Silver Eyes Ch. 10

Annette smiled to herself as she got off the phone. It had been three weeks since she started seeing Sebastian and it had been the best three weeks of her life, she had to admit. Even Olivia had grudgingly conceded to the fact that Annette had never been as happy as she was now with him since she met her.

It was a Thursday and Annette had been haggling with David all week to go off early so that she could surprise Sebastian at his home. She had been there on several occasions so she was pretty certain she knew how to get there on her own. She looked at her bedside clock and noticed that she had less than an hour to get to work. She considered ringing Olivia to ask if she could borrow a top from her then remembered that she was probably still at work. She smiled sneakily to herself as she went to Olivia's room. She was simply going to have to 'help' herself to something there and return it later. Not like Olivia would mind anyway, she was always taking her stuff without asking.

She opened Olivia's door and put on the light not noticing the bed was occupied. Next thing, she saw a tousled red-haired man squint at her and she let out an involuntary squeak.

'Aak!'

'Babe, you're back early...' The man muttered in a sexy voice then widened his eyes as he realised it was not Olivia, 'Fucking Hell.' He swore then quickly covered himself up as much as he could.

'Shit, shit, shit.' Annette said out loud putting a hand over her face as she edged towards Olivia's wardrobe, 'What are you doing here? Don't you have a job?'

'Yeah, I do. But as I'm the owner of my company I reckon I can do whatever I like.' He said, recovered from his near faux pas.

'Oh...oh well. I just need to get something...' She quickly said as she rummaged through Olivia's clothes. Thank the Lord Olivia was anal-retentive about her clothes and had them all arranged in colour codes and what-not. Once she found the top she was looking for, she half-sobbed to herself in relief and rushed out the room without a word.

Talk about embarrassing. It was a good thing her blushes were not visible as she was sure she would have been red throughout their awkward conversation.

She sighed to herself as she dropped the top on her bed. Back to more important things like what make-up to take with her to get ready for what she called the 'night of sexual bliss'. She giggled out loud to herself at that name; talk about cheesy.

Soon, she was ready for work. Although clad in her ubiquitous back t-shirt and short denim skirt, she was ready for the main event that night with her stolen gold spangly top and a miniscule black skirt. She already had on her one and only sexy lingerie that she had skimped and saved to buy from La Perla and she knew for a fact that it did wonders for her body. Why, she was positive she had lost some weight as she had tried on Olivia's top before and it had been extremely tight, making her cleavage look obscene, but now it fit perfectly.

She hummed a happy tune to herself, 'What a wonderful world', as she put all her make-up stuff in her bag. Smoky gold eyeshadow, check; Clinique mascara, check; pale rose blusher, check; her favourite cherry scented lipgloss, check; and last but certainly not least, what she could not do without, her Mac powder.

She smiled widely to herself, she was certainly ready. She slung the big bag with her clothes, sexy gold stilettos and make up over her shoulder and walked to the living room. She stopped short as she saw Angus with Olivia's bathrobe looking shrunken wrapped round him making a cup of coffee for himself in their kitchen and looking quite comfortable doing it.

'I see you're off to work then?' He asked conversationally as he stirred the freshly ground beans in hot water.

'Yeah.' She answered shortly, not bothered with making unnecessary conversation with him. She had always avoided making any banter with him as she still thought suspiciously of him but for the sake of Olivia she tried to hide it. Not well enough, she thought as she heard the next words that came out of Angus's lips.

'You don't like me do you?'

She whipped her head round to look at him as she had been making for the door as quickly as she could. Ah well, since he was aware of her dislike there really wasn't any point lying to him then was there?

'No, I don't. But it doesn't matter does it? Olivia likes you, so that should be enough for me.'

'Yes, but it makes me feel rather awkward. I would really like to get to know you better. Olivia thinks the world of you, you know. I wish we could be friends as it's something I'm sure you know would make Olivia thrilled.' He replied leaning against the counter as he blew on his steaming mug softly.

Annette turned fully to him and said clearly, 'Look, Angus. I'm not going to lie to you. I don't trust you. There, plain and simple. There's something about you that I find very shifty and unfortunately I can't place my finger on it. All I can tell you is this, Olivia really likes you and I hope -- in fact I know that you are not going to break her heart or hurt in any single way. And do you want to know why I know this? It's because if anything happens to her, if she is hurt by you whether intentionally or accidentally, in fact if anything happens to her that is remotely connected to you, no matter how slight, then you'll truly rue the day you decided to take a walk in the park. Because I will hunt you down and...let's just say you won't be the same person you are right now.'

