Novel Squares
56
“Actually, she doesn’t.”
Luca snapped back, his eyes narrowing in surprise. I took the moment to my advantage and stumbled away from him, putting plenty of distance between us. Behind him stood Vincent, a harsh glare on his face. Luca grinned evilly. “Well if it isn’t Vivi.”
“Luca.”
“Did you come so I could try to kill you again? Last time was very entertaining. I hate how it got cut short.”
Vincent clenched his fists. “Don’t you mean you hate how you weren’t strong enough to beat me?”
Luca’s playful expression dropped. “We were interrupted. I could have killed you.”
“Leave,” Vincent demanded forcefully, advancing on him. “Leave before I kill you.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“Maybe not me, but how about Joel, Sebastian, and myself? They’re in the manor right now. All I have to do is call…”
Luca scowled at him. “Wimping out?”
“No. I call this strategizing.”
With a snort, Luca vanished into the tree. I stared at Vincent in amazement. That went over better than I could have ever hoped. Just as I was about to speak, he turned his back on me and started stomping through the trees.
“Vincent!” I called, jogging to catch up with him. “Vincent, wait for me!”
He didn’t respond. I scowled, moving faster so I could catch up to him. When I did, I grasped his shoulder, attempting to pull him to a stop. He jerked away from me, hitting my hand off of him.
“Ow!” I cried, cradling my hand to my chest as it throbbed angrily. I gingery touched the knuckle furthest from my thumb with my finger. A grimace crossed my face as it burned. “What the heck, Vincent?”
His eyes flashed apologetically for a second, but the anger returned to them immediately. “Stop following me.”
“Let me talk to you for a second.”
“Go talk to Sebastian. He’s probably missing you.”
“Stop acting like a four year old!”
“Go away.”
Huffing angrily, I moved around him so that I was standing in his way. He shot me a dirty look before stepping to the left. I stepped to the left too. He moved to the right. I mimicked him. Before I could blink he was behind me. I hung my head for a moment before twisting around and trotting after him. “Vincent! I know you’re upset over what Sebastian said.”
“I’m not.”
“Okay.”
He abruptly came to a halt, making me run into my back. A cold hand grasped my bicep to steady me. I gazed up at him, my breath catching into my throat. His sapphire eyes smoldered. “I’m angry about the fact while you love Sebastian, you played me around. You’re just like the vampires around here. I thought you were different. Humans and vampires are more alike than I thought.”
“I don’t love Sebastian!” I told him, grabbing the front of his coat as he tried to move away. “We were joking!”
“Nice try, Stupid.”
.
.
“We were! Ask him! I don’t love him! I mean I do-”
Vincent snorted. “That’s-”
“Let me finish,” I snapped angrily. “I do love him, but only as a brother, Vincent. He doesn’t love me like that either. If you’d walked in early, you would have heard it was a joke.”
He still didn’t look convinced. “You’re just saying that because you feel bad.”
“You’re such a…”
“Such a what?” he challenged.
Instead of answering him, I kissed him. He tried to draw back, but I pushed myself harder into him so he couldn’t. After a few moments he stopped trying to resist me and kissed me back. The tide turned and now he was the dominant one in the kiss. He moved forward and I staged backward until I felt my back hit the trunk of a tree. The bark scraped the section of bare skin that was revealed when my shirt bunched up, but I ignored it, dragging my hand through Vincent’s hair. He kissed me eagerly and in a way that made me feel as though he was marking his territory.
When he finally pulled away, both of us were breathing heavily. “Emily, I… No.” He suddenly turned away from me, putting a hand to his forehead.
“Vincent?”
“We should go back,” he started in a strained voice. “You’re going to catch a cold.”
“Wait,” I said as he started walking away. “Vincent, you’re the only one I like. You’re the only one I want to kiss. Not Sebastian.”
He ran his hand down his face. “I know. I got jealous.”
My lips curved into a smile. “It takes a lot to admit you’re jealous.”
“Shut up,” he snapped at me. “Just start walking.”
