The vampire and the mistress

Chapter 17

- A few days later -

Xander and I had managed to sort out our differences and had made up with each other, I knew he still had secrets hidden from me, but I also knew I'd just have to wait it out for him to tell me what he had to tell me. I was sitting on the bottom of my bed with my hair down in loose curls, wearing a soft pink colour dress. It was simple—a strapless dress with a flared-out skirt—but I loved it. I'd worn my light pink high heels; it had been Dorian's idea for me to wear the outfit. I sat with my head down as I texted Dorian, asking how his latest adventures were going, and I also thanked him for the advice on what to wear for the wedding.

A knock on the door made me lift my head and then shove my phone into my bag. "Hello." I called as I got up, expecting to see Xander walk in; however, I was surprised when it was Marie who had entered.

"Where's Prince Charming?" I asked with a grin.

"On the phone sucking up to Dorian."

"Ah, that's why he's not texting me back." Marie laughed softly, shaking her head.

"How are you feeling after everything Cordelia told you?"

"I'm trying not to think about it." I admitted. I'd tried to keep myself busy with anything and everything I could because I didn't want to dwell on what Cordelia had told me. I had a feeling that there was more to the story than she'd told me, and I got the feeling that that had been what Xander had known. "I can't change the past or what I've done, can I? So all I can do is try and make up for it now." I decided to finish telling Marie.

"That's the only way you can handle it." Marie came and nudged me lightly. "I spoke to Dorian, and he says he's proud of how you're handling it, and I have to agree; you're handling it better than I thought you would have."

I let out a sigh, walked over to the window and looked out into the darkness that was starting to creep in.

"What's wrong?" I heard Marie ask.

"Just nervous." I admitted and turned and looked at Marie. "I know Xander said that there'll be lots of hunters and werewolves there, but what if..." I began when Marie came across and held my hand lightly.

"Jake is a nice guy. I don't know if he knows the ins and outs, but he's not the type to jump the gun on things like this. Jake is one of the better hunters. I promise you, he and Eric... If they know, they won't hold a grudge against you in the slightest."

"I hope they don't." I told her quietly. "I should go and meet Xander." I went and walked out of my room and stood out on the landing for a moment to get my thoughts together when I heard a whistle coming from the other side of the landing. I looked up to see one of the vampires looking me up and down, which made my skin crawl a little.

"Why not let me keep you company tonight, looking like that in that dress?"

"If you want to lose your head, I suggest you keep talking; if you don't want to lose your head, then shut the f**k up, Danny." The vampire pretty quickly retreated back into the nearby room as Marie came and stood next to me.

"Thanks," I whispered.

"Anytime." She grinned. "One part of my job I love is putting them in their place." Marie grinned. "He's in his office downstairs."

"Thank you." I went to the stairs and down them as Marie went in the opposite direction to me. As I got down the stairs, I was about to head to Xander's office when he came out. He was smiling, which left me a little hopeful that he and Dorian had sorted whatever it was between them out. Xander stopped when he saw me and looked me up and down, which made me blush a little, so I did a little turn for him.

"Looking beautiful as always." He grinned as he came to me and offered me his arm. "Shall we take a walk to the party tonight?"

"Sounds good." I smiled. "It gives us time to talk."

"Sounds good to me too." Xander laughed as he led me out the main door and then began to lead me to a foot path that I hadn't really noticed in all the time I'd been at the house because trees obscured it just a little.

"Marie said you were talking to Dorian. Did you two get everything sorted?" I asked as I kept clinging to him as my heels clicked against the pavement.

"Yes, I also asked him if it meant he was coming home soon; however, it seems he's enjoying himself at the moment, so he won't be back for a while longer yet." I let out a small sigh.

"So where are we going?" I was slightly confused.

"To the pack that lives near our grounds, the bride and groom are very good friends with the Alpha and Luna of the pack..."

"Don't tell me." I told him quietly, "Umm, I remember Marie telling me. The Alpha of the pack is, um, the umm... The male leader, so that would be like you in the house, and he can talk to the rest of his pack with werewolf control thingy, and the Luna is the female leader of the pack who can do the same."