Angus smiled pityingly at her, 'I understand you love your friend and don't want to see her hurt, but really. Do you honestly think you can hurt me, except if not physically? I'm over a hundred pounds heavier than you, my dear.'

Annette smiled evilly at him and said in the softest, quietest voice ever, 'Oh my dear man. You really don't want to put that to the test, trust me.' And with that she walked out of the flat shutting the door quietly.

***

Angus was disgusted to find his heart racing a bit as Annette shut the door behind her. Bloody hell, she was just a mere chit he tried to tell himself as he dropped his mug down firmly. Ah, but a mere chit who's capable of turning you inside out, a voice inside his head sang out. He wondered to himself if he would be able to take her in a battle if he was in his werewolf form, then he remembered that Sebastian had said she was stronger than he was which meant he probably could not then.

Sebastian was definitely stronger than Angus whether in his were form or not.

He would just have to be extra careful then. With Annette and especially with Olivia. He smiled at himself as he thought about his blonde girlfriend. Girlfriend? Since when did he start referring to her with that word to himself? He tried calling her his 'squeeze'; 'girl of the moment'...none of those seemed right to him. He ran his fingers through his hair as he stared absently out the kitchen window. It was time to face facts, he was beginning to care for Olivia. And to be honest with himself, he had begun to care for her a long time ago. He had not even bothered trying to find out anything concrete about Annette. He preferred talking about Olivia instead. Finding out that she hated marmite but liked peanut butter and jelly and felt like she was betraying her English heritage; that she loved hardcore rap and hip hop but she could not dance to save her life. The only thing she had told him about Annette was that she was an amazing dancer but, ironically, loved music of the heavy metal variety. And that had been like squeezing blood from a stone. Olivia fiercely guarded Annette's privacy and he had to admit that she was truly a trustworthy friend.

The question now was how he was going to confess his previous motive to Olivia. Previous, as he was getting wracked with guilt and he did not think guilt looked great on him. He had to truly think about what confessing to her would do as it would affect all four of them, Sebastian, Annette, Olivia and him. Olivia would definitely be cross with him, he doubted if she would ever forgive him actually. And Annette, well she would truly torture him for hurting Olivia, then torture Sebastian for deceiving her...and let's not forget Sebastian would kill his, Angus's tortured form for causing Annette's anger.

Why did he ever tell Sebastian he was bored with monotony? That seemed very welcome right now.

***

Annette looked at her wristwatch for the thousandth time. Why was the time going s slow, she shrieked inwardly. It was ten thirty and she had succeeded in whining to David continuously to leave the bar at eleven. David, after much prevaricating had succumbed telling her that she was doing his head in. She did not care, as long as she got her way, which she had, she did not mind doing every person's head in. She smiled so happily at everyone she served, her tips kept pouring and pouring in. Hmm, it seemed she was going to make a full night's pay at this rate even if she did not stay till the pre-requisite one a.m. She turned round, about to get a bottle of wine from the fridge and bumped into Melissa accidentally, 'Oh sorry about that. Didn't see you there.'

'How would you? Being all jolly and what-not?' Melissa spat out and walked away quickly.

What had got her knickers in a twist? Annette thought staring after her. Ah well, who gave a shit? She was too excited to let her spirit be dampened.

Soon she was throwing her napkin down and blowing a kiss to Alex as she ran to the staff loo to get changed. She wiped her face with her cleansing wipe and washed her hands. After painstakingly applying her make-up, she took off her work clothes carefully and folded them into her bag. Then she shook out her gold top and skirt and put it on, making sure that her make-up did not get smudged. She slipped on her shoes and stared at herself in the mirror.

Wow, she gasped to herself. She certainly scrubbed up pretty well, she smirked at the mirror. She ran an afro comb through her hair making it bounce and she placed a red rose clip in her 'fro.

She was ready. She puckered her lips at her reflection and did a little kicking dance before leaving the loo. She laughed as Alex, David and numerous other patrons of the bar wolf-whistled at her. Luke had come upstairs from his spot in the basement and grinned at her, 'Hmm, someone's got a hot date, I take it?'

