Ihate weddings.In fact, I hate romance too.Women aren’t worth it.Far too high maintenance.
Fucking?The occasional orgasm?Now that’s worth it.But I’m yet to find a woman that doesn’t bore me to tears after five minutes in her company.So for now, I will grin and bear this farce of a wedding we’re heading to for ‘diplomatic reasons’.And hope I can find some delicious magician pussy to taste.
I peer out of the carriage window.
“Do lighten up, Dahlia, you look like you sucked a lemon,” Xavier says.I give him the middle finger and kick my legs up onto the seat opposite.
Octavia promptly shoves my feet off.“Manners, we’re about to be in the presence of royalty.”
Red nods like she gives a shit.I eyeball her in response and her mouth quirks.Dick.
This place is her second home, she doesn’t care about airs and graces.It’s not like she’s even dressed up.Red’s wearing Hunter Academy combats, her shaggy blonde hair is a mess as usual and her undercut needs trimming!At least Octavia made an effort, she’s wearing a slimline black suit with a corseted waistcoat.Her long hair has been styled into luscious waves, and she’s even wearing a rouge lipstick that matches the colour of her eyes.
I glare at Red and then shoot a poisonous one at Octavia.“I’m allergic to weddings.”
Gabriel, my twin brother, dressed in his usual blood-red suit, is curled up in the opposite corner of the carriage, a book in his hand and three by his feet.He doesn’t bother to look up at me when he says, “No, you just haven’t found a woman high maintenance enough to keep you on your toes.”
I waft a shocked palm over my mouth.“I don’t like high-maintenance women.”
“Yes, you do,” comes a chorus from all four of them.
I open my mouth and close it again.They’re probably right.“Oh, fuck off, the lot of you.”
Xavier pulls a hand through his raven locks.We’re not blood related—well, Gabriel and I are—but the rest of us aren’t.We’re vampire family and yet we all carry the same dark hair, chiselled jaws and ego for days.I’ve always resented the fact our hairstyles are so similar.Regardless of our stunning hair, Xavier seems to have a death wish today.He leans forward and plucks one of Gabriel’s books off the floor and opens the cover.Gabriel—in a feat of speed I don’t think I’ve ever seen—lunges forward and wrenches the book out of Xavier’s hands, then taps him across the cheek with it.It’s a gentle slap, but hard enough to make Xavier’s locks bounce around his head and scruff his long coat collar.
Ooft.
Red and I share a glance.It almost kills me.She looks away, and I fold my lips inside my mouth trying to eat the laugh threatening to spill out.Xavier, utterly fucking dumbstruck, let’s his jaw hang loose.
Gabriel shimmies in his seat, straightening up.“Who does that?Who just takes someone’s book without asking?Get a grip of yourself, Xavier.”
Finally, Xavier blinks the shock away.“You might be my brother, but I will beat you to a pulp if you lay another finger on me.”
Gabriel’s mouth twitches, but he doesn’t deign to look at Xavier.Instead, he keeps his eyes firmly on the words in front of him, which only serves to piss Xavier off further.He glowers at Gabriel, his upper lip curling, a fang dropping.
Octavia touches his forearm, and he snaps out of it.
I rest an arm on Gabriel’s leg, unsure whether it’s comfort for me or protection from Xavier.Gabriel has been more aloof than normal of late.Since he and Keir broke up, he’s drowned himself in his books and research.I rub his leg.I’m not affectionate with my other siblings, but Gabriel and I shared a womb.He’s the only one of my blood relatives alive and just being with him is a sort of solace.
My mind wanders to Sadie, a constant void in our family dynamic.With Mother now human, that void won’t be filled with another child.Mother was one of the original three vampires, along with Octavia and Isabella.But it all got a bit messy a few months ago.Millennia-old secrets and vendettas were revealed and, well, Sadie got caught up in it.
Gabriel swats me away and draws his legs up under his chin.My eyes dart to the empty space.The space for Sadie.It’s the same at home, always a spare seat.None of us have actually talked about it, but we seem to have agreed that keeping a chair at our tables is the right thing to do.It’s like none of us can quite accept she’s gone.
Of course, Octavia does our family dinners now, not Mother.She’s too busy boning her new missus in Ora City.They’re teaching and studying at some morbid university.Fin?No.Finis Academy, I think it’s called.
Anyway, I haven’t visited yet.She’s asked, but what with building the new training facilities in the Hunter Academy, the odd guarding job I’ve had to do plus integrating the hunter and vampire armies into one, I’ve not had a free second.
As if reading my thoughts, Octavia’s crimson-coloured eyes drift to the empty seat.Her features stiffen.
I open my mouth to ask if she’s alright, but Red slides her hand into Octavia’s and asks her something mundane.
I sling my ankle over my knee and fold my arms, staring into the darkness of the tunnels.I’m already over this trip.I’ll be missing three workouts and two nights out with the lads, and for what?Some dumb princess wedding and the façade of political niceties?I get that this is Octavia’s thing, but why did she have to drag us into it?
“Right,” Octavia says, producing a stack of paper.“These are the royals.I want you to memorise their names and faces.”She hands everyone a set of documents, and my eyes scan the images.
They all look delightfully bland until…
There’s a slender blonde in one of the images.A blonde I recognise.
