A Touch of Madness (A Recipe...

It was hard to wake up. I really had to pee but I was so damn comfortable. I was snuggled up against someone’s chest, my forehead tucked under his chin. Arms were wrapped lightly around me and someone was tucked against my back. It was a very safe, secure feeling and it took me a moment to realize why I should be bothered by it. I didn’t need to be held and protected damn it. I woke up properly but couldn’t figure out how to get out of the bed without waking up Alex, the one I was being held by, or Barry who was against my back. Finally I squirmed my way out of Alex’s arms and crawled over him to the bathroom. His orange eyes opened as I was crawling away from them.

“Of course you would choose to wake up as I go waddling to the bathroom.” I muttered, hauling myself off of the bed. He chuckled as I stumbled to the bathroom. I got a good look at myself in the mirror. My left eye was swollen partially closed and blackened with some red, and my ribs were more of a blue black colour and hurt when I breathed in too deep. “Oh I’m real pretty.” I said softly to myself. Next to the bruises, my swollen lip looked like nothing.

I pulled on my jeans and tried to struggle into a top. It hurt to move around too much, so I chose a buttoned shirt. I had a choice of wearing one of Barry’s as a dress or stealing one of Alex’s. Since Alex wasn't absurdly larger in the shoulder than I am, I stole one of his and rolled the sleeves up. There were defensive bruises up my forearms. The shirt itself was white with black plaid, and it didn’t look half bad on me despite the obvious bruising. All my own shirts pulled on over my head and I just wasn’t up to trying one. Alex raised an eyebrow when he recognized his shirt.

“Sorry. I’ll wash it and get it back to you ASAP.” I said softly, not wanting to wake the still slumbering Barry. I grabbed my bag of clothes and stuffed yesterday’s clothes into it. It hurt to bend over, I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore the pain. Alex got out of bed and followed me into the kitchen. I washed a couple of Tylenols down with good old orange juice. I could feel his eyes follow me as I puttered around in the kitchen. I poured us both cereal and did my best to ignore him, but he made me jumpy. I suddenly understood how a gazelle felt when a lion was near. I managed to ignore him as I handed him his honeycombs. I sat painfully on the couch, television on but sound low, and ate my damn cereal. Alex sat on the other side of the couch and we watched the news and munched on our cereal in silence. Barry finally woke up and stumbled into the kitchen. None of us had woken up early; it was 9 am.

“You missing work?” I asked Alex around a mouthful of ‘combs. He shook his head no, but politely finished chewing his food before he responded. Dork.

“No, I took a week off to help take care of Albert. I have until Sunday.” He replied. I grinned at him.

“You’re going to love today then.” I informed him. He raised an eyebrow at me but spoke to Barry.

“She has a demented grin on her face, should I be worried?” he asked. Barry rumbled something insensible and ignored us. Apparently he needed his coffee this morning.

“It’s nothing to be worried about, just a costume party at Faerie Tales tonight. It’s short notice, but I’m sure you can figure something out.” I sounded smug. But he disappointed me.

“Oh that. I already have a costume for it.” He replied. “Albert recommended that I go since I’ve the time off anyways.” Damn, I hated not pulling one on him.

“What character are you going as?” the question was supposed to sound nonchalant but I failed subtly courses.

“That would be a secret. Don’t worry, you’ll see it tonight. It might even impress you.” He taunted.

“Not likely.” I replied tartly. I got off of the couch to put the dirty bowl in the sink. I was moving easier thanks to the Tylenol but I’d need heavy-duty cover up for my eye. “So what’s his royal highness’ costume?” I asked Barry softly.

He smiled at me. “Not telling. You know I’m going as Jax from mortal kombat, What’s your costume?” he asked. I stood on tip toe so I could whisper in his ear.

“A belly dancer.” He stared at me for a second and then started laughing. I frowned at him.

“What’s so damned funny?” I demanded. He shook his head.

“Nothing. Just that costume is perfect.” I gave him a calculating look but decided to drop it. My head just wasn’t up to trying to figure him out.

