Aura

It was quite a while a way before the date of the supposed dinner party. As such, Olivia had already thrown the matter to the back of her mind as she went about her days in a lackadaisical manner.

One evening, however, her routine changed. Ever since Olivia arrived at the De Vere household, she had noticed that every once in a while, Alexander would leave deep in the night and be back by the time she woke up the next morning.

Today, was such a day.

After having had a bath, she didn't immediately go back to her bedroom as she always did. Taking advantage of the fact that Alexander was absent, Olivia walked up to a particular area in the room.

Her fingers skimmed across the cool, glass cabinet she had been eyeing for weeks, before opening the small door.

Inside, rows of alcohol filled bottles lay standing in a neat line. Olivia's eyes shimmered as her gaze roamed across the different shapes and sizes of the drinks in front of her.

Ivan had recently teased her for never having tried alcohol despite being well over the age. Due to such taunting's, Olivia felt bitter and sorrowful as she was reminded that she had somewhat missed out on life as she grew up and so she came up with such a daring plan. Of course, on the premise that Alexander was not present in the house at the time.

She once again focused on the glass cabinet. Due to her inexperience, she didn't know the difference between the drinks and so, she thought it was best to pick the one that looked the most appealing to her.

Her hand moved towards a certain bottle. Looking at it, the vial was short in stature but its greenish shimmer on its surface caught her eye, so she swiftly picked it up and walked towards the chairs in the middle of the room.

Because Alexander had so many different bottles, Olivia was not scared that he would find out, as she concluded that he probably wouldn't even notice such a small amount missing.

Before she sat down, she didn't forget to pick up a small glass to pour the drink in. Once she got herself comfortable, she slowly tipped the neck of the bottle, the drink flowing out into the glass cup. She stopped when it was half way full.

Olivia observed the liquid. It was dark brown in colour, a stark contrast to the colour of its bottle. She then gave it a small sniff before deciding to take her first sip.

Once the liquid slid past her pink lips and down her throat, she felt a slight stinging and bitter sensation as it travelled down to her stomach. Then a cool, minty taste followed afterwards. She smacked her lips for a while, deciding that she liked the taste and promptly poured herself another glass.

And another.

And another.

And yet another…

Before she finally realised something was slightly off about this new experience she was currently going through. From what she had heard when she was younger, by now, shouldn't she be feeling tipsy if not drunk? Yet, Olivia did not feel not one thing amiss. In fact, it felt like she was drinking water as nothing had affected her. Looking at her now, her face was scrunched up, as her eyebrows were pulled together in confusion.

While she was thinking about the cause, the door to the room abruptly opened.

Her face rapidly changed from confused to startled, as she stared at the man standing at the doorway.

After a while, the door closed behind him as he slowly walked towards Olivia, sitting on a seat opposite her. He took a glance at the table, looking at the objects, before lifting his head and raising his eyebrow at her in amusement.

Olivia who was still shocked at Alexander's sudden appearance, finally managed to gather herself as she stuttered, "W-what are you doing here?"

"Am I not allowed in my own room?"

Olivia suddenly felt the urge to ram her head against a brick wall. Did the drink cause her to become foolish instead?

She continued to sit in silence, refusing to explain her current predicament to him due to her embarrassment.

"This drink won't affect me let alone you," Alexander voiced out after a while. His long fingers gently tapping against the armchair.

"What you need is something stronger."

His words quickly caught her attention as she looked up at him.

Alexander nudged his head towards the cabinet, indicating for her to go over.

"Which one?" She asked.

"Clear crystal casing, far right," He instructed.

Olivia quickly picked up the correct bottle before making her way back.

She promptly poured herself a glass, under the watchful eyes of Alexander, before tipping it into her mouth.

Soon, her mouth was bursting with a distinct flavour. One that she couldn't quite describe, but she felt, tasted particularly pleasant and palatable. She quickly poured herself another glass, the same feeling washing over her body. Olivia felt, given some time, she would surely get addicted to this. She now had a thorough understanding of why adults kept drinking such things. Tonight, a new world had opened for Olivia.

As her fingers were itching to pour her fourth glass, the bottle was suddenly yanked out of her hands.

Olivia looked up at the perpetrator. Currently, her face was flushing a light pink, as her lips shifted to a natural dark red. Her eyes were extremely bright and sparkling so much so that Alexander almost felt himself getting lost in them.

"Are you not going to offer the owner of the room a drink?"

Olivia blinked her eyes before slowly nodding. Amongst her muddled thoughts, she felt that his words were logical and so, allowed him to so.

Instead of getting himself a separate glass however, Alexander simply shifted Olivia's cup over to himself, pouring the liquid and taking a long and elegant sip.

Olivia's eyes widened at his actions. 'Isn't that the cup that I had just used?'

But as she continued to think of the implications of his action, Olivia thought to herself that such a thing wasn't so important.

So what if he drank from the same cup? Did that mean anything? It was probably akin to sharing with his pet.

And so, Olivia's thoughts rapidly moved on to other things.

As she watched, Olivia felt that the Alexander of now, was particularly handsome and pleasing to the eyes. His tongue peeked out as it caught the few stray drops at the corner of his lips, his fingers continued to tap against the armchair while the other hand held the glass cup, all of this, causing him to look dignified and refined in her eyes.

After a while of sitting in comfortable silence, she suddenly thought of something and asked, "Can I ask a question?"

"Hmm."

"In my vision, the masked people talked about pureblood vampire's and… crystal core's. What did they mean?" Due to her intoxication, Olivia had a mouthful of newfound courage. She thought to herself that it'd be the best time to ask all the questions she had kept in recently.

