A/N: oh my god, i thought i had put this up here! how mean am i that i had this chappie done and didn't post it?! enjoy!
Chapter 2: Means to an End
Iris couldn't wipe the grin from her face as she spun and twirled ahead of the Count, humming as she took her cloak from a servant while another gave the Count his cloak, cane and hat. She danced out of the door and half-way down the stairs before turning to see the Count following, calmly.
"I take it you enjoyed yourself?" he guessed with a subtle smirk.
"Oh, I did!" Iris grinned, rushing toward him. "I could have done without 'Sir' Isaac asking me to dance, but the rest of the night was wonderful! Thank you for offering to escort me home."
"It will be my pleasure, Miss Iris," the Count smiled slightly as a black carriage led by four black horses came up to the stairs. He helped her into his carriage and called to the driver, "To the Evans mansion, Bertuccio!" then got in himself, shutting the door behind him.
"I hope your friend, Miss Hale, was not too disappointed that you spent most the time with me," he said as the carriage started moving.
"No," Iris muttered with a slight scowl. "She wasn't."
The Count frowned slightly at her tone and wondered, "That displeases you?"
"Not at all," Iris replied, her tone softening. "It's something else. Nothing to worry about, really. Just something she told me."
"And what was that, if you don't mind my asking?" the Count asked, leaning back in his seat. Iris glanced at him with anxiety written over her features as he waited for her explanation. She looked away from him and out the window to hide her blush. Jenna had suggested something she was not keen on telling the Count. They'd only just met! It would be inappropriate beyond words and thoughts.
"It was nothing of significance, Your Excellency," she finally muttered, still not looking at him. "I'm glad it has stopped raining. Going home in that weather would have dampened my spirits."
The Count smirked in amusement as she changed the subject and decided to leave the other matter alone. He replied, "I didn't think it was possible to dampen your spirits, Iris."
Iris smiled at his compliment then asked, "This business you have in Paris – I'll not ask what it is, but I'm sure you must know someone there. Do you have relatives in Paris?"
"No," the Count replied, now looking out the window himself. "No family, only a few…acquaintances."
The darkness of the Count's tone made Iris want to shiver, but she held it back and gazed out of her window again. Silence reigned the space before it was broken by the Count.
"I am looking forward to our tour of London with yourself and Miss Hale, tomorrow."
Iris shot her gaze to him as he looked at her with a small smile and she swallowed to moisten her suddenly dry mouth.
"Y-Yes," she sputtered. "So am I."
She looked out of her window again, a blush staining her cheeks that made Monte Cristo smirk only slightly.
"I hope my parents will allow me to go," she said, suddenly. "They can't do without me, sometimes."
"Well, I shall have to do my best to persuade them, then," the Count replied, continuing to smirk and drawing her attention again. "I am sure Mr. Hale would not like his daughter being alone with a stranger like myself."
"If you are friends with me, Mr. Hale won't worry if that were the case," Iris smiled. "He knows me to be a good judge of character, and I only make friends with the most charming of people."
The Count chuckled as she nodded her head definitely and said, "Be that as it may, I would very much enjoy your company as well, Iris. You've been most kind and generous to a stranger, and I thank you."
"No, Your Excellency, I should thank you," Iris objected. "It was most kind of you to rescue me from our host this evening."
"You have thanked me for this, Iris," the Count smiled just enough to show his fangs.
"I feel I should repay you somehow," Iris insisted.
"You will," the Count nodded. "Tomorrow, when the three of us take a tour of London…that is how you shall repay me."
The carriage stopped and Iris frowned out the window as she murmured in disappointment, "We've arrived already?"
"I'm afraid so," the Count replied, knowing she didn't need an answer but saying it just the same as he climbed from the carriage. He offered her his hand and helped her from the carriage then escorted her up the steps of the mansion.
"Thank you again, Count, for everything," Iris smiled widely and the Count of Monte Cristo bowed.
"I shall be here promptly at ten o'clock," he assured her and she swallowed again but nodded.
She knocked at the door as the Count headed back down the stairs and she couldn't help but watch him for a moment. The door opened, making her jump and turn back to it as one of the servants welcomed her back home and let her in. The door shut and she raced to her room up the stairs as she heard the carriage driving away. She threw the doors to her balcony open and watched as the Count's carriage drove down the street then leaned on the balcony with a small sigh for a moment and watched it disappear before going back into her room and getting ready for bed.
The Count entered the mansion and tossed his cloak, hat and cane to Ali as Bertuccio followed close behind. He strode toward the study and sat at the desk to look through the papers that were on its surface.
