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It was a normal day at my boutique (Velvet and Vows), named after my favorite fabric, velvet, obviously. It’s 10 a.m. and I have already done two hours of sketching in my notebook (designing dresses), finishing up some sewing projects I had been working on, and approximately 43 minutes and 12 seconds of thinking about Dane. Also maybe crying some poison tears. I hate hating him and loving him at the same time. I always love to let myself think, if even for a blissful moment, that I can love and get married, but it always ends up the same. With the overwhelming urge to leave, andddd I always do. I had just left another guy at the altar… what was his name? Another name with 'lord' in front of it... lord. Danshhhhh… uhhh… lord Dan somethingggg eh whatever. I don’t care and I don’t need to remember his name cause I need to forget. All that matters is Dane. I need to find a way into the valory arch to get him back. Jacks said he’s trying to find a way, but I’m not putting any trust in him. He’s failed before. If I want something done I’m going to do it myself. The only problem is my powers aren’t completely back yet, from being cursed in that stupid deck of destiny.
I wonder what Dane would do if he were here… NO I need to stop thinking about him. Taking my thoughts far away from Dane, I pick up my sketchbook again and start sketching out another bridal dress. After five minutes I put it down. Not helping right now. I walk to the front of my store and take a look at all the dresses on display, each unique and beautiful in its own way. All my handiwork of course. Just then the doorbell jingles and my head snaps toward the door. A young woman walks in, late 20s, athletic build, and decently pretty—just another bride looking for a dress. I walk back behind the counter and start organizing everything. Stupid business cards. Always getting messed up. I look up, notice her staring, and ask “Is there something I can help you with?” The woman walks over to the counter and says “Yes actually you can. My name is Theresa and I’ve wanted to come in here for a while. You have a great shop here. I was hoping I could ask you some questions and” anddd then I stop her right there.”I’m sorry do you need help finding a dress?” I said pretty coldly because I did not need someone babbling to me right now about their “perfect wedding” or anything of the sort.
She responds with “Actually I’m not here to find a dress.”
Right then three extremely large men, that look like they just came from being a bodyguard, come into the shop and start running at me. The woman- Theresa jumps over the counter, over me, and tries to grab me from behind by my waist. She’s screaming “WE DON'T NEED FATES LIKE YOU IN THIS WORLD! YOU'RE ALL MONSTERS!” Seriously another one of these people that hate fates. I thought when Jacks got us exiled that these assholes that want us dead would go away. I grab her hand and twist her around in a sort of twirl, knock her legs out from under her, and pin her to the ground. I should have a few poison potions I just brewed yesterday but they are in the back of my shop. I’ll figure out how to get there once I take one or two of them out. I grab the heels off my feet (beautiful 4-inch blue rhinestoned heels) which I just happened to engineer so when you press the middle of the bottom of the shoe knives pop out!! So fun!! They are a prototype but no time like the present to try them. To my delight when I pop the middle of my heel the knife comes out! I immediately throw the knife/heel at him, hitting him square in the chest with perfect aim. Ah, how I missed this.
He falls to the ground bleeding all over my fucking floor. Not looking forward to cleaning that up, but no matter. Both of the guys are closing in on me now one behind the counter with me and the other in front. I take off the other heel, pop it open, promptly kick the guy behind me, and stab the knife into the guy in front of the counter. Theresa is slowly getting up again. Shit. Out of heels to throw, I just turn around and throw the hardest punch of my life into the guy behind me. Which knocks him to the floor, but not for long. Theresa is officially up now, pretty sure I can outrun her though so I book it to the back of my shop and skim over the potion bottles. Memory Be-gone, Potion of Sorrow, Widow’s Blood, and Poison Tears. “Damn, I'm running low on potions…” I grab the Poison Tears bottle and turn around to find Theresa right behind me. She charges at me and collides with my fist, I grab her throat and shove half the potion down her throat. She crumples to the ground within seconds while black shows through her veins. Welp, she’s dead! I go back to the front and the other man is up and starts running at me, and right before he reaches me he crumples to the ground. Standing right behind him is oh good lord it’s brooding blonde boy. I only slightly tolerate him because he's friends with Castor who's the younger brother to Dane. My cheeks flush a little at the thought of Dane but I shake it off.
“What are you doing here, Jacks? I didn’t need your help ASSHOLE” I reply snarkily, emphasizing my harsh tone when I say his name. “UGH I can’t believe you ruined my fun!” I bent down and shoved the remaining amount of poison into the man’s mouth.
“Calm down Lala, don’t get your fabric in a twist! You obviously had it handled!” He gestured wildly to the broken and bleeding bodies around us. “Just thought I would step in and lend a helping hand.” He smiled coyly and brought a hand up to his heart with a flourish and said “Anything for my dearest LaLa”
He was infuriating.
“Anyway what are you here about? Or is your goal in life just to annoy the hell out of me!? It’s already bad enough you got us exiled in the first place you fat apple-sucking cow, did you really have to come ruin my fun too? With us exiled, I never get to kill anyone anymore!”
I give him an angry look. Jacks walks over to one of the guys with my heel/knife in him and pulls it out of him, holds it up and admires it, and says “Wow some nice handiwork here, beautiful and deadly, my favorite combination.” He smiles snarkily then throws his apple up in the air catches it and takes a bite.
“Thanks I guess? Anyway, tell me why you’re here you leech!”
I walk over to him, snatch my heel, push the knife back into the compartment, and put the heel on. I walk over to the other dead guy pull the knife out of him and repeat the process. Jacks just stares at me. I walk towards him, my heels clicking with purpose, and say “Well, come on spit it out you imbecile!”
“Is it so hard to believe I just wanted to help!?” He walks over and puts an arm around my shoulder.
“Yes,” I deadpanned, slapping his arm away with a lot more force than necessary.
“You wound me deeply” he said and gave me a heartbroken look.
I just glared at him.
“But alas” he said walking in circles around me. He stopped behind me, put his hands on my shoulders, and whispered in my ear. “I think we need to take a trip to see Castor.” I slapped his hands away and whipped around to stare at him. “What! I’m not going to see that stupid ugly vampire”
“Just trust me LaLa.”
“I literally don’t trust you at all. Also, you didn’t even tell me why we are going?”
“I’ll explain on the way there.”
“Ugh, fine, just let me get dressed first.”