They screamed and felt their hearts pounding against their chests. Their nails dug painfully into the soft foam and their eyes were vastly expanded. Lola screamed and Melissa slammed the pillow onto her face and buried her screams into the velvet cover.
"How are you not scared right now?" Melissa asked, her voice muffled by the pillow that she refused to remove from her face- it acted like a protective barrier between her and the demons on the screen.
Ed chucked gravely and turned with the brightest smile.
He shrugged and pouted his lips. "I don't get scared easily, especially by things that are contained in a TV," the girls shivered and Lola whined as she pressed herself onto Melissa.
"I wish," she said and burrowed closer to Melissa who was pressed further against Ed. He didn't mind being squished against the side of the couch because he loved her closeness and to feel as though he was protecting her the more she pressed onto him.
Ed reached around, his hand tugged against her waist until it finally rested around her body.
Melissa sunk onto him, not out of fear of the movie but because she felt safe and comfortable with him.
The movie ran its course, the people survived and the possessed woman was exorcised- all's well and ends well. Melissa grabbed the remote and paused when the credits started playing. She turned to Lola and her hands fell onto her lap.
"I've now allowed you four hours of uninterrupted distraction but it's time we talk about the elephant in the room," She said and reached for the paper that Mrs. Blackwood had given to Lola.
"It's three pages about the hope instilled in the lower class, you're being depicted as some kind of success, cinderella story," Melissa added. She opened to the first page that talked about them.
"Lola Graves, an orphaned community college student who fell into the lap of one of the country's most eligible bachelors- Jax Blackwood. This tale of true love was as honest as the commitment they made to each other when they after only a week of dating decided to tie the knot in a family-only function. A true princess fairytale, a girl who had nothing suddenly in possession of everything..." Melissa stopped reading and looked up at Lola's disgusted expression.
"What do you want me to say?" Lola asked.
"I don't get it, do you not want to be married to him?" Ed asked. This probably wasn't the best time to be discussing this matter but Ed was harmless, he was kind and caring and Lola could see that he was good to Melissa.
"It's not that, I'm just a little lost on the whole Blackwood family propaganda," Lola explained.
"It talks about you like a saint, a lot of little girls are going to look up to you thinking they can bag a Blackwood," Melissa smirked.
"I would rather they look up to you and study to became a lawyer or something else that they choose for themselves. Not just be someone's wife," she hated that this was the message now attached to her identity.
This was what people would see her as, the wife of Jax Blackwood, a girl who was nothing before he graciously agreed to wed her. They wouldn't know the truth, nobody would because it wouldn't look as good and also because humans had no clue that vampires and werewolves walked amongst them.
"You know you're going to have to talk to him," Melissa said gently.
"I know, but you saw him tonight, he's changed."
Melissa nodded in agreement.
"He's angrier," she said.
It was 2 am when they sat on the couch in Melissa's living room and talked about the Blackwood mess though they couldn't talk about everything seeing as Ed still hadn't been clued in on much of it.
"Could you please grab me a soda?" Melissa asked and batted her eyelashes. Ed smiled and got up without hesitation.
She watched him disappear into the kitchen before leaning in.
"What was that vampire doing there?" She hissed.
"What all the others have tried, he wanted me. But this was different, Jax said that he had someone put a spell on me to mask my scent and that Cyrus shouldn't have been able to find me, no vampire should've."
"Spell? As in magic?"
They didn't speak, both were in disbelief over yet another supernatural creature walking this earth and it was becoming a little much for either of them to handle. Melissa was now enjoying her first dating experience with a guy who seemed like a healthy choice with no apparent red flags.
Lola however was still smacked down in the middle of the supernatural mess that now was her life and on each corner stood a creature that wasn't human.
They heard Ed's footsteps returning into the living room.
"What's this?" He asked and they turned to see him holding the pendant from Elwina.
"It's a necklace, I got it from this woman a while ago,"
"What woman?"
"A stranger actually," Melissa said.
"I like it," He said gleefully and looked enchanted at the stone in the middle.
Melissa took it and held it in her hands. She left it at home most days because of the fact hat it hurt Lola and also because it was gaudy as hell.
***
Jax and Ash were back in the study at the mansion and going over the many traces they had on the vampires and Lucien. All of them, however, would send them in different directions.
"Nothing says where Lucien could be,"
"Nothing says who Lucien even is," Ash spat and threw the papers down.
Many werewolves had heard about Lucien as the biggest and baddest of the vampires. The leader of the biggest clan with the largest following. Nobody knew why he kept turning humans but he wasn't ever seen long enough to be asked either.
A few unlucky ones had seen him but they weren't alive long enough to tell about it.
"We should've known that he was the one who wanted your girl. She's the ultimate power source, the only thing that can tip the scale between them and us." Ash said.
"You think he wants her for her healing abilities?" Jax asked.
"I don't think he wants her for good company,"
They continued scaling through the papers to see if anything popped up that could be of actual help.
In every story and myth that had been written down Lucien was referenced as the mighty. In vampire lore, he was the strongest, most inhumane of them all, and cared about little other than his army of vampires. He would hold trials for humans to test them on their strength both physical and mental and in the end, he would turn the strongest ones. It was said that he seduced women, brought them back to the clan, and had his way with them- and the ones that he didn't turn would be given to the members of the clan to enjoy.
It said nothing about how he looked, how old he was, or where he had been seen; nothing about his origin or his family either.
But one thing was for sure and that was the fact that Lucien had a way for his vampires to walk in daylight.
Clay had been in Wild Cliff during the day, the sun was out and he walked around like it was nothing. This made them unpredictable and even more dangerous.
Ash was casting looks at Jax while they dug through the mountain of papers.
"What is with you lately?" He asked.
Jax looked up, his brow rose and he shook his head.
"What do you mean?"
"You've been on edge and closer to fits than I am. It doesn't suit you,"
Jax chuckled and put the papers in a neat pile when there was nothing more to learn from them.
He sucked his teeth and his eyes glimmered when he smiled.
"I don't know man, I guess it's been taking a toll on me but I'm starting to feel better."
Ash leaned back and crossed his arms.
"Really? And why is that?"
"It's like this weight is being lifted from my chest. Like I can finally breathe you know?"
Ash stared bewilderedly searching his cousin's face.
"What weight is being lifted when nothing has been sorted?"
Jax sighed and his shoulders rose as he crossed his arms and mimicked Ash's position.
"I can't explain it, it's just a feeling but you'll see soon cousin. Everything will be just fine,"