“Whatever. I’m gonna head home so I can see Cassie on our day before the party tonight.” I gave Barry a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for helping me out and taking care of me.”

“No problem. Happy birthday.” He replied, smiling. I turned and saw Alex leaning against the kitchen entrance.

“What no kiss for me? I helped you too.” He teased. I could have retorted but decided to surprise the hell out of him instead, I kissed him on the cheek too. He just stared at me in surprise as I walked out the door. I heard Barry laugh and I smirked a little. I love doing unexpected things. My happy mood made me completely forget my appearance as I bounded into the condo.

“Happy birthday Cassandra!” I bellowed.

“Happy birthday Callahan!” she bellowed back. I smiled at Edward.

“What the hell happened to you?” he asked, rushing to me. I grimaced.

“It’s nothing, there was a fight at the bar after you all left. I’m ok and the asshole won’t come back.” It wasn’t even a lie.

Edward touched my cheek gently, turning my face to see the black eye more clearly. I swallowed as his touch sent little tremors of weird through me. My breath caught a little as his fingers moved across my injured face. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I grabbed his hand. “You need to stop.” I said, voice a little thick sounding. It was getting more awkward by the second and every time my guardian touched me my Sensate skill screamed that something was wrong. By the look he gave me, apparently Edward had finally put two and two together to get the fact that I was picking up on his magical block. I let go of his hand and looked away so I wouldn’t see the betrayed expression I was sure was coming. After the night I’d had, I just couldn’t handle it.

“Cal?” Edward said softly, his voice making it a question. I sighed a little.

“I’m sorry Edward. It’s… I know I shouldn't press or pry but... it's not that I'm trying to invade your privacy. But any time I'm around you or you touch me, my Sensate gift tries to ram itself through whatever shielding you have up. I'm sorry.” I sighed again. Happy birthday me; it was my worst nightmare coming true. Joy and rapture.

My eyes shot to his when I felt his thumb caress my cheek and he kissed me lightly. Even though his lips only lightly brushed mine, it sent shocked tingles throughout my body. He smiled at me and dropped his hand and I was too dumbstruck to say anything. “We’ll talk about this later Cal.” He said softly and I heard Cassie running down the stairs. She stopped dead when she saw the shiner.

“I left you alone for one night and what, you get taken out by a protruding doorknob or something?” she demanded tartly. My brain was still trying to figure out the kiss, it just wasn’t up to snappy comebacks yet.

“More like a mean right hook, but pretty much yeah, I need a keeper.” I replied, finally thinking of something to say. I saw the side of Edward’s mouth quirk in a smile and I frowned. Cassie didn’t get it though, she thought I was embarrassed about getting punched. She dragged me to the couch and did her best to distract me by talking about her costume for the night.

“You and Zeke are too cute.” I had to admit finally. “You’re going as Dracula and Frankenstein's monster.” I said, nodding.

“So who are you going as?” she demanded. I thought about it for a moment and decided to steal a page from Alex’s book.

“It’s a secret.” I said, smiling at her. “But a good one.” Cassie pouted jokingly, then turned to look at Edward.

“Who are you going as? And don’t tell me it’s a secret.” She demanded. He smiled softly.

“A pirate.” He replied. The smile he had on his face every time he tried to catch my eye, made me feel a strange chill.

I felt Cass touch my mind. ‘Something up? You had the most shocked look on your face when I came downstairs.’ She asked, using our twin speak.

‘Maybe, I don’t know. He wants to talk to me. I’ll let you know how it goes.’ Downside to direct mind-to-mind speaking like that, you can’t lie, or at least I haven’t found a way to yet. Though I can sort of keep information from her if I try hard to not think about it, but it’s like trying not to think about a purple elephant after being told not to think about it. I could feel Cassie’s surprise but even though she found it strange, she wasn't as weirded out by the kiss as I seemed to be.

“Well I’m going to go call Zeke. I want to make sure he’s got everything ready for tonight. I’ll bring my birthday gift down with me. Give me twenty minutes, ok?” Cassie asked with a wink to me. She was giving me a chance to figure this out, and a specific time limit. I watched her flounce up the steps with a happy little hop.