'You take correctly, Lukey hun.' She grinned back. She quickly gave him a peck on his cheek, 'Have to leave now babe but shall ring you later to give you all the details.'

'You had better, especially as you haven't told me 'owt anyway.' He mock-scowled at her.

'Okay, okay. Bya babe.' She laughingly waved at him and walked out, pointedly ignoring Melissa's dark looks.

A few minutes later, she was in a cab on her way to Sebastian's mansion. She kept trying to catch a glimpse of herself via the driver's mirror until the cab driver gave her a scared look. She quickly gave him an apologetic one in return and stared out of the window.

Soon, they arrived in front of the massive gates. She paid the driver and hopped out smoothing her tiny skirt as she did so. She took a deep breath, as if to ginger herself and started walking towards the house. This was the first time she had ever done anything so impulsive, something that could potentially backfire in her face if he was not in the mood to see her or anything. She quickly told herself that he would be thrilled to see her. They had not seen each other in three days so of course he would be happy to see her.

She walked to the door and raised a finger to press the bell but realised that the door was slightly ajar. She pushed it in tentatively and looked around, it was quite quiet. She walked in carefully and saw how quiet it was. She started getting a bit worried. Normally, there was always someone up and about. She had even bumped into the twins on a few occasions. Now it just seemed empty. Oh bugger, what if she had arrived on a day that he was actually busy and out of the house. Of all the days she picked.

Crap.

Suddenly, she heard a voice and looked round just as someone blurred towards her and grabbed her hand. She shrieked immediately and reacted by shoving him so hard he flew across the room.

The man got up and shook his head with a shocked look on his face. He had a large meaty face, gleaming grey eyes and an extremely muscular physique. He snarled at her and blurred again towards her but this time she was ready. She timed a well aimed punch and heard his nose crunch as he flew backwards so hard that he smashed through a door she had not noticed, blood flying from his broken nose.

She walked towards him, her contacts disintegrating as her eyes flashed angrily.

How dare this man, this vampire, attack her? As she walked into the room to hurl the man up, she realised that the large room was filled with men. With vampires. She stopped in her steps and looked round. Sebastian was staring at her in bemusement as well as the twins. Other vampires gazed at her with looks varying from surprise to anger.

'Annette? Why are you here?' Sebastian asked in confusion. It seemed he had not noticed the man that was lying dazed on the floor, his nose healed to a crooked angle.

'It was meant to be a surprise. My coming here. Clearly, I interrupted your meeting. I'll leave now.' She turned to the man lying on the floor and staring at her in something akin to fear. 'Sorry about that. It's just...I'm not a big fan of being touched by strangers, or anyone really.'

She made to help him stand up but he scooted away from her hastily. She pursed her lips at that. Well, she had tried to apologise, hadn't she?

Sebastian looked at the scared vampire as if he was just noticing him, 'Malachi, what happened? And what is wrong with your nose?'

The vampire on the floor named Malachi gibbered to him in a foreign accent, 'Sorry, Lord Beaumont. I caught a strange scent whilst the meeting was going on and I went outside to investigate. Then I saw her. She seemed to be skulking about in a furtive manner and I thought she was an intruder. I made to evict her and she...she threw me across the room! I got up and this time she broke my nose. Oh, my nose!' He quickly threw a hand to his face, and on feeling that it had healed crookedly, he moaned to himself.

Sebastian glared at him in anger, 'You mean to tell me that you laid a hand on her?' He roared.

Annette rolled her eyes as poor Malachi whimpered in fear at Sebastian's angry tone. 'Oh give it rest, Seb. He's the one in pain, not me.'

'Still...' Sebastian grumbled, shooting angry looks at Malachi.

Drake let out a guffaw that he had been unsuccessfully trying to stifle, 'I still can't get over the fact that 'Scary Malachi' got his nose broken by a girl. Haha, now he has a thuggish look to go with his personality.' He sniggered some more and a few other people joined in.

'But who is this girl that has got you questioning Malachi's actions, Sebastian?' A silver-haired man called out. He was one of the few sat on the same high level as Sebastian. He clearly was a powerful elder vampire. 'I ask merely because, from what I can see and smell, she is simply a human.' He said the word 'human' in such a derogatory tone that Annette scowled at him ferociously.

