A Twist Of Unknown - Vienna (1) Chapter One - Vienna > Eve < I paced the corridor impatiently. What is taking them so long? They had one simple task to do and it's already been 3 hours. I groaned and stopped my walk that should've burned holes into the floor. I slumped back against the cold stone wall and shivered when it touched my bare skin. This meeting is taking too damn long! I sighed and traced the lines of my newest Vine. It circled around my fingers in my right hand, starting from the tip of my pinkie and swirling around in perfect random shaped spirals all the way up to the back of my neck. When I touched it, it lit up faintly and tingled my skin. I had gotten it to resemble my strength, both emotional and physical. I made my hand into a fist and smirked down at it. The veins that surrounded the knuckles in my hand throbbed and I felt my pulse race with adrenaline. "Don't break anything Eve. This place is already falling through the cracks." I turned my head and let my hand drop. "Melba." I said bluntly, not even trying to sound happy she was here. I gave her a mild expression with raised eyebrows as I stood up straight. Her hair was in waves of curls. They were in shapes of springs at the top and fell in small curls toward the bottom. Her olive skin was bright and glowing against her chocolate brown hair. Her eyes were hazel and almost transparent when put into the light. She was tall with a heart shaped face and had a slim but curvy frame that had men falling at her feet with just the smallest of a look from her. "What are you doing here?" "Don't you remember who runs this place?" She says with a slight smirk on her face. I slide my feet back so I can rest my back against the wall again. I crossed my arms and nodded. "Of course, Seamus Blythe." "My uncle." She confirms. I don't say anything more and look at the big black door that my parents are hiding behind, wanting nothing more than have Melba Blythe go away. It's silent for a few moments before I here a intake of a bored breath. I look at her as she squints one of her gipsy eyes at me, stepping beside me. "Tell me Eve." She begins tilting her head in curiousness. "How is it, being alone like you are? It must be hard, I almost feel sorry for you." Before I can make a snarky reply, the door opens and people come flooding out in a loud chatter. I throw Melba a harsh look with pursed lips and only catch a glimpse of her confident stance and her amused expression before I turn away to go after my parents. Melba Blythe has always been a pain in my ass. Always been better at everything, prettier, smarter, anything you can think of. The only thing she didn't have over me, was being the kings daughter. I was the heir to the throne and there was nothing she could do to change that. I smirked and walked alongside my parents as they talked feverishly about something I couldn't quite catch. My mother suddenly turns to me, with a tight smile and set jaw. "How are you Eve, didn't wait too long did you?" Yes! I screamed in my head. "No, it was fine." She nodded her head. "Was that Melba Blythe you were talking to earlier?" I balled my hands into fists and stuffed them into my jacket pockets so she wouldn't see them. I forced a smile and nodded. "Yes." "Ooh." She cooed placing a hand by her heart. "She's such a sweet child, so beautiful." I pursed my lips and looked away. See, she even has my own mother wrapped around her little witch fingers. I walked to my father and grinned up genuinely at him. "How was the meeting?" "Terrible." He grumbles, a slight glare and pout on his face. "They almost bored me to death." I laughed. "What'd they talk to you about?" He seemed to sober up with this question. He looks down at me with a look I know all too well. "At home." Is all he says but I know what he means. He'll tell me at home. I nod and we walk in silence back to car and the whole ride back home. "So." I start, plopping down into a chair. Once we made it home, I went to my fathers study and waited for him to join me. "What'd they say?" My father walks to his window and shuts the blinds, then comes back and sits in his desk chair. The darkness it brings makes the room seem eery. "They were talking about Vienna." Taken aback I stumble over my next words as I sit up. "W-what? Vienna, why Vienna?" "They think it's real." He says, rolling his eyes. "That all our black outs are caused by someone trying to break the barrier we have around the city." "Well that could be anyone." I say, shaking my head in disbelief. "Yes." He agrees. "But the barrier is trying to be shattered on our east side." The side where the supposed city of Vienna is, was what he was trying to say. "Do you believe them?" I ask. "Of course not." He answers with a slight glare. "Vienna doesn't exist." "Seems like they disagree." I state with a shake of my head. They're council members, they're supposed to be professionals, not a group of people who believe in myths. "Dinners ready." My mother pops her head in and smiles warmly at us. When she see's our expressions, she frowns. "Something wrong?" "We'll be there in a minute Edris." My father responds instead. She simply nods once and shuts the door softly when she leaves. "Does mother believe them?" I ask quietly after a moment of stillness, still looking at the door. "You know how she is." I hear him say. We both stand up and head for the door for dinner. She does believe them. I say to myself. Of course mother would. All that was heard during dinner was the scraping of forks against plates and the occasional clink of a glass. "Darling." My mother says, looking up at my father with dark green eyes through her eyelashes. I inherited my eyes from her with specks of brown from my father. "Have you thought about what i've said?" What'd she say? I thought curiously. I glance at my father to see him chewing softly with a hard expression. What's up with him? He sets his fork down a little too harshly and wipes his mouth with a nearby cloth. "Edris." He says icily, looking at her with narrowed eyes. "There is nothing to discuss. The matter is out of our hands." I sink down in my chair, trying to stay hidden from their oncoming argument and bite my lip. What are they talking about? "It is entirely in our hands." She all but growls back, eyes ablaze. She slams down her fork down, all politeness gone. "Maybe if you had a little more back bone, Cyrus, you'd be able to control your council members!" I grimaced. Dad all but hates it when people question or insult his way of