Chapter 11: Shopping
It had been an hour of cleaning and they had long since finished with the library, though they did so in almost complete silence—something very unusual for the two of them. Usually, if you get Anora and Hope together in the same room, they chat up a storm and laugh and goof around a bit up until one of the lords or ladies of the house arrives and shrieks at them to "shut up and get back to work". (They usually had never even ceased working in the first place when being told this.)
Nevertheless, they were finished now and had moved on to the entrance foyer. They weren't sure if anything needed doing right now, but they figured they'd check anyway, just to make sure. (Although, obviously, they silently hoped that there was nothing for them to do for the moment. Maybe they'd get an easy evening?)
No such luck.
As soon as they'd arrived in the room, they noticed Merissa cleaning the windows. Sure, they hadn't been told—or even asked—to help her out, but neither one of them wanted to just leave her to do this by herself. It wasn't a very big task, but she was a friend, and so they offered to help. Merissa accepted their offer gladly. By the looks of it, she'd just started—she'd only done one window so far. She hadn't been in the room for very long. Hope and Anora may have wanted a break, but they didn't mind this time.
So, they began to wash the rest of the windows. Having another person in the conversation lifted up spirits a bit more. Hope was being a bit more talkative than she had been since meeting up with Anora. She was smiling and laughing a bit more. And no one else was in the room—Vampire or Lycan. That probably helped a little bit, too. Not many people around for the three girls to be aware—or wary—of.
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The job only took them about half an hour. True, they could've been done way faster than that. After all, it was only washing windows. Then again, they did have some pretty tall windows, especially in that room—the showoffs—and the girls wanted to make sure they did a good job of it. It'd be their hides if they didn't.
They were on their last view windows by then. It'd only take them another minute or so, probably, to be done. Hope, Anora, and Merissa were entertaining themselves with a bit of conversation. Where was the harm in it? They weren't talking very loudly—actually they were being quite quiet for them—and there weren't any Vampires in the room, so no one would really care if a couple of the slaves held a conversation as they worked. ("Hey, at least we are working, right?") As long as the conversation was not a cause for suspicion, that is. But the three Lycan girls were just fine. Their talk had nothing to do with anything that might make a Vampire take notice of them. Unless, of course, the Vampire became interested in their meaningless gossip for some reason, that is.
"…Alright, I'll admit that he is rather attractive, but that's all I have to admit to. I just don't see him in that way," Merissa defended herself against the usual team interrogation that Hope and Anora usually bugged her with, blushing slightly.
Anora and Hope chuckled softly, Anora giving Hope a five behind their backs at catching her again. "Oh right," Hope said, unconvinced. Anora merely stared at her for a second with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised in a way that pretty much said, "Right, and I'm the Queen of England." Merissa hadn't once stopped with her cleaning and hadn't even so much as glanced up at the two girls since the conversation began to drift towards Alex, usually a dead give-away for her that she was hiding something. Yeah, she definitely liked him.
They all knew full well that Merissa had a thing for Alex. Most of the slaves actually knew that. But Hope and Anora—and everyone else, for that matter—never pushed it too much and, besides, Merissa wouldn't admit to liking him even under Chinese water torture. God help us all if Quintz ever thinks of that method of torment…, Hope had thought when she'd first thought of this.
Either way, they could see Merissa blushing and see that small, shy smile on her face right now trying to hide itself, and the other two girls took their satisfaction at knowing they were right about her liking him. They already knew that he returned those same feelings for her. Hell, they'd held him down and forced that information out of the boy when this whole thing had first begun to surface. They hadn't told Merissa, yet, though. She needed to figure this out on her own, if she could. It was getting a tad hard for the others to hold that in, though.
This time, however, Merissa was ready for this usual discussion and shot right back at Hope with a question of her own, one which even caught Anora off guard since even she hadn't yet figured out this little detail quite yet. "Oh yeah, Hope?" Merissa said a bit slyly. Hope paused in her work for a second and looked at Merissa. She knew that tone all too well. Uh-oh, Merissa was plotting again. "And what about Max, huh?"
That stopped Hope dead in her tracks. The Lycan girl jumped ever so slightly, almost dropping the washcloth, and stopped what she was doing, her eyes widening a little bit and her face almost instantly taking on a deep, crimson blush. Well, that was one way to wipe the smile off of Hope's face. She cleared her throat a bit nervously and resumed her work, trying to recover from the surprise question. She bit her bottom lip a little and scratched the back of her head, then proceeded to fiddle a bit with her hair with her free hand. This reaction was her trademark nervous habit. "Er…w-what about him?" she asked in a bit of a small, nervous, shaky voice. Busted!
Anora's mouth dropped a bit in a surprised, yet smiling way. "Oh! Max, huh?" she said, which merely succeeded in making Hope blush even more and seem to get considerably more nervous than before. Oh yeah, she was busted.
Merissa laughed a bit. "So you do like him! I knew it!"
"I do not!" Hope shot back, never once stopping in her cleaning now or looking up from her work. This is probably how Merissa knew she was lying so fast, since obviously, she does the exact same thing when she's trying to hide something from anyone. She stared at Hope with that look as if to say "liar", her face displaying a small, triumphant smile. "Prove it," Hope said. "You have no proof!"
"You wouldn't be fighting us so hard if you didn't," Anora joined in the fun. "And plus, if you don't then why are you getting so nervous and embarrassed about it?"
Crap! That was kinda true. "Because…!" Hope then trailed off, unable to immediately come up with an answer.
"Because…?" Obviously, the other two girls had other plans and were expecting an answer from Hope on the subject.
