CHAPTER 4

Three days have already passed since I first stayed at the 'Mansion'. Ever since the conversation about Bran's son, Cepheus has been obviously avoiding me. He was acting as if I had some kind of disease or something. Just yesterday, I was walking down the hall leading to the drawing room; he was on the other end of the hall, walking while holding a book. He spotted me and turned a hundred degree angle and strode to another direction. I mean it was fine with me if there were other humans on the premises. As it was, it was only the two of us living in the whole damn mansion and a few hundred undead vampires. If I didn't talk to anybody soon, I would go mad as hell and slaughter the whole household including myself. And so, I decided to confront him about the whole situation. I stood up and made my way to his room, which was technically 'our' room since he didn't trust his undead vampire pets enough while he slept; he kept me in his room. I know, very awkward. He was lounging on the couch and was reading a very thick paperback book when I opened the double doors. He looked up and stared challengingly right into my eyes. So much for no confrontations.

"Ceraphina." He said with a note of seriousness in his voice.

"We have got to stop doing this!"

"Doing what?"

"Avoiding each other like hell." I stated flatly.

"Kitty, get over yourself. I was simply busy." He said with a smug expression.

"Yeah, so busy avoiding me."

"Why would I even exert effort to avoid you, kitty? Are you even that special?" He asked with a soft twinkle in his eyes. He knew I was getting pissed off and he was enjoying it like hell. I turned and pivoted towards the door. My hand was almost touching the doorknob when he grabbed it and turned me around. He smiled.

"No more retorts, kitty?"

"Let go of me King Freak show slash Weirdo. I'm leaving and don't come after me. I wasn't so special anyway right? Now go and try to kill Roland while I do the same. I have to help my parents and fix this. I can't wait around for you forever while you lounge here and read a paperback." I tugged my wrist from his iron-like grip. No luck.

He sighed. "Alright, I'll stop annoying you and avoiding you. I'll try to act like a normal human for once. Don't leave." His sincerity took me by surprise. I dropped my gaze down and stared at his toes and the tip of my shoes. I sighed.

"Fine. But we have to move now. No more stalling."

"I understand. Tonight. Unicorn lane. One of the Spheres is hidden in the middle of Unicorn Lane. We have to go there, retrieve the sphere and come back here to destroy it."

"How big is the sphere?"

"About two inches, more or less."

"That small?"

"Seven of those. There are seven. Some were dissolved in blood."

"What do you mean?"

"Your mom has already destroyed three of them?"

"When?"

"One was inside Brono, when he died, the sphere dissolved. The other one was with Olathe, your mother broke the blood ward, breaking the sphere with it. And the third was with Erra, it also dissolved by itself and ceased to exist when she died." I stared at him. How did he know about these stuff? As if he heard what I was thinking, he shrugged.

"That leaves us with four more to go." I said.

"I know their locations. It's a matter of getting there and getting the sphere out that's the problem."

"Why?"

"Well, let's say that the one in Unicorn Lane is the easiest to retrieve." He said flatly. Holy shit, everyone knows that Unicorn Lane is dangerous enough. How could there be a place more dangerous than that. Great! My luck just gets better and better. Not. He reached out and touched my arm.

"Don't worry. We'll get it." He said warmly. One moment he was all for annoying me and killing me and another he's all warm and fuzzy. I'll never understand this guy as long as I live.

"Besides, you have me to watch your back." He added, grinning.

"Was that literal or figurative?"

"Somewhere in between."

"Yup, try to mess with me and you'll find one of my daggers somewhere in between your eyes." I spat back. So much for the warm and fuzzy mood. The bipolar bastard can jump from serious to annoying to playful to caring as easy as breathing. And I hate how it messes up with my head. He moved closer to me. His grinning face was now only inches from mine, so close that I could feel his warm breath on my face. I smiled deviously back and his grin grew to full blown smile. I rewarded that damn smile with a hard kick in the groin. I heard him take a breath and saw him take a step back.

"Damn you! Can't you be civil for once?"

"If you can piss the shit out of me, I absolutely could piss the shit out of you!"

"What did I ever do to you?"

"I think you know the answer to that King Psycho."

"Do you mean what I did just now? I was just playing with you. In. A. Damn. Civil. Manner."

"Well forgive the pack princess if she couldn't interact with you in a civil manner while you're harassing her."

"When did I ever harass you?"

"Do you suffer short term memory loss, or are you plain stupid?"

"Yap, yap, yap. Why don't you start making sense kitty princess?"

"I was making sense. Maybe you plainly just don't understand human words. Let's see. Me Cerapahina. You Idiot Tarzan. Do you understand?"

"You think you're all funny don't you?"

"No, I think I'm very melancholic, idiot."

He grunted and started to walk away. That was it. I was sick and tired of his immature act. I gathered all my will and yelled at him.

"Stop running away from reality. Either we do this together or we don't do it at all."

"Fine. Just get the hell away from me until seven tonight. I have no other reason to see you except to use you to kill Roland anyway." He spat, and as much as I hated to admit it, his words stung.