“Sure,” I responded, skipping a few steps so I was next to him. “You’re kind of a moody brat, you know?”
He gave me a sarcastic look. “And you’re stupid.”
I glowered at him and he laughed, surprising me by covering my hand with his and interlacing our fingers.
“Ow!” I hissed, yanking my hand back.
“Sorry,” he apologized, giving me a guilty look. “I didn’t hold back when I hit you. Sorry. It was a dick move. We’ll put some ice on it when we get back.”
I couldn’t be angry with him. “It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt that much.”
He gave me a flat look.
“Well, yeah, it hurts. But you’re making up for it right now.”
“How?”
“Being so honest and sincere…” I blushed at how ridiculous my words sound. “I’m not used to it… You apologizing and stuff.”
He turned away from me. “Well, don’t get used to it. It won’t happen often.”
I smiled, deciding to change the topic. “How did you find me?”
.
.
“Luck,” he grunted. “And you’re pretty damn lucky I did. What the hell were you thinking? Going outside by yourself?”
“I was looking for you!” I returned. “Joel told me you were outside!”
“So you decided to follow me? You’ve never been in these woods before! You could have got lost!”
“I was using landmarks.”
He rolled his eyes. “Those landmarks really helped you with Luca, right?”
I puffed out my chest. “Luca was different. He was unexpected.”
“Don’t go in the woods alone,” he ordered. “Actually, don’t go outside at all. I heard what Luca said.”
“You did?”
Vincent nodded. “I’m not surprised. Father figured that they would be watching you.”
“It’s kind of annoying,” I sighed.
“It’ll be over in a week.”
“Are you going to the ball?”
Vincent threw me a surprised glance. After a second he frowned. “I didn’t know you knew about that.”
“Sebastian told me.”
“Of course he did.”
Now it was my turn to frown. “Well, are you going?”
“I have to. Not that I want to. It’s really annoying.”
“You’ve been to a ball before?”
“Duh,” Vincent responded. “I’m royalty. It’s not only in books royalty throws extravagant parties. It’s real life. No different for vampires than humans.”
I dropped my gaze to the ground. “Do you have a date?”
“No.”
“Do you want to go with me?”
“No.”Property © NôvelDrama.Org.
My head snapped back up. “What? Why not?”
“You’re not going,” he told me, giving me a disapproving look. “That’s the night Ashton’s going to come looking for you.”
“I want to go!”
“No.”
“Vincent!”
“It was Mother’s decision. It’s too dangerous. Who knows where Ashton will be?”
I pouted at him. “But I want to go!”
He gave me a wary look. “No, Stupid. Are you even listening to a word I say?”
“Vincent, be my fairy godmother.”
“… Excuse me?”
“Let me go for a little while! We won’t tell your parents! If I’m with the groups of people at the ball it will be harder for Ashton to find me and grab me. All the other vampires will be around, right?”
He pressed his lips in a straight line. “No.”
“Vincent! Please?”
“My word’s final,” he told me.
“Fine,” I said, coming to a stop. “If you won’t be my fairy godmother I’m sure Sebastian will. He won’t say no to me. He’s too nice to me. He cares enough. He’ll be more than willing to help me out. He-”
“Fine!” Vincent growled, his eyes piercing into mine. “I’ll let you go. But only for a little while. But if Mother or Father sees you, it’ll be your own head, got it?”
“Got it!” I chirped, trying to keep the sly smirk threatening to slip onto my face off. It was nice to know I could persuade Vincent to do something if I said Sebastian would do it.
“Stop standing there like an idiot and move,” he ordered, grabbing my uninjured hand into his.
I grinned, allowing him to pull me back to the house. It was okay to have fun before everything turned sour, wasn’t it? One last night with the Rutherfords before Ashton came…
I froze. The note!
“What?” Vincent asked, turning to look at me from over his shoulder.
“I-it’s nothing,” I responded, forcing myself to start walking again. If it was anything bad, I’d show him… but I wanted to see what it was about first. When I was alone.