Jonah was at the counter, the waitress behind the counter was fluttering her eyes at him. I could understand it, he is gorgeous. No, gorgeous was an understatement. I hadn't ever been to Chuckie's; it was a cute little diner that was full of customers which was a good sign. We were sitting in a half circle booth that faced a row of free standing tables and chairs. Beyond that was a row of large windows that showed the bustling mid jump. The hard black plastic of the booth seat was awful to sit on but I figured it was to match the black and white theme they had going on. Natalie was grinning like a complete loon as she sat down, moving halfway around. As I sat down, I waited for the onslaught.

"Oh my god, he was so hitting on you."

And there it was.

"Was not."

"He was, suggesting to stop by and get your cards done." she frowns "What's that?"

"His mother is the phoenix vampire. He is a phoenix vampire. They can do card readings."

"Oh."

We watch him at the counter, waiting for the drinks.

"That was why he said to not curtsy, technically you should have."

"But."

"He is without his king's guard."

"He would be safe in mid jump; no human can get in here."

"Yeah I know that." I shrug "Might just be about not having people stare at him."

"How do you know him?"

"Our parents are friends; we grew up together. We have spent a lot of time together, especially seeing as my parents have been trying to over populate the planet, his mum was always around, play dates, looking after me and my siblings... you know."

"Looking after you?" she frowns "You've got staff for that."

"Yeah but Miranda likes kids, so she didn't care."

Jonah places three large glasses of wonderful smelling blood onto the table. Natalie slides herself to the end, ensuring that Jonah has no choice where to sit. I wanted to smack her but the table was far too wide to reach across. I move along the bench seat for Jonah, feeling the tension rise just a fraction. As he passes the drinks around, Natalie looks at me with a smug look on her face. She was out to play matchmaker.

I can feel the darkness rising in my eyes, the lust burning through me. He was right when he said that it was tasty. As the waitress brings the food out for us I hear giggling passing us. I looked through the windows, walking along the corridor is Lucian and Ariella, wrapped up in each other's arms, looking very much in love.

"So what's it like working for the future boss man?" Natalie gushes as she tries to crane her neck to see through the window, no doubt perving on Lucian.

Jonah rolls his eyes.

"Nice guy and I guess it would be ok on a social level, you know functions and what not but yeah..." his eyes wide, looking away. "Of course I am expected to follow my father's footsteps, being senior adviser to the current ruler, becoming senior adviser to Lucian when it's his turn. Until then I get to be his secretary... sorry, personal assistant I believe my title is."

"I sense a but coming." I grin.

"Yep. I don't like knowing what goes on behind closed doors."

I take a sip of my drink, hoping he won't tell me, knowing I probably don't want to know.

"But never mind about him. Are you going to the liberty ball? It's at my place this year." He grins, very cheekily.

"What do you mean this year? It's the first year." I laugh.

"Yeah, I know. So, are you going?"

"Of course, would I want to miss out?"

"Definitely not."

Oh my god Ivy, he is so hitting on you. Jeez Nat he is not.

Natalie stands from the table rather abruptly.

"I have to visit the little girls room."

I watch her as she walks away, pointing at him, mouthing to ask him to the ball. It was a little awkward, the silence as we ate was almost deafening.

Have you done it yet? No Nat, chicks don't ask guys to dances, our grandfather would have kittens if he knew I asked a guy. Instantly she is out of my mind and I continue quietly eating. As I take a sip I notice the expressions on Jonah's face, kind of like he is having a conversation... oh my god, no.

I hear giggling in my mind. You can thank me later. What the hell have you done? Oh, not much.

"So are you going to stay for a while when you are in the western rim?"

"Yeah maybe. It is pretty safe there, I suppose it would be easier than travelling back that night."

"You should stay at the castle, plenty of rooms."

"Oh, I uh."

"Your parents too. Are your siblings coming?"

"No, thank the stars." I scoff.

He grins as he picks up a chip, dunking it in the sauce, waiting for my response.

"I suppose it will be alright with my parents, I would imagine that my mother won't want to be travelling after dancing all night."

"What about Philippe?"

"Yeah I think pops is coming."