"You want to know?"

Olivia rapidly nodded her head, as if she were a sweet looking child begging for some candy.

"Drink another glass."

Olivia quickly poured a drink for herself, gulping the contents as fast as she could, before looking up at Alexander again. Her enthusiasm, overflowing through her eyes.

"Have you seen the colour of Reginald's eyes?"

Olivia nodded her head.

"The reason for the difference between our eye colour is because he's a half vampire, while I'm a pureblood."

Olivia did not quite understand, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"Both my parents are purebloods so that's why I'm also a pureblood. Half vampire's either have only one pureblood vampire as a parent or have two half vampire parent's therefore leaving them as being only half. Either that, or they were turned from human to vampire," Alexander patiently explained.

Olivia nodded her head in understanding. Other than listening to his explanation, she felt that at the moment, Alexander was being particularly talkative and patient towards her compared to other times. Because of this, she suddenly gave a wide and dazzling smile, causing Alexander to stop and stare at her for a few moments.

Dark crimson eyes, roamed over her flushed face, especially stopping at her red lips for a beat extra.

Before he got too carried away, Alexander continued, "One of the biggest differences between the two, is our aura's. Pureblood vampires have naturally stronger aura's compared to half vampire's hence the hierarchy."

As she listened, Olivia slowly remembered the first day when she met him. In the very same room, he had made her swear to never tell anyone about her self-healing body. The way he threatened her, however, was something that she was unable to forget. Now that she was thinking about it, she remembered that Mr De Vere, Alexander's father, also did the very same thing.

… so it was called aura.

As she was content on getting her answer, Olivia slowly felt as if she had forgotten something.

"What about crystal cores?"

Once she mentioned it, Alexander's already restrained aura slightly leaked out a sliver, causing the courage that Olivia previously had to plummet to the floor.

"I think it's time for you to go to your room," Olivia did not have to ask to know that it was a clear warning. One that slightly sobered her muddled mind.

She stood up from her seat and carefully stepped out of his room, making sure not to fall over, as her senses were somewhat disorientated.

Alexander, on the other hand, slowly poured himself another glass as his eyes were trained on the seat Olivia just sat on moments ago.

A few days had passed since that night. Olivia was surprised to find out that not only did she not suffer from the known aftereffects of drinking, but she had also managed to remember everything that had happened that night.

When she recalled the questions she had asked, Olivia felt that it was best to never drink in his presence ever again.

"Miss Olivia, Master Alexander calls for your presence in the carriage," Reginald's monotone voice managed to break Olivia out of her embarrassing reminisce.

Once seated inside, as per habit, Olivia looked at the stoic vampire sitting opposite her.

"Where are we going?" She asked. Although she had already had an inkling, Olivia still hoped that she was wrong about their destination.

"Annesley Household," He simply replied.

Olivia's hopes were suddenly poured down the drain. She didn't really feel like going but now that she was already on her way there, she felt that it was best to take her time and enjoy it.

Soon, the pair reached a very large looking estate. Behind the building were tree branches peeking out, a sign as to just how tall the house actually was.

"Ah, you finally came!" Once inside, Olivia immediately recognised Eli as he was the only one she was familiar with amongst everyone else in the room.

"Oh? It seems Alexander did bring you along after all," Eli gave a small complacent smile as he gazed at Olivia as if to say 'I told you so'.

Olivia, on the other hand, felt the urge to roll her eyes but fought it back, instead opting to say, "It seems you were right, Eli."

Watching them, Alexander's eyes roamed between the two, having clearly heard Olivia address Eli directly.

He wondered when the two had suddenly become so close with one another.

"We're not here to stand around all day," Alexander interrupted the pair's conversation.

Eli laughingly apologised while leading both of them to the main room.

As Olivia looked around, she felt that compared to the De Vere household, this one was very flamboyant in that, there were a lot of ornaments and paintings showcased. It felt as if the households entire wealth was on display.

"Alexander, I'm glad you've managed to come," An unfamiliar voice, made Olivia pause her observation.

Currently standing in front of them was a dark haired woman, with a bright blue dress on. Her frills swept the floor while her tight curls bounced with every shake of her head. She looked to be slightly older than Olivia, about her mid 20s. Her face was pale due to the face powder she had previously put on while her lips were a stark contrast, dyed a dark rouge. Her cheeks had a hint of blush, both natural and, if Olivia had to guess, faint rouge to make her face appear more youthful and vigorous. Her eyes were a light brown. Human.

"Miss Annesley," Alexander curtly replied.

The woman did not seem to take offence to Alexander's behaviour, as if she had already expected it as so. From this, Olivia deduced that Alexander displayed an apathetic personality to everyone expect bar his own family. Towards them, he was a bit more livelier.

While Olivia continue to look at the woman, the woman only spared a glance at her before shifting her attention back on Alexander.

It seemed that they were the last ones to arrive. As soon everyone had sat down in the main room, the servants dishing out refreshments before dinner was served.

Olivia did not take a seat, deciding to take her usual choice of standing behind Alexander.

As the servants were refilling the guest's drinks, Olivia's eye had caught on to a particular maid. The woman looked to be middle age, as she walked to and from the kitchen with sunken eyes. Olivia noted that the woman didn't seem to be in the best shape as, occasionally, she would slightly stumble and falter in her footsteps. Thankfully, not in front of the other nobles.

As Olivia continued to watch her, thinking that the maid might soon make a terrible mistake, her thoughts were quickly proven to be true.

As the maid tottered into the room for the last round of refreshments, the tea that she was pouring into a young gentleman's cup suddenly missed its mark, directly flowing on to his trousers.

"What on earth are you doing?!"