FOUR
A week went by, and the house was abuzz with excitement for the upcoming gala, a gathering of vampires from all around the world.
It took place once every ten years, in various locations. Usually it was hosted by the Eternus Rector, the Latin term for "eternal leader."
Each country had their own leader, but there was one – the Eternus Rector – who oversaw every vampire in the world. This duty changed either when the current leader was deceased, or there was a public outcry for change (which rarely occurred).
This year, however, the new Eternus Rector was being decided (after the previous one had been overtaken by a piece of garlic bread), and Jack had kindly offered to host the gala in the ballroom of a hotel not far from the house.
Everyone in the house suspected that Jack would become the next Eternus Rector, even Jack himself. But no one dared to voice this opinion out loud, for fear of causing uproar. Alex actually thought this herself, and it made her slightly uneasy to think of Jack overseeing the entire world like that.
So now preparations were being made, and Alex was frantic with last minute details. The event was only three days away and she still had so much more planning to do.
Some of which, did not involve the party at all.
For the past two months Alex and nine others of the house had been planning to leave the house entirely. They were all sick of Jack, and wanted to flee the house before he became even more powerful.
The plan was to leave during the gala. With hundreds of other vampires, it would be easy to slip out ten of them, go back to the house, grab their things, and flee. They had decided on going to Spain, and would need to leave as early as possible, for they needed to get as far away as they could before daybreak. Alex had contacts along the way that would house them during daylight, but she was still worried about what would happen to them if they were found.
She wondered if Jack would go looking for her once he discovered her missing. She hoped he wouldn't, but as one of the other escapees pointed out, it was very unlikely that she would get that wish.
At the last minute John had joined them, making their party the ten they now had. He was eager to leave, even though he hadn't been here very long.
Alex also worried about the current murder that was sweeping through London. Over and over she wanted to deny it was Jack, but she knew it was him. She could see it in his eyes, smell it on his breath, and taste it in his kisses.
She shuddered and filed away another box of invitations that had been answered with an R.S.V.P. she sighed and brushed away hair that was pasted to her forehead. It was unusually warm in the library, but it was the one place she knew she would not be disturbed.
Glancing up at the wall she discovered that daylight would be approaching shortly. Standing up and stretching her achy muscles, she took another look around the room. It seemed so strange to think that in three days, they would be leaving this place forever.
"Busy?"
The voice startled her and she jumped, sending papers flying to the floor. She caught her breath and glared at John as she picked them back up.
"Yes, very." She said sharply, indicating that she shouldn't be disturbed.
John knelt down and collected a stack of the fallen papers, placing them back upon the desk where they had been sitting; waiting for Alex to look over them.
She muttered her thanks and looked back to her work.
John hesitated a moment before turning around and quietly slipping out of the room. He would tell her later.
As he opened the door however, Diana burst through and ran over to Alex, gripping the edge of the desk to stop herself from falling.
Alex recoiled away from Diana's flushed face. She started to speak quickly, as that Alex couldn't make out a word the poor girl uttered.
Alex grabbed both her shoulders and forced Diana to look at her, "Diana, calm down. What is it?"
"D-Donavan!" was all Diana could utter.
Alex blinked, assuming that she had heard her wrong, "What did you say?"
Diana took a moment to breathe deeply; John eyed them both curiously from the door. When she had caught her breath she said as calmly as she could, "Donavan is back."
Alex didn't move for a second, but when she did she stood quickly and pushed past Diana, rushing out the door. John could hear her footsteps echo off the walls, and then as they stopped suddenly.
Alex turned the corner and saw Donavan in the hallway.
The now teen boy looked over at her and smiled the same eerie smile that Alex had first noticed about Jack. Like his older brother, Donavan had black hair and eyes, a mark of a pureblood. He would be about sixteen now, he had only been eight when he had left to study in Scotland.
"Hello Alex," he said with a smile.
She took a deep breath and smiled, "Donavan. It's good to see you; it's been a long time."
"Yes, too long." He looked around him carefully, taking in the house, "I see you haven't changed anything since I've been gone."
She continued to smile, although it was becoming increasingly harder, "Not at all." She paused and then asked, "What are you doing back so early, if you don't mind me asking."