Sebastian said in a very cold tone, 'I understand your query, Marcus, but I would rather you did not refer to your future queen in such an insulting tone of voice.'

There was a collective gasp at that, the loudest emanating from a shocked looking Annette.

'Queen?' The vampire called Marcus gasped at him. Immediately, mutterings broke out amongst all the vampires, apart from Sebastian, Drake and Damien. The mutterings grew from incredulity to outrage.

Annette readied herself for battle just in case they all decided to attack her. She was sure she could take out a few of them, but she had never been in a situation where she had to fight more than forty men and women at a go, much less vampires.

'Enough!' Sebastian roared, effectively silencing the whole room. 'If anyone has a problem with this, then I suggest they take it up with me. In a challenge.'

No one said anything at this. Only a fool would challenge Sebastian. He was the oldest and strongest of them all, and had been their Master for centuries. They had too much respect for him to engage in anything as deadly as challenging him.

'I have a problem, actually.' A voice rang out and they all turned round to see an angry Annette staring at Sebastian with her hands planted on her hips, eyes flashing bloody murder.

'Annette, this is not the time...' Sebastian started and Annette cut him off immediately.

'Not the time? You must be having a laugh. Now, I have no idea what queen means in your circles, but if you think you can spring something so definitive; so serious on me, after three weeks, in front of a group of strangers, and expect me to smile and simper demurely waiting for the Master to condescend to what I feel about that statement, you have another thing coming, mate. So yeah, I challenge you.' She said, glaring at him.

The whole room broke out in murmurs again, this time solely shocked as no one had ever spoken to Sebastian in such a tone. Well, spoken like that and lived to tell the tale.

Sebastian shut his eyes, clearly trying to control himself, 'If we could just take this somewhere more private, it would be for the best. This is not a discussion for public.'

'Well, you should have thought about that before springing that on me. In Public.' She replied sarcastically.

It seemed this was too much for the rest of the vampires. How dare this mortal woman, whom the Master dared to make queen be so rude to him?

One of them shouted amidst the murmurs of anger, 'I vote she proves she's worthy of being queen. In the way of the werewolves. Against two vampires at a go.'

This resulted in silence. Then a high pitch of excited consent. Drake and Damien looked at Sebastian uneasily. The meeting was getting out of hand.

Sebastian raised a hand silencing the whole room, 'There is no way that is going to happen. I forbid it.'

'You cannot forbid it, Sebastian. You cannot expect us to subject ourselves to a human who is reluctant to gain the mantle of queenhood and who blatantly disrespects our Master.' Marcus pointed out in a quiet yet firm tone.

Sebastian stared at Annette silently pleading with her to refuse in a polite manner.

Annette simply asked, 'And how does one prove one's worthiness?'

All the vampires smiled at this as Sebastian put his head in his hands in resignation.

Annette simply paid attention as it was explained to her. Apparently, she had to fight till the death, or in this case, till the other party was unconscious. And as she was human, she had more to prove about her strength so that vampires of the other cities would fear and respect her irrespective of her humanity. She smiled inwardly. It seemed the little display she had shown them with the vampire called Malachi had not proven to them how different she was from mere humans.

Once the explanations were over, she gave a curt nod. 'Fine, bring your finest two.'

She clicked her neck both sides and rotated her shoulders. Immediately, her eyes began to flash. The two burly vampires that had stepped out hesitated at this then shrugged. There were two of them, what was the worst that could happen?

They ate their words at this as, with one almighty shove, both vampires flew across the room and landed on a grand piano at the far end smashing it. One of them stayed down, whilst the other rubbed his head and looked about dazedly.

There was utter silence as all the vampires stared at Annette in shock.

***

Sebastian sighed quietly. He knew he should not have been afraid at the turn of events as he had experienced Annette's display of strength firsthand. But he could not help being scared anyway. The girl he loved was fighting against vampires who had plainly shown their aversion for humans. Having one as a queen was something he knew they would not take lying down. Of course he was scared. He looked on as she kept on eliminating vampire after vampire. Soon his fear changed into admiration then passion as his gaze grew heavy-lidded. Annette suddenly looked hotter than ever taking out vampires twice her size in a skimpy outfit without breaking a sweat.