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Perhaps one of the universe’s greatest mysteries is just how far a vampire’s arrogance and hubris could extend. Or at least this one specific vampire in particular.

Standing there, untouched by the ruggedness of the cold weather, shielded by an impenetrable air of self-grandeur and importance… it’s seriously a wonder how she even still fits on this planet without that giant ever-ballooning head of hers bloating out the sun in all its pompousness.

“if I dare surmise, you’re not particularly delighted to see me at the moment, are you?”

It’s like everytime I see her, she’s always in the cast of dark shadows. This time was no different either, lurking beneath the shade of a concrete pillar, arms crossed and guarded in front of her.

“It’s quite understandable,” She said, adding on in my continued silence. “For, truly, what are you to assume? Your friend, injured, grievously so, no rhyme nor reason. What else could that entail, I wonder?”

“Tyler told me to give you the benefit of the doubt. For his sake, I’ll try to,” I finally spoke up, my stare hard and cold within hers. “So you can either keep yapping away about how this whole thing is so beneath you, or you can just shut the hell up, and just tell me what the hell did you do.”

Amelia glared fiercely, but she did not retaliate. Surprisingly enough, she managed to hold her tongue in, her legs shifting slightly in place.

“I did not mean for him to be hurt.”

.....

“Oh, did you now?” I snorted loudly. “Job well done then. Seriously.”

She let out a raspy breath, her eyes on me hardening. “I had only meant to deter him away, alright? Drive him out, feel averse to being within my presence—to leave me well alone. Suffice it to say, things did not go as planned.”

Finally, hearing not a single syllable of snark in her words. I let up my intensity, spoke a little calmer, “Tell me what happened.”

I heard her out, getting the whole story, every detail, every happening, dramatized in her very articulate way of speaking, and the more I heard of what really went down, the more I found myself shaking my head from left to right.

“You steal people’s belongings for fun?” I exclaimed loudly to the dismay of several passersby. “And you got Tyler pickling pockets right along with you?!”

“Believe me, I share deeply with your incredulity,” Amelia wearily said. “I expected him to shrink away from the challenge—only the most rational thought to have, yes? Except instead he ran boldly, stupidly into the complete senseless. I can’t comprehend it.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s senseless, stupid,” I said, even more taken aback at the fact that she really, actually, didn’t seem to completely understand at all why Tyler went and did what he did. “Tell him to jump off a cliff, he’ll do it! He wants to impress you! He’s not just gonna pass up a golden opportunity to look good in front of you. Bond over some common interests which I’m sure there’s very little of.”

“Then, I suppose, even at that front, he had failed miserably,” Amelia dully said. “He didn’t even manage to swindle a single accessory of any material worth. A complete waste of my effort, my time, my patience.”

“Yes, because it’s all about you,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Well? Keep enlightening me. If stealing shit didn’t send him to the hospital, what did?”

When I did finally learn how exactly Tyler earned his many spots of black and blue, I just spiraled even deeper into madness. Like—what? Huh? Is this real life? Are you sure we’re all just not some actors on a set? Some two-dimensional pieces of text written in a book?

Out of all things—jumped by a couple of punks looking to get even? And like the knight in shining armor he was, Tyler had to jump in to save his fair maiden and get his shit kicked in. Granted, not as if he was aware that his maiden wasn’t exactly the usual damsel in distress told in those fairytales. Still, what kind of borderline cliche scenario was this?

And here I was thinking of something worse, something much worse. I don’t know exactly what, but I do know it was worse. Getting the full picture now, I have the urge to just burst out laughing by just how ridiculous it all sounded.

“So either way,” I said, recapping everything, “You’re still pretty much the entire reason why he’s in the hospital anyway.”

“Except I did not intend for this outcome,” She rebutted. “Contentious as you may find me, I do not outright act in malevolence.”

“And what? Does that automatically acquit you of all wrongdoings?” I asked. “Because you didn’t mean it—all’s just fine and dandy? Wipe your hands clean, you’re not at fault in any way?”