I looked at Edward suddenly wracked with nerves. He cleared his throat and seemed just as nervous. Which seemed impossible since my mouth was so dry I could have used my lips as sandpaper. “I noticed that things between you and I have been a little weird lately.” He started. I nodded, that was a good term for me turning into a tense mess every time he came near me and now there was this whole other level of complication thanks to that kiss. “Firstly you need to know that the culture I grew up in doesn’t look at our relationship as a familial one, so I never thought of you two as family per se. Then the incident at the club happened. You know, the Incubus thing.” He stopped for a second. “I guess that’s when I really realized that ah…well…” he fumbled for a second. “When I watched you dance that first time, I realized that you were definitely not a little girl.” He said, a little ruefully. “We were more like friends than guardian and charge. Then the Incubus thing happened and I, well I guess I realized that I really didn’t think about you like you were a charge or that I was your guardian. Actually I was thinking very un-guardian like thoughts.” I may have looked calm but it was deceiving. Like a duck; calm on the surface but feet churning under water to keep it balanced. I was a bundle of mixed emotions, with a dash of befuddled confusion to boost. But he wasn’t done, not yet. “I felt a little bad at first because I didn’t know how you viewed me. And then I was very confused because I thought maybe I could ignore it. But it seems that if I try and lock it out, you pick up it anyways.” He said, breaking eye contact in his nervousness. Wait, was he trying to say that all of this messed up Sensate gift thing on my end was due to him being attracted to me and trying to block it out? Now I was confused, what did that mean for me? It tells you how very confused I was feeling when I couldn't even try to figure out if I was attracted to my guardian or repelled by the idea of him being attracted to me. I had just never really thought about Edward that way at all. But I still felt this was a cover for something else, there is no way that my niggling sense of something wrong was always due to a crush on his part. It's been happening for longer than what he said.

“Kiss me again.” I said, voice surprisingly steady. One way to find out was through touch and if he wanted to kiss me anyways, maybe his guard will be down and I could know for sure. He smiled and scooted over to sit next to me, touching my cheek gently, then leaned forward to kiss me. Which is, of course, when the doorbell rang. We both jumped like we’d been shot. Dammit, I needed him off his guard for this to work. “Later?” I asked, standing up to go see who had such abysmal timing. I opened the door and saw a strange, handsome man standing there.

“Hey Cassie, nice black eye.” He said, brushing past me. Of course he thought I was my twin.

“Wrong twin.” I told him, turning to face him. I kept the door open though, I had a weird feeling about him. Giving into instinct, I checked him out, both literally and metaphysically. To the eye he was a treat. He had curly reddish blonde hair that just looked too artful to be messy, honey dark skin that looked impossibly smooth and ridiculously bright blue eyes. To the magical eye, he wasn’t even human. He was a demon, a full one. Ezekiel was demon blood, meaning that he had been infused or infected with demonic blood, the end result making him a vampire. This being in front of me was a full demon, like the incubus at the club last week, only not an incubus. I frowned at him and tried to figure out what exactly he was and what he could do. Apparently he felt me looking and threw up a shield to block me out. With a chill I realized that made him feel a lot like Edward.

“Tsk, tsk… no peeking.” He taunted, shaking a long finger at me. He stepped towards me not being subtle when he checked me out. “I didn’t know that lovely Cassandra was part of a pair. How… excellent.” He said, making it sound as if we were some kind of antique and he was a collector. I felt a weird tingle where our magic fields touched but didn’t get to think about it because suddenly Edward was right there next to me, grabbing the demon’s arm.

“Get out.” He said tersely, pushing the man towards the door.

Cass came running down the stairs, looking as shocked as I felt. It took a lot to make Edward lose his temper, and he normally never touched people like that. But for some reason he seemed unable or unwilling to just snap this annoying prick out of here.

“Cassandra!” the moron cheered, completely ignoring the menace in Edward’s voice.

