Sorry for the long wait. Crazy week :P anyways, just want to thank my beta: TheBrightestNight for her awesome help:)
Disclaimer: Don't own Night world
"Okay, let's have Ambra walk the aisle one more time," Camilla commanded from her seat on the massive, smooth rock in the shade. She was sprawled out carelessly on the length of it, watching Ambra parade down the aisle for the umpteenth time.
Kieran felt a surge of impatience wash through him and he agitatedly ran his fingers through his hair. This whole thing is stupid and pointless. It's just getting to the alter. It's really not that difficult. The frustration was building up and festering like a nasty wound inside of him. Eventually, he was going to need to release his vexation, and the longer he waited the more violent the eruption was bound to be.
He glared angrily at Ambra's parents, chatting jovially with his father across the yard, the three of them chuckling like they were old friends. Ridiculous. . .
Kieran heaved an irritated sigh and rolled his eyes. His father's admonishing eyes pierced him from across the yard and Kieran struggled to force his lips into a convincing smile. His cheeks felt unbearably heavy from all the tension in his face and it was difficult not to grimace. He felt his father's gaze flit back to Jasper and Kieran wiped the painful grin off his face.
Kieran hadn't realized that a dress rehearsal could take five hours. And it was still going. He felt like whacking his head repeatedly with a board of wood. It would be less painful than suffering through another couple of hours with Ambra.
Kieran's and Ambra's parents had held a long discussion over where to host the wedding. After so many arguments that Kieran assumed another blood feud had begun, they finally settled on Kieran's backyard. The yard was surrounded by rolling hills covered in various, blossoming flowers of all different colors. There were a few sparse trees sprinkled across the landscape, dappling the lawn with a healthy amount of shade. The flowers were absolutely breath taking, like looking out at a sea of colors.
They were standing in the one flat area of the backyard, the peak of one of the massive hills, right behind the house.
A large willow tree hovered over the alter. Ambra thought it was romantic the way they appeared to be enclosed in the thin tendrils of soft, green leaves as they stood by the alter. Kieran thought of it as a handy place to quickly grab a stick of wood to fend off Ambra's advances. At least they were both satisfied.
Although they had an alter, they weren't actually being married by a priest. Vampires aren't very religious. They were to be wed by the most powerful vampire in the Night World. Hunter Redfern.
He stood by the alter, his red hair a gleaming torch, and his smile predatory and cruel. Hunter Redfern was a true Night person, Kieran thought wryly.
He was also an expert socializer. He had everyone there, except for Kieran it seemed, completely enthralled with his stories and light banter. The parents and Ambra were chortling appreciatively as Hunter animatedly told them of an encounter he had last week with a renegade werewolf.
Kieran didn't find him funny.
Hunter also kept joking about how this wedding would be a good occasion for a blood feast. Everyone in the Night world was aware that blood feasts were illegal. Hunter was a stickler for the law, so Kieran didn't think there were any hidden desires behind his jokes, but they still made Kieran uneasy. They were yet another constant reminder that Lilianna wasn't safe in his world. That she could easily be killed just for being his soulmate.
Kieran's apprehensive thoughts were interrupted by Jasper's request that Ambra walk down the aisle again. Ambra had glided down the aisle at least five hundred times already, and yet the parents still weren't satisfied.
Ambra wasn't either. She kept complaining that her walk looked too predatory for a wedding. Kieran wanted, vehemently, to scream at her, you're a Night person! Your walk should be predatory, you idiot! But of course, he didn't. He did have some self control left.
Kieran kept, distractedly, looking for Cole, who had yet to appear. He had been gone for almost the entire day and Kieran was itching to know what he had found.
