Lucia paced her room for hours, creating a ring of compressed carpet, she hadn't eaten since she had been unceremoniously dumped back there after the awkward meeting with the Bonnets and had proceeded to inhale a bag of Doritos that could be used as a child’s sleeping bag... She was getting hungry and was beyond thirsty... She was also incredibly bored. Eventually, she couldn't take it any more, she stomped to the door and smacked her fist down on the wood three times,
"Hey!" she yelled, "I need water and food, I'm not dying on the floor of some middle-aged woman's fantasy guest-room!" she hit the door again, "If you don't unlock this door I'm breaking the window and throwing myself out of it, your choice!" she stood still for a moment, breathing deeply, when a voice called through from the other side.
"Uuuh… who is in there?" It asked.
"The bride-to-be, fuckface!"
"Easy, kid." She was pretty certain it was a woman, and that said woman found her amusing. "Just making sure you're not a burglar... Why are you in there?"
"Two idiots locked me in!" Lucia snapped, she pressed her forehead against the wood tiredly.
"Oh." Was all the woman on the other side had to say.
"Who are you?" Lucia softened her voice as her feeling of alarm began to slowly fade.
"I'm Sariyah,” The woman called through, “cousin of the groom-to-be." that had her hackles back up again, no one in this family could be good news.
"Can you get me out of here?" She asked bluntly, not expecting a positive outcome but she had to try.
"Sure, I can kick the door down?"
Lucia blinked, utterly unable to believe her luck. "That would be very much appreciated." She managed to call through.
"Okay, stand back." Lucia scuttled back to the bed and plopped her butt on the edge. With one loud, splintering crash the door was kicked through with one hit, sending pieces of wood scattering across the carpet. A vampire then, she guessed. The hinges and a sliver of wood attached to them remained.
Her saviour strode in with the relaxed air of a cat strutting around its home, she had been right about her being a woman but every other assumption she had made in her head of how she would look was instantly proved wrong, this woman was nothing like her ‘family’. Sariyah was petite in length and width, her features were rounded from her eyes to her lips, and her skin was black, dark-skinned black.
"Oh, you don't look how I thought you would." Sariyah mused.
Lucia almost choked on her own tongue as she sputtered out,"Right back at ya." there was no way this woman was a Bonnet. She gave the woman a head to toe once-over with her eyes.
"I'm his cousin by marriage." Sariyah explained. “I married his cousin Reginald, I’m assuming you haven’t met him yet - he tends to hide himself away with his canvases and books.”
"No offence,” Lucia began, knowing full-well what she was about to say would probably offend. “but I can't believe they let you marry into the family but apparently I'm too dark!" Sariyah snorted loudly.
"Did his mother say that?” She laughed, “She's obsessed with carrying on the bloodline - keeping it pure!" she shook her head, "His father is head of the clan so his son must carry on the tradition of having a child and furthering the family line, my husband wasn't pressured to do that and so we chose not to."
"Do you not want children?"
"We might adopt one day, if we decide that's what we want to do." She smiled wistfully and nodded at the door, “You coming or what?” she climbed through the hole she had created.
“Fair enough.” Lucia shrugged, following her out without hesitation. “Wish Elijah had that option.”
“Yeah, me too.” Lucia looked at her curiously. “He’s a good guy,” Sariyah clarified, “I wish he could live
his life the way he wants.” she explained.
“He can’t be that great if he would agree to an arranged marriage, especially to someone who doesn’t want to marry him.”
“Well, they usually bring in a more willing candidate.” Sariyah looked her up and down with an amused expression “You know, the kind that see it as an honour to marry into such an ancient and powerful family, like being picked to be queen.”
“I would feel a lot more honoured if they had treated me more like a queen.” Lucia joked, although there was still bite in her words.
Sariyah laughed quietly, “Yes, I did hear you put up a bit of fight when they attempted to transport you here.” she strutted down the hallway and Lucia trotted along beside her.
“A bit?” Lucia huffed, “ I was giving everything I had!”
“I’m sure it would have had a far greater affect had it been you versus three humans,” She gave a gentle nudge to her side. “as it is I’m sure those three have never had such a struggle from a human before so congrats for, at the very least, making those simpletons’ lives harder.”
Lucia’s ears perked up, “You’re not a fan of them either?”
“Nope, but then I don’t like an awful lot of the clan that aren’t either blood relatives or married into the family, I never feel like I can fully trust them…”
“Trust them?” Lucia frowned, “You’re worried they might hurt you?”
“Not me,” She shook her head with a sad smile, “one of the main family, or all of them, there are many who would like to take Arthur’s place as head of the clan.” They turned into a room filled with plush red and gold furniture.
“Interesting.” Said Lucia. “So does that mean when I marry him, I’ll be in danger?”
“You’re already in danger, there are plenty of women who would love to be in your position!”
“Well, they can bloody well have him!”
Sariyah laughed heartily and dropped into one of the arm chairs organised around a low coffee table, “You really haven’t warmed up to him even a little?” she asked incredulously.
Lucia followed suit and huffed, “I’ve barely see him, how can I warm up to him?” the chair was soft and bouncy and she allowed herself to relax into it, letting her muscles release all their tension with a deep breath.
“I get that, I have told him you two should spend more time together if he wants to bridge the gap between you but he seems to have gotten the impression, don’t ask me how, that perhaps you have already decided you don’t like him.” Sariyah said sweetly, giving an amused raise of her eyebrows.
“That impression would be correct.”
“Well, if you would be willing to take some advice, I’d tell you to give him a second chance - I think he’s pretty great.”
“Mmm.” Was all Lucia was willing to give her. Sariyah shook her head but let the subject drop.
They continued to discuss the basic ins and outs of their lives until her stomach began to growl in protest and Sariyah smacked her palms down on the arms of her seat and stood.