“Sebastian, what the hell are you doing here?” she demanded. “Edward it’s alright, annoying as he is, he’s safe.” She stated. Edward gave her a searching look, but after a moment let him go. Belatedly I closed the door, no need to let the neighbors see our little drama. “Callie, Edward, this is Sebastian. Sebastian, this is my twin Callahan, and this is Edward.” She introduced formally. Then she added, “Sebastian is Zeke’s Sire. Despite his appearance, he’s a nice guy.”

“Hey, I look good!” Sebastian protested, smiling. I could see a hint of fang; not like a vampire though, his were only a little longer in the incisor than a normal human would be. He bowed ironically to Edward. “Sir.” I could swear they had hi온라인카지노게임 between them, but I couldn’t see how. Sebastian extended his hand to me and after a second I took it. Instead of shaking my hand, he turned it over and kissed it. “Kitten.” He purred at me. I pulled my hand back with revulsion, and not entirely for the kiss alone. My skin buzzed from where he had been touching, like I’d hit a live wire.

“Eww, oh Goddess.” I exclaimed, walking past him to the sink. “Try something like that again and I’ll bounce your ass out the door.” I warned him. He just gave me an amused look.

“I’m sure you’ve earned your black eye and hard ass attitude kitten, but I’m a Demon Lord. You might convince me to move towards the bedroom, but never be able to force me out the door.” He replied. He gave Edward an unreadable look. “Though there are other ways to move a Demon Lord, violence is rarely effective.”

“Whatever.” I replied. “Cass no disrespect to Zeke, but his Sire’s an ass. I’m going upstairs to get my costume ready. Let me know when he leaves.” 

“Oh, so harsh. No worries, I just came by to wish Cassandra, and I guess yourself a happy birthday.” With that he bowed, flourishing a nonexistent rapier to the side. He stood up straight and hugged Cassie. She rolled her eyes, apparently used to his flamboyant nature. He stepped back and looked at me. “I won’t kiss your hand this time.” He said and stretched a hand out again. Demons, like the Fae, can’t actually tell an outright lie. Twist the truth yes but not tell an actual lie. I don’t know why but it’s a constant that you can trust, so I took his hand to shake it. Like before there was a strange buzz that bordered on painful where our hands touched. Instead of trying to kiss my hand again he used our grip to pull me into him and he kissed me full on the lips. The he stepped back with a laugh. “Nice. Kitten, ‘till next time.” and then he vanished with a snap.

“Son of a bitch.” I cursed, wiping my mouth off. Edward was glaring darkly where Sebastian had been standing.

“If I knew where he was, I’d throttle him.” He promised darkly.

“Sorry about that Cal, I swear I didn’t know he’d be like that.” Cassie apologized.

I shrugged at her. “It’s ok, not your fault he’s got a screw loose.” She hugged me then stepped away. “Well I’m still going to go get my costume…” I trailed off because they were both staring at me in shock. “What?” I asked, concerned.

“Your eye… the bruise, it’s gone.” Cass said, awed.

“What?” I ran to the mirror in the bathroom. She was right; the bruise around my eye was completely gone. So too was the fat lip. Unbuttoning my shirt, I looked and saw that my ribcage was even bruise free. “Whoa.” I said softly. I looked over at Cassie and Edward. “Son of a bitch can heal with a touch?” I asked. Edward stared at me and I remembered only then to close my shirt and button it. It was feeling a little weird to have to be conscious of what I was exposing now, I still had no clue how to feel about this sudden seeming attraction.

“Now why would he do that?” I asked, confused. “I wasn’t exactly cordial to him, and he didn’t even know I existed until five minutes ago.” As charming as I am, even I need more time than that. Before either one of them could answer, something else occurred to me. “And why did it seem like you two knew each other?” I demanded of Edward. He shot me a surprised look.

“Where’d you get that idea?” he tried to deflect. I frowned, thinking about it; my instincts are usually right but I don’t always know why or how they work.