For the first time in his life, Kieran felt fidgety. He needed to move. He could feel the energy coiled up in his muscles. Electricity crackled through him, and he felt as if he was about to explode. His stomach churned like he had just drunken some bad blood and he saw light dancing at the corners of his vision. His head spun with so many questions it was a wonder he hadn't fainted yet. What had Cole found? Was she in trouble? Would he even bother to save her, if she were in trouble? Kieran wasn't sure. This insecurityset on a whole new set of panic attacks and Kieran was barely able to suppress the urge to run away and try to find her himself.
"Ambra, do you think that maybe we should decorate the benches with roses?" Camilla looked up at Ambra expectedly, her eyes glittering with excitement.
"Red roses," Ambra tinkled, clearly enjoying the topic. She nudged Kieran out of his reverie and he started. "What do you think Kieran?"
"Hmmm? Red roses sound fine," he responded absentmindedly, making Ambra's lips turn down disappointedly. He quickly flashed a charming smile, just a little too late.
At his smile, she immediately brightened and hopped excitedly from foot to foot, continuing the flower discussion with Camilla. However, Kieran noticed her eyes weren't as bright as they were before. He felt a stab of guilt penetrate his heart, but he swiftly shook it off as his thoughts returned to Lilianna.
Kieran peered at the street leading up to the mansion. He could just see it through the trees in his backyard. His eyes swept the road one more time, frantic to see if Cole had arrived yet. He should be here any minute . . .dammit what was taking so long?Did Cole not realize he was driving Kieran more and more insane with each minute that went by without him appearing? Of course he doesn't, Kieran reminded himself. He doesn't know what the girl means to you. Just that you wanted her to be watched.
"What do you keep looking at?" Ambra demanded, annoyance seeping into her honeyed tone and turning it sour. Her forehead was wrinkled and her finger twitched irritably. Maybe she's not as mild tempered as she appears, Kieran couldn't help suspecting.
Kieran's mother and father looked up at him curiously. He silently thanked his ability to lie smoothly at whim. It came in handy at times like these.
"Nothing," Kieran bluffed, being careful to appear nonchalant and casual. Like his drifting attention was due to weariness and boredom, nothing else. Ambra and glared at him darkly for a moment but didn't say anything. Hunter leaned in and whispered something to Jasper. The two of them exchanged a look, but they didn't share their thoughts with the others.
His parents shrugged and dropped the matter, believing his deceit without another thought. His parents were usually more observant; Kieran got lucky they were too distracted to analyze his behavior right now or to tune in to everyone else's reactions. He couldn't risk being caught again, though. He would have to be more careful in his searching glances from now on.
"Okay, let's try it one more time!" Kieran's mother requested cheerfully. Kieran sighed but didn't complain. At least they had all forgotten his behavior.
. . .
It wasn't until later that night that Cole appeared with news of the girl. He slipped into the study while Kieran was busy writing some wedding invitations.
His head shot up at the sound of the door creaking open, the wedding invitations forgotten. "Did you find her?" Kieran asked. He nervously swallowed and shifted his weight in his chair, causing it to let out a long squeak. Kieran winced, hoping his parents wouldn't barge in asking what was going on.
"Yeah, I found her." Cole said wearily, standing awkwardly in front of Kieran. He twisted the tiny ring on his pinky finger nervously, but didn't say anything else.
"Well?" Kieran pressed impatiently. "Did you find out anything? Her name at least?"
"Lilianna," he said blankly. Then his eyebrows arched with sudden interest. "She's pretty for a human."
Kieran ignored the last comment, his focus intently latched on the name. He had finally attained it, after all the days of speculating about what it could be.
"Lilianna," Kieran repeated, tasting the name on his tongue. It was an exquisite and elegant name. It suited her well. "What else did you find out?"Kieran demanded, while simultaneously gesturing towards the chair to let him know he could sit down.
Cole shrugged out of his coat and draped it over the back of his chair before plopping down into it. "Not much. She's a pretty average human girl."
Kieran's hand twitched dangerously and he barely repressed the impulse to smack him. She most certainly was not average. Lilianna was positively the most extraordinary woman he had ever met. Cole obviously hadn't looked very hard.
