Damon Wright kissed me.
He kissed me.
Those were the words that kept resounding in Caelia's head. The kiss must have lasted at least thirty seconds, because she pulled away as quickly as it had happened, frozen with shock.
Damon didn't apologize for it, in fact, he looked a little too smug about it.
He just ran a hand through her hair and told her, "Happy New Year Caelia."
After that, they had gone home shortly. In silence.
He had dropped her off at the house and drove out, claiming he had to pick something up at his office.
She had gone back to her room and tossed and turned all night.
Wondering what it meant.
Wondering why he had kissed her.
.........
The Wrights were still not home. Even Damon wasn't back ever since he dropped her off. Caelia had been left all alone with Margaret who had grew more bitter towards her since she left with Damon.
Margaret gave her another lecture on boundaries and learning her place as a maid, and this lecture must have lasted at least an hour, but she had barely been listening, because she couldn't stop thinking of last night.
The kiss. She couldn't understand it. She didn't understand why he would kiss her.
Why did he kiss me?
Why was he kissing me?
What was he thinking of?!
If she told Greta, Greta would probably tell her to run and that it was a trap or something. She would have warned her over and over again to stay away from him and his kind. Rachel would be ecstatic and tell her to take advantage of the situation. Her mother would warn her to stay away, with good reason too. And she, well she didn't know what she would do, all she knew was that the more she spent time with him, the more she ended up even more confused.
Later in the evening, her mother got back to the Wright household after her short leave and Margaret didn't waste any time in reporting the fact that she went out with Damon to her mother.
Barely moments later, her mother called her out to the garden. Her heart beat louder and faster as she approached the garden, she couldn't stop thinking about the things her mother would say to her.
"Caelia..."
"Mum."
"What are you doing Caelia?! This isn't why you're here."
Her mother looked exhausted. How was it possible that she came back from a break looking even more tired?! There were eye bags underneath her eyes and her face looked dull, like someone had sucked all the color out of it. Taking care of her aunt must have been hard alone.
Her mother was a beautiful woman. In her time and age she had looked just like Caelia, only that she must have even been more beautiful. Her father was a deadbeat and her mother had fallen stupidly in love with him.
She didn't finish her high school or go to college, so she was limited to menial jobs.
Working with the Wrights was one of her best accomplishments, because the pay had been good enough to take care of her and her aunt.
And now years later, after Caelia had sworn that she would retire her mother and get her out from working under the Wrights, she was still there... only that this time, Caelia was working there too.
"It was just one time."
Caelia answered.
Her mother gave her a pointed look, she looked dissapointed.
"I know I don't say much. But this isn't the first time I've heard you were with Damon."
"I know he gives you books and you talk to him and now this outing that just happened... Caelia, I want you to be very careful."
"I am being careful. I know my place."
She persisted.
"Do you? Do you really know?!"
"These people... you don't know them... you don't know what they can do..."
Wait.
Did her mother know? Did she know what the Wrights really were or was she just speaking generally?!
"What do you mean? What can they do?"
Her mother ignored her question, Caelia could tell that she was hiding something from her, she just had to be sure of what it was first.
"You know how Mrs Wright is. I can't even imagine her hearing this..."
"Mum..."
"Stay away from Damon Wright. Believe me it's for your own good... if I could get you far far away from here... believe me I would."
Her mother sighed.
"Just trust me on this. Reject any advances he makes towards you. Don't see him, don't talk to him, don't as much as look at him. I will tell Margaret to stop assigning you to his room."
"What?! Mum you don't have to go that far!!"
"I can and I will."
Her mother said sternly.
"I'm only trying to protect you. I hope you never understand why I'm doing this."
With that, her mother walked away.
............
"This is unheard of."
Laurene murmured.
The three of them were huddled together in the small living room. Olivia had brought a bottle of wine from the bar and generously poured it out for all three of them. It was the first time they were entertaining Laurene ever since the ball, she had invited them for her mother's new year soirée.
"How could she treat your brother in such way, how could she run away?!"