"Because…" she began, "I…um…am simply embarrassed that you would think I'd like him. I mean, nothing against Max, but I just don't like him like that and it's embarrassing that you think I do, I guess. And wouldn't that make you nervous if someone accused you of liking someone you didn't like in that way? Besides, of course I'm fighting you over it. It's not true, and I wouldn't want any false rumors being spread about me now, would I?"
Whether the two others believed her or not, Hope didn't know. They're faces indicated that they probably didn't buy it. It was a pretty good excuse, though—a lie, but a good excuse. Either way, however, they went with it. "Okay, okay," Merissa said. "You've got a good point there, I guess."
"Fine, we won't pester," Anora sighed in a bit of a joking way.
Thank God… Hope thought to herself as she went back to her work again and actually managed to finish up her last window this time, trying to hide a small sigh of relief.
Anora and Merissa smiled a bit triumphantly and tried to stifle back small chuckles as they noticed this reaction out of the corner of their eyes, but were just as satisfied with Hope having not noticed this than if she had. They knew full well that they were right, and that was enough for them. Then, they all proceeded to finish up the windows.
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Just as they'd all finished up, Exondria walked into the room. At the time, she had on her almighty Vampire façade. Anora and Hope could understand why. Sythera's scent was definitely a bit strong. She was close by; they all knew this. She was probably somewhere pestering Missy. They wouldn't be surprised if Servina or maybe even Quintz were within earshot at the moment, as well, so it was wise that the young Vampire keep up the act for the time being. Plus, Merissa did not yet know about her being a Lycan sympathizer and they really couldn't risk too many people knowing.
Exondria walked in, her head held up a bit high and with a look of superiority and authority playing itself upon her face. She stopped near the three slaves and they bowed to her. She nodded back to indicate that they could stand straight, her face stern as she looked each of them over. They did this, but kept their heads bowed slightly in respect.
Oh yes, Exondria had definitely become quite good at this act. She had Merissa fooled—that was for sure. She then addressed Hope and Anora. "Anora, Hope," she started, her voice commanding and displaying power.
"Yes, My Lady?" both of the girls replied in unison, going along with it but knowing perfectly well that she was faking it. Merissa stayed back a bit and kept her head lowered, having not been addressed, as was customary.
"Lady Servina has given me permission to go out this evening to buy some new clothes. I wish to go shopping and I require my usual escorts. The two of you will meet me here in one hour sharp and be ready to go. You know the drill by now, I trust, and you know what I expect. Is that understood?" Even though it was fake, the act she put on and the way she presented herself did still manage to send a slight shiver down Hope's and Anora's backs. And if that were so, just think of how nervous Merissa must've been.
"Yes, My Lady," came Anora and Hope's response, followed by a small bow of respect.
"Good. See that you do not forget. And remember, I expect to see you in this room and ready to leave in an hour. Do not keep me waiting, slaves."
Once again, the two girls responded in the same way they had. And with that, Exondria turned and walked out the door in her usual authoritative manner for when she had to act like this. All three girls let out breaths of relief as the Vampire left the room. They turned their attention back to their work, only to find that that room was pretty much done. Anora, Hope, and Merissa looked at one another.
"I feel sorry for you, Anora," Merissa said in a very hushed tone, not wanting to be overheard. "You have to deal with her on a regular basis." Actually, having to deal with Exondria wasn't bad at all, unless there were others around. Then again, Merissa didn't know that. Anora simply shrugged in reply, not knowing how to respond to that. Merissa's voice became even more hushed as she said this next comment, really not wanting to be overheard, especially not by the Vampire she was speaking of. "Of course, sorry Anora, but I don't feel nearly as bad for you as I do for Hope here." She patted Hope on the shoulder in a slightly joking manner, managing a small smile and laugh.
Anora and Hope both smiled and laughed a bit as well. Well, at least this comment was warranted. Quintz was horrible. "Yeah, well Eris doesn't exactly seem like a walk in the park for you, either," Hope remarked quietly.
"True," Merissa agreed, thinking about how her mistress, Eris Discordia, usually was. She usually drove a lot of people crazy. "Very true."
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Author: GAH! WRITER'S BLOCK AND SCHOOL!! (Runs around screaming like crazy as though my head were on fire or something)
Exondria: (After reading what was said about her) Hey! I'm not that bad!
Author: (Runs into a wall while running around and screaming and falls over. A minute later…) Ow…
Hope: Nice move there, Genius.
Author: Aw, shut up, Hope! Or else I could just tell everyone about you and Max meeting up in the garden that one time and— (Gets mouth covered by Hope)
Hope: No!
Anora: Whoa! Wait! No, what happened? I wanna know!
Exondria: (Gasps) 0.o Hope! Did you and Max—?
Hope: 0.o (Uncovers Author's mouth) No, we did not!!
Anora: Okay, we'll take your word for it…for now. (Winks)
Hope: Say anything about it and I'll tell everyone about you and F— (Gets mouth covered suddenly by Anora and Author)
Anora: Don't you dare!
Author: Not yet, Hope!
Anora: 0.o Yet?! What do you mean "not yet"?!
Author: Oh, nothing, nothing, Anora. You'll see.
Anora: What?!
Author: So anyway, guys, thanks for reading. Of course, Eris Discordia is not my character. She belongs to my friend Chel-chan. Keep with us to find out what happens next. I promise the story will pick up in excitement soon. Well, until next time, readers! Vive le resistance! (Gets bombarded with questions and interrogations from Anora about what she has up her sleeve in regards to what "not yet" means, but tries to ignore it) Bye!