"Touch her, and I'll chop off more than just your fingers when I find out, brother."
The fact that Reiji got defensive, just as Demetri had expected him to. With his suspicions now verified, Demetri couldn't help but smirk. Reading between the lines, he knew exactly how his older brother felt for Tanzy without him having to hear another word. He knew exactly what his brother was implying, but was too coward to dare speak aloud, or probably even admit to himself. He let Reiji leave first, following behind a few minutes later after he straightened out his suit. Touchy, touchy... He thought to himself in an amused manner, raising both hands to prove he was not a threat to his brother's romantic territory.
"I will admit that I was acting recklessly... However I meant what I said, sister... I do not wish to be the reason our family falls apart, so I've decided that we shall have a family meeting tomorrow night to discuss what our next moves as a family will be due to the incoming threat... I suppose we can call a truce until they are taken care of, considering we once again have a common enemy."
As he returned to the ballroom, Demetri overheard Reiji's apology, enjoying the struggle that his elder brother was going through. He smiled and waved to a few people he knew, particularly ex-lovers. Demetri's eyes settled on someone he was far less familiar with, someone who was not tucked away behind Mirabelle's skirts at the moment. That gave him the perfect opprotunity to slide in. As he casually strolled toward Jane, Demetri kept his focus on the discussion between his siblings.
"Don't touch me."
Without even looking even in his twin's general direction Demetri could perfectly picture the expression on Bishop's face when Reiji had the aduacity to make physical contact. He could see the cold glare perfectly in his mind. Demetri sighed to himself, wishing that the situation with his family had been in a better standing than this, but there was little that he could do given his circumstances. Instead, Demetri decided to focus on things he could change, like the fact that Jane was hiding herself away in a corner. Once the redhead was in proper speaking distance, he bowed cordially, then smirked up at her with a mischievous sparkle in his bright green eyes before standing straight, "It's a pity to waste away over here. Dance with me, Jane?" He asked, quirking a brow before extending his hand out in an offering manner. All of his previous amours pouted as he chose the maid standing before him instead of asking any of them to dance, but Demetri didn't even give them a glance as he waited for her answer. For the moment, she was the only girl that the womanizing vampire was paying attention to, as if she was the only female present, "You wouldn't leave a man hanging, would you?" He asked in a playful manner, hoping that his invitation would be well received. He wasn't exactly used to hearing the word no, and he would do anything in his power to make his attempt at charming her a success.
"I cannot speak for my family. However, you're not some mere object. An object can be replaced, so how on earth would that not automatically disqualify you from being classified an object?"
Violet eyes darted in confusion as Bishop implied that she could not be replaced like a mere object. This immediately brought heat to her cheeks, making the ebony haired girl extremely flustered, but also happier than Bishop could ever imagine. To hear out loud that she was not so easy to discard was reassuring, but in the end it did not change her status in the family. To the rest of his family, Anise was merely a tool for norishment, one that was abundant in this world. At least someone deems me inexpendable..
"What are you? Well, human for starters. A servant. A maid. Food. A pet..."
"P-Pet!?" She replied in a surprised tone, blinking several times. She wasn't sure what he meant by that, but in her experience, when lords bought the poor as 'pets' it was usually not of an innocent nature. Also, from how Reiji treated Tanzy, that only verified to her that most of society saw 'pet' as more of a fetish than what Bishop probably meant. However, Anise being naive, immediately figured he meant the more common use, rather than the innocent 'you're like a pet rabbit' variation. I-I didn't realize Lord Bishop had such p-perversions... Is it a family thing..? Lord Demetri's room has made strange noises before... I believe he's had more than one girl in there at a time before...
"So...you're not a thing to me, so wipe such a dumb idea from your mind...you're..well why the hell does it matter?! That's not important right now!"
Anise jumped when he snapped, unsure of what she had done in particular, but assumed he was simply finally growing angry for her betrayal. Perhaps it was simply a late reaction? While she wasn't sure of his irritation's origins, she simply nodded and stopped asking questions, returning to her obediant nature. Her cussing went out the window the second she knew he was in her presence, and her frustration disipated. She completely lost her nerve.
"Angry? Well, I am, but not so much at you. You vex me, annoy me, and quite frankly, frequently leave me thinking you make utterly no sense whatsoever with how quickly you bounce back and forth between emotions and expressions. But am I angry with you? No. Frustrated maybe, but not angry. You ran away without an ounce of concern for the danger, so yes, I'm annoyed. But you're safe for the most part, so I'll excuse it."
It stung a little to hear that she annoyed him, but she did not interupt and listened to his explanations. Why was he being so lenient? The Bishop she had met a year ago would have been furious, had threatened her older twin on more ocassions than Anise was willing to count. The fact that he was so calm was confusing her to no end, but asking questions only seemed to frustrate him even more. Both of her eyes closed as he wiped away her tears, only opening and gazing up at him when he was done, "Most of the time I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel.. My mother sold me to a family full of vampires, my twin sister was mutilated and slaughtered by werewolves, and the head of house tried to kill me not long ago and turned around saving my life.. Only a year and a half ago my only major concern in life was declining Derrek's marriage proposals..." Immediately Anise realized that she had said something she should not have, especially since her letter the day before had been addressed to the very same person she was discussing with Bishop. The letter had been filled with half of the money she earned working at Castillo the entire year, and Bishop would have known that if he had peeked into the envelope.
"Don't cry. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you, alright?"
Anise's blush deepened, and she nodded quickly, turning her gaze away, letting her long black hair conceal her embarrassment from him. She wasn't sure how to respond.. his protective words made her want to smile, but she just couldn't let herself be happy after everything this family had taken from her. While that wasn't Bishop's fault, every time she thought about her feelings for him, she was reminded of her sister. Her sister absolutely hated the vampires.
"Fine. You'll be confined to your room and fed prison rations for a week. But for now, we're going back. I'm sure the idiot is worried about you, and I need to check up on Demetri."
"Of course. Who are you referrign to as 'the idio-'? O-Oh my, M-Mi'lord!" Anise stopped midquestion and squeaked out when he picked her up so effortlessly. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt her entire face burning with embarrassment when she realized the new situation they were in. The way he was holding her, it was too much and Anise immediately hid her face in her right hand, completely flustered. Though the jump left her breathless. She was left in complete shock. She knew for a fact that the cliff was at least twelve feet and he managed to jump it while carrying her?
"More importantly though, you ran off before I requested a dance. That's just rude. Now you owe me one, regardless of if I ask you first or not."
"E-Eh?!" Her cheeks lit up a brilliant shade of red as he mentioned dancing together, and she gazed away for what felt like an eternity, her heart beating faster the more she thought about it. Even though his frown disappeared, it did little to soothe her nerves knowing he expected to dance with her, especially in the pitiful state she was currently in, "My dress...and my hair.. It would make people suspicious... I don't even know where my shoes are, mi'lord.." While mostly she was just trying to avoid dying of embarrassment, or perhaps dying from jealous ladies attempting to assassinate her for stealing Bishop from their ambitious clutches. Though in reality she was a mess. Her dress managed to avoid tears, but her feet, arms, and legs were scratched up, her dress saved from such abuse as she had to hold it up to run. Her hair even had twigs in it, Anise was fairly sure that the nobles would mistake her for someone raised in the wild.