Chapter 6 – ‘Uncle Nick Wants YOU’

Chapter 6 – ‘Uncle Nick Wants YOU’

The streetlights filtered weakly into the tinted limousine, illuminating only parts of Callie’s face. The wane and wax of each light created snapshots of furrowed eyebrows and pressed lips.

“You look great,” I reassured her, again. I thought that maybe her physical appearance was what worried her, but I was wrong. “Don’t worry, I’ll be with you the whole night.” No, anxieties towards a crowd of vampires weren’t it, either. Callie looked at me long enough to sigh, before looking back outside. Her eyes were focussed somewhere off the invisible horizon, a tactic which I’d come to learn was a calming technique. “What’s wrong, really?”

“It’s nothing,” Callie replied, but her eyes were looking at the partition separating us from the vampire chauffeur.

I could guess immediately what was unsettling her, and a part of me laughed in relief.

After Angelia had made her announcement, and finished her duties at the tailor, she left without a backwards glance. When the room was purged of her scent, and Callie had stopped asking me what it all meant, it became almost like it never happened. No one in the household acted any differently, and I didn’t see Kellan at all until just after having gotten ready for the party. By then, there was no way I could say anything to him without numerous high-ranking Officers around him overhearing me.

By the time the road started passing by us in a steady stream of humming, I’d already half-convinced myself that this was all a trick to test my loyalty to Uncle Nick. I was sure that, whatever AL was, it wasn’t a big problem. That tailor Angelia was probably some anti-Council who managed to sneak her way into a Pureblood’s house without other vampires flagging her.

“Don’t worry about it, Cal. Just have fun tonight. You’re Kellan’s guest of honour; you’ll be completely safe.”

“I’m not worried about that. I’m worried that they can all…smell it on me. I can’t keep secrets around humans, what am I going to do with vampires who can practically read my mind?”

“We can’t read your mind, we just know something’s up. You smell worried, and that’s normal.” I leaned over and grabbed her hand, forcing eye contact. Her hand felt tantalisingly warm in mine, and I could feel the blood in the wrist flowing stronger under my cold touch. I had not drunk in nearly a week, in preparation for the party, so my senses were heightened towards all things blood. “Just calm down.”

She looked into my eyes, and I let her synchronise her breathing with mine. I focused harder on her eyes, and strained to see my reflection when the passing lights let me.

Darkness and light melted together, and it became just my breathing and hers, our eyes reflecting each other until there were many and just one set of eyes. I saw my own white pupils in and through Callie’s eyes. “You’re feeling a lot calmer,” I repeated.

“Yeah, I’m a lot calmer now,” Callie whispered, and blinked. She smiled at me, and let out an easier breath. “I don’t know what I was worried about.”

I sat back, telling myself to feel better about what I did. If Callie ever realized that I did the Eye on her, it would mean days and days of apologizing and general grovelling on my behalf. Thankfully, humans never seemed to realize when they’d been put under the Eye, unless it was blatantly obvious that a part of their memory was missing.

I did it so that she wouldn’t keep worrying over a potential nothing. That was the right thing to do. It was a justified thing to do.

The wrong thing to do would be to believe in words from a crazy and radical Third-Gen. Call me an elitist, but I had good reasons – backed up by first-hand experiences – to distrust any unknown vampire ranked lower than Laela.

