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I stared at the door as I wrapped a large soft towel around myself. My head canted to the side curiously, coaxing a chuckle from Aleksi’s lips.

“I didn’t think you’d want to wear dirty clothes, so I sent someone out to shop for you.” Again he flashed me a smile before leaving the room in nothing but a towel, leaving me to stare after him.

Peeking into the bag, I was relieved to find clothes I’d actually wear normally. There was a sundress with bright red roses that detailed the hem. A pair of bright red lace panties with a matching bra, a pair of nude thigh highs with bright red lace at the top and lastly a pair of red satin peep-toe heels with a red satin ribbon that wrapped around the ankle.

After I dressed and dried my hair, I stood in front of the mirror and couldn’t help but to notice that the red lace collar with the little white and red cameo matched the outfit perfectly. Was I supposed to wear it?
Yes, how else are they going to know who your owner is? Aleksi can’t have you running around like a cat without a collar now can he?
Miss Manner’s sarcasm made me sigh, but still I put the collar on before heading out into the bedroom.

I was shocked to find that not only was the room void of Aleksi, but there was a human workman fixing the door. Alone and without knowing what to do,
I sat on the bed and waited, smoothing the hem of the dress over my knee. After an hour or so Aleksi returned with a perfume bottle in hand.

“No cellphone game, no furious texting.” He smirked. “Just quiet waiting. You are so naturally inclined it’s testing my control to give you a break.” He held the perfume bottle out to me and I took it.

“Thank you, for everything—t
he dress is beautiful.” I smelled the perfume and closed my eyes practically swooning. It was the most exquisite scent, a sophisticated mix of vanilla and roses. I sprayed some on my wrist and rubbed them together before unscrewing the cap and taking a dab and putting it behind my ears. I froze afterward as I realized my entire life I had put perfume on avoiding my neck.

“You’re most welcome.” He held his hand out and I passed him the perfume bottle which he sat on top of the dresser. “I had that scent made for you the week you went to England. It’s very you; sweet and elegant. It complements the taste of your blood nicely as well.” He tapped the gold lid of the bottle and turned from the dresser to look at me. He stared for a while as I sat on the bed with my legs crossed. “Tonight won’t be at all like last night
; you will be fully clothed and on the lead. It will be like it was at Kendra’s sentencing, only you’ll have to kneel beside my chair for the duration. Very simple, very straight forward. It shouldn’t take more than an hour, maybe two. Afterward, we can head home, to either my place or yours. But in the morning I have rehearsal with Leslie.”

“Leslie’s playing Alice?”

“Mhm, part of Tristan’s vision. Garrett has also been included in that vision. He’s our Mad Tapper. Tristan thinks it’s hilarious that he’s accepted the role. His obvious dislike for werewolves’ aside the casting was a good fit. The only thing I question is Colette as the Queen of Hearts, I’d much rather dance the Pas Deux with her. I’m used to her, I hate switching partners
,” Aleksi pouted.

“Well, this is Leslie’s debut as a
Principal or Soloist.”

“About that…” Aleksi trailed off and sighed. “Kendra was fucking Dmitri to hold Leslie back. I got to overhear a very long conversation between Tristan and Dmitri before he was demoted. Tonight
, Tristan is going to be elevated in the Vampire community; he’s taking over Elizabeta’s position as Master of the Region.”
Why is he telling you this?
I blinked and tilted my head to the side. “I need you to do for Tristan what he did for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I need you to talk to Leslie about accepting Tristan’s mark… before he retires as a dancer and we go on tour.”

“I thought…” I trailed off as my mind raced. I just got him back and now I was going to have to face him going away.

“Elizabeta is ceding control of the Ballets to Tristan as a gift. Tristan thinks that since everything has calmed down with Elizabeta being made council that we need to go back to touring. He stopped me in the hall and told me. But Leslie needs Tristan’s protection if she’s going to tour with us. When she goes into another Vampire’s territory with us, especially Russia; she will need Tristan’s mark to protect her.”

“Why Russia?”

“As friendly as Tristan is now, that was not always the case. He has a handful of enemies who would love nothing more than to hurt him. Which they can through Leslie if she’s not
marked because they can plead ignorance.”

