Day Four

[Angsty Albie]

DAY FOUR: DUMPED

MOST POPULAR STORY:
xxx●x"Finale" by theramblinggirl

INSTRUCTIONS:
xxx●xPick one of your MFHS characters to focus on, and write a love-themed poem or small story revolving around them and the above prompt - then post it here!
xxx●xYou can submit as many stories as you would like for each day and for different characters, but the thread gets locked after 24 hours.
xxx●xThe overall most popular story will be decided in a poll attached to the Day Two thread.
xxx●xCopy the code below and insert it into the top of your post. It's a label asking for which character you're writing for and the title of your piece, if any.

[align=center][size=18][color=indigo][b]"Untitled [change this if you have a title]"[/b][/color]
[color=darkblue][replace this line with your character's name][/color][/size][/align]

 

[UnquietDreams]

"Replaced"
Danni Rinaldi

Just outside Paris in the Belmont estate, an unusual hush had fallen over the sprawling grounds. Though not empty, the house was missing one key member. Monsieur Belmont had gone away on business, leaving behind his butler, his fiancée, and her dog. Only the butler seemed to be mourning his absence.

At peace with the world, Danni stood in ankle-deep snow, bundled up in sweatpants, a hoodie, and the thick cloak Bertram openly despised. It was early February, and she was teaching her dog to play catch. There was nothing, she decided, quite like watching the little bundle of fur that was Samson disappear momentarily as he burrowed down in the snow to search for the stick she threw across the yard, his head popping up covered in a little pile of white fluff.

Truthfully, she doubted she'd laughed as much in her whole life as she did when she was playing with her Samson. Her smile warming, Danni didn't even care that the winter breeze played with her hair, pulling down her hood and letting the bright blue strands be ruffled by the wind.

Bless Henri, she thought briefly, for his Christmas gift. Rather than bringing a frown to her face, the thought of her fiancé had her chuckling, stuffing her hands in her pockets to keep them warm while Samson made a mad dash for the stick she'd thrown.

Things between them had been going quite well. She suppose they'd both been making an effort, and Lord knew she'd been doing her best to avoid confrontation...most of the time. Why, they hadn't scowled at each other in a week. When he'd left for his business trip, he'd ruffled her hair, pecked her cheek, tossed the dog a treat. Then he'd pinned her with one of those unexpected stares, his smile slow and...gentle was the word, she supposed. The last time she'd seen his face, he'd smiled at her and promised to call within the next few days.

That had been two days ago. She hadn't heard from him since. It didn't occur to her to worry. He was, after all, linked to her by contract. Had he been in any danger, she would have felt it. If he'd fallen ill, Bertram's strange radar would've gone off, and she would've heard about it. He was, she was certain, absolutely fine. But she wondered if he might call soon. One more night with no one but Bert as company and she might be tempted to stab him with her salad fork. It wasn't as if she'd be using it to eat salad anyway.

Chuckling to herself at the thought, Danni bent down to have a brief wrestling match with Samson, who'd managed to retrieve the stick and had it clenched in his strong little jaws.

"All right, little man. We must go in now, before Bertram begins to fuss about us catching a chill. Be sure to dry yourself all over the foyer, so he has a chance to fuss over that as well." Scooping him up and cradling the pup in one arm, Danni strode through the yard and on to the back porch. Cracking the door open, she let out a quiet breath of relief when Bert was nowhere to be seen. One less annoyance to deal with.

Quietly setting the dog down on the floor -and taking a moment to appreciate the way he walked into the foyer to shake himself off- Danni pried off her boots, banging them together a few times to shake the snow off on the mat by the door. Nodding in satisfaction, she hooked her fingers through the bootstraps, carried them with her. She didn't dare leave them at the door, for fear Bertram would make do on his threat and toss them out. She did, however, shrug out of her cloak and drape it on the doorknob, where melting snow dripped onto the floor mat. That would drive him insane. She'd enjoy arguing about it with him later.

In bare feet, Danni strode through the house, yawning hugely. It wasn't often she spent such a long time out in broad daylight. The sun was absolutely exhausting. Rolling her shoulders, Danni reached into her pocket, pulled out the cellular phone Henri had given her. There was no light on it saying she'd missed a call or a texting message. It seemed he was still busy at work. Shrugging, she detoured to the kitchen, popping her head in first, forever on the lookout for a roaming Bertram.

It really was quite strange not to find him here, she thought a bit later after glancing at the clock. By now he was usually puttering in front of the stove, cooking up some healthy meal she'd eat because it was put in front of her. Scratching her chin, she'd just decided to dig a Twinkie out of her kitchen stash when she saw the magazine on the floor. And that was beyond odd. Bertram never allowed so much as a crumb to fall upon the floor of his precious kitchen. A bit concerned that perhaps the old man -though he was barely forty, Danni considered him to be quite stodgy- was ill or something, Danni tilted her head to the side, stepped into the room.