"Anything else?" Kieran's tone was pleading and conveyed the feeling: I care way too much. Cole smirked slightly at Kieran's persistence. Kieran took a deep breath and recomposed his expression into one of utter boredom and nonchalance. He needed to calm down before Cole deduced what was really going on here. "I just need some information. She's been showing up at the club a lot. I want to make sure she doesn't know too much."
Cole gave him a disbelieving look, his face looking oddly animated compared to his usual blank expression. "Yeah, right. Look, I don't want to know why you're interested in this human girl when you're supposed to be engaged to a certain lamia vampire. Whatever it is, I'm not getting in the middle of it. You're supposed to be ending a Blood Feud. You could cause a war! All because you went and fell in love with a human."
Kieran started spluttering some unintelligible denial at this accusation, but Cole cut him off before he could finish.
"However, I do feel very overworked, and your family keeps me so busy. I hardly get to see my family or friends anymore. So maybe we can work out an agreement that satisfies both of our needs?" Cole raised his eyebrows, and his dark eyes were cold and calculating. Apparently, he had been giving this some thought.
Kieran shook his head slightly, perplexed. Cole was acting strange. He was usually so calm and emotionless. Kieran would have never guessed that he had this side to him.
"You want time off in exchange for information," Kieran hissed flatly. Despite Kieran's harsh tone, Cole flashed a smug smile. He already knew Kieran's answer. Kieran groaned mentally, this was going to take major explaining to his parents. Oh, well. She's all that matters now. "Sure. Take tomorrow off. Now tell me what you found."
"Well, I don't know if she's as interested in you as you are in her," Cole disclosed, leaning forward in his chair towards Kieran. "She's seeing another guy. I think his name's Aaron."
"What?" Kieran nearly tumbled out of his chair. He regained his composure fast though. "Tell me about him. What did they do?" he demanded.
"Walked around downtown. Got ice cream. Laughed."Cole listed, studying Kieran closely for his reaction.
"Okay," Kieran digested this. "What about him? What's he like?"
"Quiet kid." Cole revealed, with a taunting glint in the depths of his dark eyes.
"That's it?" Kieran asked coldly. Really?
Cole shrugged, seemingly uninterested. "I don't know if any of this matters, but he seemed a little off for a human. He acted more like a Night person. He's got that predatory look in his eye, you know?"
Kieran once again, nearly fell out of his chair. Once he had regained his balance, he snarled angrily, "He might be a Night person? Didn't you think that was important?"
Cole gave another dispassionate shrug. However, his eyes had a sly glint in them that made Kieran's temper flare dangerously. He felt murderously angry, and spots flashed in front of his eyes.
He took a deep breath and calmed down. He was determined not to give Cole the satisfaction of letting him know he got to him.
"Okay, good job. Keep watching her, and let me know if she's seeing this Aaron kid again." Kieran forced the words out, struggling to keep his tone friendly.
"She's seeing him next week. They're going downtown for a movie and dinner at Luigi's." Cole stated, a tiny smirk playing at the corners of his mouth, infuriating Kieran to new heights.
He's screwing with me right? He's got to be screwing with me. . .
"Just-Get-Out!" Kieran screamed, finally losing his patience.
Cole stood up calmly, butthe smirk had grown into a full blown grin. He was enjoying this entirely too much. "Do you still want me to follow her?"
"Yeah," Kieran said sharply, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. "And take next week off, okay? That good enough for you?" His eyes flashed dangerously, daring Cole to push and request more time off. Cole didn't respond, but jerked a curt nod. He found Kieran's anger intimidating, and Kieran took some solace in this.
Once Cole had left, Kieran paced anxiously around the study. He needed to know who this Aaron was and why he was so interested in Lilianna. Kieran couldn't explain it, but he had a bad feeling about this guy. He could sense it.
It was the cord. It was telling him to watch out.
Or Aaron might steal Lilianna from him forever.