Chapter 19 – What's Mine

When we get out of the car, I take the time to do some arm circles. My muscles feel like jelly after that dose of Raphael's super-relaxant. I notice a beautiful couple making their way up the stairs in front of us. They have dark skin, but porcelain skin all the same. I can see the faintest of red shining in their eyes from the guide lights on the ground.

"The vampires will know you're a Nephilim, right?" I ask.

"Of course!" Raphael answers.

"And they can definitely smell me. So won't it be bad if they see we're together? Isn't it the law that humans can't know about any of this stuff?"

Raphael looks at me thoughtfully. "That's a good question," he starts, "It's a bit different with Nephilim because we're so intertwined in the human world. It's still our job to look after all beings, and that includes humans, so we can't just ignore them like vampires can. Also, there are just too many of us compared to vampires, for example, that separating ourselves from humans would look more suspicious than it does living with and around them. Nephilim and humans actually fall in love all the time, so it's not a surprising sight. In that kind of relationship, we are allowed to tell our partner only after marriage. There is no bond stronger on this world than a Nephilim marriage, so human partners of Nephilim are trusted by all." He looks at me again. "That being said, we are not married of course, so you must not give any indication that you think the people in this castle tonight are anything other than human."

"If people ask, what's our backstory?" I ask. Suddenly the nerves of accidently saying something wrong are hitting me. It's not like I can ask questions, even privately after we enter into a castle of strangers with super hearing.

"I don't have a partner yet myself, so you can just be my +1 friend. It should be fine to tell the truth of our story if you just omit the supernatural parts. I'll do the same."

"Got it!" I say enthusiastically. My confidence is slowly creeping back now that I'm feeling more comfortable in my attire.

"Good," he smiles, extending his arm to me, "Shall we?"

---

The music gets gradually louder as Raphael and I continue down the hallway. Aro and Sulpicia are greeting guests at the enterance of the ballroom. I notice that Aro is extending his trademark double-handed "handshake" to all the guests. To the unknowing, it might seem genuinely friendly. However, I know he's probably gathering intel on all the guests. It makes me wonder if there has ever been any sort of party crasher trying to get into one of these things. Then again, wanting to know everything about everyone around him is probably just second nature to Aro at this point.

Sulpicia is standing close to Aro's side. She's even more beautiful than I imagined. My heart is pounding harder in my chest the closer we approach, because I know she will recognize my scent.

"Raphael! How pleased I am that you could make it," Aro grinned, taking his hand, "You must introduce me to your guest!"

"Of course, this is my dear friend Anna. I thought instead of coming alone for yet another year, I'd change things up a bit," he laughed.

"I hope you enjoy yourself," Aro says extending his hand to me. Oh crap, I guess it's time to turn on the act.

"I'm looking forward to being a part of the celebration," I smile nervously. I see Raphael giving Sulpicia the classic Italian double-cheek kiss, knowing I'm next up. He moves to the side and gestures with his arm. My nerves freeze me to my spot once I'm face to face with her. Thankfully she takes the lead, guiding my face to her frozen cheeks, and I just follow along awkwardly.

Raphael laughs in amusement. "She's American, not quite used to the Italian ways yet." Aro and Sulpicia laugh along with him and gesture for us to go in.

That was wild. Either Sulpicia is an insanely good actress, or she really didn't recognize me. But how could she not? If the two wives could catch my scent with a huge door between us, she definitely picked it up again now. It makes me wonder how much the wives know about my life in the castle, and what they think of me being here.

We walk into the ballroom and the sight instantly distracts that train of thought. I stand looking in awe of how everything turned out. I didn't really even have much of a vision in the first place, but the expert decorators took the small ideas I had here and there, and really expanded upon them. The whole room is draped in white canopies, with bushy white roses hanging down, completely covering the ceiling. There is a large open area in the middle for dancing, with seating and food on each side of the room. The best part is all the light. The whole castle is always so dark and depressing that it's a shock to be surrounded by light. The DJ is set up in the corner playing some 90s ballads at the moment. I was able to get a peek at the guest list as we were re-decorating this morning and asked for the rundown on the ages of the guests. It was my goal to make it so that each person in attendance would hear a song they were familiar with during their human lives. I'm still a bit worried about the melting pot of times and genres. I'm not sure how one could go from 80s rock and transition naturally into 1880s who knows what, but the DJ seemed excited about the challenge, so I'm trying to calm down about it.

I see Jane and Alec across the room talking to a guest and I'm dying to approach them and wrap myself up with the people I'm comfortable around. I'm not supposed to have met them before though, so I think I'm just kinda stuck to Raphael's side tonight. I suppose it's safer for me this way anyway. He'll know what to say to people and I won't have to worry about messing up our story. I gaze around the rest of the room, and realize how easy it is to tell the vampires apart from everyone else. The pale skin and red irises are unique only to them. It makes me wonder why they would come to a party with humans without trying to camouflage their eyes like the Volturi did when gathering people for "tours". I'll have to ask about it tomorrow. I wonder what other non-human beings could be here? I try to study everyone's faces for something that could be off about their appearance, but I don't even know what to look for.