"Bertie, are you all right? Or are you just getting shaky and forgetful in your old age?" She posed the question to an empty room, bending down and picking up the magazine. Taking a moment to straighten the bent pages, she blinked when she heard what her undoubtedly Bertram's quick, firm footsteps coming from the other room. So he was alive then, at least. She'd been beginning to think he'd suffered a stroke and crawled away to die under the couch or some such thing.

"It's rare indeed for you not to be haunting the kitchen at this hour." She kept her tone aloof rather than voice her worry, frowning at the back of the glossy magazine and flipping it over just as Bertram rushed in, his usually pale face red at the cheeks.

"Madam, I didn't think...you'd be back so soon. I was just...Ah, why don't I just take that thing. Silly of me to drop it." Since the string of statements was the closest she and Bertram had ever come to having a conversation, Danni blinked, slowly raising a brow even as she glanced down at the magazine.

"I didn't know you liked gossip columns, Bert. I would've...Oh." The last word came out quietly, a helpless murmur, the color the wind had whipped into her cheeks fading even as the color in Bertram’s face deepened even further.

“Please, madam, let me just toss that out with the trash. It’s nothing but swill, the whole lot of it.” When Bertram would have reached forward and taken the magazine, Danni took a step back in response, barely noticing when her boots fell with a thud from her suddenly limp fingers. Rather than look at the butler, Danni’s eyes were locked on the magazine cover, at the pictures splayed across it for the whole world to see.

It appeared Henri hadn’t been quite as busy as she’d thought. At least not with work. For there was her doting fiancé, that familiar gentle smile on his face. But it was not she he was looking at, but the face of the elegant blonde woman he held in his arms. They were dressed up in fancy attire, he in his best suit, she in a siren red dress, her ears, neck, and wrists dripping with diamonds. His hand was in her hair. Her hand was on his butt. In big, sizzling red letters was the caption ‘Belmont’s New Belle?’ Beneath that, it told her to turn to page sixteen for more details. With Bertram’s voice buzzing in the background, Danni slowly flipped the pages, barely registering the fact that she’d sunk down into a chair, her hands pressing down flat on the table on either side of the magazine. And there, on page sixteen, she was greeted by perhaps an even crueler caption.

Scrawled across two pages –apparently this called for a full spread in the magazines- was the simple question “Rinaldi Replaced?” And there, paired side by side with the picture of Henri and the blonde woman, was one of herself and Henri, walking hand in hand through Paris, Samson trotting along in front of them. Of course, there were more pictures. They wouldn’t have been able to resist printing proof of his…was infidelity the correct word? She thought it might be. In one, he kissed the blonde’s hand, his lips curved in a smile. In another, he offered her a glass of champagne. In a third, he escorted her onto the dance floor. In all of them, her face was angled towards the camera, her teeth beaming with her smile. Unable to help herself, Danni memorized every feature, every nuance that the glossy pictures had to offer. She didn’t look at her name, though. No, if she did that, she would be tempted, so very tempted, to hunt the blonde down and scalp her.

No one was more surprised than she –though Bertram may have come rather close- when a tear slid down her cheek, dripped onto the magazine. There were no more tears, however, none that she would’ve ever let show. She didn’t need to read the article to get the gist of what had happened. Her ‘loving’ fiancée had, within a few days, seemed to have forgotten he was spoken for. Either that…or this was his way of telling her he was finally tired of her. She’d always known he would be, eventually. But this…The papers had it right, she supposed. The blonde was beautiful, stunning, what she supposed they called a bombshell. And she…She had, quite clearly, been quickly replaced.

She didn’t quite remember going to the music room, didn’t quite remember sitting down at the piano, only to stare down at the keys. But she did remember, hours later, when the cell phone in her pocket began to ring. A cheerful tune, a welcoming one. He’d programmed it himself, so she would always know it was him. Taking a deep breath, one not quite steady enough for her liking, Danni placed her hands on the piano keys, began to play. Loud, louder, until it drowned out the incessant ringing of the phone. Long enough that eventually, the calls stopped coming. She didn’t want to hear him now. Not now. Not when she knew what he would say. Not when he hadn’t even had the grace to pick a fight with her first. She could’ve done this so much better if he’d just picked a fight.

 

[theramblinggirl]

"Finale"
[Petra]

Fluffing her hair one more time, she decided she looked decent enough. It would have to do. Besides, all she and Vik were going to be doing that night was to work on a project. There were no romantic implications. None at all. The more she told herself this, the more she wondered if curling her hair for the occasion had been a bit too much.