"Well done. I'll have to tell Marie that you've been listening really well in her lessons." Xander grinned as he stopped and tipped my head up a little to kiss me. "If we were werewolves, you'd be Luna, as it has to do with who is our destined mate." As he looked at me, I could feel every knot in my body just melt away, along with all the worries I'd been having. "Shall we carry on walking." He grinned as he let go of my chin. Blushed deeply and carried on walking next to him.

"Do you know who the Alpha and Luna of the pack are?" Xander asked.

"Umm, I remember Marie telling me that it's recently been passed down due to the fact that the new Alpha married the Luna."

"Mmhmm." Xander grinned. "Do you remember their names?"

"Umm, I think I remember Marie saying that there's Alpha Eric?" I answered, hoping I'd got it right.

"Correct, do you know who his mate is?" As we walked, I bit my lip, trying to remember what Marie had said, but I couldn't.

"I can't." I answered.

"You did well to remember that much, Rosa, with how much Marie has been teaching you. The Luna's name is Jenny."

"Do they know you're going tonight?" I asked.

"Yes. Jake made sure they knew, as he didn't want to cause any trouble. However, the Alpha's of the pack and I have all agreed that my vampires will not go on to the pack land, and in return, we expect the same. It has worked for however many years we have both been here, and there have been minimal fights between us. We have helped the pack out a few times, and they have helped us too."

"You're certainly a one-of-a kind vampire." I told Xander with a laugh.

"It is time that we dropped our pointless fights because, in honesty, we all have bigger problems to face." Xander sighed. "With the demons from the uprising still out there and hunters doing their best to stop any more from happening so the chaos and madness don't come, they do not need to police petty arguments amongst creatures that should know better."

"So hunters are more like police?" I was a little confused.

"You could say that. They make sure we all stick to the rules that were set out for us by our race; they also hunt down the rogues and those who break the rules too."

"Oh," I told him lightly. "Marie never told me about them."

"She tends to like to think that we don't need them. But in honesty, if it hadn't been for Jake, Eric, and Creed, I would still be in the dark about a lot of them in regards to my brother and Liam."

"So do they..." I began, as I could feel my fear bubbling up in my chest over them knowing what I'd done.

"No." Xander lightly squeezed my hand. "No, they don't know about your involvement in things. I kept you out of it all. They know I am looking for Lucian because of you, and then they told me that Liam is looking for you, but I told them I thought it was simply because Lucian had maybe hired him to track you. I wouldn't and won't put you in the firing line, sweetie."

"Thank you." I whispered, but I still felt a little nervous. We walked the rest of the distance in silence, just listening to everything around us. I could tell we were getting closer, as I could hear music and laughter coming from the other side of the tree line.

"Here we go." Xander laughed quietly as we both came out into a field and right in the middle of it was a tent. "Let's go."

We walked over to the tent as Xander said to hello to some people. I had no clue who these people was and I really hoped I didn't have to remember their names, if I did I was in trouble.

"Lord Xander, it's great to see you again." Xander turned to whoever it was who had spoken to him and so did I.

"Creed. I'm pleased to see your looking so well." Xander bowed his head to the man who was wearing a suit and was holding a champagne glass. "I'm pleased you could make it too. I was surprised when Jake told me he'd invited you."

"I am honoured he invited myself and Rosa." Xander put his arm around me. "Rosa, this is Creed. He is the head of the hunters around here."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." Creed held out his hand to me and I took it and shook his head.

"The pleasure is all mine." I told him softly as I looked around trying to see if I knew anyone. I doubted very much I would, but I'd never know if I didn't look. Creed and Xander were stood talking as I frowned a little and spotted someone I thought I recognised. I turned around quickly and looked up at Xander and squeezed his hand a little. I'm seeing things. Xander told me it was hunters and werewolves that were here mostly, so there will be no one I know.

"I shouldn't keep you, your a very busy man and you have to enjoy tonight to celebrate with your son."

"Thank you. It was a pleasure meeting you Rosa."

"It was a pleasure meeting you too Creed." I glanced back at where I'd thought I'd seen someone I knew but I saw no one there.