To that, she took to silently glowering, puckering in her lips so tightly I could see her sharp fangs protruding through her skin. Still, it wasn’t as if she was outright denying it. Though the inverse is true too, not as if she was admitting it.

“He wanted to save you, took a damn beating for you, pretty much did everything he could to please you,” I said, awe-stricken in the midst of my bafflement. “Y’know, typically, this is the part where you kinda start falling for him, a tincy little… maybe…?”

“Please,” She snarled, her voice with a hard edge. “Him? Human? Especially him? You demean me, insult me! As if I would ever—!”

“Then just answer me one thing,” I cut her off before she could go a thousand-word tangent. “Just what are you doing here five floors away from his room?”

So quick-witted, always so eloquently-spoken, and yet once again, for some reason Amelia chose the silence of the rustling wind as her sole answer to my inquiry.

Another thing to note was the serious lack of hostility from her. All throughout, I don’t think I can recall a longer time where she went without throwing an insult or provocation somewhere anywhere.

In fact, so far she’s been unusually compliant, patient. Makes me seriously wonder, consider… Perhaps there was a bit of space for remorse to somehow fit in that swelling ego of hers, after all.

“If I may,” She suddenly spoke again. “Just what in the Divines are you wearing?”

Ah, there we go. Here comes the petty taunts just in the nick of time. Welp, it was fun while it lasted, I suppose.

“No, it can’t be. Is that…?” Lips agape, Amelia leaned forward, squinting those harsh black eyes into tiny slits. “I know the magic woven in that cloak, but it can’t, you can’t—is that Terestra’s…?”

“Mom gave me a gift, yes,” I said simply. “You like it?”

“This is absurd. Her gown, the one and only of its kind. A skill of incomprehensible prowess,” She backed away, unable to hide the utter shock in her voice. “How is it that you have it? Replicate such a…?” without waiting for a response, she blurted out. “A fragment?”

“Good guess,” I nodded. “A good try also on changing the subject, but I’m still not done—”

“Why? For what purpose, what justifies that…

Amelia demanded, hearing nothing and saying everything. “For you to envelop yourself with such strength, potency, it’s… it’s… unnecessary… so why have you…?”

“Magic’s not active, and I have no plans on flipping that switch,” I said, taken off-guard by her reaction. “Besides, I was cold.”

“C-Cold? You were…?”

Amelia broke. Like deep in her eyes, I could visibly see the thin strand that was her sanity just snap in two. I was nonsense now, how she gazed at me, I was something incomprehensible, indescribable, a foregin entity devoid of all logic and reason.

“You currently are in possession of an object of limitless potential. A contradiction in magic so nonsensical, so agonizingly illogical, that countless wiser men had turned mad at the mere notion of understanding its intricacies. And you… you have that here… you wear that here… because… because you’re cold.”

Well, when she puts it like that…

“Can we not talk about the cloak right now?” I said. “This is about you. Your intentions, your actions. So what exactly are you doing out here if not to—?”

“I didn’t come here to see him,” Amelia snapped irritably. “I’m here, standing here, bearing the glare of the cold and sun, solely for you.”

I blinked. “Me?”

“My sister had sought me earlier today, you see,” She said, her tone returned of its usual snobbery.

“Uh-huh,” I nodded blankly, this information of no surprise. “Did she ask you about Tyler too?”

“She did, yes. I’ve told her exactly what I told you. And before you wonder and gloat—yes, she too did not approve of what I’ve done. She had confessed herself disappointed with me, something I admit I wholeheartedly regret.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But she’s also made known to me your actions, your intentions,” She quickly said, snapping her eyes forward. “So, you intend to take my sister on a romantic escapade of your own soon, do you?”

“Uh…” it was my turn to fall silent. “Huh…”

Seems it was now my turn to be grilled.

Thanks, Adalia.