Written in the Stars

Chapter Nineteen

There was a banging on the door. A loud relentless pounding that held a lot of anger. Even though Celeste did her best to ignore it, she knew that Izabela would not be happy if she was to be woken up in the middle of the night and ruin her beauty sleep that she was so certain she needed. Even though her appearance had not changed in 900 years. But she was still convinced the amount of sleep affected her never changing self. Perhaps it was meant to keep her attitude beautiful. Either way it wasn't working.

So, mentally grumbling at whoever had the audacity to wake her up at, she checked the time on the digital alarm clock next to their bed, 2.30 am. She was not going to be giving them a pleasant greeting. Once she had appropriately garbed herself she then slumped down the stairs, yawning as she went. Sure vampires didn't need sleep, but it was nice to not be properly fake-alive every now and then and to get a reprieve from life.

When Celeste eventually made it to the front door which was outlined with a faint orange glow from the streetlights outside that were coming in through the windows surrounding the door. The outline was broken in places by the figure outside, who was still pounding like there was no tomorrow. She decided that if this was a threat she could deal with it inside the house rather than leaving them making such a racket whilst she made her decision.

She unlocked the doors multiple locks and then threw the door open as the person was mid-knock and she instantly regretted it. The person in front of her was someone she had hoped to never see ever again in her life. The man in front of her was her sisters soul mate. Alaric [insert last name here]. She had not seen him since the night of her betrayal when she had hypnotised him into never coming back into their lives. She didn't think anyone would be able to break what she had done but she was clearly mistaken. Someone had managed to break through it and he knew exactly who she was and what she had done. Which meant that he also knew exactly who Astrid was. Which was what she had worked to avoid. And now here he was, here to curse her? She was unsure but she knew he could not come inside. And so, after staring, dumbfounded, at him for a couple of quick breaths she forced her way past him and stepped outside closing the door behind her.

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her feet with a grimace before looking up at the towering pile of man in front of her. He looked like the harbinger he was and somehow he was making the same impression he had made all those centuries ago when Astrid had first met him. He was filthy and somehow he had the smell of a dead person in his beard. It had definitely been there longer than a couple of weeks. She tried not to cringe at the smell. She succeeded for the most apart, aside from drawing back slightly when he menacingly loomed over her.

"What do you want Alaric? I thought I told you to never come near my family again?" She kept her arms crossed and worked as much derision into her voice as possible.

"I do indeed remember you saying something along those lines Celeste. But it was so many years ago, I'm afraid it's a but fuzzy. Especially after what you did to me. What was it? 200 years ago?" His voice was not as menacing as his posture but she could see the danger in his eyes and she was quite worried.

"Well, my apologies for not being as skilled as I am now. Sometimes mistakes are made and one was clearly made here. Let me fix that for you." She stared directly into his eyes and started bringing her influence to the top, determined to eradicate this before it became a problem. It was at that moment that Izabela decided to get involved. Apparently the knocking had woken her up and she had been waiting for Celeste to do something about it. When some time had passed without movement in the house, Celeste imagined Izabela had gotten worried. Or something close to it.

"What's going on out here then?" She asked, sleep still evident in her clear voice.

"Oh Izabela. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. This is an old friend who doesn't understand time or manners." Celeste tried to placate her with a smile and an arm around her. Izabela stepped out of her grip and gave her a sharp glare. As if she knew she was lying to her. Celeste scrambled to avert the disaster that was surely about to happen. "Izabela, this is Alaric. We met in the 1600's and haven't seen each other since possibly, 1753? Right Alaric?" She smiled up at him with wild eyes, trying to get her enemy to play along and avert Izabela's wrath.

"Yep, we haven't seen each other since 1753! Izabela was it? It is so lovely to meet you. I believe Celeste had mentioned you in passing when we were traveling together." His voice as perfectly pleasant and yet she felt like an animal in a trap. She knew that if this did not go perfectly to plan she could end up dead tonight - or Alaric could. And whilst that would be handy she didn't think she could do that to her sister. She had already done so much to hurt her. "But I see you are sleeping now and so I will go. I move between timezones so often I forget what time it actually is, and goodness knows where my watch is," he laughed and then made eye contact with Celeste, "I will see you tomorrow yes? Shall I meet you here or somewhere else?"

Izabela began to answer but Celeste cut her off, cringing slightly, "No no, I'll meet you at the coffee shop in Soho, you'll know the place when you see it. Is midday good for you? Great! See you then!" She left no room for complaint and turned to go back inside, trying to usher Izabela in with her and prevent the two from having more of a conversation.

Eventually she got them back in after Izabela insisted on watching Alaric walk away to make sure he actually left.

"You never mentioned an Alaric. I think I would have remembered, it is such an unusual name." Izabela's voice seemed to be deliberately neutral as if she was trying to get Celeste to spill all of her secrets. Celeste was determined to keep tight lipped about this however, as she knew Izabela would be disappointed in her and what she had done. And she didn't want to disappoint her anymore than she had already. She was lucky after all that Izabela had taken her in when Jean had started drawing away from her and she had stopped feeling welcome in her own home. After that fight they had had on her last night there. She knew it was her fault. Everything was her fault after all. It always had been.

"I honestly forgot we traveled together! If I remember correctly he was more there for my sisters company than mine. I was too busy trying to set a business up. And then he just disappeared out of nowhere!" She knew her voice was not level enough to be believable and yet she could not control it. Izabela arched one of her brows and Celeste tried her best to stare back defiantly. She was the taller of the two and yet she fell about an inch big. She knew she had done the wrong thing and yet she could not bring herself to tell the truth. It would be too much. She was sure of it. And she had nowhere else to go.

"Honestly. We traveled together and he was more interested in my sister." She knew that she shouldn't mention his name and yet, he was part of the truth and the one rule of telling a convincing lie is mixing the truth in with it. "Jean," She flinched just saying his name, "And I were trying to build the business and find clients. That's what we spent most of our time with him doing. He did not play a large part of my life. I don't really know why he want's to see me so badly." The look Izabela gave her could have frozen her heart. She cowered in on herself, trying to appear as innocent as possible.

"You know I don't like hearing his name. You know how I feel about him and what he's done to you. And us." She came a step closer to Celeste who tried to look less anxious, "If you must go see him tomorrow I see no problem with it. But you do know you will be missing an important meeting and your sister will be there." The unsaid name hung in the air between them. She would also miss out on seeing Jean. Not that she wanted to, or at least that's what she told herself.

Celeste bowed her head in gratitude and then said, "Thank you Izabela. I am sorry to miss the meeting, but I do need to see what he wants. Especially as it seemed to urgent that he wake us both up at this hour of the morning." She tried a small smile and saw the anger in Izabela's eyes lighten a small amount. She would be allowed back to bed then, that was good because this whole scene had really exhausted her.

She settled down in Izabela's arms, the constricting grip comforting, and felt grateful for the love Izabela had for her.