Eleanora woke up, feeling extraordinarily odd. Her head was light but her stomach was full. She couldn't move; she felt that even throwing her arm over her eyes would cause her to vomit again.
Sebastian was sitting next to her, looking at her with concern.
"Feeling better?" he asked, smoothing her hair back. "I'm sorry, I should have stopped you earlier."
Eleanora groaned and tried to sit up; Sebastian assisted her.
She was in a beautiful, rich room, lying on the marvelous four-poster bed. Everything glimmered with elegance and wealth.
"Where am I?" she whispered.
"This is my bedroom," he said. "I don't think that you should come down again; I'm sure that you're exhausted. The young Master has already retired."
"I'm sorry I ruined your party…"
"Pssh, if we stopped every party just because someone vomited, we would no longer have parties and go to bed at decent hours," Sebastian said. "We'll continue as before, don't worry. Are you feeling any better?"
Her stomach ached with too much food and her head hurt and everything was still a little fuzzy from the wine. Who knew that a non-alcoholic drink could pack such a punch? But still she nodded and forced a weak smile.
"I'm fine. I think I'll feel better if I just lie here for a while. You go back to your party."
"If you're sure," he said and kissed her forehead. "You rest here and try not to exert yourself. I'll check up on you every half-hour or so. If you need anything, just shout."
Eleanora managed a nod and Sebastian left her side. He opened the door and all of the guests immediately fell into the room, shouting. They scrambled up and fled upon seeing his expression.
"What was that?" Eleanora whispered. "What did they want?"
"Eavesdropping," Sebastian sighed. "There are no people in the world quite like family, are there?"
He smiled at her and closed the door behind him. Eleanora settled down into the bed and closed her eyes. She felt too sick to sleep. She wished that she had a book to read…Maybe the butler had packed something in his suitcase. But that would involve rifling through his things without permission. But maybe he would understand if she was bored out of her skull.
She debated with herself over it for half an hour when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," she said, thinking that it was the butler, as promised.
It wasn't Sebastian. It was the woman with a tray.
The man was also there too, but he hung back at the door, looking concerned.
"Good evening," the woman whispered, approaching Eleanora.
"Oh! You speak English?"
"Both of us do," the woman said, setting the tray down on the bedside table. "But most of the ones downstairs don't. The Elders, for example. Never got around to learning a language other than their native tongue, I'm afraid."
She uncovered the tray, revealing a glass of ice water and something that looked like a ball of mud held together with seeds and grass.
"I'm so sorry that you're not feeling well," the woman said. "Naturally we should have considered your fragile human health. But we were just so excited about meeting you! We naturally assumed you were family already."
She helped Eleanora sit up and offered her the water. Eleanora drank it tentatively; she could barely manage a sip before her stomach complained.
"Poor thing," the woman said. "This must have been a rough evening for you. But we haven't even been formally introduced yet! I'm Rose, and that right there is Jean."
She pointed to the man behind her, who grinned and blew Eleanora a kiss.
"I daresay you won't want to eat anything in a long, long time," the woman continued, "but I've brought you some medicine anyway. It'll help settle your stomach and promotes good and fast digestion."
Eleanora wondered what medicine Rose was talking about; she cut the mud ball in half and offered it to Eleanora.
"I know that you can't imagine anything worse than eating," she said upon seeing Eleanora's horrified face, "but just manage this one bite and I guarantee that you'll feel ever so much better in no time."
Eleanora winced, but still obediently opened her mouth and the woman popped the medicine inside.
Ugh, it tasted awful. She was right to compare it to mud; it was like eating dirt treated with manure. Some spice had been added to mask its flavor, but that only made Eleanora want to throw it back up all the more. Maybe that's what the woman meant by "fast digestion." There would be less to digest if half of it was missing.
But she somehow managed to keep it down and the woman smiled at her.
"I'll leave this here for you," she said, removing the water glass from the tray and setting it down on the bedside table. "You don't worry your pretty little head about anything. Could we get you anything else before we go? I'm sure that the company downstairs is already missing us…"
"Could I please have…a book?" Eleanora whispered tentatively.
"Why, certainly!" Rose said and strode over to the bookshelf on the room. "Hm…Hm…Hm…What to choose, what to choose?"
"The Kama Sutra," Jean suddenly said. "Always a fun read."
"No, there'll be plenty of that on the honeymoon."
"The honeymoon!" Jean sighed. "I still can't believe you vetoed my glass room idea."
"Because new couples need privacy," Rose said, giving Eleanora several books, "and they can't get in when they know they're being watched."
"Pffh, as if they'll have any privacy about it afterwards. I won't rest until I get every nitty, nasty detail out of that boy." Jean licked his lips and grinned; his teeth flashed.
"Stop it Jean; you're scaring her. She needs rest, now."
"Certainly," Jean said. "I know better than to toy with an exhausted woman."
They both paused at the door and smiled back at Eleanora, who blushed and stared down at her hands. Jean sniffed.
"Dearest, are you crying?"
"I'm sorry," Jean said huskily, wiping away bloody tears, "I just never thought that I would see the day that Sebastian would get married to really sexy lady."
"Jean," Rose said and touched his cheek. They smiled at her again and were just leaving as Sebastian was entering.
"What did they want?" he asked, sitting next to Eleanora.
"Oh, just to check up on me. Rose gave me some medicine."
"Really?" Sebastian's eyes gleamed. "Did you…like her?"
Eleanora thought back.
"Yes, I actually did," she said. "She's a very kind, lovely woman. And Jean seems nice too…in a weird, erotic way…"
"He's a vampire; what did you expect?" Sebastian shrugged.
"A…vampire? Really? A real vampire?"
"Naturally. Half of my family is vampiric."
"Does that make you half-vampire?"
"No, I'm all-demon."
"But…how can you be all-demon if your father is a vampire?"
"Because when a child is born, it comes out either a boy or a girl. Same for the unholy. I could have been born a girl, but I was born a boy. Similarly, I could have been born a vampire, but instead I was born a demon." He looked at her. "But, in all honesty, did you really like her?"
"I really did."
"I thought that you might be jealous of her or something…"
"No, I'm not. She's very agreeable."
"And Jean? You liked him too? I know he can be a little off-color sometimes…"
"He seemed interesting."
"That makes me so glad!" he said and kissed her forehead again.
"Really? Why?"
"Why wouldn't it?" he said, smiling at her. "Every son loves knowing that his wife will get along with his parents."