Here we are. I still own nothing familiar, especially Mircea's beautiful eyes and Cassie's snark.

girl you just can't dance forever
Chapter 2

Jealousy has only got one friend

And Joey's heart was never meant to mend

Walking faster now she holds him close

The timing matters just to take the dose

I suppose in hindsight I should have timed it better.

I had meant to shift to Mircea's estate, yes, but I had not planned to shift in the middle of the room being occupied by several vampires.

Especially not when a war was going on.

In the moment it took for me to breathe and see my mistake, no less than three vamps were jumping for me, even as I screamed and ducked.

"Stand down!" And somehow they did, one clawed hand mere hair's breath from my neck, another grazing my shoulder.

"Dulceata, how kind of you drop in." I closed my eyes. Just days ago, that voice held warmth and love, a million different shades of affection lacing his words. Now, it was cultured and rich and utterly cultivated.

I opened my eyes as the vampires backed away, looking at the form of my current host: Mircea Basarab, a member of the North American Vampire Senate, the current general of the Vampire army, and a proud family man. And, oh yeah, the latest in a line of people that I was in a "it's complicated" relationship with.

We had met when I was a kid, and then later when I was an adult, a series of increasingly complicated and often convoluted series of circumstance had made our fragile trust and connection deepened until we had the supernatural equivalent of a Vegas drunken elopement, complete with the awkward "Let's see how this works" relationship attempts.

It had been going so well, until I fell in love with my bodyguard and trainer and secretly spent most of my time trying to get him back and Mircea's own secrets had come to light.

He was dressed impeccably like usual, in a tailored suit that oozed charm and power. I wondered briefly if he was coming or going to an event, and then decided it didn't matter. "Can we talk alone?"

Mircea didn't move, but the vampires filtered out of the room. His eyes assessed me, no less beautiful than I remembered, but much cooler than I had ever seen them, and somehow that was enough for me to want to take a step back before I remembered myself.

I took a breath, and decided to break the silence. "So Rian gave me something interesting today."

"Did she now?" I had thought I was calm, but his voice, curious and amused, brought back the cold fury and tangled emotions from when I first realized what was happening, before I had calmed down and vowed to try to reason with him.

"Yes. A book with a particularly elegant note." I waited to see what he would say, but he just raised an eyebrow, and that was all it took. "You're BLACKMAILING ME!? Really, Mircea? Really?"

He let out a breathe, lifting the glass to his lips. "I'm not blackmailing you." He sipped. "...Yet." I felt my heart clench. "I'm merely opening negotiations."

My jaw worked, but all I could say was "What?"

"How is the mage, anyways? I imagine his soul needed quite a rest after that experience." His lips stayed in that perfectly amused, neutral shape but even I could hear the sneer, the snarl of his lip that wanted to eek out.

I narrowed my eyes. "He's doing good. Shall I tell him you wish him a speedy recovery?"

"Tell him whatever you'd like. I do wonder, though, what secrets you keep from him."

"You are not one to talk about secrets, Mircea!" I was furious, all thoughts of calm and reconciliation flying from my head in the face of his arrogance. "I am NOT the only one who kept secrets! It wasn't my secret to tell you!"

"No?" His voice was calm, but I knew his signs by now. The crinkle in his eye, the overly perfect tilt of his head...he was furious too. "I asked you directly who he was, where you have been, and you did not tell me, you avoided me rather than tell me the truth!"

"Truth is so weird coming from you, a professional liar!" I don't remember marching towards him, but I had. " Oh Cassie family is the most important thing, this is my evil brother, this is my good brother, these are my chosen children, THIS IS MY HALF HUMAN ACTUAL DAUGHTER. Daughter, here is the Pythia and someone I care about, please don't ATTACK HER IN THE MIDDLE OF A CROWD."

He slammed the glass down, somehow restraining himself from breaking it. "That is different. Dorina is a complicated subj-"

"Oh, so it's complicated when it comes to your secrets but mine are just simple right. Poor, stupid, gullible Cassie, who you use to make the Vampires look better in the eyes of the world, but can't even tell her about a daughter or that you gambled on her to make damn sure you got what you wanted?"

He glared at me, finally angry enough that his emotions were as on display as mine were. "And I suppose you think that you're so communicative? Disappearing for days at a time, abandoning your office and your court-"

"-ABANDONING?"

"-Making reckless decisions and ignoring the very war your mother started just to save some mage that tried to killed you more than once!"

"His name is PRITKIN. And I haven't abandoned anything, I needed him back to help with the war!" He snorted and turned away. "And I haven't ignored the war, I've fought it-even when you've been here, plotting ways to negotiate with me instead of helping me!"

He scowled and turned back to me, taking one slow step forward. "I haven't helped you?"

"Not without something to gain" I declared angrily, and he actually flinched back, before a darkness came over his eyes, the look of someone struggling to conceal his emotions.

"I may be pragmatic, Cassandra, but I assure you, my loyalty to you has cost me more than I have proven to gain. I have risked my life and my position for you more than once."

"Our whole relationship has been nothing more than you doing what you think is best without consulting me, and then when I happen to do the same thing, you withdraw and threaten those I lo-care about!" I had almost slipped, that was not good.

His eyes went hard and if I thought he was restrained before, it was nothing to the tension in his body now. "My message to you could hardly be considered a threat." His voice was clipped and colder than I'd ever heard.

We were so close, I could see all the different hues of his eyes, the curves of his lashes, and every inch of his perfect lips. Once, I had felt nothing but safety and excitement standing this close to him, but now as tears gathered in my eyes I couldn't feel anything but the last burst of anger that preceded a total numbness.

"You absolute jerk." I whispered. "You ruined absolutely everything."

For the first time he let his lip snarl with disgust-or maybe it was impatience. I wasn't about to give him the benefit of the doubt this time. "I assure you, I'm not the one who made a mess of things dulceata."

I couldn't stop the tears then. The last happy childhood memories, the last illusions of a happily ever after with him, my first love, all of our in between moments of laughter and connection and peace gone because each and every moment was now suspect to his ambition.

"YOU TAINTED EVERYTHING!" I screamed, relishing the look of pure shock on his face as I shifted away.