As strange as it may sound, I was relieved that Callie was headed towards a household full of the most powerful and highest ranking vampires, and now, thanks to me, so was she.

~~~~

“Miss Sera Dante, it is the highest honour to be in your presence,” a female vampire servant from the House of Troy greeted me upon my first step out of the limo. Her ranking smelled high enough to be trusted, so I smiled and extended a hand towards her. As she brushed her neatly lipsticked lips against my hand, I told myself to stop being so aware of ranks. Kellan would not so willingly speak at a party of a House he did not like, and if he liked the House, then he most likely trusted the House, and so I should too.

Then again, your Father likes Uncle Nick. And isn’t he a part of AL, the group that is against Uncle Nick and the Council?

I smiled again as the female vampire’s head raised, and gave her a small nod. Mentally slapping myself to sense, I turned around in time to see Callie join my side. The female vampire extended the same greeting to Callie, smoothly leaving out the name that she evidently didn’t know, and almost succeeded in completely masking her surprise that a human – an out-of-bounds human – was with me.

“Did she seem surprised to see me here?” Callie asked me, as we stepped past the greeter and towards the house. I didn’t respond, deciding not to misinform her until I was sure of the reason myself.

We arrived at the marble front steps of the house, and I saw Caspar Troy standing by the door, flanked by several vampires. He was dressed in a sharp tuxedo, and his equally sharp cheekbones were accentuated by his purposefully dyed grey and pulled back hair. He held the same inner glow that all Purebloods did, and he worked this to his advantage; standing right in front of the doorway, he was backlit by the small amount of lighting inside. In all, Caspar painted his first impression as a regal and angelic host, to be admired, but unable to be touched.

However, this ploy only fooled the lower ranking vampires already nervous in his presence, and of course Callie. For some reason, Caspar was tense about the events of tonight, and was overcompensating for it.

“Lord Troy, thank you for the invitation. It’s an honour to be at your household.” I bowed my head low, and awaited his hand to be placed in front of me. Grasping the offered hand gently, I brushed my lips against its back, while trying to gauge the source of his sudden growth in discomfort.

“There’s no need to be so formal, Sera,” Caspar laughed lightly (nervously, perhaps?) and slipped his hand out of mine. With an imperceptible hesitation, he moved to touch my face in an act of forced familiarity, and then turned his focus on Callie. “Oh, is this Kellan’s guest of honour?”

Callie looked at me, not knowing whether to kiss his hand or offer her own.

“Yes, Father had suggested that she be here tonight as well. I apologize if I’d mistaken his joke for intention.”

“No, no, it’s quite alright. He had mentioned something about a special guest,” Caspar recovered, taking Callie’s hand and saving her the trouble of unknowing. “I wasn’t aware that it would be such a beautiful human.”

Realization sang out; Caspar, in his egocentric wishing, had thought that Kellan was referring to either Uncle Nick or Aunt Raine (both of whom are Purebloods; Aunt Raine – Raina Gabriella – was not blood relations to Uncle Nick or Kellan, but was considered to be the most powerful female vampire, and a kin to the House of Dante), and had hoped that they would traverse down to Australia from their homes in northern Europe.

“Kellan’s already inside, making preparations for his speech. He’s a great public speaker, your Father, though I must say I do have a better sense of humour,” Caspar winked at me, but had lost the majority of his interest in me. “Brandon should be inside. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask him.”

“I won’t, Caspar,” I replied, taking his offer to his word. Instincts screamed at me to pay Caspar more respect, but he didn’t seem disturbed by my casual approach, and so I calmed myself. I took Callie’s arm in mine, and led her into the house.

My eyes did not feel the difference in the sudden change of lighting, but I was sure Callie’s did. The front of the house was well covered by the porch and other lights, but the inside was only lit by the dimmest of rays. Vampire eyes would not be hindered in such low lighting, and would move around as easily as before. Human eyes, however, are not so skilled, and so the lack of ability to see well, added onto the knowledge that everyone around didn’t have this problem, served to subdue the owner of such human eyes.

Callie held on tighter to my arm, and whispered, “Why did your dad want me here anyway?” I shrugged.

“I don’t know, and until I do, I say stay close to me.” We walked through the front foyer, heading towards an adjacent hall where there seemed to be more activity. We were stopped many times by a few Officers and even some Nobles, as each of them felt the need to greet me personally. Each time that I was greeted, I had to explain away the perplexity of having Callie next to me. By the time we had reached the hall, we had been stopped so many times that when Brandon Troy suddenly appeared by my side, I immediately snapped, “She’s here because my Father said so.”

“‘My Father said so’?” Brandon repeated. “Since when was Miss Sera Dante, quick-tongued, hard-eyed and no-nonsense-horror fan also a Daddy’s girl?”

“Forget it,” I sighed. “How’s being a host treating you? Snuck any snacks for yourself yet?”

“Well, obviously I have to sample anything I’m to serve to my guests. Can’t offer Nobles such as yourself B-grade wine, can we?”

“Just leave enough for everyone. Remember, sharing is caring.” I rolled my eyes, and continued to take further steps into the hall. I felt more eyes turn towards me, and in turn Callie gripped my arm harder.

“That seems a bit hypocritical, Miss Sera, considering you’re keeping your own stash close at hand,” a familiar voice behind me drawled. Before I even turned around, I knew that Cara Irving was standing behind me. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Cara, how’ve you been? I haven’t seen you in a while! How’’re things back in Greece?” The traditional hand-kissing was skipped for a warm hug in this instance, and I felt Brandon sigh in what I hoped was jealousy.

“It’s finally settled down. I got back just a day or so ago, and Damien has been trying to catch me up. Has Brandon been giving you any grief?” At the welcome lunch the day that I’d met the rest of the students, Cara was the one who stood out the most, as she was the one who openly made jokes about Brandon. Because of that, we instantly became friends.

Only a few weeks into school, however, there was trouble in Greece, where the House of Irving originally came from. Cara and her father went back to see to the situation – as they are one of only two Pureblood families in all of Greece – while Damien and their mother stayed in Australia to ease any tensions in the press.

The press didn’t release anything particularly informative on what had happened there, but Kellan was well informed. There was a sudden surplus in Fourth- and Fifth-Gen vampire in the section, and their numbers were not properly kept down by the Patrols there. As a result, there were many human deaths and many dirty Drakings – there was even a chance that Sixth-Gens, monsters that would have lived in constant pain and thirst, were created. The Patrols were unable to keep the line of defence at this point, and when vampire deaths started reaching alarmingly high numbers, that was when the Council took measures, and Cara and her father had to step in.

“Look, your father is starting his speech,” Brandon interrupted, his eyes to the centre of a crowd that had suddenly parted. Kellan stood in the newly made clearing, and at the sudden unanimous hush, smiled at the crowd.

“Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, Nobles and Officers, Night-Dwellers and,” Kellan looked straight at Callie, and all other eyes turned too, “most honoured humans.

“It is such a pleasure to be among friends tonight. But this joyous occasion isn’t just for leisure, no; tonight there is a special announcement.” He gestured at me, asking me to come forward. At the same time, Caspar appeared at Brandon’s side, and gave him a small push forward. Together, we walked through the crowd to Kellan’s side. He smiled at me, and put a hand on my shoulder. “Now, as we all know, there had been recent unpleasant business in the Europe section. And I’ve seen that Michael’s daughter Cara was more than capable of handling such business. So, it is with all the pride in my heart that I announce my darling daughter Sera and, with Caspar’s blessings, his son Brandon to be the newest members of the Patrol.”

A hearty round of applause echoed around the hall, with some breaking into approving shouts. Only Nobles and Officers who have shown incredible ability and loyalty towards the Council can be part of the Patrol – to be in the Patrol would be one of the highest honours the Council could bestow upon the household.

Brandon smiled into the crowd, letting the applause soak into his skin. But I looked up at Kellan, glad that Callie couldn’t see my expression clearly.

Would the leader of a group against the Council really put his only daughter onto the Patrol?

Of course he would, if he wanted her to become a spy.