rule. Mom just crossed the line. Where had all this hostility come from? My father snarled and stood up, hands slamming onto the dining table with a loud crash of china. Food and chitchat forgotten."You do not speak to me as though i'm not doing all that I can Edris!" She stands as well, her hair swaying as she stomps away from the table. She turns and points a finger at my father. "This isn't something you could just ignore Cyrus! There are things we need to see for ourselves, to see with our own eyes!" His eyes turned into slits. "We?" He asks with a growl, his voice low. "We Edris? There is no 'we' in this. Me, I deal with these sort of situations. You shall not and WILL not have a say in this matter. Understand?" Her cheeks flame up in anger, eyes shining brightly like a fire. She was shaking as she had a silent stand off with my father. The king of Neviah. As if finally realizing I was here my mothers eyes catch mine and I wince, hoping she doesn't bring me into this. "Eve." Her shoulders slump as if she had just let out a long breath. "Honey, why don't you head up to your room for the night? Johan will clean all this up." As if called upon, Johan walks silently into the room. Most of his golden hair is tucked behind his ears but some rebelling strands fall into his eyes. His broad shoulders are slumping like they're worn out from a hard days work and the apron wrapped around his waist is loose and dirty. "I'll help." I say, picking up my dishes. My mother gives me a disapproving look but I pretend not to see it. Johan picks up the rest of the porcelain and we walk out of the room. Leaving whatever tension my parents had built up in there. We walk out into the hall and make our way toward the kitchen in silence. After a few minutes I let out a low whistle, shaking my head. "Man, I thought I was going to be trapped in there forever." "They were really loud." Johan says with a wince, moving his shoulders a bit, causing the dishes in his arms to clatter. I look at his shoulders and see dried blood on his shirt. I give him a sad smile. "Your dad made you work in the mills today?" He nods without looking at me. Probably to ignore my expression. "Yeah." Johan was one of our staff, the castle staff. He's the son of our cook. I try not to treat him like he is but it's hard when i'm around my parents. Once we're in the kitchen we set the dishes in the sink and start washing. I didn't mind the silence with Johan, he wasn't really a conversationalist and I was glad. It meant I didn't have to try and start one. It was awhile until Johan's father walks in. When he see's me he immediately shoots a glare at Johan and I feel guilty for getting him into trouble. "Miss Eve." He says with a tight smile. "You didn't have to-" "It's okay Tibbolt." I interrupt quickly. "He tried to reason, but I had insisted." Johan's father only nods stiffly. "Very well then." and walks into the pantry to retrieve some spices. He walks out of the room with a tense face and a sigh. He never had approved of our friendship. Mine and Johan's. That can also go for my parents. But I like Johan, he was different. "Thank you." Johan whispers. I smile at him and nod. "We're friends Johan." I say with a toothy grin. "And friends stick out for each other." Johan chuckles quietly and finishes washing the last few dishes. He neither agrees or disagrees. I smile at this as we start drying the dishes and putting them away in the cupboards. "Do you want to come up to my room after and study some more about Inkers?" I ask hopeful. Johan never likes coming to my room. He only ever went in there once to fetch me for dinner and hasn't come back since. "No." He answers and I frown. "My fathers making me clean down the kitchen." "Oh." I sigh. "Okay." "I'm sorry." He says, finally turning to look down at me. His hazel eyes resembled Melba's but his were gentle while Melba's were devilish. He has a small frown as he holds my gaze. "I'm not much a friend." I smile up at him and shake my head. I rise up on the tip of my toes and place a kiss on his cheek that has a slight stubble. "No." I say quietly with a smile. "You're the perfect friend." Johan sighs and ruffles my hair, pulling me in for a hug. I wrap my arms around him and savor the warmth his body gives me. This was always his way of talking. He touched instead of using words and i've grown to understand it. When we pull away I instantly shiver. "Go to bed Eve." He says caressing my cheek. I cover his hand with mine and entwine our fingers. He pulls down our hands and I give his hand a squeeze. "Okay." I sigh. He knows i'd rather stay and help, but that'd probably make things worse for him if his father found out. "Goodnight Eve." He says letting my hand go. I see him smile at me then turn. "Goodnight Johan." I reply to his back. As I made my way up to my room I stop and realize something. The kitchen wasn't far off from the dining room, I aught of heard my parents yells from there. They're probably in fathers study. I suggest to myself. I nod but go to check anyway. When my theory is proven wrong I frown. Where could they be then? After a few moments I think that it was probably a good thing that I hadn't found them. As i'm walking up the steps to my room I run into one of the maids and couldn't help by asking her. "Do you know where my parents had gone off to?" I ask curiously. The maid nods as I try remembering her name. I felt awful for not knowing it, the only one I was close to was Johan. "To the Blythe building dear." She answers with her large brown eyes. "Thank you miss." I say, reaching into my pocket for some coins to give her. I hand her my coins and nod to her. "Oh miss Eve." She coos, her hands tightly closing around the coins. "God bless your soul, thank you." I merely smile at her and walk away, too distracted to pay her any attention. Why would my parents go to the Blythe building at this late hour? I groan from the confusion and walk into my room. I don't bother turning on the light and just head for my bed. I peel of my clothes and feel around my bed for my usual night gown and slip it on. I tried sleeping but I couldn't get my parents situation out of my head. What actually went on during that meeting? Why were my parents arguing like that earlier? And why were they going back to the Blythe building at a late hour? I thought about it for hours. I tossed and turned, this way and that way, but I couldn't figure out any of it. Finally, after several hours of distress I drifted off into a light slumber.