“Food time?” She asked. Lucia laughed awkwardly.
“Yeah, sometimes being human sucks.”
“I can’t think of anything about being human that doesn’t suck.” Sariyah snorted. “You have so many neeeeeeds.” She groaned, although her grin was still in place.
“I guess.” Lucia hopped up too.
“Let me show you the kitchen, it probably won’t have anything edible in it but at least you’ll know where to find a big-arse knife in the future.”
“It’s only been an hour and you already get me.” Lucia wiped away a fake tear and the pair marched away in search of food… or knives… preferably both.
~
The kitchen, predictably, had not a scrap of food present. Sariyah pulled out her phone and ordered enough pizza for a football team while Lucia drank a pint of water in one gulp and the proceeded to rifle through the cupboards, generally being nosey and making a mess. They hung out while they waited for the food to arrive and Lucia couldn’t help but find it a little spooky how quiet things were in the house when she knew there had to be a large number of people living there.
“So how many people actually live here?”
“On the land or in the house?”
“Tell me both.”
“In the house you’ve got,” she began to count on her fingers, mouthing numbers. “twelve or thirteen depending on whether or not Carlos is out on an assignment. The main Bonnet family is only five people, plus my husband and I and then another six members of the clan who are either guards or aides to Mr Bonnet. On the land there are around two hundred vampires living in various houses and bungalows, essentially everyone in the clan who isn’t in the inner circle lives somewhere on the hundred-and-something acres of land.”
“Hmm, interesting.” Lucia filed the information away for later. She would need to know everything if she was to make her grand escape a reality…
The doorbell rang and Sariyah vanished, reappearing with a stack of boxes in her hands, almost high enough to block her vision. She dumped them on the counters, opening all the boxes and spreading them out.
“Et voila!” She announced with a flourish.
Lucia tucked in, eating slices from different boxes, mixing and matching flavours and toppings until she was comfortably full, then she kept nibbling until she was uncomfortable. Eventually she had to give in, it wasn’t physically possible to eat all the pizza in one sitting… she would have to come back for round two. She dusted off her hands with far more flair than was necessary.
“Finished?” Sariyah asked.
“Yep, we should probably put the leftovers all in one box and put it in the fridge.”
“Will do.” And she did, with lightning speed.
“Cool, so what now?”
“Right, time for a tour of the house - Sariyah style! Which means skipping all the boring shit and annoying as many family members as possible!”
“Sounds perfect.” Lucia grinned.
~
They decided to skip Mr and Mrs Bonnet, since he was probably busy and she would have nothing nice to say anyway, and visited some of the more interesting rooms filled with art, exotic flowers and odd furniture instead. Once they had seen enough still life paintings of fruit, they headed to the library.
It was like something out of a period drama, floor to ceiling bookshelves, long wooden tables with lamps lit in the centre and benches either side, plush carpets and a couple of armchairs dotted around. Sat at one of the tables was a woman, her face hidden beneath her straight, dark brown hair as she scoured over one of many books she had piled around her, scribbling notes into a pad beside her without looking at it.
“That’s Alyssa.” Sariyah whispered into Lucia’s ear. “She’s Elijah’s adopted sister.”
“Can I help you with something?” Alyssa growled, lifting her head to glare at the pair. With her face visible Lucia could see she had the typical Bonnet green eyes and milky skin.
“Can I help you with something?” She snorted, what was this woman’s problem? “Maybe a chill pill?”
“Maybe you should fuck off.” The woman snapped her book closed, pushed her chair back, scraping it loudly against the floor, and stomped away. Her body was thin and lanky but she still had the graceful movements that Lucia had come to associate with vampires, her body was strong even f it didn’t look it. The book under her arm had the title 'The Bourn Hall Guide to Clinical and Laboratory Practice', but that didn't help her discern anything specific about her interests. Lucia couldn’t be sure but she thought she heard the woman mutter ‘breeder’ under her breath.
“Okay, so that’s all you need to know about Alyssa.” Sariyah muttered and took her by the shoulders to steer her back out of the library.
“I feel like there’s a hell of a lot more I need to know about her,” Lucia giggled. “starting with who got her panties in a twist.” They continued down the corridor, walking in time with each other.
“I don’t know,” Sariyah’s smile was both apologetic and amused. “she’s kind of anti-social, she only spends time with her direct family: Mr and Mrs Bonnet, Eden and Elijah, the rest of us aren’t deemed worthy of her time.” She rolled her eyes and hip-bumped Lucia.
“She always hiding out in the library?”
“Yeah, she’s researching something - well, she has been for years, I don’t know how she hasn’t given up looking for whatever answer it is she wants, she has spent more money on books and medical journals in the last few years than I have on clothes and shoes in my entire life.”
“Researching what?” Lucia instantly felt suspicious, that was some cult nonsense right there. She wasn’t going to be the minority that never gets out of the movie alive.
“Not sure,” Sariyah shrugged. “definitely don’t care.”
“Cool.” It was not cool. Now she had images in her head of creepy doctors and medical experimentation. Alyssa was already hostile, she didn’t need any tools or drugs.
“Let’s go meet Elijah’s biological sister,” Sariyah suggested, pulling her out of her thoughts. “she is a better representation of the Bonnet females than you’ve seen so far.”
“Aren’t you a Bonnet female?”
“By marriage.” Sariyah rebutted with a wink. “You’ll be one too soon!” She added cheerfully.
“Bugger off.” Lucia grunted. “Now tell me about his sister.”
“Eden, she’s his younger sister, looks just like a younger version of their mother-”
“Ouch.” Lucia pulled a face.
“But prettier, you know how when someone has a bad attitude it makes them ugly? It’s the opposite with Eden, she’s a cutie inside and out.”
Comments (0)
See all