"That was a really mean thing to do."
Only after getting out of the locker room did I notice that my schedule had two hours of training back to back, but I wasn't planning on going back there. It would take the edge off my leave if I quietly snuck back.
So I ended up in the library, recounting what has happened to Lizzie.
"Why? He was the one objectifying me first." I argued.
"Only because of those… harlots. That's not the real Sin."
Lizzie was determined to prove that Sin was a good guy, but there is no way in hell, I could be convinced. We're talking about the bloody prince of parasites, not some sort of Robin Hood.
"So you're saying that I hurt his majesty's feelings. Boohoo. He'll get over it."
I was getting more and more annoyed.
"Why are you always so hostile towards him? Yes, he had a couple of silly remarks, but nothing too serious. He's a bit of a playboy, but that's only one of his characteristics."
Because he's a useless vampire, I wanted to blurt out, but I had to remind myself that I wasn't talking to my best friend, Cleo. I was talking to a girl I just met an hour ago. I had to come up with something believable.
"I don't know."
I hid my face in my palms, deciding to play the innocent card myself. It will be hard to pull off after what I just with Sin, but I was fast out of ideas at the moment.
"I guess he confused me." I unnoticeably smeared my thumbs across my eyes to make them look irritated and watery.
"Confused you?"
"Look, I just flew on a plane for the first time, got to a whole different continent, and the first vampire I met threatened to magic rape me into a rare dinner."
I looked into Lizzies eyes across the table and I saw her slowly crack under my amazing performance. "I have no clue what's happening. I want to go back to my family. Everyone pretty much hates me here already. I don't know what to do, other than fight."
Lizzie got up from her chair to join me on the sofa. She hesitantly pulled me into a hug and when I didn't protest, she slowly circled her hand on my back, soothingly.
I was happy that she was such a nice person. They are much easier to manipulate.
"I'm so sorry, I never thought about it that way." She was talking soft and slow, like one would to a child.
"It's fine." I untangled myself from the hug. Acting or not, there is such a thing as too much physical contact. "I guess Cain will now hate me for all eternity." I said, before thinking. I couldn't care less what that moron thought about me. I only needed one of the brothers for my plan.
"Don't say that. I'm sure you two can sort this out." Her eyes suddenly changed from empathic to happy.
Oh no.
"And I know just how you could do that. You have to have lunch with us. We eat in the separate part of the restaurant. Everyone will be there, J, Dam and Sin. You can talk over some nice food and end this animosity."
I nearly started to protest, but I felt my stomach complain. I used up some energy that was waiting to be replenished. And I had nowhere better to go. The school – or at least the girls – hating me was the truth. I could've strangled a puppy in front of their eyes to lesser impact.
Private lunch suddenly sounded really inviting.
"Okay." I said.
Lizzie smiled at me reassuringly.
"The break will begin soon. If we head down early, maybe we can get something sweet beforehand. That helps to brighten the spirit."
She quickly packed three big, hardcover books into her backpack, then we headed down to the canteen.
It looked like a fairly normal one, except the decoration was done in the usual black-red, and the food looked and smelled appetizing. They were already serving the lucky ones who didn't had to waste time by showering and changing after class.
"We're going this way. Follow me."
Lizzie led me to the back where a door was hidden behind some red drapery. The same as in the class room. Someone on the design team watched one too many mystery films.
The room we arrived into was much more like what I was expecting from the heads of the kingdom. The space was smaller, with only one big table in the middle, and four chairs. The walls were lined with soundproofing, and there was slow music playing from somewhere. The room was dimly lit, using artificial candles for added coziness.
Lizzie sent the waiter to fetch a chair for me. It quickly arrived, so there must be a storage room of sorts somewhere close by. That was good to know.
We sat down and looked through the menu. After a couple pages, I was desperately looking for something that wasn't in another language, still keeping the hope alive in my heart that I would find pizzas hidden somewhere on there.
"So, are you in a mood for something sweet before the boys arrive?"
"No, thank you. In fact, I'll wait for them with the ordering. Just to make sure they won't have me thrown out."
Lizzie furrowed her brows in the cutest way I've ever seen.
"They would never do that."
"We'll see."
We haven't had to wait too long for the boys to show up.
"…and Greg just caught it with his bare hands, even when we yelled him that it's fricking poisonous. He just stood there with that stupid face, eyes wide open…ah, Lizzie."
J was apparently in the middle of the story, but as soon as he entered he went to Lizzie and gave her a steamier kiss than I was comfortable with. But I was the guest here, so I sat on my mouth for once in my life.
"Who invited her here?"
Sin was the first one to notice me, trying to blend into the shadows, unconsciously backing up from our happy couple.
"I did." Lizzie spoke up, breaking free from J's lips, but still in his embrace.
"And would you tell me why in hell?" He nearly shouted at the poor girl.
I was happy for the soundproofing.
"Turn down yourself a notch, man, this is Lizzie you're talking to." J came to her defense immediately.
I saw Sin's face shift as he looked at the tiny girl standing up to him. He went from furious to apologetic in the fraction of a second.
"I'm sorry Liz, I didn't mean to shout at you."
"It's okay." Lizzie smiled at him, and with that, the drama was over. Or so I thought.
"Sin is right. What brings you here Ava?" Damian asked with a neutral tone. Now when did I piss him off?
"I came to apologize to Cain." Sin grunted.
"First, I told you to call me Sin. I'm not fond of my real name." I nodded. That I can do. "Second, don't you think it's a little too late? You ruined my reputation."
"That's exaggerating." Damian chimed in, being the voice of reason. "Your reputation is so massive, this little incident barely made a dent."
"And most people think it was staged anyway." Said J, with his face already buried in the menu. He wasn't too concerned about the outcome of this situation.
"But I know it wasn't." Sin answered, not letting the anger go. "How in the hell did you do that anyway?"
"First, Sin, I weigh much less then you do, and I'm smaller. Easier to keep in the air. Second, I'm a witch, so I can boost myself with energy if needed. Third, I trained a lot on the rings back home. The deck was stacked against you from the beginning."
Sin calmed down a bit as he thought the whole thing through.
"She's right. I don't know why you took this bet in the first place." Damian said, sitting down at the table. He clearly had enough of our bickering.
"I just saw an opportunity, okay?" Sin took a last look at me before sitting down and patting the last chair, between him and Damian.
I was too hungry to argue.
"You clearly have to learn more from mom about opportunities. Evaluation before execution, don't you remember?"
"Yeah, yeah." He said dismissively to Dam, then turned to me." You're forgiven. Try not be such a nuisance in the future."
"I can't promise anything." I said, tackling the foreign menu once again. "And hey, you did brake your previous record."
Sin broke into laughter, and it was a more pleasant sound than I expected, rich and deep. It suited him.
"Yes, I guess I did."