"So, that was Miss Iris, Your Excellency?" Bertuccio guessed, standing in the doorway. Ali had disappeared.
"Yes," the Count replied, not looking up at his servant.
"She seems to be very young," Bertuccio observed. "I would never challenge your judgment, Your Excellency but, are you sure this is the right course of action to take?"
"She is a means to an end," the Count replied, shuffling through the papers a bit. "Nothing more." He finally looked up at his servant who stood at attention. "Tell Haydee I will see her in a moment."
"Yes, Your Excellency," Bertuccio bowed and left to carry out his orders. The Count sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his head. He rummaged through one of his pockets and pulled out an emerald shaped box with blue and red pills. After taking one he stood and walked down the hall to a door where he knocked, softly.
"Come in," came a soft, meek voice. The Count stepped through the doorway to see a beautiful young woman sitting on a silk cushion with long green hair, ghostly pale skin and deep forest green eyes that looked to him as he entered, then lowered in respect.
"Your Excellency," Haydee greeted in a small voice.
"I met Miss Iris Evans today, Haydee," the Count replied, getting right to the point, his hands behind his back. Haydee froze and slowly lifted her gaze back to him as he only stood. "I don't need to tell you how close we are to having our plans in order, do I?"
Haydee only shook her head slowly and the Count gave a quick nod then stepped closer to her.
"Until we leave for Paris, I must ask you to stay out of sight," the Count continued, still walking toward her until he was towering above her and she stared up at him. "I am not convinced that Miss Iris is not of a jealous nature, but I'll not take the risk of her seeing you here, living with me. When she is here, I must ask you to stay in this room. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Excellency," Haydee replied, bowing her head again. The Count gave a small smile and brought a hand below her chin to tilt her face up again then bent down and kissed her forehead, lightly. Haydee gasped silently, feeling his cold lips on her head, but said nothing.
"Sleep well, Your Highness," the Count murmured as he stood tall again and turned to leave when Haydee shot to her feet and stopped him.
"Your Excellency!" she called and he stopped and turned to her with wonder in his mismatched eyes. "May I speak freely?"
"Of course, Haydee," the Count replied, turning to face her fully.
"Please, try not to break her heart, Excellency," she pleaded, the long sleeves of her dress covering her hands as she brought them together in front of her. "I am aware that you see her only as a tool to be aware of your enemy's whereabouts and dealings, but please remember she is just an innocent girl."
There was a long moment of silence before the Count nodded solemnly and replied, "I leave tomorrow to the Evans mansion at nine o'clock in the morning. I shall be out all day. I shall do my best to carry out your request, Haydee. Now, get some sleep."
With that he turned and walked out of the room, leaving Haydee alone once again. She gave a small sigh as she sank back onto her cushion and gazed at her lap in sorrow.
If only he knew how I feel about him, she thought to herself, would he go through with this...all of what he has planned to do?
Monte Cristo strode down the hall and into the master bedroom, stripping off his jacket and tugging at his cravat to get it off. He shut the door behind him and walked toward the dresser, a mirror on the wall above it. He stared at his reflection which many people said he didn't have, thinking he was some sort of deep space vampire. Wouldn't they be surprised to see him staring at now, wondering if Bertuccio was right? What if this was the wrong path to take?
Do not shrink back now, my friend, a dark voice echoed in his head. Your time for revenge is at hand. Miss Evans will soon give you a way toward the Morcerf's and then, your plans will fall perfectly.
"Our plans, Gankutsuou," the Count corrected, unbuttoning his shirt. Sighing he turned to the bed and crawled into it, welcoming sleep. He would need his strength for the next day when Miss Jenna Hale and Miss Iris Evans gave him a tour of London, an invitation he had accepted out of formality and not really with any motivation, save the fact that he would be able to spend more time with Iris.
As he pulled the covers up to his waist he thought of what Haydee had requested of him. If he had been informed correctly, this girl had a connection to all of the people responsible for what had happened to him, and he only saw her as a means to an end, as he had told Bertuccio. He hadn't failed to notice that everyone around him was wary of him using this girl to get to his enemies, but it couldn't be helped. Though, he would try to refrain from breaking her heart. After all, he had promised Haydee he would try, and he always tried his hardest to keep the promises he made to the Princess of Janina, no matter how difficult it would seem to be.
He couldn't help but dwell on Iris Evans before drifting to sleep. He admitted she had beauty, and grace. He had told her that himself, and he had meant it, but it puzzled him that he had a smirk on his face as he thought of her now. He must have been tired, he thought, and shook his head slightly as if to shake away his thoughts, then closed his eyes to sleep.