Just as she rose a perfume bottle to give herself the tiniest spritz of a lavender scent, a knock came to her door. Petra placed the bottle back atop the dresser and moved towards the sound. Behind it, she found a woman who looked almost exactly like her, but older and with a more matured and elegant look. Petra had only ever attempted to gain this same distinguished look, but it was something about the way her mother carried herself combined with the high fashion clothing that really made her the epitome of elegance.

“Mom,” Petra breathed, staring into the violet eyes that matched her own. It took a moment for her to remember her manners out of shock. “Please, come inside. I-I wasn’t expecting a visitor tonight. Actually, rather the contrary, I was expecting to visit someone else. Did I miss a call from you?”

“No, and I do apologize for the suddenness of my visit but I just missed my darling daughter so much. I had to see you A-S-A-P,” Lynn said, giving emphasis to each letter. She swooped down and placed a gentle peck on Petra’s cheek. “Have you fed for the night already?”

“Yes, mom,” Petra said, allowing her tone to have the same impatience as any other teen might. Things with her mom were different. They were more like best friends than mother and daughter at times.

“Good, then you’re set for a girl’s night out,” Lynn said.

“Actually, I was supposed to work on an assignment with a friend tonight. I was just about to head over when you showed up.”

“Assignment? On a weekend? Goodness, things really have changed here, haven’t they? No matter, you’ll have to cancel with this…” Lynn paused, looking over her daughter’s choice of clothing and styling. She snuck a little smile in as she added, “…friend.”

“It’s not like that,” Petra said all too quickly, face flushing. “Viktor and I simply need to get work done and we’re in the same class so it’s easier to work together. That’s all.” Her arms were crossed over her chest, suddenly feeling like the lower cut top was a lot closer to her belly button than she’d previously thought. “In any case, I’d hate to cancel on him on such short notice.”

“Petra,” Lynn said, “please, just come out for a night.” The younger vampire studied her mother, noting the brokenness behind her eyes. It was hard to look at her face for too long. Something about her wasn’t quite right, which frightened the delicate girl.

“Why are you here, mom? Be honest.”

With a heavy sigh, Lynn took Petra’s hand in her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I do have something to talk with you about, but not now. I want to have a fun night before any serious talk. Can you give me that much?”

Petra was reluctant, having looked forward to this night with Vik, but agreed nevertheless. Her mother needed her tonight, for whatever reason that might be. Grabbing her purse, she left the dorm room behind and headed a couple of doors down to Viktor’s door. Music could be heard leaking through the walls, but it was not so loud as to cover up anyone who might come knocking. He answered within a couple of seconds, leaning against the doorframe. His hair fell in loose strands around his shoulders.

“Good evening, Petra,” Viktor said. Within a moment her mother had walked up behind her, startling him. “Two Petras? I am seeing things, I am sure.”

“Hello, you must be Viktor,” Lynn said, “I’m Petra’s mother, Lynn.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, “Beauty must run in family line.” Petra flushed bright red as his uncovered eye flickered over to her. Her mother merely chuckled at the comment.

“I hope you still think that once I tell you I’m stealing her away for the evening,” Lynn said.

“She’s here for a visit, so I’m afraid that I can’t work on the assignment tonight,” Petra said. “Tomorrow though, I’m entirely free.”

“I sprung up on her out of the blue, I apologize. But I’m sure a nice young man such as yourself understands, a mother needs to see her daughter every once in a while.” Viktor’s gaze darkened ever so slightly. Petra still didn’t know much about where he came from, but she knew his family was not really traditional in any sense.

“Is alright. How you say… quality time, is important for Petra. Go, enjoy this night,” Viktor said. Without missing a beat, he rose her hand to his lips and gently kissed the top of it. “We talk tomorrow.”

Petra was suddenly at a loss for words, trying to sputter something out. “I… I…”

“Thank you, Viktor,” Lynn said for her. “Now, you be good,” she added as they turned away from the door. It was a word of warning, but her smile showed approval. At least Petra seemed to be happy.

The two women were outside in no time, even though they chose to stroll outside rather than transform and fly out a window. They ended up going to the local town to shop around for a little while. There was a gorgeous little dress shop on a corner, into which Lynn was quickly dragged by an excited Petra who had spotted the perfect cream and mint colored spring dress with bits of gold embroidery and gentle cream lace. She tried it on as soon as she got inside, happy to find that it fit like a glove and flattered her form. Petra beamed, turning around and around so her mother could get a good look at it.

“I see you, I see you!” Lynn said, laughing at her daughter’s giddiness. “You should wear that tomorrow when you meet with your boyfriend again.” Petra was quickly sent into blushing again.

“I already told you, he’s just a friend,” she insisted.