“I’ll do what I can, but I… I can’t promise she’ll say yes. We just witnessed…” I trailed off as I remembered the scent of blood filling the air and the gurgled scream. “After last night… I’m not even certain I want to be your servant.”

My words caused a chain reaction. First he stilled, then his brow slowly furrowed and I was treated to a subtle sadness washing over his face like a storm rolling in. He stood there with lips half parted as he regarded me with that sorrowful electric blue gaze. He was beautiful in his contemplative silence, but eventually he broke that silence with a heavy sigh and a hard swallow.

“I would never—” He started and stopped himself, he knew it was a possibility.
“Well it doesn’t matter. There’s no going back as long as we’re both alive,” he finished as all of the warmth left his voice and that sadness wiped off of his face to be replaced with a cold countenance.

That frigid emotionlessness continued for the rest of the day, he didn’t even bother with the lead when we went to Elizabeta’s ceremony. He didn’t even speak to me.
You’re food, Autumn. Also, you probably hurt his feelings, you know he lacks empathy.
Miss Manners griped to me as I knelt beside Aleksi. I pressed my forehead to his knee and glanced across the aisle at Leslie who was kneeling beside Tristan, his fingers trailing idly back through her hair like someone would sooth a prized pet. I glanced up at Aleksi, who stared forward with his chin raised and that gaze of his fixed on Elizabeta as four others lead her into a massive golden tub filled with blood.

I watched with curiosity as someone spoke in Latin and Elizabeta submerged herself, the thin loose white silk slowly claimed by the viscous blood. My lips twitched into a small smirk as I recalled church services from when I was a child, and the similarities between Elizabeta being named Council, and a baptism.

My vision grew blurry as I stared at that vat of blood, and my mind wandered. In reality, it didn’t feel like my mind was wandering at all. On the hazy reflective surface, I saw the face of a smiling, pale, little boy with big blue eyes wearing modern clothes and running around a park while Elizabeta, Colette, and Aleksi watched on under black parasols. I knew the child’s mouth—the full, pouting, serious, cupids bow was very similar to my own. Was it my child they were watching over? If it was, where was I? The answer came as the vision twisted, the child wasn’t playing in a park, it was a cemetery, and it was my grave the three of them were gathered around. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. I fought to look away, but my mind wouldn’t let it go.

The scene warped slowly and grew darker. Gregory sat in a darkened cell somewhere, drawing a picture of me dismembered, and Aleksi headless. I actually felt my heart stop, it lingered in stillness before lurching once and falling still again. Pain slowly started to radiate through my limbs as the scene warped once more. This time I was crying over Vlad in the Shrine, begging him to wake. “They have him, you have to wake up,” I chanted to his lifeless form as bright white searing light engulfed my vision, and a dull ringing started in my ears.

“Miss Darling? Can you hear me?” A muffled muted voice broke through as my vision blurred a
gain. “Blink if you can hear me,” the unfamiliar voice repeated. “Try another 50cc’s of Vaxilphan,” that voice continued. My heartbeat slowed and my vision, still a blur became slightly more focused and I blinked. “That’s a good sign. Miss Darling, blink again if you can hear me.” I blinked. “Good. You’re at Saint Mary’s Hospital, you had a clairvoyency attack,” that unknown male voice continued, he spoke loud and slowly. “You’re a late bloomer, but luckily your friend found you in time. You gave us a little...” The fuzzy shapes around me shifted and the bright light returned for a moment. “Holy hell, try another dose, she’s still not fully out of it,” that male voice continued softly, clearly not for my ears.

The world came into focus again, I was in a hospital bed with a young male doctor leaning over me. There were nurses around the room, and Leslie stood near the door wearing a garnet colored scarf, white tank top, and jeans. The doctor shined the light in my eyes and sighed.

“Good, your pupils are responding again. Follow the light.” He moved the penlight across my vision and I followed it. Aside from a headache I didn’t feel any worse for the wear. “Now as I was saying, you gave us quite a little scare.” The doctor reached for the clipboard and wrote something down. “A few little scares actually
, but you’re responding now, so you should be out of the woods.” He took a deep breath. “And there’s good and bad news.”
Please don’t say we’re pregnant, please don’t say we’re pregnant.
I could see Miss Manners chanting with her fingers crossed and I practically joined in. “You are extremely clairvoyant. I specialize in ESP related injury, and this attack is case-study worthy. I recommend gloves at all times, and you’ll have to carry a Vaxilphan pen from now on.”