"Ok, I'll tell my parents to make sure the rooms are ready. Your parents, grandparents, you..."

"Yep, just me." I whisper into my cup.

Again it looks like he is talking to someone, his face frowns and then stops frowning, a slight smirk.

"Hey, um. I was wondering if you uh, wanted to go to the ball with uh." he looks like he is about to pass out. "Me?" he says very quietly.

Unfortunately, as he was saying it I was drinking, it made me choke, nearly spluttering the blood everywhere. I was so very grateful that I was able to maintain control of the contents of my mouth, taking a big gulp I told him that I would love to. This obviously made him happy, the smirk on his face seemed permanent as he began to eat again. Natalie returned to the table within seconds of my response, clearly she was listening.

We were half way through the basket of chips when another familiar blur entered the corner of my eye.

"Hey, fancy seeing you guys in Chuckie's" Elston chuckles.

I look over at Natalie momentarily and see her stare at him, completely bewitched by him. Elston was very cute, taking after his father with his deep blue eyes and dark brown hair. In fact, Ariella was a lot like Lucas as well. Both Elston and Ariella were twins, had the same tall thin bodies and both were very enthralling.

"Hey Elston." Jonah looks from Natalie to him, figuring her out in a second "Want to join us?"

"Sure."

He gestured to the waitress as Natalie slid along the bench, still staring at him. As she got closer I took the opportunity of Elston being distracted with the waitress to poke her in the arm. She frowned at me with a deep scowl as she rubbed the spot. When the waitress left Elston returned his attention to the table, in particular to Natalie. I wanted to sigh very loudly, I knew what the deal was and I was going to have to have a conversation with Natalie about Elston and his penchant for a good time.

"Elston this is my cousin Natalie Neveah, Natalie this is his royal highness prince Elston Mordecai."

"Elston is fine Ivy." he interrupted me with a grin.

Then the grin turned to the nearly gushing woman beside him. Jonah and I just looked at each other with total shock on both of our faces.

*********************************

My parents were sitting on a massive outdoor lounge swing, my father with his head on my mother's stomach, trying to hear the heartbeat of the baby. As the door to mid jump closed I grinned at the sight of Jonah standing there, a cheeky grin as he waved goodbye. The rock face door clunked shut and Natalie giggled.

"Oh my god." she gushed. "Ivy and Jonah sitting in a tree."

"Ivy?" My father's head perked up. "Have you been sitting in trees... with Jonah?" the grin curled into the corner of his mouth, he was teasing me.

"What's going on Iv?" my mother looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

Natalie nudged my ribs, gesturing her head to my parents. I dump my bags on the grass, the sun beating down on us is quite bright.

"Not much, got a bit of shopping done. You know the usual."

"Ivy." my mother's eyes begin to darken at the edges.

"We saw Jonah in mid jump, he invited us to stay at the castle for the ball."

She looks at me, squinting at me. I sigh, flopping my hands to my side.

"And he may have asked me to the ball."

"Excellent."

I jump at the sound of the too familiar stern voice coming from behind me.

"Hello grandfather."

"Ivy, Natalie."

"Hey granddad."

I wanted to grin as I watched his face turn with a slight scowl. He was always formal and expected everyone to be the same, for Natalie to acknowledge him in that way was a very big no-no. But our grandfather ignored it and continued his slow pace around us.

"Jonah is an excellent choice for possible courtship. Lillian I hope you will help your daughter pursue this matter."

"Dad, really?" she groans. "She is old enough to make her own decisions."

"Of course, but remember their union may allow for the two rims to be successfully re-joined upon their ascension to the throne."

"Gee thanks for knocking me off so soon." my father gripes. "I haven't even gotten to the throne yet."

My grandfather chuckles.

"Oh Patrick, do not fret. It will take at least a century to get this planet back the way that it should be."

He was right, the planet had gone down the toilet at the hands of the humans. The humans had offered to not hunt us as part of the treaty but we did not believe that they would be true to their word, there would always be a slayer or a rogue around. Rogues were a new breed of vampire slayer, so much more stupid than the slayers. I couldn't understand how slayers could be intelligent and the rogues weren't. It was like they were both human but one group had advanced in their intelligence and the other didn't. Nothing had changed except the planet was dying. Maybe it's the lack of water, dehydration does funny things to humans.