The next morning...
"Miss Evans!"
Iris looked up from her food as the clock struck nine in the morning and she sat with her mother and father at the breakfast table. Her personal servant, Autumn, was hurrying toward her, her blue eyes wide as she kept them on her mistress, her fire red curls pulled up into a loose bun with a maid's hair band over the top of her head…an envelope in her hand.
"Miss Evans, this just arrived for you," she reported, quickly, and Iris frowned at the servant girl as she took the letter Autumn handed to her. She turned it over and her frown disappeared to be replaced with a subtle yet hardly containable smile.
"Who is it from, dear?" Hannah asked, taking a bite of her food.
"A friend," Iris replied vaguely then looked up at Autumn and said, "Thank you. You may go now." As Autumn curtsied then hurried out of the room Iris turned to her father and asked, "May I be excused?"
"Certainly, love," Leonardo smiled and Hannah looked between the two suspiciously. Iris nearly leapt from the table with a quick 'Thank you' then nearly ran to her room upstairs. Shutting the door behind her she grinned widely to find Autumn already there and the maid raced to her mistress.
"Is it him?!" she asked excitedly in a whisper and Iris only nodded.
They both giggled and they stepped deeper into the room to sit on Iris's bed as she nearly ripped the envelope apart to get to its contents. Iris pulled the letter from the shredded envelope and Autumn looked at it over her shoulder.
My Dearest Iris,
As you may know, I am no good with words of poetry and romance but I am not too proud to tell you that I miss more than any words could ever express. I hope you are having a better time of this than I, being apart from you is more than I can bear at times, but I find myself existing one, agonizing breath at a time. I cannot wait until my friends and I, or perhaps I, alone, make another trip to London, or if you make another trip here, to Paris. I wish I could see your smile again very soon. I shall wait for your reply.
Yours forever,
Franz
Iris sighed after reading it and pressed it to her chest with a huge smile on her lips.
"I must write back to him immediately!" she decided aloud, but at glancing at the clock on her nightstand her shoulders sank with her smile.
"What is it, Miss Iris?" Autumn asked, worriedly.
"Oh, I must get ready," Iris groaned, standing and taking the letter to her vanity to place it in her locked drawer with a few other private things she kept hidden there. "Jenna and I are to be the guides for the Count of Monte Cristo around London."
"The Count of Monte Cristo?!" Autumn breathed, shooting to her feet and Iris frowned at her in wonder after shutting the drawer to her vanity.
"You know of him?" she wondered.
"Oh, yes, Miss Evans!" Autumn confirmed, and pulled her mistress by the hand back to the bed to sit her down as she continued. "He is a self proclaimed Count with money by the carriage-full! Some say he is an alien, others, that he is a vampire from Deep Space! Personally, I am not so ignorant to be fooled by vicious gossip, I'm sure you are not either, Miss Evans."
"A self proclaimed Count?" Iris breathed back, her eyes wide. "Where did he get his money?"
"No one knows," Autumn replied giddily, an aura of mystery in her tone. "The man is a complete mystery that many of the noble women are dying to solve!"
"And I can see why," Iris admitted. "The man is rather handsome and charming."
"You seem charmed by him as well," Autumn noticed with a joking smile and Iris's cheeks were tinged pink as she looked away from her maid. "Surely, he is no Franz d'Epinay?"
"No one is anything like Franz," Iris smiled dreamily, her cheeks tingeing a darker shade of pink. "But, I can see too that there is no one like the Count of Monte Cristo either."
"Oh, please be careful Miss," Autumn requested, taking Iris's hands. Iris looked at the maid in shock. "Thinking of two men at the same time can only lead to trouble, I'm sure!"
Iris smiled and took one of her hands from Autumn's grip to pat the maid's shoulder as she replied, "I shall be careful, Autumn. You need not worry about me."
Autumn sighed in relief then stood with her mistress as Iris went to the closet.
"Now," Iris hummed, shuffling through some of her clothes. "What to wear for an outing around London…?"
"Miss Jenna Hale," a servant announced from the doorway and Iris raced down the steps in a pink satin gown, the bodice trimmed with white lace, along with the square shaped collar and elbow length sleeves, white, lacey gloves on her hands. She met Jenna at the bottom stare and immediately hugged the girl fiercely.
"Alright, Iris, you must tell me everything that happened between you and that dapper Count you were escorting last night!" Jenna immediately said as she pulled Iris toward the parlor.
"Jenna---!"