“Maybe now he is, but I doubt things will be like that for much longer,” Lynn teased. “Anyway, you look fantastic in it, so go change back into your clothes so we can have that wrapped up nice, alright?” Petra nodded, her mind still on Viktor. She played out a scenario in her head where he told her how beautiful she looked in some foreign language she didn’t know and kissed her. She couldn’t pick where she’d like to be kissed most.

Next the two stopped in a jewelry store, looking for something nice to match the dress. Lynn wandered away to talk to the store’s manager while Petra looked over some gold bangles. They looked like they would suit the dress nicely, though she hoped more for something that popped out to her just like the dress itself had. It didn’t take too long, however, before she saw a necklace.

It had three gems, falling from the center like raindrops, each of them hanging from a gold chain. The middle gem was a gentle blue-green, with the two smaller ones on each side a clean white that was not very opaque. Petra’s eyes brightened, searching for a price tag.

“Um, excuse me sir, but I can’t see the price on that necklace there,” she said, gaining the attention of a man behind the counter. His face was bright when he noticed the pretty young vampire. Most inhabitants of this town were mortals, though due to their proximity to Mystic Fountain, there were a few of them who were aware of the… odd nature of the students. The manager was one of them, as well as an old friend of Lynn’s, so anyone else in this shop was trustworthy.

“That right there? It’s a special one of a kind peace, sweetheart. Hand crafted, too. It was valued at forty-five thousand dollars,” the man explained. Petra stared down at it. It really was beautiful, but the price seemed steep for such a thing. This was no swindler either, this was a store she knew she could trust. She sighed, turning back to the bangles.

“What’s the matter, Petra?” Lynn asked, coming up behind her. Petra shook her head, the curls she’d labored over whipping around her.

“It’s nothing,” she insisted. Yet, the man would not let a sale of such a size fall through so easily.

“I believe the young lady was interested in this necklace here, but the price tag seems to have spooked her,” the man explained. He told her mother the price, giving her the same short sales pitch. Hand crafted, pure gold chain and real gemstones embedded into more precious gold. One of a kind.

“Well, if you want it Petra, I’ll have them wrap it up,” Lynn said with a smile. “Your father recently got a promotion and a raise in his company, we can afford it.”

“But I-”

“If Carter knows it’s for you he won’t mind if I spoil you,” Lynn said. She paused for a moment, adding, “I mean, I can spend this money as I wish regardless.” Something was off. Something was seriously off.

“Mom, you shouldn’t. I don’t need it, please,” Petra said. The man was already starting to get the key for the case, finding an electronic card scanner for her mother. “Mom!”

“Petra, I want you to have this. You do want it, don’t you?”

“I want you to tell me what’s going on! First dad called last night all of a sudden, sounding out of sorts, asking if I was okay and if I needed something. Then you show up… I expect this out of him but not from you. We’re supposed to trust each other and tell each other anything and everything. You promised… you promised we would always do that,” Petra said. “I don’t want the necklace, I just want to know what’s going on. Why did you come to see me?”

Lynn paused, gesturing to the man to put his things away. Taking Petra’s hand gently, she ushered her outside until they came to a small area with flowers and a fountain in the center. Sitting down on the bench, Lynn motioned for Petra to sit as well, but the girl shook her head. She would stand until her mother explained herself.

“Petra, your father and I have not been getting along as of late. There have been no incidents since the one that December, before you left for school. But we argue and constantly disagree. The way he sees things… it’s just not right. I have fought him so much to make sure he stays out of your life as much as possible, but I am fed up with fighting him. He might be your father, he always will be, but I can no longer stand to be with him. Petra,” Lynn said, taking a breath, “we’re getting a divorce.”

Even though Petra had felt the words coming, when they came her heart sank deep into her stomach. She stared at her feet, feeling her breath shorten. The tears came all too quickly. Her mother held her for a while, petting and smoothing her hair as she cried. She hated her father. Petra had hated him for years now. So why did this news still upset her? She wasn’t really losing anything. That which was to be lost had already been destroyed long ago. Still it felt like she was split into two, her heart wrenching in her stomach and twisting with a painful sorrow.

Faintly, Lynn remembered a promise made long ago, at this same spot. She held Petra tight, denying her own tears the right to surface. She had to be strong for her little girl.

“If we ever break up, we’ll still be friends, right?” Lynn said, swinging her legs beneath the bench. Carter stared at her. “I don’t mean anything by it, I just want to be sure. Cause, you know, you’re important to me.”

Carter nodded. “Lynn, I never want to be apart from you. If I can’t be yours then I will still be your friend. I promise.”

“Good,” Lynn said. She hid her face, feeling a bit embarrassed as she admitted, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Carter.”