He shrugged, "Why would I mind? You're a leader of this house, you could force the information out of me if you really wanted to." He chuckled, "I came back for the gala, I'm interested in seeing who will be the next Eternus Rector will be, aren't you?" he gave her a look that told her he knew perfectly well that it would be Jack.
"We can only wait and see,"
He hung his coat on the rack and stepped closer towards her, "How are you Alex?"
She started, "What?" she asked stupidly.
He smiled sympathetically at her, "I imagine you aren't used to hearing someone else ask you that. Really though, how have you been?"
She bit her cheek momentarily, "Fine,"
"Just fine?"
She frowned, "I don't have anything to feel better about Donavan."
He nodded, "Of course not."
She was reminded each time she saw him how mature he acted. When Jack had been his age he had behaved like a normal teenage boy. But Donavan acted and talked much older than even Alex.
"Do you have an escort for the party yet?" he asked casually.
She forced herself to smile, "I'm going with Jack, you know that. It's—custom."
He smiled, "Please dear, don't act as if custom has anything to do with it." He walked on past her into the kitchen.
Taken aback, she followed him. Watching him examine the top of the ice chest she panicked, not wanting him to open it and ask questions.
"What did you mean by that?"
He paused midway to grasping the handle and turned to her, "Mean by what?"
"Your most recent comment." She said dryly, all etiquette lost now that he had been here for more than ten minutes.
He laughed, "Oh that. Don't ask as if you don't know, everyone else does." She didn't answer and he sighed, "Everyone knows it's a tradition for the two leaders to become…romantically involved. After all, we wouldn't have purebloods then would we?"
Alex was so offended by this that she couldn't find the strength to speak. Yes, it may be true that she and Jack had been involved previously, but it wasn't as if it was serious or committed.
She was still speechless as he brushed by her and collected his luggage, "I'll just show myself to my room, shall I?"
After she had heard him climb the stairs she slumped down into the nearest chair and rubbed her throbbing temples.
John entered the room and saw her, glancing up at the staircase he walked over and pulled up a chair beside her.
"That was him, wasn't it?"
"What do you think?" she snapped back at him.
He wasn't offended by her curtness, "What did he say?"
She was shaking, yet John was afraid to see if she was crying. She was a strong person, and right now she could easily be offended by someone suggesting she was "weak."
She didn't look at him, but she managed to say, "Nothing, nothing at all."
Alex rose quickly, upsetting the table so that it rocked a bit as she left the kitchen almost as quickly as Donavan had.
She didn't go down the hall though, but out into the street.
John stood and went to the shuttered window. Opening it slightly, he was startled to see her sitting on the sidewalk.
And she was indeed crying.
John found Diana finishing up where Alex had left off. He didn't know the young woman that well, and he knew she wasn't a part of their escape plan, but he needed to find out what was going on.
He knew what Donavan had said, but he had hoped that Alex would open up to him and say it herself. Now he knew that that was unlikely.
"Diana?" she looked up quickly, "can I ask you something?"
She put down her pen and eyed him, almost suspiciously, "Yes, I suppose you can. What is it?"
He bit his lip for a moment, "What happened between Jack and Alex?"
She blinked, "Pardon?"
He circled around the chair to the other side of the desk, leaning on his elbows to talk to her, "You know, their history."
She seemed stiff, and for a moment he thought she wasn't going to say anything.
Diana turned back to her papers, but did not move them, staring blankly she said quietly, "She watched him grow up."
Fingering the wood carvings on the armrests of her chair she continued sadly, "They used to be so in love. Then Jack became regent along with her, and things started to change.
"He became power hungry, trying to take over the way his father had. But Alex fought tooth and nail to have things her way, which in turn I suppose was what was best for all of us. Now it would appear that she could care less about him, even to a point where hate seems to arise. She still cares though, you can see it in her eyes how much she still loves him."
Diana looked his way momentarily before turning back to her work wordlessly.
Later that morning, just before the sun rose, John knew that it all made sense. Now that the ball was only a week away, it was all too real for Alex that she would be leaving Jack. If she still loved him – well, that would make it all the harder on the poor girl.
As he lay his head down and closed his eyes, the last thing he saw before he drifted to sleep was the memory of the two of them sitting in the library in front of the fire.
