Seem to Stop My Breath

So I guess that's a step in the right direction
Cassie’s Point Of View

Gerard invited my parents over for dinner last week. I really wish he would have given me more than 24 hours notice. Although that would of given me more time to fret about the little things. Crash is an excellent cook, but you wouldn’t expect it. She and Frank are always having private dinners, alone, in their room. Crash agreed to make us dinner that night, and everything went well. At one point my mom asked about the sleeping situation. I could actually see my dad tense up. I led my parents up the stairs and showed them my room and bathroom. My mother and father approved a rarity. Now, a week later, I was incredibly depressed. I didn’t know why, in fact, there was nothing to be depressed about. However, I was never alone. No matter where I went, there was always someone with me.

Finally, I escaped into the left wing of the house. I’d never been in there before. I
walked down the hallway until there was very little light. I didn’t want to turn one on, nor did I know where one was. The hallway didn’t go on for much longer though. In front of me, were two gigantic, wooden doors. I grabbed the ornate golden handle of one of the doors. The metal was incredibly cold to the touch, it made me shiver. I barely had to pull the door open, it was incredibly light. From what I could make out in the darkness I was in a ballroom, a massive one at that. I couldn’t see the far end. However, it was quite dark, and my vision was better than it used to be, it was strange actually. A marble dance floor stretched out in front of me. The room could easily hold several hundred people. I sauntered to the middle of the dance floor, in order to get a full view of the room. At the far end I could now make out another staircase, if possible, more ornate than the one in the main part of the house. I looked up at the giant chandelier suspended above me right as the lights turned on. I blinked for a couple of seconds, temporarily blinded , then looked for the source of the light. Ana stood by the door that I had just came in by. She had a weird smirk on her face as she walked towards me. I couldn’t move, I was frozen. I had the weirdest feeling I wasn’t supposed to be in here.

“So you got bored and discovered the ballroom?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and I got weird-ed out with people following me all the time.”

“Sorry about that, Gerard’s orders” she put on her best imitation of Gerard “Cassie is not to
go anywhere alone, I want someone with her at all times. No exceptions”

“Oh, huh, kinda overprotective.”

“He doesn’t want you to get too depressed, or hurt. But notice how we leave you be if he’s
not home?”

“No, I didn’t”

“We do, and he just called to tell us that he’d be home soon. Therefore, I was sent to look
for you.”

“Caught”

“Not really. You didn’t do anything wrong”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you’re not banned from exploring.”

“Oh, so, when do you guys use this room?”

I looked around, now that the lights were on, I could see all of the room in detail.
There appeared to be a second floor, perhaps a balcony.

“We use it when we have balls. Formal gathering balls. We’re having one soon, I just can’t remember when. Actually, this is the first one you can come too. Since you’ll be a vampire
then.”

“Really? What goes on?”

“Uh, well, it’s really just for fun. We invite the other covens. It’s supposed to be relaxing, but
it’s kinda like prom every couple of months, or at least that’s what it was like when I was in
high school. Now, I’ve got a date no matter what. Not that I ever needed a date to go, it was mainly to piss my brother off.”

“Ah, what’s up there?”

I pointed to the balcony-esque structure.

“The balcony? Its well, a balcony. Normally the head of the coven is up there until all of the guests arrive, then he is announced, and he walks down the steps.”

“Are coven heads always guys?”

“No, it’s the firstborn’s coven, so, Gerard is the head now, because he parents are always
traveling. When Andy and Chrissy get married next month, Chrissy would be the head if her parent’s are indisposed.”

“Oh, okay. I think I’m starting to get the hang of this House thing.”

“I doubt it, there’s a lot more member of this coven, house, thingie. You don’t have to live
here to be a member. That’s how we have so many connections. Policemen, firemen, doctors, lawyers any profession under the sun can easily hide a vampire. Didn’t you wonder how we stay under everyone’s radar?”

“Never really though of it. I am new to all of this. Not to mention, my father is just starting to
accept Gerard.”

“Yeah, we all heard about the arguments.”

“Now, I think it’s kinda funny though.”

“Don’t we all?”

“Hey, what do you guys do here when I’m not here? Or moreover, when you’re not
babysitting me?”

“A lot of stuff.. Mostly paintball, the guy’s favorite. We’ve had paintball wars, which are quite
fun. We do end up reading and writing a lot, watching every movie under the sun, oh and
sex.”

“I like how you listed sex as an activity that you do when I’m not here”

“It is, think about it, we’re all under 30, don’t have real jobs, an entire mansion to ourselves,
and a lot of time to kill.”

The rest of the day Ana took me around the house, just showing me around. Ana showed
me another staircase to use, one on the other side of the house, that came out somewhere
near the kitchen. We all ate dinner together that night. In the dining room. The only reason
we all ate together is because Mikey had ordered some pizzas. Later that night, Gerard kissed me goodnight and I headed off to my room. Somehow, everything came crashing down. I finally had time to think about what happened the past couple of weeks. My life was threatened, more than I’ll probably ever know. I was made into a vampire, which is not as easy as it sounds. My father almost killed my boyfriend out of anger. No one letting me be alone to think. Now I didn’t want to be alone. It was close to five in the morning. I seemed to have already adapted the vampire stereotype of sleeping during the day and staying up all night. At five in the morning I was in tears. Over virtually nothing. It was the closest I’ve ever come to suicide. There was no reason to be depressed, I just was, I had everything I could ever want, but I wanted more, I wanted a family. I wanted to create a family. I felt out of place here. Everyone was married, they had someone to spend all their waking hours with. Gerard and I, well, we couldn’t spend all that time together, it wasn’t possible. We knew we needed to spend that time together. I could see him completely relax when I was in his arms. Nothing could harm us, when we were together. Still in tears, I left my room and snuck up to the third floor. Gerard hadn’t always been on the third floor, but for some reason he moved up there a couple of months ago. I almost got lost. The third floor was a maze of hallways. Finally, I arrived outside his door and gently twisted the door handle, unlocked, like he was expecting me. The door opened soundlessly, I stepped in and saw Gerard turn his head towards the door. Quickly I shut the door and crossed the room to the bed. As I got closer to the bed Gerard lifted the blankets and I crawled in next to him. My face was still wet with tears. He noticed.

“Cassie, what’s wrong? What happened”

“nothing”

“What?”

“Never mind”

He seemed to understand though. He sighed heavily, but not in a bad way. As I snuggled
into his chest, he wrapped his arms around my back. I could feel the heat radiating from
him through his shirt.