I remembered the fact that I was trespassing. And judging by the way she radiated hostility, this time around, she might call the police for real. I got down from the tree in one jump, a bit surprised at the height I had reached.
I needed to set things right with her.
"Elizabeth, honestly, is this how you welcome your guests?" The words were awkward, almost a joke. And, jokes were not my thing.
"Are you trying to be funny?"
Trying and failing, yes.
"No? Then are you stalking me?" Ever so cruel.
"No," I answered her in a hurry this time, my voice was sincere. "I wouldn't come uninvited if it was any other day." I just wanted to make sure she was okay.
She glared at me, not appreciating my sincerity. Her eyebrows came together now. Was she about to throw me out?
After a long moment, she looked away.
"You're getting better at controlling your telepathic abilities, I can't hear your thoughts left and right now. It means you can keep what you don't want me to hear for yourself."
That was the best thing I heard all day long. I decided to give it a shot, suddenly afraid that I had lost the talent somehow if she couldn't hear me.
'Look at me,'
She complied, glaring some more.
"Why did you come here?" She snapped. "Wasn't what your father did in that forest enough?"
"Which time around?" I snapped back at her. She looked confused, how could she not? She probably had no idea about what happened to me seven years ago.
"Look, I came because I wanted to make sure that you're okay." Honesty was, as I hoped, the best policy.
She looked even angrier.
Elizabeth was key to any plan I would come up with to get mom back. Even if it was going to take some effort to make things right with her, there was no way around it. I needed to remember my resolve to win her alliance, it was the first thing I had to do.
The two yellow-eyed vampires came into my peripheral vision then. That's when she turned her back on me. She began to walk away.
"Let's just go in." She said as she walked.
"In. You mean. Through the front door?"
Her laugh rang like a bell. Her mood flipped 180. "Mi casa, su casa!" she said. I already knew what that one meant before the whole polyglot thing. Not that I was complaining, it was cool.
She continued to walk without bothering to check if I was following her or not. but then if I was some kind of a red dot to her, she didn't have to. I was about to follow her but decided to look at the yellow-eyed vampires before that, I was taken aback when they both nodded in acknowledgment at me. I nodded back by default, regretting it immediately.
I took one stride to follow Elizabeth but then stopped. "Where is he," I demanded.
She stopped, turning only her neck around to look at me. "Where would the two kings be after today's fiasco? Why with the elders, of course. Not that you have any idea what I'm talking about anyway." She shook her head in disbelief.
"Do I annoy you that much?"
"You have no idea." She answered smoothly, not even flinching when I flinched.
I ended up following her lead.
The home's entire layout was even more incredible on the inside. At least the parts that we walked through. We had already passed by two kitchens, the main one could comfortably seat 30 people and had high-end finishes and appliances. It wasn't a tour around the mansion, but there was no corner that I passed by where I wasn't taken aback by something.
I vaguely wondered where the heck she was taking me as we both walked in silence.
We had reached a hallway, there was a huge chandelier in the middle and wood floors continued following the same pattern as the rest of the mansion. Most rooms on either side of it had closed doors, the one that had an open door was a library. I half imagined that she'd take me there, but she passed that and moved forward. We continued walking until she finally opened one of the doors to the left.
This place was unbelievable.
It was a multi-seat movie theater, meant for group viewings, I assumed. Whatever interested vampires enough to have a room like that in here?
She stood there with her hands crossed over her chest, amplifying her collarbones, my eyes rested there long until her sultry voice called for my attention.
"Extravagant, right?" She looked smug, irritating me.
"Too flashy for my taste," I lied.
"So perfect is too flashy for you?" She arched her eyebrow, the way I liked.
She was right, the place was awesome. "People who try too hard to show off, they're usually compensating." I gestured with my hands in a round motion. That selfish prick lived here after all.
"I redecorated the entire place last summer." Her face was too serious for her to be joking. But she didn't blink an eye in the face of my offense. She went on as if I hadn't said anything "It features 10 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, plenty of entertaining space, and great views." She sounded like a real estate agent, extra cold, extra professional.
"Now let me ask again, what are you doing here?" There was no anger this time, no temper either, she only sounded hurt, my heart picked up the pace at that thought. I closed the distance between us and stopped one foot away from her.
"What did he do to you?"
"You didn't need to come all the way here to ask." She didn't answer my question and her eyes were too blank. "You know what's my main problem with you?"
"Wow, that's just, it sounds like you have a list there…" I laughed the awkwardness off but she didn't join me.
Damn it.
"You keep missing the obvious," Her doe eyes looked at me with dismay. I had no comment on that. I was a person who focused on what mattered to me, that was all.
"Were you unaware of the fact that you were Astral Projecting on a daily basis?"
"Astral what now?"
"Did you think you were dreaming of me then?" She looked horrified.
"Um, no, I figured out I somehow came to you, at night." I rubbed my neck twice, embarrassed. "But you never communicate with me there, wherever that is." I threw an accusation her way, trying and failing to embarrass her too.
"I try to discourage your unhealthy habits. You were dragging me there with you every time. I have my own schedule to follow." She tapped her fingers over her elbow.
How could she be so heartless?
"Things will be much easier when you've fully awakened." She continued, sounding even more confident than how she usually does. "How old are you again?" She asked.
What?
I narrowed my eyes at her "We're the same age."
Aren't we?!
She laughed like an angel wearing a devil's smile "You wish."
She was laughing at me.
She was making a big mistake.