"I expect to hear good things Ivy." he clasps his hands behind his back "After all, there is only one other selection that could be better than Jonah and from what I hear, that particular ship has sailed."

"You can't have Elston, I call dibs." Natalie gushes. "Super cute."

"Elston is a man slut Natalie, you need to know that."

My grandfather raises his eyebrow at me.

"He is." I defend my accusation. "Everyone knows he likes blondes too, so I would have no chance."

"He'd still be alright for a dance or two."

I inwardly chuckle. She might have said dance but she definitely meant sex. I flick my long black hair off my shoulder, putting my bag over it.

"And as for Lucian, no thanks." I pick up my bags. "I'll catch you later."

Time to get away before my grandfather continues trying to play matchmaker.

"Why wouldn't you want to screw the prince of the realm?" Natalie says, flopping down onto my lounge.

"I think that there are some vamps that should be kept at a distance."

"Aren't your parent's friends with his parents?"

"Yes."

"Have you met Lucian?"

"Yes."

"And?"

I sigh, knowing Natalie won't give up.

"He is very nice, very easy to talk to, smooth and charming. I can understand why Ariella has fallen for him. Personality wise, nothing wrong with him."

"But?"

"I don't know. I can't put my finger on it and Jonah saying that he didn't like knowing what goes on behind closed doors doesn't help."

"Yeah, I was glad he didn't elaborate on that one."

"Me too."

"Wouldn't want to ruin the image of the dashing prince." she giggles.

"So did Elston say anything as we were leaving Chuckie's?"

"No." she pouted, crossing her arms. "He was being such a flirt and then total weirdness, what's his deal anyway?"

"I have no idea Natalie; I don't have a lot to do with that family. Mum and dad do, you could probably ask them if you like."

"Are you crazy?" she hisses at me "Could you imagine it? Hey aunt Lilly can you give me the low down on Elston?"

"Well it's all that I can offer you." I shrugged "Take it or leave it."

My phone buzzed from within the depths of my bag, rummaging through it I pulled it out to find a text from Elston. My eyes dart to Natalie who was engrossed in a magazine, casually I tossed my bag into the robe and read the text. It wasn't completely unusual for Elston to text me; it wasn't common either. The last time he texted me was just after the big war telling me about Ariella and Lucian hooking up, he was fishing for information on behalf of his parents. Lucian was an even bigger man slut than Elston was and I knew that Lucas and Scarlett were not impressed that Ariella had started dating him.

*hey ivy, good to catch up again. Jonah said you two are going to liberty ball together. Is Natalie going too? *

I sighed wondering why he didn't just ask her when she was in front of him, why do I need to be dragged into their little entanglement?

*no, would you like me to pass on your number? *

*sure*

Moving out of the robe, Natalie had cast aside the magazine and was watching me carefully.

"Iv, what's going on?"

"Elston texted me."

"Oh my gawd, you have his number?"

"I do."

"What did he want, was he asking you to the ball?" she pouted and crossed her arms with a very big frown "That's what he was texting you for, wasn't it? You've got both of them ensnared, haven't you?"

"Are you done yet?" I said dryly "He was asking if you were going."

Her arms dropped to her lap as she gaped.

"Really?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I asked him if he wanted me to pass on his number."

"Please tell me he said yes."

"No, he didn't say yes." I paused for the pout, with a grin I put her out of her misery "He said sure. Here copy his damned number."

I passed my phone over as she squealed and pulled her own phone out, copying the number into her phone book. My phone was tossed to the lounge as she set about texting him.

"Natalie, you do realise he is a player, right?"

"Oh don't you worry about it Ivy, I will set some very big ground rules." she continued to text, looking up at me as she grinned with a wicked glint in her eye "And I will inform him that our chef has a very good set of knives ideal for chopping things off."

I chuckled as I picked up my phone, deciding that I needed to relay the new events to Jonah. Elston had no idea what was about to hit him.