She added and Olivia shrugged.
"I have no idea. But everyone's been out looking for her, you know the ritual is not complete."
"But does he have to complete it though?!"
"Can't he just go ahead and find a new bride?! I mean if your brother didn't pick her I would have been a very willing candidate."
Sophia rolled her eyes.
"Yes yes. We know. You've declared your interest towards our brother many many times. One more time and it just becomes even more embarrassing than it already is."
Laurene scoffed.
"Well, it looks like there's no hope in finding her is there?! Might as well look for another solution."
"I saw her."
Sophia finally said and Olivia and Laurene turned towards her.
"You did?! You never told me!"
Her twin exclaimed and Sophia nodded.
She had been thinking and thinking of what to make of the interaction. She had gone out for a feed, with one of the few hypnotized humans at the ball on her arm. She was supposed to wait after midnight before she fed on him, before the celebration was done but she didn't. She dragged him to the gardens and fed on him.
Then the girl in the red dress had run towards her. Sophia looked up and saw her, even with the girl's mask, she could read her expression clear enough.
The look of horror on her face, the way her jaw slacked and how she froze for seconds before she composed herself.
Sophia was confident she was human.
"Well I didn't want to. I was feeding before the stroke of midnight, I didn't want anyone to make a big deal out of it."
Olivia rolled her eyes.
"You've always been unable to control your urges."
She murmured. Sophia ignored her.
"Well when she looked at me she looked very shocked. It was weird."
"Why was it weird."
Laurene asked.
"She looked like a deer in headlights, like she had never seen someone feeding off a human before."
"Kind of like that look prey gets when they see a predator."
She emphasized. Olivia narrowed her eyes and folded her arms.
"What are you trying to say?"
Olivia persisted.
Sophia sighed.
"I think our missing bride might be human."
................
Like Caelia's mother had warned, Caelia was prohibited from working or going to Damon's room, but her conscience kept pricking her. She could not stop thinking about the kiss and she was even more confused about it as time went by.
At noon, while everyone was busy with one thing or the other and Damon had arrived late in the night and went straight into his room, Caelia had followed him, taking advantage that no one was watching and sneaking into his room.
Luckily, he wasn't asleep yet. He was unbuttoning his shirt, she noticed a dark stain at the corner of it, Damon quickly took off the shirt, leaving only his white tee on.
"Caelia. Is everything alright? What brings you here?!"
He asked with concern lacing his tone.
"Why did you do it?!"
She didn't have to explain further, because the look on Damon's face told her that he knew what she was talking about. But he gave no reply.
"Is it because I'm a maid? Is that why you did it? Because you think I'm easy or something?"
She asked and Damon quickly frowned.
"Oh God no!"
"Caelia! I don't think like that. I have never thought you were easy or anything."
That reply gave her more relief than she let see, but she still needed to know why.
"Then why?! Please just tell me why you kissed me."
Damon sighed.
"Isn't obvious?"
He asked as he chuckled.
Caelia folded her arms as he walked closer to her.
"I'm afraid it's not."
She muttered.
He moved close to her, close enough for her to smell his cologne and look at him closely. His dark hair, those piercing eyes and those lips. God, she couldn't believe that he had kissed her with those lips.
"I looked at you and in that moment all I wanted to do was kiss you. I didn't want or need anything more than that. I just had to kiss you."
He gently caressed her cheek, Caelia froze, unable to pull away.
"There's something about you Caelia. I don't know what it is, but it keeps pulling me in."
Before she could withdraw from his grasp, his arms were around her, as sure and hard as it had been that night at the ball. She felt again the rush of helplessness, the sinking yielding, the surging tide of warmth that left her limp, much like the first time he had kissed her. Damon bent back her head across his arm and kissed her, softly at first, and then with a swift gradation of intensity that made her cling to him as the only solid thing in a dizzy swaying world. His insistent mouth was parting her shaking lips, sending wild tremors along her nerves, evoking from her sensations she had never known she was capable of feeling. And before a swimming giddiness spun her round this time, she was kissing him back.