“It was the way you reacted to him, like he was someone you were not happy to see. He definitely seemed familiar with you. He knew how to push your buttons and that you were not a threat to him.” I said slowly, choosing my descriptions carefully. It felt right but I wasn’t sure I was explaining it right. Edward had a dark sadness in his eyes that sent chills down my spine and I wished I’d kept my theory to myself. He looked away and walked over to the couch, flopping down on it gracelessly. Today was becoming one Hell of a Day; capital letters. It wasn’t yet 11 am and my brain felt fried.

Cassie and I sat down on the other couch, watching Edward. He stared at his feet in the heavy silence for a moment then spoke without inflection or emotion. “You may have noticed that I don’t speak about my past or your parents. When you were little it was easy because you didn't think to ask, and when you did ask it hurt too much to go into still. So I told you both enough lies to convince you to stop asking, but I knew it was a delaying action. I just hoped... I hoped that I would figure out what to say, and that maybe I would know more about what to say by then. But life has never been that kind to me.” Somehow I got the feeling that this wasn’t going to be a happy 온라인카지노게임 and again I was hit with that sense of wrongness. Cass and I had never really pushed all that hard for information on our parents, and now that I was actually thinking about it I could recognize that it was strange that we had never really... wanted to know.

“You were right Callie, I do know Sebastian. You know that I was close friends with your father, what you didn't know was that he was a special Consul to Sebastian. Walter was unique in so many ways but I don’t know even the half of it to be honest. He was more than adviser, he was closer to being an ambassador, I guess. I was always honest about not knowing who your mother was even though I held back on telling you about your father…” Edward trailed off. There were thick emotions in his voice, but I couldn’t figure out which emotions exactly. “Your dad didn't die in a Power Flood, and I wasn't just named your guardian because of legal paperwork already in place. I remember the day your father came to me. He looked so terrifying, yet somehow beautiful, and in his arms he carried two little girls that were freshly birthed. He gave you both to me then. ‘Keep my daughters safe. Hide them. I’ll find you when I’m able to.’ I was given legal guardianship of you both because he made it a blood oath to protect you. I took you out of the life I’d always known, and did my best to keep you safe. I had NO CLUE on how to raise two little girls and the Counsel kept trying to get me to give you both into their custody. But I’d promised Walter, so I kept you both and struggled through raising you. I knew only a handful of facts for sure. Walter had told me what he wanted your names to be, I knew that you both had to be special like he was, and I knew that I was way out of my league in trying to raise you. But somehow we managed to survive this long.”

When he paused, I asked my question, “So our father could still be alive?” Hell, now that I thought about it, Edward hadn’t known our mother so she could be alive as well. Cassie and I might have a real blood family out there.

“I used to hope that same thing my Callie, but he knew how to find me. He also knew your names and could have found us that way. No, I don’t think Walter is alive. If you knew him like I did, you’d know that there isn’t a force in heaven or hell that would be able to stop him from finding us. Walter was that kind of man, implacable. It used to scare me sometimes, the things he’d do and say.” Edward looked me in the eye and smiled. “I see a lot of that attitude in you Callie.” His sad smile jerked my heart. “Getting in the face and challenging the leader of the 온라인카지노주소 of Changers is something I could definitely see your father doing. And you Cassandra, you already knew you’ve inherited his gifts. But more than that, his was the strongest Healing the Counsel had ever seen and as you continue to grow, I believe that some day you’ll far surpass even him.” Edward looked back at me, less sad but his look was still giving me chills. “As for your gifts Callie, I can only assume that they’re from your mother or an ancestor that I know nothing about. I do know that the strength of self you both possess is a legacy of your father.” He stopped smiling at a memory. Cassie and I both let him have that moment, most likely because neither of us had a clue what to say rather than any desire to remain quiet. Edward pulled himself out of the memory to look at us.

“God you both look so much like him, but at the same time so different.” This got my attention. If I got a good enough description I could try a sketch of him. It might end up being the only tangible piece of him I’ll ever get. “You both have his colouration. Those sunfilled, whiskey eyes used to drive me crazy; especially since you both seem to have his knack of intense eye contact. His hair was less thick and wavy but it was the same espresso brown shade.” Edward smiled a heart broken little smile. “But the rest of your features I assume, come from your mother. And now, well now you both know that I’m not really your guardian anymore. But I would like to be at least your friend.” He finished.