My eyes stop when I see a pale blond vampire on the other side of the room, staring at me. The woman is someone I had never seen before, but considering she's sitting in Caius' throne, I can only assume she's Athenodora. I can feel the blood pumping hard through my body as she unwittingly captures my full attention. She is wearing a long dark blue gown that reaches the floor in the back, while still showing her shiny black heels from the front. Her hair is up with a few loose strands brushing against her porcelain cheek. She looks like royalty, and I can't imagine for the life of me why everyone in this castle seems to think Caius would be even remotely interested in me when he has someone like her at his side. It takes me a split second of wondering where Caius is before I remember what Jane told me this morning... he and Marcus just left for Washington. Duh! On one hand, there's a twinge of disappointment, but on the other, it's probably for the best that I don't have to risk Athenodora's suspicions. Embarrassed to realize I'm still staring in her direction, I whip my head back to Raphael, whose arm I'm still stuck to.

"Shut up," I whisper after he nudges me knowingly. He only chuckles in response and begins leading me toward the food tables. Thank Heavens; I'm starving. How does this guy know me so well?

"Do you know many people here?" I ask as we find a few empty chairs to set up camp in. He looks angles his gaze thoughtfully.

"Hmm, I'm familiar with quite a few of the residents in this castle, and a couple of my brothers are in attendance tonight. Other than that, not really. The guest list is similar every year so I recognize a lot of people, but no one really ever seems to socialize much with the other guests they don't already know."

"You have brothers?" I'm surprised not to have known that before.

"Well, more like brothers in a "really good friend" kind of way. We aren't related by blood," he explains.

"Will I meet them tonight?" I ask.

"Why not!"

I'm curious to see what similarities other Nephilim might share with Raphael. If seeing Nephilim really is as common as Raphael said, it would be cool to just be able to recognize them. He leads us over to where two men and one woman are standing on the dance floor talking to each other. The woman is the same height as me, and has wavy brown hair lifted up into an elegant bun. She's wearing an off the shoulder light blue dress that looks like one a princess would wear. Her arm Is hooked to a much taller man with jet black hair and a textured, dark gray suit. The second man is in front of the couple has a strong physique. He's slightly shorter than the first man, but looks like he's never lost a game of arm wrestling before.

"Raphael!" the black-haired man calls when we approach.

"Swen!" Raphael returns, going in for a hug. "Anna this is Swen, and his wife Abigail. And this is Jerome," he says, gesturing to each person as he introduces them.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Anna!" I say, shaking each of their hands.

----

People started to head home at around 1 a.m., and despite my nap earlier, I was exhausted. As people started getting drunk, they put the dance floor to good use, (me included), so my energy level by the time Raphael and his friends were ready to go was non-existent. We ended up getting back to the cathedral at four in the morning. Yeah... I can't even remember the last time I stayed up that late. Raphael set me up in a guest room and by the time I finished showering, I crashed.

---

"You must be Anna!" a high-pitched voice says behind me. I turn around to see Athenodorea walking up with her arms out and a huge smile on her face. I flinch, but she only pulls me in for a hug. "It's so great to finally meet you!" I awkwardly return the hug, and she steps back to look at me. "I feel like I've heard so much about you already," she giggles. My eyes widen. What is she doing? I'm supposed to stick to my story with Raphael, which excludes her, so I have no idea how to respond. I turn around to see Raphael fumbling around trying to pour another glass of wine for each of us. I've already had 3 tall glasses, so I can't help but worry about slipping up in this state of mind. Why the frick did I start drinking on a night I have to be careful with my words? Raphael doesn't notice me staring daggers at his head willing him to get his butt back over here. Crap.

"Yes, I'm Anna," I finally push out. She puts her arm on my shoulder like the mean girl in high school would when she's pretending to sympathize with you about something. Just kind of... fake and over the top?

"I'm assuming you've heard of my husband," she says, "It's such a shame he had to go out of town tonight of all nights. Isn't it?" she frowns, but there's something calculating about her gaze. My heart tightens at the mention of Caius, but I swallow my thoughts. I have to try to change the subject, but I'm going to need to turn the acting up a few notches. She's Regina George and I need to tune into my inner Gretchen Weiners.

"Your dress looks absolutely stunning!" I tell her excitedly, but inside I'm cringing at how fake it probably sounded. My sudden personality switch doesn't seem to faze her though.

"Don't you think? Caius sent it for me alongside a massive delivery of roses." She puts her hand over her heart and bats her eyes. "He absolutely spoils me!" Well, changing the subject was a fail... Maybe I could use this as an opportunity to get some more info on Caius though?

"What's your favorite thing about Caius?" I ask. She thinks for a minute.

"That he's mine," she says, and then suddenly laughs, shaking her head, "Without him, I'd probably be living in the trees somewhere, instead of living the dream of being waited upon, head and foot." I tilt my head. Is it really only that?

"Was Caius rich when you met him?" I already know the answer is no, but I needed to ask to lead into my real question.

"Oh, no. We were both living on our own and happened to cross paths. Solitude is absolutely torturous to me," she laughed, "Back in those days, I would have gone mad at the thought of spending my life alone."

"Wow, you must really love him then?" I ask, praying she doesn't see through my reasons for asking. She smirks.

"I'd burn down the castle before I let someone take what's mine," she says with a laugh at the end.

I look down, suddenly feeling uneasy. It was a perfectly Switzerland answer to avoid suspicion from any eavesdroppers, but the intent behind her words wasn't lost on me.