there had to be something he was planning. You don’t live for centuries without learning patience. It felt like a time bomb was sitting in my living room, a very handsome one. I frowned at that last thought. No, he was handsome, and that was just an honest observation.

I drew my brush across the canvas, spreading an ocean blue color. I would paint the ocean, something I had seen only in pictures but wished to see in real life. Hours later I was still painting. If left to it I could paint all day, but the late afternoon sun cast a golden glow through the room and I knew I would have to start getting ready for tonight soon. I dipped my brush into a deep gray paint once more and brought the brush up to add more definition to a rock I had painted on the beach.

As my brush met the canvas someone spoke behind me, “that’s beautiful work Lydia.” I had not heard Elijah come into the room and his words had startled me, causing me to jerk the brush up too far. A sigh left my lips as I observed the mistake on the almost finished painting “was beautiful work,” I muttered, the annoyance set in and I turned to snap at Elijah for startling me. Before I could I felt his chest brush up against my back as I stood facing the canvas his hand reached for the hand I held my brush in and I pulled it towards me and away from his hand.

“I am sorry for startling you, may I?” he said, moving his hand closer to mine once more. His voice in my ear was very distracting but I nodded and his hand covered my own, bringing it back up to the canvas. “There are never mistakes in art Lydia,” he said softly, with his hand covering mine he lifted our hands to the painting and brushed across the mistake, smoothing it out.”There are only chances to make something new, something more beautiful than before,” he continued, his voice soft as he focused on the painting. His words seemed like they had a double meaning. He moved our hands to take up more paint of a lighter grey, then blue and white. With each addition he created something. With the last stroke of the brush a wave appeared, crashing up against the rock. I stared at it, trying to remember the mistake that had been there, but I couldn’t. His hand remained over mine as we both stood looking at the painting.

“You paint?” I asked, finally finding my voice and breaking the silence that had enveloped us.

“Yes, the arts fascinate me,” he said, with a softness in his voice that I had not heard before. He released my hand and took a step away from me, his eyes drifting to the open window. The afternoon sun made his hair appear darker, the thought of how the sun made him look made me rush over and close the curtains.

“I didn’t expect you to come in here, are you alright?” I asked, making sure they were closed before turning to face him. He had been standing behind me for so long while he painted with me, the sun must have bothered him.

His soft chuckle confused me, “the sun does not have such an effect on Elders, it would take much more exposure than that to bother me, habit draws us to frequent the night.”

“Why?”

“It is easier to hunt at night with the shadows there to hide us,” he said.

My eyes widened slightly, I guess that’s what I got for asking a stupid question. He reached up to put a hand on my shoulder, the moment his hand met my shoulder my breath was ripped from my lungs and I fell against him. Images flashed through my eyes, emotions and words along with them, all too fast for me to understand any of it. A gasp left my lips as everything vanished and I was staring into Elijah’s worried eyes. At first I thought it was some sort of mistake, but why had that touch caused that when touching my hand had done nothing? The look in his eyes gave it away, that had been a test to see how his touch would affect my power.

“You did that on purpose,” I accused, shoving against his chest.

He took a step back but did not argue with me. “Your reaction to my power is getting more intense, which can only mean that your power has awakened within you and is trying to find an outlet. If you do not learn how to control it I assure you it will consume you,” he said, pointing a warning finger at me. I wanted to smack his pointed finger away but I did not want to touch him. So instead I stomped out of the room. “Your date will be here in an hour,” the way he said it made it obvious he was trying to irritate me. I slammed the door behind me. His words sank in and I realized I had no idea what I was going to wear and that I had specks of paint on my face and all over my hands. “Dammit,” I muttered.

I rushed into my bathroom and scrubbed the paint off my hands and face before quickly curling my hair. I applied make up in record speed and dashed into my closet with twenty minutes to seven. Dress elegant he had said, what that meant was rather a mystery. I decided on a deep blue dress that stopped just above my knees. I added a necklace without much thought. I heard the doorbell ring which put me into a frenzy to try to find the other nude pump to the one in my hand. Once I had both I put them on and hurried out of my room, terrified to think of Elijah answering the door. My fear was brought to life as Elijah did just that, bowing as Damien entered my house. It was a relief that Damien completely ignored Elijah except for an appraising glance.

His eyes met mine as I approached him, putting my cell phone into my silver clutch and snapping it closed.

“You look lovely,” he said softly.

“Thank you Damien,” I replied with a smile and took the hand he held out for me. He held my hand and slowly twirled me around.

“Isn’t she breath taking?” He said, and I realized with a rush of nerves that he was talking to Elijah. My eyes snapped to him.

“Absolutely sir, very breathtaking,” Elijah agreed. I could not help the blush that came to my cheeks. When I was once more facing Damien he noticed the pink hue to my cheeks and grinned, probably thinking it was because of him.

“Shall we get going?” he asked, I nodded and let him lead me outside with a hand on the small of my back.

“Your coat ma’am.” I turned to see Elijah with my black coat over his arm, I paused and held my hand out for the coat. Instead of giving it to me he held it for me to slip my arms into it and then adjusted it on my shoulders while taking great care to not touch my shoulders. I turned to say thank you but then stopped, slaves were never thanked, so instead I went back to Damien where he stood by his sleek red car. He opened the door for me and I got in and waited for him to get in the driver’s seat. Elijah was watching me from the door way. Damien got in and closed his door and when I glanced back at Elijah he was back inside. I stared at the spot where he had been, an foreboding feeling washed over me, a feeling that something was going to go wrong tonight.