That was a lot of information, and it was hard to settle in my mind. Being lied to for pretty much my entire life and led around so I wouldn't ask questions wasn't exactly the way to make me feel all open to friendship, but he had actually raised us since birth. What parent doesn't lie to their child at least once in their lifetime, but logic didn't make the truth any easier to swallow. Cassie seemed to handle it better, she just accepted it and started thinking. “Alright, now you mentioned that our father was an ambassador and Consul to Sebastian. Would he know anything about our mother?”

“As far as I know he wouldn’t. And I’m not exactly comfortable with you girls being around him. I’m not 100% convinced that he wasn’t somehow involved in Walter’s disappearance. Your father was forbidden to tell me what exactly it was that he did for Sebastian or what it was that made him special. I am sure that if he’d found us, he’d have told me everything anyways so there is a chance that Sebastian might have had him silenced. Or Sebastian could be completely innocent in all of this, though I’d find that very hard to believe. Sebastian and I have never exactly gotten along. It was hard on Walter, having split loyalties like that so I did my best to keep myself out of his work relationship with Sebastian the Demon Lord. Unfortunately that means that I know very little about him or what he does. I do find it interesting that he somehow petitioned the Counsel to not mark him as Demon Lord, and they accepted. So either he’s involved in something very secretive or he’s here on asylum. Cassie I know you love Zeke so I’ll trust your judgment on the vampire, but I don’t trust Sebastian. I especially don’t trust the sudden interest he displayed in you Callie. I know you’re not a silly little girl who’ll fall for it but remember that demons are the masters of seduction. He can try to capture your mind and he won’t play fair. A demon can borrow the gifts of other demons around them.”

And suddenly we were in silence. I was thinking, chewing on my lip as I let the information just sit in my head until some important detail would lunge from the depth and bite at the bait of my instincts. “Does Sebastian know who we are?” I asked, tensing a little as the first little spike of worry wormed its way through my calm exterior.

“I don’t know. If he doesn’t yet he’ll figure it out soon. He knew Walter and his skills, which Cassie shares, and he should remember how Walter looked and you both resemble him a lot. However, you two were a huge surprise to me and I think I knew Walter better than even Sebastian did. We could hope we’re lucky and that he’ll just assume that me being here was a fluke and he won’t put two and two together, but I don’t believe we were lucky. A couple of the hints he dropped indicates that he remembered me, and I think he has a suspicion on who you two are. Though he has known Cassie for years, so just maybe he’ll leave you both alone.”

I nodded carefully, feeling a little overwhelmed. Also, my lips were tingling. They’d been tingling since Sebastian had kissed me so it was probably a bit of left over energy from his healing me. We were all quiet and I knew that we needed to break the somber mood. Edward looked like he was waiting for us to pitch fits which was certainly reasonable given the fact that he just confessed to lying to us on some pretty big matters.. I could kind of understand why, when I had a generous moment, but I also had the feeling he’d left some important things out. Maybe given some time he’d tell us about it on his own and I just didn’t feel up to pressing him about it right now. “So what about my gift?” I turned to Cassie, lacking any other form of tension breaking commentary. She blinked at me for a second then burst out laughing; I even got a grateful smile from Edward. My own personal philosophy on life: if you don’t know what to do, ignore the problem and tackle the next one.

“Greedy.” Cassie teased as she ran quickly upstairs to get my gift; I had my gift for Cassie in my pocket. She came back down the stairs with a large envelope, sauntered over to me and dropped the suspiciously heavy envelope into my hands. “Open it.” She demanded. Her smile had a wicked cast to it; I raised my eyebrow but opened the envelope as she commanded.

Inside the envelope was a beautifully inked phoenix picture. The reason it was so heavy was due to the canvas paper it was inked on and the metallic nature of the inks themselves. It was stunningly beautiful. Cassie grinned at me, showing damn near every tooth in her head. Included with the fully inked drawing was a sketch outline of it.