"Is everything ok?"

"I thought I saw someone I knew, but... I was probably wrong." I whispered. I felt Xander's hand grip mine a little tighter, I didn't know if it was reassurance or something else but it was a very welcomed gesture in my mind.

"I doubt you'll know anyone here at all Rosa, well except Cordelia." He told me simply.

"ROSA!" I heard a familiar voice shout my name. Xander looked around as if he was ready for whatever was coming next, when I spotted who had called my name.

"Jen?" I couldn't help but laugh a little as Xander seemed to let go of my hand and I went and ran into her arms and hugged her. "What are you..." I stood back looking her over as we both seemed to laugh together. It had been many years since I'd seen Jen. She'd been one of my close friends when I was a teenager. Jen had been my go to friend and her family had always given me a safe place to stay and had always been welcoming. I wanted to say that she'd not changed much, but I could see she was much slimmer than I remembered her and her dyed hair was gone and she now had her natural colour hair which was a white colour.

"What are you doing here?" I asked pleased that there was someone I knew here and someone who was a reminder of a bit of a happier time.

"It's my bestfriend's wedding and it's our land." I frowned a little as Xander laughed quietly.

"Luna Jenny, it's lovely to see you again." He bowed to her as she did the same back to Xander.

"Lord Xander, it's lovely to see you again too." She then looked at me as Xander kissed my head lightly.

"I will leave you two to catch up, if you know each other." He laughed softly and then left us.

"You and a vampire?" She asked.

"Your a wolf?" I asked as we both laughed again. "Seems like we really need to catch up." We both went and sat at a free table together as both of us seemed to thrown completely about the other.

"So what happened?" I asked Jen first. "One minute you were at the school, the next you just vanished."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I never got the chance to come and see you and tell you about the fact that I was leaving." Jen let out a sigh. "That night was when I first shifted into my wolf form and it was so painful. Anyway, my parents decided that it wasn't safe for me to be around people no more so they sent me packing to the pack." She laughed quietly. "What about you? I tried to keep up with what was going on with you as I knew things weren't great for you, but the last I heard was you were seeing someone older than you."

"Yeah, umm... I was seeing Liam." I looked up at her to see her face darken a little. "I've only just recently come to find out the truth about him." I held my hands up to her to stop her from bombarding me with comments about him.

"He's big trouble Rosa." Jen took my hand and then noticed the scars on my arms. "He's also violent."

"I know." I told her quietly. "Where was you when I needed you the most." I laughed quietly. "Anyway... I got away from him eventually and ended up finding my way to Xander." I glanced over at him to see him talking to someone else he must have known. He turned his head to look at me and I quickly turned my head back to Jen with a smile.

"He's a sweet vampire. Not at all like most vampires. I just didn't picture you to be running with this crowd though."

"It's not through choice." I told her lightly. "Liam pushed me into so much and I ended up falling into this world and being blinded by how cruel it is."

"But it's only like the humans. There's people who are cruel and people who are kind." Jen laughed softly. "So what's this about Lucian then?" She asked tilting her head to the side. "Eric and Jake have been tracking him non stop it feels like for Xander. So he must have done something big to piss him off."

"That's a story for another day." I laughed quietly. "So your Luna?" I asked. "Congrats?"

"Not really a congrats thing." Jen shrugged. "More of a I hated the idea to begin with and I didn't want to be anywhere near Eric even though I knew he was my mate as I hated him thing." She laughed. "But... that's a story for another day." She laughed quietly as she turned and looked around behind her as if someone had called her.

Wolves can talk to each other through their minds.

"Everything ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, seems Izzy's looking for me." Jen muttered and then got up and waved. A woman who was obviously the bride came over and pulled out a chair and sat down next to us.

"Thank god your sat down. I don't think I can bare to walk around this tent again." The girl laughed as she seemed to fight with her dress a little to get it to sit flat on her legs.

"Izzy, this is Rosa. My bestfriend when I was at school. Rosa, Izzy, my other bestfriend who married my mates bestfriend."

"Who is also the ex girlfriend of her mate, the Alpha." Izzy added in with a grin.

