The Blood Heiress

The Inevitable

Cassian

My prodding worked.

"Yeah. I mean most of the night was fine. Boring, pretty standard business conversations that left me feeling on the outside looking in. But fine. I was introduced to quite a few people too. Seeing as Evander had given me that as my goal for the night, I did pretty well. I got out there and sort of got to know 'the circle'." Ah yes, Evander and his precious circle. Must keep up those appearances. Wouldn't want any doubters. I let out a snort and downed a good portion of my drink.

"Circle huh? What did you think of his circle?" I was genuinely curious to hear her thoughts. I mean I knew what I thought but she was new to all this.

"Most of them were fine, boring, disinterested. There was one who stood out as someone I could stand to get to know better. Timothy Fable. He owned the mansion the event was hosted at. He was also nice and not boring."

"High praise indeed, nice and not boring." Another chuckle left my lips. It all sounded just about right. This Timothy Fable character was new though.

"Well, he was the only one to give me his first name and say more than nice to meet you." I watched her lift her glass to her lips and took note of the rate she was consuming her drink. Much faster than last time. Somthing must have changed from last time. "And the best part was that he didn't seem to care for Jessica."

"Jessica still works for old tightass? Figures." Jessica the bitchiest b***h that I ever had the misfortune to run across. The name put me in a better mood. Maybe this Fable guy was alright. Santos being himself hardly paid any mind to her attitude, like he was immune or something. Not that she ever used her claws on him. And everyone with a pair of eyes could see exactly what her angle was. I smirked. I sat back and waited for her to continue.

"She does. She was such a b***h" At first her use of the word took me by surprise and then I couldn't help but give rumbling laugh. She soon joined in after she recovered from her own shock.

"Wow, what did she do to earn that?" I asked her savoring the way I felt lighter, cleansed after that good laugh.

"Just her general demeanor. Nothing in particular. Mean looks, snubbing me."

"Seems ol' Jess thought you might be a threat."

She shook her head and became lost in thought. I knew she was trying to figure out if what I had suggested could be true so I waited.

"Highly unlikely. Evander won't treat me any better than a child. I certainly won't be taking her job anytime soon."

"Jessica has her sights set a little higher than the position she has occupied for close to a decade." My sweet, oblivious Dells. Bile rose and I took a drink to push it back down. She was being thrown into the deep end here.

"Oh, I guess he did introduce me as his intern but then later he changed it to his protegé." I wanted to reach over and kiss that sullen, confused look off her face. Though, I wouldn't dare. Maybe sometime in the future when our footing was steadier. She took a quick drink. And tried to muster a smile. "Whatever that means."

I couldn't take how weary she looked, her spirit dimmed. I went to distract myself with another drink, my glass nearly empty. Damn. Seemed like I was missing half a glass but the warm, electric feeling roiling through me, saying otherwise. Her expectant gaze caused me to squirm a little. I had nothing of note to offer her that would ease her discomfort. Her new boss was quite the enigma.

"A little higher than that." I whispered to myself and put the now completely, empty glass down, done.

They didn't deserve her. And she shouldn't have to put up with Evander Santos and his moods. But I buried all that and thought instead of our time together right now. Don't let him rob of your right now. "So you are his protegé now. Quite the upgrade from event planner."

The happiness in my voice was staged for her benefit but she hardly noticed.

"I did too. It was all news to me." Her shallow happiness that spread across her features at my comment, didn't quite reach her eyes.

Silence fell between us like a soft blanket. Wrapping us up and cushioning our thoughts. She wobbled a bit in her seat and steadied herself with her elbows on the table. Her pale skin was beginning to look like it was glowing faintly, but it could have just been the lighting

"So how did you convince Ben to drop you off here?" With sluggish movements she turned her face to mine.

Her dark blue eyes that had been so dim and weary when she came were now back to their sapphire blue. They were even more radiant than imagined. I was ready to lose myself in their neverending blue depths. Changing the subject had been an excellent idea.

"I didn't." Her voice was still wavering, unsteady.

"So you took a cab?" I was sure of it now, her skin was glowing ever so softly. Illiminated from the inside out.

"No I couldn't take riding with Evander anymore and demanded he let me get out of his car." Her words tore my focus from her face.

Rage sprang forth. She rode in his car alone? He made her, my polite, sweet Adella so uncomfortable she asked to be let out? Then he had the nerve to not comply and she had to demand to be let out?

"What did he do?" I fought to control the edge to my voice.

"He was blaming me. That I shouldn't have needed help defending myself against a creep at the event."