“Zeke drew the original as a tattoo for you. I took it and inked it myself, happy birthday!” she informed me. I was blown away, this was awesome.

“You and Zeke know me too well. I’ll have to let you know when I go to get it inked on me so you can come with. Now your turn.” I said and pulled the delicate necklace out of my pocket. The chain was a tiny gossamer thread of platinum and the pendant was not only beautiful, but practical. It was the sigil form of the term Healer and what it allowed was Cassie to do a major Healing on herself when needed. These little beauties were rare and dreadfully expensive but I hadn’t bought it; I’d made it myself, with the help of some of Cassie’s coworkers.

“Callie, is that what I think it is?” she asked incredulously as she gently took the necklace from me. I smiled almost shyly and nodded.

“It’s a fully functioning Healer sigil. The chain also has a protection fire ward worked into it; for you, from those of us who love you.” I informed. Cassie threw herself into a giant hug from me.

“That is so perfect Cal!” she exclaimed, pulling out of the hug to close the necklace around her neck. She touched the metal in wonder. “It’s warm.”

“That’s the protection ward. It’s warm now but when it senses direct magical danger, the metal will chill and glow. If you want to activate it, twist the ward bead on the chain. You’ll have the strongest fire circle protecting you that I could work into the metal without breaking it. It should last ten minutes or so.”

“You two always know exactly what to give each other.” Edward said wonderingly. “Guess it’s the twin thing; lacking that insight, my gifts to you two are going to seem paltry and second rate.” He confessed jokingly.

“Never!” Cassie protested, laughing. I smiled too; Edward’s gifts usually kicked ass.

“Well I hope they at least don’t disappoint too much.” He smiled. He stood up then and walked over to a kitchen drawer. He drew out two envelopes with our names printed on the front, probably so he didn’t mix them up. I gestured for Cassie to go first.

She opened it up and exclaimed. I’m no good with suspense so I scooted over next to her so I could read it over her shoulder. It was an elegantly calligraphy invitation for her and her fiancé Ezekiel to enjoy a romantic dinner for two at Capital, a really swanky, posh restaurant. Apparently Edward had already paid for the not ever cheap dinners. Cassie was opening and closing her mouth like a stranded fish so I gave Edward the thumbs up sign. It was great gift, and he knew it. Now I was nervous to open mine. It was a simple white card with an address, date and time printed on it.

“Qu’est que-ce?” I asked him. He grinned at me.

“You’ll see.” He replied. I hated surprises like that. Cassie took one look at the address and made a surprised noise; at least she recognized the address.

“What is it Cass?” I demanded.

“Not telling.” She replied, mimicking a closing zipper over her lips.

“You suck.” I replied. She was saved from further prodding by the phone ringing. I reached over for it. “Hello, this is Callie.”

“Hey Callie, can I speak to Cassie please?” Zeke’s voice sounded a little strained.

“You ok Zeke? Sound like you’ve been licking lemons.” I asked, concerned.

“Yeah it’s ok, just had an argument with a friend. But I was hoping for a chance to steal my fiancé from you for a quick lunch today. Is that alright with you?” he asked teasingly.

“You’re asking my permission to take your fiancé out to lunch?” I asked, mainly so I could repeat the information out loud for Cassie’s sake. She rolled her eyes at me.

“Well it is your day with her. I am going to be seeing her tonight at the club.” He admitted.

“It’s ok Zeke you have my permission to ask her.” I handed the phone over to my laughing twin. She took the phone with her upstairs, I assume to get ready for her date. I was smiling when I looked over at Edward.

He was watching me, and the intensity in his eyes made my heart beat start racing. “Is it ok if I kiss you again?” he asked softly.

It was completely out of the blue and I still hadn’t decided what I felt about this sudden romantic angle he had, but if I wanted to try and probe that weirdness I was getting whenever we touched this was my best chance. So I moved a little closer to him and happy surprise flashed in his eyes. “If we’re being honest, I’m not entirely sure. But the only way to tell is to try again.” Guilt was an uncomfortable brick in my gut as I flat out lied to manipulate him. Fair is fair, he had done the exact same to me and Cassie for years.