"Quickly! He'll be here any moment!" Jenna sat them down on one of the sofas and faced sat close to her friend. "Leave out no details! I want every single one of them!"
"There is nothing to tell!" Iris insisted. "I introduced him to some of the people I had met prier to that particular night and he was a gentleman the entire time he escorted me home…he stayed on his side of the carriage."
"Oh, do not play coy with me, Iris!" Jenna grinned, mischievously and Iris stared at her in wide eyed shock.
"Pardon me?!"
"I was very close by when I heard Sir Isaac ask for a dance from you," Jenna explained. "The count wouldn't let you off his arm!"
"Oh," Iris replied, vacantly. "Well, that was a kindness he did for me. I didn't want to dance with him. He was staring at me the entire night!"
"Don't sound so repulsed!" Jenna retorted. "He is a respected man with money and influence!"
"Well, you can pursue him then," Iris shot back. "I have no interest in the man, nor will I ever have an interest in him. I set my standards higher than that of a man who would stare at me as if I were some sort of treat to be eaten!"
"Ah, I see," Jenna nodded in understanding and Iris frowned in wonder at her friend. "There is someone else you'd have look at you that way isn't there? Perhaps our dear Count of Monte Cristo?"
"S-Certainly not!" Iris sputtered, angrily, but her cheeks gave a blush as she turned her nose up the opposite direction of her friend's face and crossed her arms over her chest.
"If that's true, then why are you blushing?" Jenna nudged, and Iris lowered her head slowly, but still didn't look at her friend.
"W-Well," she stuttered and Jenna leaned in slightly. "There is someone. But it's not the Count!"
She turned back to Jenna quickly, her cheeks pinker now at the thought running through her head. Jenna's face lit up and she grasped her friend's hands.
"Who is it?!" she grinned.
"N-No one you would know," Iris replied hesitantly, gazing down at her lap. "He lives in Paris."
"Paris?" Jenna echoed. "Did you meet him when you went there on holiday this past summer?"
Iris nodded then continued, "I…I don't think anything will come of it, though."
"Why not?" Jenna squeaked in disbelief and Iris let out a small sniffle.
"H-He's engaged to married," Iris replied, turning her head slightly toward Jenna but not looking at her. "It was arranged some time before he and I met between his parents and the fortunate girl's parents."
"Why do you call her a fortunate girl?" Jenna wondered, her tone softening as she felt her friend's pain.
"Because he is a wonderful man," Iris smiled, weakly. "One I can only dream of marrying now."
"The Count of Monte Cristo."
The two girls jumped when the servant announced him and they heard his footsteps coming closer to the parlor. They jumped to their feet and Jenna gave Iris her handkerchief to wipe away the small tears that had run down her cheeks but she quickly grabbed the other girl's hand.
"You must swear not to mention what I have just told you to anyone," she whispered urgently, hearing the Count stop at the closed door. Jenna nodded with a wink and Iris sighed in relief. The door opened and the Count tipped his hat to the girls as he entered, the girls curtsying.
"Good morning, Your Grace," Jenna smiled for both of them.
"Good morning, Miss Hale," the Count replied, smiling that charming smile and taking one of her hands to kiss it politely as she gave another curtsy.
"And good morning, Miss Evans," he nodded to Iris as well, taking her hand also and kissing it.
Both girls had not failed to notice the sheer coldness of his lips and it made Iris shudder ever so slightly. The Count frowned at her in wonder as he let go of her hand and she gave a small sniffle.
"Have you been crying, Miss Evans?" he asked in great interest and she shook her head.
"No, no," she lied with a small smile. "I had a speck of dust in my eye. It's gone now, however."
Jenna said nothing as Iris handed her handkerchief back to her friend. Jenna wanted to smirk, seeing what cool lie her friend was but refrained from doing so.
"I must say, you were very prompt, Your Excellency," she said instead, linking her arm around Iris's. "Ten o'clock on the dot!"
"I am hardly ever late for any occasion," the Count replied then turned his gaze to Iris. "Especially when it is an outing on the town with two lovely ladies such as yourselves."
Jenna gave a sideways glance to Iris whose cheeks flared up again and she swallowed when her eyes connected with the Count's intense gaze.
"Well, we shall not disappoint you, Count," Jenna grinned, taking the liberty to link her other arm around one of his and leading them out of the parlor. "We shall only visit the best shops and cafes and restaurants on our tour of London, true Iris?"
"Y-Yes," she managed to sputter as they headed for the door. The blush on her cheeks hadn't died down and she wished it would. She suddenly felt that this outing had been a bad idea after all.
A/N: reviews?