"Wait, what?" Breath, Cass. Breath. I gripped my glass so roughly I thought for sure it would break. My internal inferno was whipping itself into a storm as I turnd to face her.

"Finnegan Yardley came up to our table and kissed my neck. After putting his hands on me" She began to visibly shake, I watched curiously though. Her lips set in a grim line, white knuckles around her glass. She was shaking from anger. "I told him to back off but he wouldn't listen. I told him to leave me alone. But he just wouldn't listen until Evander came and had him escorted out." My rage pulled back to a simmer instantly as I heard her own indignation at what had happened grow to a controlled anger.

Her complexion had followed suit. In a short span of seconds it went from merely glowing to a full shine. This was becoming dicey. I had let my own feelings and needs take precedent. My lapse in judgement could have some disasterous consequences if I wasn't able to get her to calm herself.

Her body temperature was dropping dangerously under the hand I placed on her back. I tried to simultaneously ground and soothe her. Her scent, a pleasing, light, floral aroma, was spreading out now and filling the booth.

"We left directly after and in the car, I thanked him. But he just became angry or irritated. He said I should be able to defend myself." Her shaking picked up and my hand unconsciously stopped with the exasperation her words brought me.

"I am going to kill them both" I let slip out in a growl before I could stop myself.

Her shaking stopped then. And I looked down at her. Her temperature was still too low and her skin shining just the same as before. But maybe she could turn it around. Maybe with some help.

"Hey, it all worked out. And look I am here with you. " Pulling her back up straight, she looked me straight in the eyes and tried to reassure me.

Squinting she placed a hand on either side of my face. Her hands were so cold. I held myself steady as she tenderly gazed at me. You don't deserve her either, you fool.

"I kept my head down. Didn't say a thing about you working with him, despite how I feel. Despite wanting to." The words that left my mouth sounded foreign with their heavy emotional load. I put a hand over each of hers. "If something had happened to you..." I gently pressed my forehead to hers. "I don't know what I would do." I was slightly shocked but conpletely delighted when she closed the short distance in a sweet, tender kiss.

"I am not going anywhere anytime soon Cass." Her reassurance of my concerns and doubts once again spurred me to pull her into an embrace. But in my haste I knocked her hip into the table.

We both had a healthy laugh at the mistake. My arm found its way around her shoulders in compromise and I felt her snuggle against me. She was still cold which wasn't great but it wasn't the end of the world. With that slightly better than terrible piece of information it was quick work to convince myself that her shining was dimming a bit. I totally overlooked her irregular heart beats. And the thrumming of the electricity heavy air around us. It was easy by that point. She was safe beside me, whatever happened.

She began to squirm against me and hold her head. She buried her head into my side and I looked over to see what was going on. Her eyes were tightly shut. Alarmed, I motioned to Sloane but couldn't catch him. Damn it! The idea of leaving her to grab some coffee or water even was appealing but out of the question. I could see now she was teetering on the edge. Her squirming settled a few minutes after that and I settled back watching. When she pulled up and swiveled towards me I thought perhaps the worst had finally passed. That she had finally turned back from the edge. I was so wrong. Her eyes focused like a laser on my heart. She was ready to run head long off the f*****g edge.

"You okay Dells?" My voice was uneven as I dared to not make a move. I dared not tip her. I needed her to voluntarily move back.

It didn't seem like my words reached her. I saw the battle wage in her eyes as they wavered between her dark blue and crimson red. The flames of her pending transformation were raging inside and her resolve to fight them I could see crumbling in real time. My resolve to not move crumbled with it. I grabbed her face and immediate recoiled. She was as frozen as ice. The final stage had been achieved. I blew on my hands and tried a lighter approach. I tenderly turned her chin to break the line of sight and have her look me in the eyes. I am sure my worry was plainly there, written all over my face. The time for caution was gone now. I moved my hands to her shoulders and gave her a light shake.

"Dells, hey, talk to me."

That thankfully seemed to do something and her wide eyes snapped to mine.

"Cass, what is in those drinks?" Her words came out slowly, strangled and slightly slurred.

FUCK! f**k! f**k! The alarm was no screaming in my head as her eyes rolled back into her head.

"Cass?" Her voice was a whisper. Her eyes fully crimson, drops of blood left her mouth, her skin shining like a brightly lit beacon as her first transformation was taking hold. Her skin was frozen through now. She sagged into my arms, her breaths shallow.