“So this is a trial run then?” a shade of humour coloured the words. I leaned in to him and touched his face gently.

“Something like that.” I replied while trying to get a read of him through my hand but with no luck. I guess he was unable to feel that gentle magical probing because he didn’t hesitate to kiss me. He was very gentle as if he was afraid of being too forward but that meant he was too on guard for this to work. Most people can feel a Sensate if they’re paying attention so I would definitely need Edward distracted. I made the first move to deepen the kiss past that initial delicate stage, exploring his mouth with my tongue and trying to test the edges of what I knew for sure was a mental shield. We both pulled back from the kiss at the same time.

“That was interesting.” I was noncommittal; a little confused and frustrated that I had found exactly nothing.

Edward looked a little solemn and for a moment I feared he had felt me testing his shield. “It was a great kiss, but we didn’t react magically to it at all so it felt…”

“Flat.” I finished, nodding with him. The look on his face made me wonder if there was something more I was missing to this conversation. Like maybe I wasn’t the only one lying, but some of that could be a guilty conscience. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but there’s no rush. Today has been a full day and it’s what, noon? We have time Edward, no need to rush this.” It felt wrong to lead him on like this because I knew now that I was not attracted to him that way, but I needed the chance to figure out what it was Edward was hiding from me. My lies made him smile and sigh a little as the tension eased out of his shoulders.

“Well I’m going to be heading out.” Cassie’s voice called from the stairs as she bounded down, oblivious to our little episode. She’d changed from her earlier jeans to a cute little skirt and her shoes made my calves ache just looking at them. “Are you alright?” she asked, sitting down on the other side of me.

I gave my twin a convincing smile and kept my conflicted emotional state as bottled up as possible. “Yeah, I think I am.” I said, smiling. It felt terrible to lie to my twin but I had to keep up the pretence while Edward was here to see both our reactions. I would explain it to her later but right now I was just covering one lie up with another, and trying to figure out the little information I had available at the same time. So there hadn’t been any breaches in his shield against my sensate skill when we kissed, so what did that mean? He had just gone through an emotional gauntlet telling us about how he lost his best friend and became our guardian; it was bound to make him keep his guard up.

“Good. Now I have a date with my fiancé and I’ll be back to get ready for the party by 5. See you then.” Cassie bid farewell and left.

“I’m worried what she might think about this thing between us. I don’t want to have to keep lying to her even through omission.” Edward said, though that just made me feel a little angry. He seemed to have no problem lying to me because there had to be more to this awkward attempt at a seduction routine than him suddenly realizing I’m a babe. I wasn’t buying it, but I had to keep playing a role until I knew more.

“She’s not exactly a traditionalist when it comes to relationships.” I shamelessly redirected the conversation. “She never batted an eyelash about how weird it might be for a Healer to be with a demon blood.” I added, and Edward smiled at that.

“There is that.” He agreed and stood up to walk into the kitchen. I wanted to keep the distraction going so I pestered him about what my gift was while he prepared us lunch. I got nothing out of him, not a single clue for my gift or a single reading from my Gift and it was maddening. If I really wanted to, I could go check the address out online, but I wanted to keep Edward from thinking about my behaviour because I know I’m not a good actress and he might figure out that I’m trying to play him. It was not a nice, relaxed afternoon, with me playing a role of awkwardly unsure while Edward was cast as the hesitant suitor. The reality was I felt like I was poking at a pile of teeth and claws to determine if it was a dead body or a sleeping monster, one mistake and things would get volatile too quick for me to fix. It got a little easier when the moment of potential romance passed and we revert to a more comfortable level of ignoring each other while we sprawled out on the couches and watched Friday afternoon television. And as exciting as these shows can be, I used the time to nap as I knew I’d get very little sleep tonight. It was going to be a long night tonight and I suspected a long time before I could feel like I was allowed to drop my guard. Sadly that lingering violent, paranoid darkness that is always inside me was just trembling with anticipation after all of this.