“I…is
n’t clarvoyancy supposed to set in at puberty? My mother had me tested, and I came up negative,” I yammered as the doctor made a note in my chart.

“We
know, Miss Darling, that was the first thing I checked. You had the brain scan done. Not the gene-mapping. They’re running it now, and I’m one-hundred percent sure it’s going to come back as positive; vaxilphan wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t have the receptor for it.” I suddenly felt very small.

When I was a teenager, I thought it would be so cool to be touch clairvoyant. I knew a girl in my ninth grade English class who was. She got to wear cool white leather gloves and sunglasses in class. Senior year, she was killed during a support group meeting, by human activists who bombed the church where they met. Magic was rare, so rare that people treated it like homosexuality in the nineties—don’t ask, don’t tell. I mostly put it out of my mind. I did have family who used magic. I had cousin who was gifted enough that she went to some magic academy in England, but we never talked about it. Now, I at almost thirty, was one of the never talked abouts—I was clairvoyant.
You really should have seen this coming, Vlad did keep calling you Seer after all.

“Miss Darling, did you hear me?”

“No…
sorry it’s a lot to take in,” I whispered, my eyes raising to Leslie.

“You’ll have to go on the state registry, and take your
Vazilio twice a da—”

“Oh, no need for that
,” Elizabeta cooed from the door as she crossed through the entry way and walked over to me. She wore a navy sheath dress that seemed to make her hair and skin practically glow.

“It’s the law.”

“What’s the name of this wing again?”

“The Elizabeta Sala, Preternatural Wing.” He furrowed his brows and she beamed at him.

“Do you like your job, Doctor…” She leaned forward and read his name “Cavendish?” She said his name slowly, erotically licking over every syllable. He swallowed and handed her
my chart. “Good boy,” She purred as he sat up straighter. “You’ll write the prescription for Vaxilphan, and the Vazilio out for an… A. Mikhailovich.” She glanced around at the three nurses in the room. “Juan, be a dear and compensate these nurses for their time,” She called idly. A fine boned vampire slipped into the room and took out three wads of what looked to be one hundred dollar bills and handed one to each nurse.

“I can’t alter hospital records.”

“I’m not asking you to do that
, I’m asking you to make a smart career decision. How does Dr. Eric Cavendish, Chief Preternatural Neurologist sound?”

The Doctor nodded slowly and slipped off of the bed, glancing nervously at me before he took out his prescription pad and started writing.

“She can come back to me if she has another bad attack. I’m not
judgy. I know what happens when people get on that list; I’m a carrier for the gene myself.” He handed me one slip of paper and started filling out another. “She’ll need to come back in a month.”

“You’ll be coming to us in a month.” Elizabeta smirked, and those pretty cornflower blue eyes devoured him. The doctor blushed and flashed her a smile.

“Whatever you wish, Ms. Sala. Her tests are in the
lab, though.”

“Already taken care of.
A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Doctor. We’ll do lunch tomorrow, my secretary will call yours.” Elizabeta continued to beam at him as he took the hint and left followed by the nurses who looked at the wads of cash and smiled appreciatively.

Once the room was void of strangers, Leslie closed the door and leaned against it.

“I need to know what you saw,
” Elizabeta demanded as she looked down at the chart. “No one knows about you yet, but I need to know.”

“I saw a child, about four years old with Aleksi’s eyes and my mouth
, playing in a cemetery on top of my grave. I then saw Gregory in a dungeon, drawing what I assumed to be me dismembered.” I stopped abruptly, I wouldn’t tell her about Vlad. She nodded and tilted her head to the side.

“All you saw is what could be, not what is. But we’ll take care of Gregory. You’re an asset to us, Autumn. Maria was praised by Flavian before she fell in love with Vlad. She never wanted for anything at all
, Flavian only required her to write down her visions, and I’ll extend that same courtesy to you. You can do whatever you want, I just want to know your visions. Which means… none of this.” She snatched the Vazilio prescription from my hand and tore it up.