"Wow, I thought I was complicated." I couldn't help but laugh quietly as Izzy and Jen also laughed at my comment.

"She'll fit in with us just fine." Jen laughed. "Seems that Rosa is with the big scary vampire."

"Oh, Lord Xander? I wondered why your name sounded familiar, I just couldn't remember fully."

"So what's the deal with you and him then?" Jen asked as she moved a bit of Izzy's skirt from her dress.

"I'm Xander's mate." I blushed deeply as I looked across at him again this time he was watching me closely.

"No way. I thought him and Helena." Izzy muttered. "So the wedding..."

"I'm the home wrecker if you will." I laughed.

"Your far from the home wrecker. Trust me been there done that. I came between Izzy and Eric, but I'm pleased I did if it means I finally get rid of Jake." Jen laughed as Izzy nudged her.

"You know you'll never get rid of the Jake that easy. Those two are like a pair of old ladies who like to bitch." Izzy laughed.

"And we're just as bad." Jen added laughing even more. "I'm happy for you though Rosa, I know things haven't been great for you in life. So..."

"Isabelle, I've been looking all over for you." Xander's voice came from behind me as I felt his cold hands hold the back of my chair. "Congratulations to you and Jake. I cannot seem to find your husband anywhere."

"I think he was talking to aunty Cordelia." Izzy answered. "And thank you. I'm so pleased you could be here Lord Xander after all the help you've given us."

"It was my pleasure to be able to help." I felt one hand come off the back of the chair and then he moved away and passed Izzy a card.

"Thank you." She said softly as she rested it on her lap.

"Ah crap. I'm going to have to run and so are you. Jake wants you Iz and I need to go find Eric as troubles coming." Jen sighed. "Anyway, it was nice seeing you and now I know your with Lord Xander I'll have to come and visit." I got up and hugged Jen. She pulled away and then went to walk away with Izzy when she turned around with a grin on her face. "Happy birthday five days time." She winked with a grin.

"Happy birthday for five days time." I told her back laughing as I watched them both leave together.

"Five days?" Xander went and took Jen's chair. "How comes the Luna of the pack knows when your birthday is, but I don't and I am your mate." He looked at me folding his arms across his chest pretending to be in a sulk but I could see the grin across his face.

"Because Jen and I have the same birthday." I told him simply. "And I am not doing anything for my birthday nor am I going anywhere." I warned him.

"So how does the Luna know you?" He asked ignoring my comment. Ah crap, he was up to something and I wasn't sure I liked it.

"Jen and I went to school together, then she vanished one day. She told me just now that she vanished as she had her first shift and her parents brought her to the pack. Jen was the one person I thought of as my bestfriend and she always looked out for me. When things got bad with my parents I'd go stay with her and her parents and then she'd walk me home when things were more settled giving me a pep talk that it would be ok."

"Ah, interesting." He grinned.

"Whatever your up to, no." I warned but I knew I was too late, he'd already come up with an idea and he was already set on whatever he was thinking about.

"Trust me." He grinned as he turned and spotted someone. "Snow." He called as he got up.

I looked over at the person he'd shouted and my heart seemed to drop. I hadn't been seeing things. I got up quickly and rushed to Xander as I tried to pull him back but it was like trying to move a block of marble, it wasn't going to happen.

"Rosa, what's wrong..." I stopped dead as I looked at the man who Xander had called across.

"Hi Rosa." Snow smiled at me lightly.

"No." I whispered as I moved behind Xander a little. "I need to get out." I told Xander and left the tent not focusing on anything. Just what the hell was going on? Xander had said that everyone who was there was hunters, yet here Snow was. My chest was hurt more and more as panic began to set it.

I stepped to the side when I got out of the tent and forced myself to take a few deep breath to calm my head that was panicking. If he was here then where was Liam?

"Rosa." Xander was in front of me looking at me with worry.

"I can explain." Snow's voice was behind Xander.

"You better boy." Xander growled as he turned and looked at Snow.

"Rosa, can I explain to you as I think I owe you that much." I forced myself to close my eyes and breath to calm myself down and then I moved next to Xander as I took his hand.

"Seems like you better." I told him simply.