"Cass, Help me." She made one last effort to claw out of what was claiming her. Her eyes opened and desperately looked my way before they rolled back and closed with finality. She was fading in my arms. I had no idea how to stop it. How to keep her with me. I couldn't stop her and in a blast of energy she disappeared. I knew better. I damn well knew better and I let her order it anyway. It was apparent the first time she had had the drink, she didn't know what she was, hadn't had it before. I figured there had to be a good reason for it. Most of us had our first taste before we could remember it. But she hadn't, now there were consequences. s**t s**t s**t. Now she was gone.

I glared at Sloane as I passed him on my way outside. If I found out that he had something to do with this...so help me. The cold air hit my face and with it the realization that I had no idea where to start. She could literally be anywhere. How was I going to find her?

---

Evander

Warring with myself over whether I should leave my self ascribed post, I slumped over the steering wheel, eyes trained on the door. No one, and I mean not a single person in my life had ever been this infuritaitng.

I needed to attend to things at home but she was still in there. Going on two hours now. I had no intention of spending my entire night parked across the street. I gave in and called in the usual tail. Once he got here, I could leave in peace. Knowing that she was being watched.

I dialed the number but had to hang up as there came a large surge of power from that damn bar. It pushed me sideways in my seat as it lifted my car up off the ground momentarily. Dogs began to howl and bark, the street lights were flickering and car alarms around the block were now going off. I collected myself, watching their owners rush out, frantically shutting them off.

The black haired fool came charging out of his bar right along with them. He twisted this way and that, up and down, clearly lost. Apparently, not in search of his own vehicle. My gaze latched onto the door behind him waiting and willing her to follow him out.

That absolute and completely airheaded, bottomfeeding, booze-addled i***t! He could not have possibly been that shortsighted. Who in their right mind was that oblivious? Cassian Moretti, of course. Still no sign of her and he was now sitting against the wall of his bar head tilted to the sky. Why had I hoped for more?

I sadly congratulated myself for once again going with my gut regardless of how far fetched it seemed. Then with a sigh, and no small amount of rage, exited my car. He did not register my footsteps, all the better for me.

By the time I was upon him, he had dragged himself onto his two feet. Hatred burning in his eyes as he stared me down.

"Where is she?" His eyes narrowed at my question.

"Who are you talking about exactly? I don't run in your cirlce Santos I wouldn't know what one of your girls even looked like."

"Moretti you know damn well who I am talking about"

"Can't say that I do." He glared at me threateningly.

"I will ask you again, where is she?" My paitience, already thin was feeling quite brittle.

"Maybe you should learn how to treat someone a little better and then you wouldn't need to ask after them." My eyes narrowed at his audacity. If he suddenly found himself headless in the near future, I would feel no guilt. It would be overdue.

"At this moment, it cannot be overstated how much I envy everyone you have never met." The incorrigle buffoon simply laughed. "Now, I am out of paitience. Is she or is she not in your bar? Or shall I go in and see for myself. Perhaps tear it apart during my search." His tune changed with the threat to see his precious bar harmed. I moved towards the door and tossed him her purse on the way by. He moved in front of me to bar entrance.

"Look, if you have been stalking her then you already know." The neighborhood had quieted now and our raised voices were drawing attention. He lowered his voice and continued. "She disappeared" My eyebrow arched, my hands balled up into fists.

"Disappeared?" That confirmed the discharge I felt earlier.

"Yeah, we were talking and she disappeared." His turn to cross his arms.

"And this just happened, no idea why?" He really brought out the worst in me. I had no time to play the pissed off parent to his naughty child.

"She had had some to drink. But hey don't you dare put this on me. She already had started at that demented shin dig you dragged her to."

"I would love to keep hearing how this is my fault, do continue." I took a deep breath to take the edge of the building frustration.

"Santos, she came to me. She was having a rough night, I shouldn't have to tell you why. You were there weren't you? She asked for a drink. I wasn't going to turn her down." He stuck his hands down in his pockets.

"This is a waste of time." I tersely turned away from him. Sooner or later he was going to need to grow up and quit blaming me for everything. His parents had done him no favors.

I seperated myself from him with a few long strides, concentrating. I had already wasted far too much time engaged in that pointless back and forth. I was going to have to call in a small army to find her tonight. My car unlocked with a beep as I approached. No sooner had I sat down and shut the door than the bartending bufoon was knocking on my window.

"She has her phone. I just remembered, she has her phone." His whole body was thrumming with relief as he held his own phone up like a beacon.

"Get in." The last thing I wanted was to be Moretti's chaffuer but this was hardly the time for what I wanted. He gave me a second look and then ran to the passenger door and hopped in. If we both focused on finding her perhaps we could avoid the friction between us long enough to locate her. "I will work on locating her phone, you work on calling it."

"On it" He redialed her number and held it to his ear as we sped off.